President Joe Biden will transfer power to Vice President Kamala Harris during the “brief” time on Friday he is under anesthesia for a colonoscopy as part of a regular health check.
The development was confirmed by the White House and a letter Biden sent to the Legislature, dated November 19.
Biden, whose birthday is on Saturday (today), is the oldest person to hold the presidency in US history.
He went to the Walter Reed Medical Center just outside of Washington on Friday on the eve of his 79th birthday for a surgery.
The White House described the appointment as Biden’s “routine annual physical.”
It was his first since taking office in January.
“President Biden will transfer power to the vice president for the brief period of time when he is under anesthesia. The vice president will work from her office in the West Wing during this time,” Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.
Harris, 57, is the first woman to hold the vice presidency and made an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic Party nomination in 2020, before being picked as Biden’s running mate.
However briefly, her temporary holding of presidential powers will also make history.
To officially transfer the presidential powers to Harris, Biden sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the president pro tempore of the Senate, at 10:10am before going under anesthesia.
The letter reads: “Today I will undergo a routine medical procedure requiring sedation. In view of present circumstances, I have determined to transfer temporarily the powers and duties of the office of President of the United States to the Vice President during the brief period of the procedure and recovery.
“In accordance with the provisions of section 3 of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, I hereby transmit to you my written declaration that I am able to discharge the powers and duties of the Office of the President of the United States and that I am resuming those powers and duties.”