The One Hundred Tenth United States Congress was the meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, between January 3, 2007, and January 3, 2009, during the last two years of the second term of President George W. Bush. 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.
Overview In the Senate, there are 16 women, the highest number in history (Barbara Boxer, D-CA; Maria Cantwell, D-WA; Hillary Clinton, D-NY; Susan Collins, R-ME; Elizabeth Dole, R-NC; Dianne Feinstein, D-CA; Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-TX; Amy Klobuchar, D-MN; Mary Landrieu, D-LA; Blanche Lincoln, D-AR; Claire McCaskill, D-MO; Barbara Mikulski, D-MD; Lisa Murkowski, R-AK; Patty Murray, D-WA; Olympia Snowe, R-ME; Debbie Stabenow, D-MI). There are 13 Jews, three Hispanics (Mel Martinez, R-FL; Bob Menendez, D-NJ; Ken Salazar, D-CO) two Asian Americans (Daniel Akaka, D-HI; Daniel Inouye, D-HI), and one Arab American (John Sununu, R-NH). The average age of senators in 2007 is 62 years. The oldest senator in 2007 is President pro tempore Robert Byrd (90); the youngest is John Sununu (44).
The 110th Congress includes the most religiously diverse House in history, including the first Muslims (Keith Ellison, D-MN and André Carson, D-IN), the first Buddhists (Mazie Hirono, D-HI and Hank Johnson, D-GA), 30 Jews, and one atheist (Pete Stark, D-CA). There are 42 African Americans (including two non-voting delegates) and 74 female representatives. There are also 27 Hispanics, four Asian Americans (Mazie Hirono, D-HI; Michael Honda, D-CA; Doris Matsui, D-CA; and David Wu, D-OR), and one Native American (Tom Cole, R-OK). There is one openly gay man (Barney Frank, D-MA) and one lesbian (Tammy Baldwin, D-WI).
Religious demographics As of June 2008, the top five denominations in the Congress are Roman Catholic (29.3%), Baptist (11.1%), Methodist (10.2%), Jewish (7.8%), and Presbyterian (7.6%). Protestant denominations have held a large majority throughout congressional history, reflecting America's traditional demographics. Members of Protestant denominations currently hold 58.0% of seats. Catholics have also been in Congress from the beginning and have seen continuous representation since then. Charles Carroll was in the Continental Congress and was appointed to the Senate in 1789. Daniel Carroll of Maryland and Thomas Fitzsimons of Pennsylvania were Catholics in the first session of the House of Representatives. Gabriel Richard became the first Catholic priest in Congress in 1823. Quakers have also served in Congress since its inception, with Philemon Dickinson in the Senate and a pair of House members in Lambert Cadwalader and John Hathorn. Quaker representation has not been continuous, and only one member of the current Congress belongs to the group, Representative Rush Holt.
In 1844, Lewis Charles Levin became the first Jew to be elected to Congress. In 1845, David Levy Yulee was chosen as the first Jewish member of the Senate, although he later became a convert to Christianity. Jews have been continuously represented in the House since the election of Isidor Rayner in 1887. Since the election of Herbert Lehman to the Senate in 1948, the upper house has also contained at least one Jewish member. A record 42 Jews currently serve in Congress.
Not until 1966 was a member of an Orthodox faith elected to Congress. Nick Galifianakis became the first member of this group to serve in the legislature. In 1977, Paul Sarbanes became the first US Senator of Orthodox beliefs. Despite having a relatively small number of adherents, this group has been continuously represented in both houses since the initial elections. Senator Olympia Snowe, as well as Representatives John Sarbanes, Zack Space, Gus Bilirakis, and Niki Tsongas are current members of Congress that follow Greek Orthodoxy, while Representative Melissa Bean adheres to Serbian Orthodoxy.
Dalip Singh Saund, who was elected in 1956 and served until 1963, was the first, and so far only, Sikh in Congress. In 2007, Keith Ellison of Minnesota became the first practicing Muslim to become a member of the United States Congress; he was joined by André Carson of Indiana following a special election on March 11, 2008. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Hank Johnson of Georgia became the first two Buddhists to be elected to the United States Congress on November 7, 2006. Johnson is a member of the Soka Gakkai sect, and Hirono (albeit nonpracticing) is a member of the Jodo Shinshu sect.
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) have been in Congress since Utah was established as a territory in 1851. Delegate John Milton Bernhisel became the first Mormon in Congress that same year. When Utah received statehood in 1896, Clarence Emir Allen became the first representative of a state that practiced the Mormon faith, and since then Mormons have had continuous representation in the Lower House. Frank J. Cannon became the first Latter-day Saint member of the Senate, also in 1896. However, after he left office the next year, Mormons did not return to the Senate until 1905, when George Sutherland started a string of continuous representation for the group. Currently, eleven representatives and five senators are part of this religious group.
As of a statement in March 2007, California Rep. Pete Stark became the only publicly stated atheist in the history of Congress. He was formerly of the Unitarian Universalist faith. Numerous members of Congress throughout history have also declined to list an official religion, including 10 current representatives.
Gender
As of 2007, 477 members of Congress are male (84%) and 88 are female (16%). The global average for female representation at the parliamentary level in 2007 was 17.0%.
Jeannette Rankin was the first woman elected to Congress, in 1916. Women could not vote or be elected in most of the United States until the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in 1920. Rebecca Felton was the first woman to become a Senator in 1922, serving for a brief two-day period when she was appointed to fill a vacancy left by Georgia Senator Thomas E. Watson. The first woman to win a race for Senate was Hattie Caraway, who won a special election in January 1932 to fulfill her late husband's Senate term of office. Caraway subsequently won the scheduled November 1932 election, eventually serving two more full terms.
In the early days following the legalization of national women's suffrage, most women elected to Congress were chosen as replacements for deceased husbands. Prior to the 1960s, most female members of Congress were either involved in this process of "widow's succession" or were members of influential political families. Elected to the House in 1965, Patsy Mink became the first non-white woman to enter Congress (she is of Japanese American heritage). Until 1992, a year that saw the election of four new female senators, the US Senate had never had more than three women serving at a time. Nancy Pelosi became the first female leader of a major party when she took over the position of House Minority Leader in 2002, and she is currently (since 2007) the first woman to serve as Speaker of the House.
In the 109th United States Congress, there were 70 women serving the U.S. House and 14 in the U.S. Senate, which was the highest number of women to hold Congressional office in the United States up until that time. Those numbers went up in the 110th Congress, with 74 women in the House and 16 in the Senate.
Sexual orientation There have been five openly gay members in the history of Congress. Gerry Studds (elected in 1972) became the first openly gay man when he acknowledged his homosexuality in 1983.First openly gay person elected to Congress dies NBC News, Oct 14, 2006 Barney Frank (elected in 1980) is currently the only openly gay male in Congress; he first spoke publicly about his sexual orientation in 1987. Steve Gunderson, elected in 1980 and outed in 1994, and Jim Kolbe, elected in 1984 and outed in 1996, are two other previous members of Congress that were openly gay. Current congresswoman Tammy Baldwin is the first and so far only open lesbian to win election to Congress.Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin About Tammy In 1998, she became the first gay person to win election to Congress as a non-incumbent. Former California representative Michael Huffington is bisexual, but did not come out until after his term had ended.
Occupational background Members of Congress come from a variety of occupational backgrounds. 215 members (159 in the House and 58 in the Senate) have worked in some aspect of law during their career, whether as an attorney, paralegal, policy analyst, or bureaucratic official, with 180 members of the House and 58 of the Senate holding Juris Doctor degrees. 189 members (162 in the House and 26 in the Senate) have worked in some segment of private sector business, with 18 members holding MBA degrees. 82 representatives and 14 senators have worked in education as a teacher or school administrator. 109 Congress members have served as political aides at some level, including 10 working as congressional pages and 16 working as members of the White House staff.
24 members of Congress have worked in the medical field, including 12 M.D.s, 3 nurses, 2 dentists, 2 veterinarians, 1 psychologist, 1 psychiatrist, 1 optometrist, and 1 pharmacist. 15 members are former law enforcement specialists, including 5 sheriffs, 4 police officers, 2 state troopers, 2 probation officers, 1 FBI agent, and 1 border patrol agent. 9 scientists serve in Congress, including 4 chemists, 3 physicists, 1 biologist, and 1 biomedical engineer. 6 members of Congress are ordained ministers, while 5 are certified public accountants.
Several members of Congress were nationally famous prior to entering politics, namely Hall of Fame MLB pitcher Jim Bunning, and NFL quarterback Heath Shuler. Other congressmen have held a variety of jobs ranging from social worker to mortician to riverboat captain.
Race/ethnicity
African Americans currently make up about 13% of the US population but have historically been underrepresented in Congress. There currently are 52 African-American representatives (12%) and two African-American delegates in the United States House of Representatives, representing 26 states, plus the U.S. Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia. Senators Tim Scott, Cory Booker, and Kamala Harris are the only current black senate members (3%). Until the emancipation of enslaved African Americans after the Civil War and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, blacks were generally barred from voting outside of the Northeast and in the South, particularly. As a result of these new laws, Joseph Rainey and Jefferson F. Long won election to Congress in majority-black districts and Hiram Rhodes Revels was appointed as senator from Mississippi (then a majority-black state) in 1870. However, the end of Reconstruction in 1876 marked a weakening of black rights and by 1901, when George Henry White left the House after losing a reelection bid, there were no African Americans left in Congress.
In 1929, Oscar Stanton de Priest became the first African American congressman since George Henry White. He and his successor, Arthur W. Mitchell, spent their tenure as the only African Americans in Congress while representing a majority-black House district in Chicago. In 1970, a year that saw the election of four black freshman congressmen, black membership in the House reached double-digits. Shirley Chisholm became the first African American female member of Congress when she won a 1968 election in New York, while Andrew Young of Georgia became the first modern African American congressman from the South after he won election in 1972.