If both the President and the Vice President can no longer serve, who becomes President?

Why this is the answer

The Speaker of the House is the answer. The Constitution handles the first step on its own: if the President dies, resigns, is removed or cannot carry out the duties of the office, those powers pass to the Vice President. For the rarer case in which both offices are empty, Article II leaves it to Congress to decide by law which officer will act as President. That is why the Speaker's place in line rests on a statute rather than on the text of the Constitution. Congress has changed its mind about who that officer should be. Soon after the founding, a law chose the president pro tempore of the Senate, who presides over the Senate when the Vice President is not there. Later the Secretary of State held the third spot. With the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, Congress went back to the original idea of a congressional leader and placed the Speaker next in line. Then in 1967 the 25th Amendment set out procedures for succession. One of them lets a vacancy in the vice presidency be filled instead of left open: the President nominates a replacement, who takes office once a majority of both the House and the Senate confirm the choice. The Speaker is chosen by the members of the House under Article I. The study guide sketches the order as three steps, from the President to the Vice President and then to the Speaker of the House. So far the third step has stayed on paper. A Vice President has become President nine times after a President died or left office, and no one else has ever succeeded to the presidency. In the interview, keep this question apart from the one just before it, which asks what happens when only the President can no longer serve; that answer is the Vice President. Naming the Chief Justice or a Cabinet secretary misses too, since the step after the Vice President belongs to the Speaker. Count the steps out loud if it helps: President, Vice President, then the leader of the House.