117th United States Congress

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## 117th United States Congress

←116th
118th→

United States Capitol

**January 3, 2021 – January 3, 2023**

###

Sessions:

**1st:** January 3, 2021 – January 3, 2022
**2nd:** January 3, 2022 – January 3, 2023

### Senate Majority

Republican
*until January 20, 2021*
Democratic
*from January 20, 2021*

### Senate President

Mike Pence (R),
*until January 20, 2021*
Kamala Harris (D),
*from January 20, 2021*

### House Speaker

Nancy Pelosi (D)

The **117th United States Congress** was the meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government that convened in Washington, D.C., on January 3, 2021, during the final weeks of Donald Trump's presidency, and ended on January 3, 2023, after the first two years of Joe Biden's presidency.

The 2020 elections decided control of both chambers. In the House of Representatives, the Democratic Party retained their majority, albeit reduced from the 116th Congress. It is similar in size to the majority held by the Republican Party during the 83rd Congress (1953–1955).

In the Senate, Republicans held the majority at the start. However, on January 20, 2021, three new Democratic senators (Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock of Georgia and Alex Padilla of California) were sworn in, resulting in 50 seats held by Republicans, 48 seats held by Democrats, and two held by independents who caucus with the Democrats. Effectively, this created a 50–50 split, which had not occurred since the 107th Congress in 2001. This was only the third time in U.S. history that the Senate has been evenly split, the first being in the 47th Congress (1881–1883).

The new senators were sworn into office by Vice President Kamala Harris just hours after her inauguration. With Harris now serving as the tie breaker in her constitutional role as President of the Senate, Democrats gained control of the Senate, and thereby full control of Congress for the first time since the 111th Congress ended in 2011. Additionally, with the inauguration of Joe Biden as president that same day, Democrats assumed control of the executive branch as well, attaining an overall federal government trifecta, also for the first time since the 111th Congress.

## Major Events

### January 2021

The Congress began on January 3, 2021. Nancy Pelosi was re-elected as Speaker of the House with 216 votes, two more then the needed 214 (eight members did not cast votes). Kevin McCarthy came in second, with 209 votes. Hakeem Jeffries and Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth came in third, with one vote each (Conor Lamb cast his vote for Jeffries, and Jared Golden cast his vote for Duckworth). Representatives Mikie Sherrill, Elissa Slotkin, and Abigail Spanberger (all Democrats) voted present, while Democrat Alcee Hastings and Republicans Maria Elvira Salazar and David Valadao where absent at the time of the vote. (Hastings was being treated for pancreatic cancer, and passed away a few months later. Salazar and Valadao where COVID-19 positive and were quarantined at the time of the vote).

Two days later, a runoff election was held in Georgia, in which two Democrats (Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff) defeated two Republicans (David Purdue and Kelly Loeffler). With this, the Democrats had 48 Senate seats, plus two independents who caucuses with the Democrats, and Kamala Harris as the incoming Vice President, the Democrats would take a Senate majority on the 20th.

The next day, while certifying the results of the 2020 United States presidential election, a mob stormed the Capitol building and temporarily delayed the certification of the vote.

A week later, the House of Representatives impeached Donald Trump a second time, alleging he incited the mob.

Another week later, Joe Biden became president and Kamala Harris the vice president. Harris swore in Ossoff, Warnock, and Alex Padilla, a senator appointed to replace Harris by Governor Gavin Newsom.

On January 25, the House of Representatives formally sent articles of impeachment to the Senate.

### February 2021

On February 3, the Senate passed an organizing resolution which officially allowed Democrats to chair committees and freshman Senators to sit on committees. The next day, the House of Representatives removed freshman representative from Georgia Marjorie Taylor Greene from her committee assignments after controversial comments.

From February 9–13, the Senate tried the Trump impeachment. All 48 Democrats, both Independents, and Republican Senators Richard Burr, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Mitt Romney, Pat Toomey, Bill Cassidy, and Ben Sasse voted to impeach Trump. As Trump was no longer in office, the terms of impeachment only would have barred Trump from running again.

## Composition

### Senate

*Listed by state, then by seniority. If a senator left office or took office after January 3, 2021, and before January 3, 2023, it shall be indicated. Party affiliation is also indicated.*

#### Alabama

* Richard Shelby (R)
* Tommy Tuberville (R)

#### Alaska

* Lisa Murkowski (R)
* Dan Sullivan (R)

#### Arizona

* Kyrsten Sinema (D, later I)
* Mark Kelly (D)

#### Arkansas

* John Boozman (R)
* Tom Cotton (R)

#### California

* Dianne Feinstein (D)
* Kamala Harris (D) (until January 18, 2021)
	+ Alex Padilla (D) (from January 20, 2021)

#### Colorado

* Michael Bennet (D)
* John Hickenlooper (D)

#### Connecticut

* Richard Blumenthal (D)
* Chris Murphy (D)

#### Delaware

* Tom Carper (D)
* Chris Coons (D)

#### Florida

* Marco Rubio (R)
* Rick Scott (R)

#### Georgia

* Jon Ossoff (D) (since January 20, 2021)
* Kelly Loeffler (R) (until January 20, 2021)
	+ Raphael Warnock (D) (since January 20, 2021)

#### Hawaii

* Brian Schatz (D)
* Mazie Hirono (D)

#### Idaho

* Mike Crapo (R)
* Jim Risch (R)

#### Illinois

* Dick Durbin (D)
* Tammy Duckworth (D)

#### Indiana

* Todd Young (R)
* Mike Braun (R)

#### Iowa

* Chuck Grassley (R)
* Joni Ernst (R)

#### Kansas

* Jerry Moran (R)
* Roger Marshall (R)

#### Kentucky

* Mitch McConnell (R)
* Rand Paul (R)

#### Louisiana

* Bill Cassidy (R)
* John Kennedy (R)

#### Maine

* Susan Collins (R)
* Angus King (I)

#### Maryland

* Ben Cardin (D)
* Chris Van Hollen (D)

#### Massachusetts

* Elizabeth Warren (D)
* Ed Markey (D)

#### Michigan

* Debbie Stabenow (D)
* Gary Peters (D)

#### Minnesota

* Amy Klobuchar (DFL)
* Tina Smith (DFL)

#### Mississippi

* Roger Wicker (R)
* Cindy Hyde-Smith (R)

#### Missouri

* Roy Blunt (R)
* Josh Hawley (R)

#### Montana

* Jon Tester (D)
* Steve Daines (R)

#### Nebraska

* Deb Fischer (R)
* Ben Sasse (R)

#### Nevada

* Catherine Cortez Masto (D)
* Jacky Rosen (D)

#### New Hampshire

* Jeanne Shaheen (D)
* Maggie Hassan (D)

#### New Jersey

* Bob Menendez (D)
* Cory Booker (D)

#### New Mexico

* Martin Heinrich (D)
* Ben Ray Lujan (D)

#### New York

* Chuck Schumer (D)
* Kirsten Gillibrand (D)

#### North Carolina

* Richard Burr (R)
* Thom Tillis (R)

#### North Dakota

* John Hoeven (R)
* Kevin Cramer (R)

#### Ohio

* Sherrod Brown (D)
* Rob Portman (R)

#### Oklahoma

* Jim Inhofe (R)
* James Lankford (R)

#### Oregon

* Ron Wyden (D)
* Jeff Merkley (D)

#### Pennsylvania

* Bob Casey Jr. (D)
* Pat Toomey (R)

#### Rhode Island

* Jack Reed (D)
* Sheldon Whitehouse (D)

#### South Carolina

* Lindsey Graham (R)
* Tim Scott (R)

#### South Dakota

* John Thune (R)
* Mike Rounds (R)

#### Tennessee

* Marsha Blackburn (R)
* Bill Hagerty (R)

#### Texas

* John Cornyn (R)
* Ted Cruz (R)

#### Utah

* Mike Lee (R)
* Mitt Romney (R)

#### Vermont

* Patrick Leahy (D)
* Bernie Sanders (I)

#### Virginia

* Mark Warner (D)
* Tim Kaine (D)

#### Washington

* Patty Murray (D)
* Maria Cantwell (D)

#### West Virginia

* Joe Manchin (D)
* Shelley Moore Capito (R)

#### Wisconsin

* Ron Johnson (R)
* Tammy Baldwin (D)

#### Wyoming

* John Barrasso (R)
* Cynthia Lummis (R)