President Joe Biden temporarily transferred power to Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday after he went under anesthesia for a routine check-up for an hour and 85 minutes. America's power remained with Vice President Kamala Harris for some time. President Joe Biden was on anesthesia late Friday for the annual colonoscopy. White House Press Secretary Jane Pasky said Harris worked from his West Wing office while Biden was under anesthesia.
Biden is the oldest person to hold the presidency in American history. Today Biden is celebrating his 79th birthday. He went to Walter Reed Medical Center outside Washington on Friday morning, the day before his birthday. Although he undergoes checkups and treatment every year, this is his first treatment after assuming the presidency in January this year. Biden was sedated during a colonoscopy examination. That is why the presidential power remained with Harris during this period.
Even before this, Kamala Harris has done many 'firsts' by becoming the Vice President. She became America's first black and first South Asian-born Vice President. According to Pasky, Harris held presidential power until Biden was under anesthesia, although he worked from his West Wing office.
It is a routine process in the US that after the President undergoes a medical procedure where he is given anesthesia and the Presidential power is handed over to the Vice President. During the tenure of George W. Bush, then-Vice President Dick Cheney had to hold presidential power several times.
The right to transfer presidential power has been given under Section-3 of the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution. The President can write a letter to the President pro tempore of the House of Representatives and Senate of the US Parliament to announce the appointment of the Vice President as acting President.
Former President Donald Trump kept it a secret instead of handing over the power to the Vice President when he went for the colonoscopy. This was disclosed earlier this year by Trump's ex-press secretary Stephanie Grisham. Grisham told in his book 'I Will Take Your Questions Now' that Trump went to the Walter Reed Hospital for a colonoscopy in 2019, but did not inform anyone about this checkup, far from handing over presidential power to then-Vice President Mike Pence.