Labor Secretary Marty Walsh is the designated survivor while President Joe Biden delivers his State of the Union address.
Walsh is expected to depart the Biden administration soon after being offered a job heading the NHL’s Players’ Association. His departure wasn’t expected to be announced until after Biden’s address.
What is the designated survivor? At least one top official is expected not to be in the US Capitol building during the president’s speech, participating instead in an obscure ritual in order to maintain the line of presidential succession in the rare case that disaster strikes. That person is the designated survivor.
Last year, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo was the designated survivor for Biden’s first State of the Union address, staying away from the Capitol in an undisclosed and secure location during the president’s prime-time remarks.
How it started: According to the National Constitution Center, the tradition of a designated survivor during the State of the Union speech began in the 1950s as a result of fears of a nuclear attack during the Cold War. But the federal government did not publicly name the designated survivor until 1981 when President Ronald Reagan’s Education Secretary Terrel Bell assumed the designation for an address to a joint session of Congress.
After the vice president, the speaker of the House, the Senate president pro tempore, and the secretaries of State, Treasury and Defense are next in the line of succession. Data analyzed by CNN shows that the attorney general, seventh in the line of succession, has been the highest-ranking Cabinet member known to have been appointed to be designated survivor. A Justice Department head has been selected for the role three times.
While not as well known, the National Constitution Center states that designated survivors have also been used during inaugurations and presidential speeches to joint sessions of Congress. Members of Congress also have been designated to skip the State of the Union as a precautionary measure, according to the center.
Source: www.cnn.com