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FAQs >
 Congress by the Numbers, 111th Congress, 2nd Session

Current Party Numbers: 111th Congress, 1st Session

  House Senate
Democrats 256 57
Independents 0 2
Republicans 178 41
Vacancies 1 0

Sources: CQ.com: Members, Fact Files, Party Ratios; and Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives.

See also "Membership of the 111th Congress: A Profile," by Mildred Amer and Jennifer Manning, CRS Report for Congress R40086, December 31, 2008 (10-page pdf

For a table showing party control of the 80th through the 109th Congresses, see the Congressional Deskbook, Section 7.41.

Congress by the Numbers
  2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996
Days in Session Senate 191 184 190 138 159 133 167 149 173 141 162 143 153 132
House 159 118 164 101 140 110 133 123 142 135 137 119 132 122
Time in Session (hours) Senate 1421 989 1376 1028 1222 1032 1454 1043 1236 1018 1184 1095 1093 1037
House 1247 890 1478 850 1067 879 1015 772 922 1054 1125 999 1004 919
Average Length Daily Session (hours) Senate 7.4 5.4 7.2 7.4 7.7 7.8 8.7 7 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.7 7.1 7.9
House 7.8 7.5 9.0 8.4 7.6 8.0 7.6 6.3 6.5 7.8 8.2 8.4 7.6 7.5
Bills/Resolutions Introduced Senate 3380 1590 3033 2302 2616 1318 2398 1558 2212 1546 2352 1321 1840 860
House 5691 3225 6194 2451 5703 2338 4616 2711 4318 2701 4241 2254 3728 1899
TOTAL 9071 4815 9227 4753 8321 3656 7014 4269 6530 4247 6593 3575 5568 2759
Public Laws Enacted Number 119 278 138 248 169 300 198 241 136 410 170 241 153 245
% of total Introduced 1.3 5.8 1.5 5.2 2.03 8.21 2.82 5.65 2.08 9.65 2.58 6.74 2.75 8.88
Recorded Votes Senate 397 215 442 279 366 216 459 253 380 298 374 314 298 306
House 1 991 690 1186 541 671 544 677 484 512 603 611 547 640 455
TOTAL 1388 905 1628 820 1037 760 1136 739 892 901 985 861 938 761
Vetoes   0 4 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 7 2 5 5 3 3 6
Overridden   3 1 0           1 0 2    

1 Includes quorum calls
2
Includes pocket vetoes
3
Does not include line-item vetoes

Source: CQ Weekly, Resume of Congressional Activity January 2, 2009.
A summary of the Resumes of Congressional Activity from 1995 - 2004 appeared in Appendix 8 of the Congressional Deskbook 2005-2007, and is available here as an Excel spreadsheet.

Differences between the House and the Senate At-a-Glance

House

Senate

Larger - 435 members Smaller - 100 members
Shorter term - 2 years Longer term - 6 years
Four calendars (Union, House, Private, and Discharge) Two calendars (Legislative and Executive)
Less procedural flexibility / more restraints More procedural flexibility / fewer restraints
Stronger Leadership - power less evenly distributed Weaker Leadership - power more evenly distributed
Role of Rules Committee and special rules to govern floor consideration Unanimous consent and complex unanimous consent time agreements to govern floor consideration
Scheduling by Speaker and majority-party leadership, with limited consultation among members Scheduling by majority-party leadership, with broad consultation among all members
Germaneness of amendments generally required Germaneness of amendments rarely required
Presiding officer has considerable discretion in recognition; rulings rarely challenged Presiding officer has little discretion in recognition; rulings frequently challenged
Debate always restricted Debate rarely restricted
Debate-ending motions by majority vote (218 representatives) Cloture invoked by three-fifths vote (60 senators)
Quorum calls permitted in connection with record votes Quorum calls permitted almost any time and used for constructive delay
Narrower constituency - House District Larger constituency - entire state
Elections generally less competitive Elections generally more competitive
Specialists Generalists
Less reliant on staff More reliant on staff
Less media coverage More media coverage
More partisan Less partisan
Adjourns at end of day Recesses at end of most days
Salary: 2009 and 2010: $174,000    2008: $169,300
2006 and 2007: $165,200 (2005: $162,100)
For more information, see Pay and Perquisites of Members of Congress
Salary: 2009 and 2010: $174,000    2008:  $169,300
2006 and 2007: $165,200 (2005: $162,100)
For more information, see Pay and Perquisites of Members of Congress

Source: Congressional Deskbook, §§ 8.150-8.151; Executive Order 13525:"Adjustments of Certain Rates of Pay," Federal Register, Vol. 74 No. 249, page 69231, December 23, 2009 (12-page pdf ); Executive Order 13454:"Adjustments of Certain Rates of Pay," Federal Register, Vol. 73 No. 5, page 1486, January 8, 2008 (14-page pdf )
 

 

This page is available as a pdf    and is online at  www.CongressNumbers.com

 

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Last updated: January 27, 2010

 

 
 

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