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109th United States Congress

109th United States Congress
108th ← → 110th

House Speaker Dennis Hastert (2006)
Duration: January 3, 2005 – January 3, 2007
Senate President: Dick Cheney (R)
Senate Pres. pro tem: Ted Stevens (R)
House Speaker: Dennis Hastert (R)
Members: 100 Senators
435 Representatives
5 Non-voting members
Senate Majority: Republican Party
House Majority: Republican Party
Sessions
1st: January 4, 2005 – December 22, 2005
2nd: January 3, 2006 – December 8, 2006

The One Hundred Ninth United States Congress was the legislative branch of the United States, composed of the presidency. House members were elected in the 2004 elections on November 4, 2004. Senators were elected in three classes in the 2000 elections on November 7, 2000, 2002 elections on November 5, 2002, or 2004 elections on November 4, 2004. The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the Twenty-second Census of the United States in 2000. Both chambers had a Republican majority, the same party as President Bush.

Contents

Major events

  • November 7, 2006 — California Representative Nancy Pelosi and Nevada Senator Harry Reid lead the Democratic Party in taking control of both the House and the Senate in the 2006 congressional elections, the first time in 12 years the Democrats secure control of both houses of Congress simultaneously.
  • This Congress met for 242 days, the fewest since World War II and 12 days fewer than the 80th Congress.[1][2][3] As the Congress neared its conclusion, some media commentators labelled this the "Do Nothing Congress," [1][4][5][6][7] a pejorative originally given to the 80th United States Congress by President Harry Truman, although the number of bills passed by Congress is no measure of its success.

Major legislation

Enacted

With Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) looking on, President North Korea Nonproliferation Act of 2006, on October 13, 2006.

Proposed, but not enacted

More information: Complete index of Public and Private Laws for 109th Congress at U.S. Government Printing Office

Hearings

Party summary

Senate

Party standings in the Senate during the 109th Congress
  44 Democratic Senators
  1 Independent Senator, caucusing with Democrats
  55 Republican Senators

The party summary for the Senate remained the same during the entire 109th Congress. On January 16, 2006, Democrat Jon Corzine resigned, but Democrat Bob Menendez was appointed and took Corzine's seat the next day.

Affiliation Party
(Shading indicates majority caucus)
Total
Republican Democratic Independent Vacant
End of previous Congress 51 48 1 100 0
Entire Congress 55 44 1 100 0
Final voting share 55% 45%
Beginning of the next Congress 49 49 2 100 0

House of Representatives

Due to resignations and special elections, Republicans lost a net of three seats; Democrats gained one seat; three seats were left vacant; and one seat which was vacant at the beginning of the Congress was filled. All seats were filled though special elections. (See Changes in membership, below.)

Affiliation Party
(Shading indicates majority caucus)
Total
Republican Democratic Independent Vacant
End of previous Congress 225 207 1 433 2
Begin 232 201 1 434 1
March 10, 2005 202 435 0
April 29, 2005 231 434 1
August 2, 2005 230 433 2
September 6, 2005 231 434 1
December 1, 2005 230 433 2
December 7, 2005 231 434 1
January 16, 2006 201 433 2
June 9, 2006 230 432 3
June 13, 2006 231 433 2
September 29, 2006 230 432 3
November 3, 2006 229 431 4
November 13, 2006 230 202 433 2
December 31, 2006 229 432 3
Final voting share 53.0% 47.0%
Non-voting members 1 4 0 5 0
Beginning of next Congress 202 233 0 435 0

Leadership

[ Section contents: Senate: Majority (R), Minority (D) • House: Majority (R), Minority (D) ]

Senate

Senate President
Dick Cheney (R)
Senate President pro tempore
Ted Stevens (R)

Majority (Republican) leadership

Minority (Democratic) leadership

House of Representatives

House Speaker
Dennis Hastert (R)

Majority (Republican) leadership

Minority (Democratic) leadership

Members

Senate

Senators' party membership by state

House of Representatives

The names of members of the House of Representatives are preceded by their district numbers.

Initial percentage of members of the House of Representatives from each party by state at the opening of the 109th Congress in January 2005

Changes in membership

Members who came and left during this Congress.

Senate

State
(class) 		Vacator Reason for change Successor Date of successor's
formal installation
New Jersey
(1) 		Jon Corzine (D) Corzine resigned to become Governor of New Jersey on January 17, 2006. Bob Menendez (D) January 18, 2006
Connecticut
(1) 		Joseph Lieberman (D) Change of party affiliation Joseph Lieberman (ID) August 9, 2006

House of Representatives

District Vacator Reason for change Successor Date successor
seated
California 5th None Representative Bob Matsui (D) died January 1, 2005 — before the end of the previous Congress. A special election was held March 8, 2005 Doris Matsui (D) March 10, 2005
Ohio 2nd Rob Portman (R) Resigned April 29, 2005 to become the United States Trade Representative. A special election was held August 2, 2005 Jean Schmidt (R) September 6, 2005[9]
California 48th Christopher Cox (R) Resigned August 2, 2005 to become chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. A special election was held December 6, 2005 John Campbell (R) December 7, 2005[10]
California 50th Duke Cunningham (R) Resigned December 1, 2005 after pleading guilty to conspiracy for bribes and tax evasion. A special election was held June 6, 2006 Brian Bilbray (R) June 13, 2006[11]
New Jersey 13th Bob Menendez (D) Resigned January 16, 2006 to become a U.S. Senator. A special election was held November 7, 2006 Albio Sires (D) November 13, 2006[12]
Texas 22nd Tom DeLay (R) Resigned June 9, 2006 after a series of criminal indictments. A special election was held November 6, 2006 Shelley Sekula-Gibbs (R) November 13, 2006[13]
Florida 16th Mark Foley (R) Resigned September 29, 2006 after a teen sex scandal. Remained vacant until the next Congress.[14]
Ohio 18th Bob Ney (R) Resigned November 3, 2006 after pleading guilty to conspiracy. Remained vacant until the next Congress.
Nevada 2nd Jim Gibbons (R) Resigned December 31, 2006 to become Governor of Nevada. Remained vacant until the next Congress.

Employees

Senate

House of Representatives

See also: Rules of the House, Rule 2: "Other officers and officials"

See also

Elections

References

  1. ^ a b  
  2. ^  
  3. ^ Cochran, John (2006-05-12). "'Do-Nothing Congress' Raises Critics' Ire". . http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Story?id=1955256&page=1.
  4. ^ "The Cafferty File: Do-Nothing Congress". The Situation Room. 2006-12-04. CNN.cnn.com
  5. ^ "Goodbye To The Do-Nothing Congress". Face The Nation. 2006-12-10. CBS.cbsnews.com
  6. ^  
  7. ^ Mann, T.brookings.edu; (2006). "OUP USA". N.Y., N.Y.: OUP USA. 
  8. ^ a b c d e The Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) is affiliated with the United States Democratic Party.
  9. ^ Ohio 2nd: A primary election was held on June 14, 2005. A runoff election was held on August 2, 2005. Jean Schmidt won and took her seat the next month. See Ohio 2nd congressional district election, 2005.
  10. ^ California 48th: A primary election was held on October 4, 2005. A runoff election was held on December 6, 2005. John Campbell won and took his seat the next day.See California 48th Congressional District Election, 2005.
  11. ^ California 50th: A primary election was held on April 11, 2006. A runoff election was held on June 6, 2006. Brian Bilbray won and took his seat one week later.See California 50th congressional district special election, 2006.
  12. ^ New Jersey 13th: An election was held to fill the unexpired term at the November 7, 2006 General Election. Sires was sworn in on November 13. See New Jersey 13th congressional district special election, 2006.
  13. ^ An election was held to fill the unexpired term at the November 7, 2006 General Election. Sekula-Gibbs took her seat on November 13.
  14. ^ 2 Election Winners to Fill Vacancies", via wtopnews.com

External links

  • Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
  • House History from the U.S. House of Representatives
  • Statistics & Lists from the U.S. Senate
  • Legislative information from THOMAS at the Library of Congress
United States Congresses by year convened
   
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