109th United States Congress Totally Explained

Everything about 109th United States Congress totally explained

109th United States Congress
United States Capitol (2002)
Session:	January 3, 2005 – January 3, 2007
President of the Senate:	Dick Cheney
President pro tempore of the Senate:	Ted Stevens
Speaker of the House:	Dennis Hastert
Members:	435 Representatives 100 Senators 5 Territorial Representatives
House Majority:	Republican
Senate Majority:	Republican

The One Hundred Ninth United States Congress was a meeting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives, which together comprise the legislative branch of the United States federal government. It met in Washington, DC from January 3 2005 to January 3 2007, during the first two years of the second administration of U.S. President George W. Bush.
House members were elected in the 2004 general election on 2004-11-04. Senators were elected in three classes in the 2000 general election on 2000-11-07, 2002 general election on 2002-11-05, or 2004 general election on 2004-11-04. The apportionment of seats in this 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.

Dates of sessions

January 3, 2005–January 3, 2007

First session: January 4, 2005–December 22, 2005
Second session: January 3, 2006–December 9, 2006 Previous: 108th Congress • Next: 110th Congress

Major events

Prominent events included the filibuster "nuclear option" scare, the alleged failure of the federal government to help in Hurricane Katrina disaster relief, the Tom DeLay corruption investigation, the CIA leak scandal, the rising unpopularity of the Iraq War, the 2006 immigration reform protests and government involvement in the Terri Schiavo case.
   In addition to the DeLay indictment, this Congress also had a number of scandals: Bob Ney, Randy "Duke" Cunningham, William J. Jefferson, Mark Foley scandal, and the Jack Abramoff scandals.
   As the session neared its conclusion, some commentators labelled this the "Do Nothing Congress," a pejorative originally given to the 80th United States Congress by President Harry Truman. Noting the comparison, congressional scholar Norman J. Ornstein said, "What would Harry Truman say about the 109th Congress? Harry Truman would probably apologize to the 80th Congress."
   This Congress met for 242 days, the fewest since World War II and 12 days fewer than the 80th Congress.
   The President vetoed only one bill, his first veto, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005.

Major legislation

Enacted

2005-02-17 — Class Action Fairness Act of 2005,

State ranked in partisan order	Percentage Republicans	Percentage Democrats	Republican/ Democrat	Republican seat plurality
Alabama	100%	0%	2/0	2
Alaska	100%	0%	2/0	2
Arizona	100%	0%	2/0	2
Georgia	100%	0%	2/0	2
Idaho	100%	0%	2/0	2
Kansas	100%	0%	2/0	2
Kentucky	100%	0%	2/0	2
Maine	100%	0%	2/0	2
Mississippi	100%	0%	2/0	2
Missouri	100%	0%	2/0	2
New Hampshire	100%	0%	2/0	2
North Carolina	100%	0%	2/0	2
Ohio	100%	0%	2/0	2
Oklahoma	100%	0%	2/0	2
Pennsylvania	100%	0%	2/0	2
South Carolina	100%	0%	2/0	2
Tennessee	100%	0%	2/0	2
Texas	100%	0%	2/0	2
Utah	100%	0%	2/0	2
Virginia	100%	0%	2/0	2
Wyoming	100%	0%	2/0	2
United States	55%	44%	55/44	11
Colorado	50%	50%	1/1	0
Florida	50%	50%	1/1	0
Indiana	50%	50%	1/1	0
Iowa	50%	50%	1/1	0
Louisiana	50%	50%	1/1	0
Minnesota	50%	50%	1/1	0
Montana	50%	50%	1/1	0
Nebraska	50%	50%	1/1	0
Nevada	50%	50%	1/1	0
New Mexico	50%	50%	1/1	0
Oregon	50%	50%	1/1	0
Rhode Island	50%	50%	1/1	0
South Dakota	50%	50%	1/1	0
Vermont	0%	50%	0/1 (1 independent)	-1
Arkansas	0%	100%	0/2	-2
California	0%	100%	0/2	-2
Connecticut	0%	100%	0/2	-2
Delaware	0%	100%	0/2	-2
Hawaii	0%	100%	0/2	-2
Illinois	0%	100%	0/2	-2
Maryland	0%	100%	0/2	-2
Massachusetts	0%	100%	0/2	-2
Michigan	0%	100%	0/2	-2
New Jersey	0%	100%	0/2	-2
New York	0%	100%	0/2	-2
North Dakota	0%	100%	0/2	-2
Washington	0%	100%	0/2	-2
West Virginia	0%	100%	0/2	-2
Wisconsin	0%	100%	0/2	-2

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		Republican	Democratic	Independent	Total	Vacant	Notes
Affiliation					Total		Notes
Members (shading indicates majority caucus)	Begin (2005-01-03)	232	201	1	434	1	Bob Matsui (D) died before Congress began
	2005-03-10	232	202		435	0	Doris Matsui (D) took Bob Matsui's seat
	2005-04-29	231			434	1	Rob Portman (R) resigned
	2005-08-02	230			433	2	Chris Cox (R) resigned
	2005-09-06	231			434	1	Jean Schmidt (R) took Portman's seat
	2005-12-01	230			433	2	Duke Cunningham (R) resigned
	2005-12-07	231			434	1	John Campbell (R) took Cox's seat
	2006-01-16	231	201		433	2	Bob Menendez (D) resigned
	2006-06-09	230			432	3	Tom DeLay (R) resigned
	2006-06-13	231			433	2	Brian Bilbray (R) took Cunningham's seat
	2006-09-29	230			432	3	Mark Foley (R) resigned
	2006-11-03	229			431	4	Bob Ney (R) resigned
	2006-11-13	230	202		433	2	Albio Sires (D) took Menendez's seat Shelley Sekula-Gibbs (R) took DeLay's seat
	2006-12-31	229	202		432	3	Jim Gibbons (R) resigned
Latest voting share		53%	47%
Notes				Caucused with the Democrats
Delegates and Resident Commissioner		1	4	0	5	0

State ranked in partisan order	Percentage Republicans	Percentage Democrats	Republican/ Democrat	Republican seat plurality
Nebraska	100%	0%	3/0	3
Idaho	100%	0%	2/0	2
New Hampshire	100%	0%	2/0	2
Alaska	100%	0%	1/0	1
Delaware	100%	0%	1/0	1
Montana	100%	0%	1/0	1
Wyoming	100%	0%	1/0	1
Kentucky	83%	17%	5/1	4
Iowa	80%	20%	4/1	3
Oklahoma	80%	20%	4/1	3
Indiana	78%	22%	7/2	5
Arizona	75%	25%	6/2	4
Kansas	75%	25%	3/1	2
Virginia	73%	27%	8/3	5
Florida	72%	28%	18/7	11
Alabama	71%	29%	5/2	3
Louisiana	71%	29%	5/2	3
Ohio	67%	33%	12/6	6
South Carolina	67%	33%	4/2	2
Nevada	67%	33%	2/1	1
New Mexico	67%	33%	2/1	1
Utah	67%	33%	2/1	1
Texas	65%	35%	20/11 (1 vacancy)	9
Pennsylvania	63%	37%	12/7	5
Michigan	60%	40%	9/6	3
Connecticut	60%	40%	3/2	1
Colorado	57%	43%	4/3	1
Missouri	56%	44%	5/4	1
Georgia	54%	46%	7/6	1
North Carolina	54%	46%	7/6	1
United States	53%	47%	231/201	30
Minnesota	50%	50%	4/4	0
Wisconsin	50%	50%	4/4	0
Mississippi	50%	50%	2/2	0
New Jersey	50%	50%	6/6 (1 vacancy)	0
Vermont	0%	0%	0/0 (1 independent)	0
Illinois	47%	53%	9/10	-1
Tennessee	44%	56%	4/5	-1
California	38%	62%	20/33	-13
West Virginia	33%	67%	1/2	-1
Washington	33%	67%	3/6	-3
New York	31%	69%	9/20	-11
Arkansas	25%	75%	1/3	-2
Maryland	25%	75%	2/6	-4
Oregon	20%	80%	1/4	-3
North Dakota	0%	100%	0/1	-1
South Dakota	0%	100%	0/1	-1
Hawaii	0%	100%	0/2	-2
Maine	0%	100%	0/2	-2
Rhode Island	0%	100%	0/2	-2
Massachusetts	0%	100%	0/10	-10
State ranked in partisan order	Percentage Republicans	Percentage Democrats	Republican/ Democrat	Republican seat plurality

Leadership

Assistant to the House Minority Leader: John Spratt

Democratic Campaign Committee Chairman: Rahm Emanuel

Democratic Steering Committee Co-Chairs: Rosa DeLauro, George Miller

Members

Senate

Alabama

Richard Shelby (R)

Jeff Sessions (R)

Alaska

Ted Stevens (R)

Lisa Murkowski (R)

Arizona

John McCain (R)

Jon Kyl (R)

Arkansas

Blanche Lincoln (D)

Mark Pryor (D)

California

Dianne Feinstein (D)

Barbara Boxer (D)

Colorado

Wayne Allard (R)

Ken Salazar (D)

Connecticut

Christopher Dodd (D)

Joseph Lieberman (D)

Delaware

Joe Biden (D)

Thomas Carper (D)

Florida

Bill Nelson (D)

Mel Martinez (R)

Georgia

Saxby Chambliss (R)

Johnny Isakson (R)

Hawaii

Daniel Inouye (D)

Daniel Akaka (D)

Idaho

Larry Craig (R)

Mike Crapo (R)

Illinois

Richard Durbin (D)

Barack Obama (D)

Indiana

Richard Lugar (R)

Evan Bayh (D)

Iowa

Chuck Grassley (R)

Tom Harkin (D)

Kansas

Sam Brownback (R)

Pat Roberts (R)

Kentucky

Mitch McConnell (R)

Jim Bunning (R)

Louisiana

Mary Landrieu (D)

David Vitter (R)

Maine

Olympia Snowe (R)

Susan Collins (R)

Maryland

Paul Sarbanes (D)

Barbara Mikulski (D)

Massachusetts

Edward Kennedy (D)

John Kerry (D)

Michigan

Carl Levin (D)

Debbie Stabenow (D)

Minnesota

Mark Dayton (DFL)

Norm Coleman (R)

Mississippi

Thad Cochran (R)

Trent Lott (R)

Missouri

Kit Bond (R)

James Talent (R)

Montana

Max Baucus (D)

Conrad Burns (R)

Nebraska

Chuck Hagel (R)

Ben Nelson (D)

Nevada

Harry Reid (D)

John Ensign (R)

New Hampshire

Judd Gregg (R)

John E. Sununu (R)

New Jersey

Frank Lautenberg (D)

Jon Corzine (D), resigned January 17 2006

Bob Menendez (D), January 18 2006-End

New Mexico

Pete Domenici (R)

Jeff Bingaman (D)

New York

Charles Schumer (D)

Hillary Clinton (D)

North Carolina

Elizabeth Dole (R)

Richard Burr (R)

North Dakota

Kent Conrad (D)

Byron Dorgan (D)

Ohio

Mike DeWine (R)

George Voinovich (R)

Oklahoma

James Inhofe (R)

Tom Coburn (R)

Oregon

Ron Wyden (D)

Gordon Smith (R)

Pennsylvania

Arlen Specter (R)

Rick Santorum (R)

Rhode Island

Jack Reed (D)

Lincoln Chafee (R)

South Carolina

Lindsey Graham (R)

Jim DeMint (R)

South Dakota

Tim Johnson (D)

John Thune (R)

Tennessee

Bill Frist (R)

Lamar Alexander (R)

Texas

Kay Bailey Hutchison (R)

John Cornyn (R)

Utah

Orrin Hatch (R)

Robert Bennett (R)

Vermont

Patrick Leahy (D)

James Jeffords (I)

Virginia

John Warner (R)

George Allen (R)

Washington

Patty Murray (D)

Maria Cantwell (D)

West Virginia

Robert Byrd (D)

Jay Rockefeller (D)

Wisconsin

Herbert Kohl (D)

Russ Feingold (D)

Wyoming

Craig Thomas (R)

Michael Enzi (R)

House of Representatives

The names of members of the House of Representatives elected statewide at-large, are preceded by an "At-large," and the names of those elected from districts are preceded by their district numbers.
for maps of congressional districts.