| Date | Occasion | Designee | Position | Notes |
|---|
| February 18, 1981 | Presidential Address to Joint Session of Congress[2] | Terrel Bell | Secretary of Education | [3] |
| January 25, 1984 | State of the Union | Samuel Pierce | Secretary of Housing and Urban Development | [4][5][6][7] |
| January 21, 1985 | Presidential Inauguration | Margaret Heckler | Secretary of Health and Human Services | [8] |
| February 6, 1985 | State of the Union | Malcolm Baldrige | Secretary of Commerce | [4][5][7][9] |
| February 4, 1986 | State of the Union | John Block | Secretary of Agriculture | [4][5][7][10] |
| January 27, 1987 | State of the Union | Richard Lyng | Secretary of Agriculture | [4][5][7][11] |
| January 25, 1988 | State of the Union | Donald Hodel | Secretary of the Interior | [4][3][5][7] |
| February 9, 1989 | Presidential Address to Joint Session of Congress[2] | Lauro Cavazos | Secretary of Education | [citation needed] |
| January 31, 1990 | State of the Union | Edward J. Derwinski | Secretary of Veterans Affairs | [4][5][7][12] |
| January 29, 1991 | State of the Union | Manuel Lujan | Secretary of the Interior | [4][5][7][13] |
| January 28, 1992 | State of the Union | Ed Madigan | Secretary of Agriculture | [4][5][7] |
| February 17, 1993 | Presidential Address to Joint Session of Congress[2] | Bruce Babbitt | Secretary of the Interior | [4][5][7] |
| January 25, 1994 | State of the Union | Mike Espy | Secretary of Agriculture | [4][5][7] |
| January 24, 1995 | State of the Union | Federico Peña | Secretary of Transportation | [4][5][7] |
| January 23, 1996 | State of the Union | Donna Shalala | Secretary of Health and Human Services | [4][5][7][14] |
| February 4, 1997 | State of the Union | Dan Glickman | Secretary of Agriculture | [4][5][7][15] |
| January 27, 1998 | State of the Union | William Daley | Secretary of Commerce | [4][5][7] |
| January 19, 1999 | State of the Union | Andrew Cuomo | Secretary of Housing and Urban Development | [4][5][7][16] |
| January 27, 2000 | State of the Union | Bill Richardson | Secretary of Energy | [4][5][7][17] |
| February 27, 2001 | Presidential Address to Joint Session of Congress[2] | Anthony Principi | Secretary of Veterans Affairs | [4][5][7] |
| September 20, 2001 | Presidential Address to Joint Session of Congress
(following the September 11 attacks) | Dick Cheney | Vice President | [4][18] |
| Tommy Thompson | Secretary of Health and Human Services | | | |
| January 29, 2002 | State of the Union | Gale Norton | Secretary of the Interior | [5][7][19] |
| January 28, 2003 | State of the Union | John Ashcroft | Attorney General | [4][5][7][20] |
| Norman Mineta | Secretary of Transportation | | | |
| January 20, 2004 | State of the Union | Donald Evans | Secretary of Commerce | [4][5][7][21] |
| January 20, 2005 | Presidential Inauguration | Gale Norton | Secretary of the Interior | [22][23] |
| February 2, 2005 | State of the Union | Donald Evans | Secretary of Commerce | [4][5][7][24][25] |
| Ted Stevens (R-AK) | President pro tempore of the Senate | | | |
| January 31, 2006 | State of the Union | Jim Nicholson | Secretary of Veterans Affairs | [4][5][7][24][26] |
| Ted Stevens (R-AK) | President pro tempore of the Senate | | | |
| January 23, 2007 | State of the Union | Alberto Gonzales | Attorney General | [4][5][7][24][27] |
| January 28, 2008 | State of the Union | Dirk Kempthorne | Secretary of the Interior | [4][5][7][28] |
| January 20, 2009 | Presidential Inauguration | Robert Gates | Secretary of Defense | [29][30] |
| February 24, 2009 | Presidential Address to Joint Session of Congress[2] | Eric Holder | Attorney General | [4][5][7][31] |
| September 9, 2009 | Presidential Address to Joint Session of Congress
(Health Care Speech to Congress) | Steven Chu | Secretary of Energy | [32] |
| January 27, 2010 | State of the Union | Shaun Donovan | Secretary of Housing and Urban Development | [5][7] |
| January 25, 2011 | State of the Union | Ken Salazar | Secretary of the Interior | [5][7][33] |
| January 24, 2012 | State of the Union | Tom Vilsack | Secretary of Agriculture | [5][7][34] |
| January 21, 2013 | Presidential Inauguration | Eric Shinseki | Secretary of Veterans Affairs | [35] |
| February 12, 2013 | State of the Union | Steven Chu | Secretary of Energy | [7] |
| January 28, 2014 | State of the Union | Ernest Moniz | Secretary of Energy | [36][37] |
| January 20, 2015 | State of the Union | Anthony Foxx | Secretary of Transportation | [38][39] |
| January 12, 2016 | State of the Union | Orrin Hatch (R-UT) | President pro tempore of the Senate | [40] |
| Jeh Johnson | Secretary of Homeland Security | [41] | | |
| January 20, 2017 | Presidential Inauguration | Orrin Hatch (R-UT) | President pro tempore of the Senate | [42] |
| Jeh Johnson | Secretary of Homeland Security | [43] | | |
| February 28, 2017 | Presidential Address to Joint Session of Congress[2] | David Shulkin | Secretary of Veterans Affairs | [44][45][46] |
| January 30, 2018 | State of the Union | Sonny Perdue | Secretary of Agriculture | [47] |
| February 5, 2019 | State of the Union | Rick Perry | Secretary of Energy | [48] |
| February 4, 2020 | State of the Union | David Bernhardt | Secretary of the Interior | |