Page "Vice President of the United States" Paragraph 9

Except for this tie-breaking role, the Standing Rules of the Senate vest no significant responsibilities in the Vice President.

Rule XIX, which governs debate, does not authorize the Vice President to participate in debate, and grants only to members of the Senate ( and, upon appropriate notice, former presidents of the United States ) the privilege of addressing the Senate, without granting a similar privilege to the sitting Vice President.

Thus, as Time magazine wrote during the controversial tenure of Vice President Charles G. Dawes, " once in four years the Vice President can make a little speech, and then he is done.

For four years he then has to sit in the seat of the silent, attending to speeches ponderous or otherwise, of deliberation or humor.