who is the current president pro tempore of the senate 2017
President pro tempore of the United States Senate The current President pro tempore of the Senate is Utah Republican Orrin Hatch. Elected on January 6, 2015, he is the 90th person to serve in this office.
Vice President of the United States Formerly, the vice president would preside regularly over Senate proceedings, but in modern times, the vice president rarely presides over day-to-day matters in the Senate; in their place, the Senate chooses a President pro tempore (or "president for a time") to preside in the vice president's absence; the Senate normally selects the longest-serving senator in the majority party. The President pro tempore has the power to appoint any other senator to preside, and in practice junior senators from the majority party are assigned the task of presiding over the Senate at most times.