111th United States Congress


The 111th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government from January 3, 2009, until January 3, 2011. It began during the last two weeks of the George W. Bush administration, with the remainder spanning the first two years of Barack Obama's presidency. It was composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The apportionment of seats in the House was based on the 2000 U.S. Census. In the November 2008 elections, the Democratic Party increased its majorities in both chambers, giving President Obama a Democratic majority in the legislature for the first two years of his presidency. However, the majority was only filibuster proof for a period of 72 working days while the Senate was actually in session. A new delegate seat was created for the Northern Mariana Islands. The 111th Congress had the most experienced members in history: at the start of the 111th Congress, the average member of the House had served 10.3 years, while the average Senator had served 13.4 years.

Major events

Enacted

At the encouragement of the Obama administration, Congress devoted significant time considering health care reform. In March 2010, Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law, the first comprehensive health care reform legislation in decades that created the first National health insurance program, along with further amendments in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. Other major reform proposals during the health care debate included:

Senate

House of Representatives

Leadership

Senate

In this Congress, Class 3 meant their term ended with this Congress, requiring reelection in 2010; Class 1 meant their term began in the last Congress, requiring reelection in 2012; and Class 2 meant their term began in this Congress, requiring reelection in 2014.

Alabama">List of United States Senators from Alabama">Alabama

House of Representatives

Alabama">List of United States Representatives from Alabama">Alabama

Changes in membership

Senate

Four of the changes are associated with the 2008 presidential election and appointments to the Obama Administration, one senator changed parties, one election was disputed, two senators died, one senator resigned, and three appointed senators served only until special elections were held during this Congress.

House of Representatives

Five changes are associated with appointments to the Obama Administration, four directly and one indirectly. Two representatives changed parties, one died, and five resigned. House vacancies are only filled by elections. State laws regulate when there will be special elections.

Committees

Lists of committees and their party leaders, for members of the committees and their assignments, go into the Official Congressional Directory at the bottom of the article and click on the link, in the directory after the pages of terms of service, you will see the committees of the Senate, House and Joint and after the committee pages, you will see the House/Senate committee assignments in the directory, on the committees section of the House and Senate in the Official Congressional Directory, the committee's members on the first row on the left side shows the chairman of the committee and on the right side shows the ranking member of the committee.

Senate

Employees

Legislative branch agency">List of federal agencies in the United States#Legislative branch">Legislative branch agency directors