Orrin Hatch: “The answer is that a balanced budget amendment does not change the Constitution's basic reliance on simple majority…”

“The answer is that a balanced budget amendment does not change the Constitution's basic reliance on simple majority votes or the Vice President's role in casting a vote in those cases where Senators are equally divided. Article I, section 3 of the Constitution provides that 'The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided.' By the plain meaning of this provision, the Vice President is not a member of the Senate. He is merely the Presiding Officer, the President of the Senate, a neutral empire, and thus cannot vote or take part in the deliberations of the Senate. And even though our current Vice President is a former member of the Senate, he is no longer a member of the Senate. He is a member of the executive branch. But he does have that function. The only exception to this is where there exists a tie vote. In that case to 'secure at all times the possibility of a definitive resolution of the body, it is necessary that the Vice President should have only a casting vote.'”