The One Hundred Fifteenth United States Congress is the current meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. It meets in Washington, D.C. from January 3, 2017, to January 3, 2019, during the final weeks of Barack Obama's presidency and the first two years of Donald Trump's presidency. The November 2016 elections maintained Republican control of both the House and Senate.
Video 115th United States Congress
Major events
- January 5, 2017: House of Representatives condemned United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334.
- January 6, 2017: Joint session counted and certified the electoral votes of the 2016 presidential election.
- January 11-12, 2017: Senate, in an all-night session, took first steps to repeal the Affordable Care Act, (ACA). The final vote was 51 to 48 to approve a budget resolution to allow "broad swaths of the Affordable Care Act to be repealed through a process known as budget reconciliation."
- January 20, 2017: Inauguration of President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
- February 7, 2017: the Vice President cast the tie-breaking vote to confirm Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education. This was the first time in United States history that a cabinet confirmation was tied in the Senate and required a tie-breaking vote.
- February 28, 2017: President's speech to a joint session
- April 6, 2017: Senate invoked the "nuclear option" to weaken Supreme Court filibusters. Nominee Neil Gorsuch was then confirmed the next day.
- June 14, 2017: Majority Whip Steve Scalise and several staffers were shot during the 2017 Congressional baseball shooting. They were practicing for the annual Congressional Baseball Game.
- September 1, 2017: the Parliamentarian of the United States Senate decreed that the Senate had until the end of the month to pass ACA repeal via the reconciliation process, or the option would no longer be viable.
- October 24 - December 14, 2017: 2017 United States political sexual scandals from the "Me too" movement:
- Allegations that Congressman Ruben Kihuen sexually harassed a campaign staffer led some in congressional leadership to call for his resignation. Kihuen later announced he would not seek another term in office.
- Senator Al Franken announced he would resign "in the coming weeks" after photographs were made public suggesting that he sexually assaulted Leeann Tweeden, a Los Angeles-based radio personality, during a USO tour in Iraq in 2006. He was also accused by multiple female constituents of groping at various Minnesota fair appearances that he attended.
- Three members of Congress either resigned or announced their impeding resignations. (See "Changes in membership," below)
- Allegations that President Donald Trump raped and sexually harassed at least nineteen women, one girl, and Miss Teen USA contestants resulted in calls by members of Congress for him to resign.
- Allegations that Alabama Republican candidate Roy Moore raped and sexually harassed at least eight women and one girl contributed to his defeat to Democrat Doug Jones in a special Senate election to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
- Allegations that Representative Blake Farenthold sexually harassed a former staffer resulted in the commencement of an investigation by the House Ethics Committee and his announcement he would not seek re-election in 2018.
- January 20-22, 2018: First United States federal government shutdown of 2018
- January 30, 2018: 2018 State of the Union Address
- February 9, 2018: Second United States federal government shutdown of 2018
Maps 115th United States Congress
Major legislation
Enacted
- May 5, 2017: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017, Pub.L. 115-31
- August 2, 2017: Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, Pub.L. 115-44
- December 12, 2017: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018, Pub.L. 115-91
- December 22, 2017: Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, H.R. 1
- February 9, 2018: Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, H.R. 1892
Proposed
- May 4, 2017: American Health Care Act (H.R. 1628), passed House May 4, 2017
- June 8, 2017: Financial CHOICE Act (H.R. 10), passed House June 8, 2017
- February 6, 2018: CLOUD Act
- February 20, 2018: FOSTA
Party summary
- Resignations and new members are discussed in the "Changes in membership" section, below.
Senate
House of Representatives
Leadership
Section contents: Senate: Majority (R), Minority (D) o House: Majority (R), Minority (D)
Senate
- President: Joe Biden (D), until January 20, 2017
- Mike Pence (R), from January 20, 2017
- President pro tempore: Orrin Hatch (R)
- President pro tempore emeritus: Patrick Leahy (D)
Majority (Republican) leadership
- Majority Leader: Mitch McConnell
- Majority Whip: John Cornyn
- Conference Chairman: John Thune
- Conference Vice Chair: Roy Blunt
- Campaign Committee Chair: Cory Gardner
- Policy Committee Chairman: John Barrasso
Minority (Democratic) leadership
- Minority Leader: Chuck Schumer
- Minority Whip: Dick Durbin
- Assistant Minority Leader: Patty Murray
- Chief Deputy Whip: Jeff Merkley
- Caucus Chair: Chuck Schumer
- Policy Committee Chair: Debbie Stabenow
- Caucus Vice Chairs: Mark Warner and Elizabeth Warren
- Caucus Secretary: Tammy Baldwin
- Campaign Committee Chair: Chris Van Hollen
- Policy Committee Vice Chair: Joe Manchin
- Steering Committee Chair: Amy Klobuchar
- Outreach Chair: Bernie Sanders
House of Representatives
- Speaker: Paul Ryan (R)
Majority (Republican) leadership
- Majority Leader: Kevin McCarthy
- Majority Whip: Steve Scalise
- Conference Chair: Cathy McMorris Rodgers
- Conference Vice-Chair: Doug Collins
- Conference Secretary: Jason T. Smith
- Campaign Committee Chairman: Steve Stivers
- Policy Committee Chairman: Luke Messer
Minority (Democratic) leadership
- Minority Leader: Nancy Pelosi
- Minority Whip: Steny Hoyer
- Assistant Minority Leader: Jim Clyburn
- Caucus Chairman: Joseph Crowley
- Caucus Vice-Chairwoman: Linda Sánchez
- Campaign Committee Chairman: Ben Ray Luján
- Steering and Policy Committee Co-Chairs: Rosa DeLauro and Eric Swalwell
- Policy and Communications Chairmen: Cheri Bustos, David Cicilline, and Hakeem Jeffries
Demographics
The 115th Congress has the highest average age compared to any other Congress in recent history. The average age of the members in the House of Representatives is 57.8 years, while the average age of the members in the Senate is 61.8 years.
The most common occupation of Senators prior to election was law, followed by public service/politics, then business. In the House of Representatives, business is the dominant prior occupation, followed by public service/politics, and finally law. Currently 94.1% of House members and 100% of Senators have a bachelor's degree or higher, a historically high level of education for a United States Congress. In addition, 167 members of the House and 55 Members of the Senate have a law degree. Only 18 members of Congress have no college education.
The extent of racial diversity in the 115th Congress is 52 African American members, 45 Hispanic or Latino members, 18 members of Asian, South Asian, or Pacific Islander ancestry, 2 members of Native American ancestry, the remaining 418 members of Congress are White. Women make up 20.1% of the total membership in the 115th Congress, which has a total of 109 women and 426 men. This represents an increase of 21 women from the 114th Congress.
Currently, there are seven openly LGBT members serving in Congress. Tammy Baldwin, Jared Polis, Sean Patrick Maloney, Mark Takano, and Mark Pocan are all openly gay, while Kyrsten Sinema is openly bisexual. The Majority of the 115th Congress is religious and 90.7% of those religious members are Christian. Approximately half of the Christian members are Protestant. Other religious faiths of Congress members include Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, and Hindu.
Members
Senate
The numbers refer to their Senate classes. All of the class 3 seats were contested in the November 2016 elections. Class 1 terms end with this Congress, requiring re-election in 2018; Class 2 began in the last Congress, requiring re-election in 2020; and Class 3 began in this Congress, requiring re-election in 2022.
House of Representatives
All 435 seats were filled by the regular elections on November 8, 2016, or subsequent special elections thereafter.
Changes in membership
Senate
House of Representatives
Committees
Section contents: Senate, House, Joint
Listed alphabetically by chamber, including Chairman and Ranking Member.
Senate
House of Representatives
Joint
Employees and legislative agency directors
Senate
- Chaplain: Barry C. Black
- Parliamentarian: Elizabeth MacDonough
- Secretary: Julie E. Adams
- Sergeant at Arms: Frank J. Larkin
- Secretary for the Majority: Laura Dove
- Secretary for the Minority: Gary B. Myrick
House of Representatives
- Chaplain: Patrick J. Conroy
- Chief Administrative Officer: Phil Kiko
- Clerk: Karen L. Haas
- Historian: [Data unknown/missing.]
- Parliamentarian: Thomas J. Wickham Jr.
- Sergeant at Arms: Paul D. Irving
Legislative branch agency directors
- Architect of the Capitol:Stephen T. Ayers
- Comptroller General of the United States:Eugene Louis Dodaro
- Director of the Congressional Budget Office: Keith Hall
- Librarian of Congress: Carla Diane Hayden
- Public Printer of the United States: Jim Bradley
See also
- United States elections, 2016 (elections leading to this Congress)
- United States presidential election, 2016
- United States Senate elections, 2016
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2016
- United States elections, 2018 (elections during this Congress, leading to the next Congress)
- United States Senate elections, 2018
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2018
- List of freshman class members of the 115th United States Congress
- List of United States Representatives in the 115th Congress by seniority
- List of United States Senators in the 115th Congress by seniority
Notes
References
External links
- Official website, via Congress.gov
- "Videos of House of Representatives Sessions for the 115th Congress from www.C-SPAN.org".
- "Videos of Senate Sessions for the 115th Congress from www.C-SPAN.org".
- "Videos of Committees from the House and Senate for the 115th Congress from www.C-SPAN.org".
Source of article : Wikipedia
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