Kamala Harris briefly holds US presidential power in first for women

Biden transferred power to his vice-president for an hour and 25 minutes while he was under anaesthesia for a routine colonoscopy

The president remains fit for duty and able to execute his responsibilities without any accommodations, his doctor says after a physical examination

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US Vice-President Kamala Harris hugs US President Joe Biden during the signing of the infrastructure bill on the South Lawn of the White House on Monday. Photo: TNS

Published: 12:25am, 20 Nov 2021Updated: 8:04am, 20 Nov 2021

US President Joe Biden briefly transferred power to Vice-President Kamala Harris Friday while he was under anaesthesia for a colonoscopy, marking the first time a woman officially served as acting commander in chief.

Harris was given the title “acting president” for an hour and 25 minutes under Section 3 of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, which was ratified in 1967. The clause has only been formally invoked twice before, when George W. Bush had colonoscopies.

Harris is the first woman to serve as vice-president of the United States; no woman has ever been president in the country’s nearly 250-year history.

But another woman once took on the role of an acting president: Woodrow Wilson’s wife, Edith, functionally ran the executive branch after her husband suffered a stroke in 1919.

US President Joe Biden waves as he arrives at Walter Reed Medical Centre to attend his routine annual physical on Friday. Photo: AFP

Biden underwent the procedure Friday morning, a day before his 79th birthday.