President Reiss tells the Columbian terrorists that he no longer has the power to surrender the country, or to issue orders to the military, because the 25th Amendment to the Constitution dictates that he gave up those powers the second he stepped out of the bunker. The 25th Amendment was adopted on February 10, 1967 and deals with presidential succession and disability, it clarifies how and when the vice president becomes the acting president if the president dies, resigns or is removed from office. It also dictates how a vacancy in the office of the vice president can be filled and also provides for the temporary transfer of presidential power and authority to the vice president in certain situations that would prevent, or compromise, the president's ability to carry out the duties of the office of president. The most common situation that this has been done is when a president needs to have surgery, specifically any major surgery that would require the president to be put under anesthesia, since being under anesthesia would prevent the president from carrying out the duties of the office. While it has not yet happened the president also is considered to no longer be able to perform the duties of president if he/she is being held hostage, the second the president is forced to surrender to an enemy combatant the vice president automatically becomes the acting president; if for some reason both the president and vice president are captured and/or taken hostage at the same time, then presidential power is transferred to the next person in the line of presidential succession who is not so compromised. The next person in the presidential line of succession after the Vice President is the Speaker of the House, then the President pro tempore of the Senate, Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Defense, Attorney General, Secretaries of the Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development (like Jeffrey Michener), Transportation, Energy, Education, Veteran Affairs and finally the Secretary of Homeland Security. It should be noted that the requirement for the President to be a natural born citizen of the United States also applies to the line of Presidential succession. For example as of July, 2022 two members of President Biden's cabinet are naturalized citizens: Jennifer Granholm is the Secretary of Energy and was born in Canada, Alejandro Mayorkas is the Secretary of Homeland Security and was born in Cuba. Which means they are ineligible to be in the line of Presidential Succession and cannot act as acting President should the very highly unlikely situation arise that called for it.
