Features of Congress

DefinitionsClasses of United States Senators •President Pro Tempore of the Senate •United States Speaker of the House •Filibuster •Reconciliation •Vote-a-ramas •Parliamentarian •Christmas tree bill

Notable eventsKey votes •Presidential addresses

ElectionsElection dates •Filing requirements for congressional candidates •Filling vacancies in Senate •Filling vacancies in House

Campaign financeFederal Election Commission •Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee •National Republican Congressional Committee •Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee •National Republican Senatorial Committee

Sessions119th Congress 118th •117th •116th •115th •114th •113th •112th •111th •110th

The119th United States Congress is the current meeting of thelegislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of theSenate and theHouse of Representatives.

New members were elected onNovember 5, 2024. The 119th Congress convened on January 3, 2025, and will conclude on January 3, 2027.

TheTwentieth Amendment to the Constitution specifies that the changeover for members of Congress occurs on January 3 at noon. It also states that Congress itself should convene on that date unless it established a different date by law. Congress passed the 20th Amendment in 1932, and states completed ratifying it in 1933.

Leadership

See also:U.S. Senate leadership elections, 2025

See also:U.S. House leadership elections, 2025

Senate

U.S. Senate leadership
Position	Representative	Party
Senate Majority Leadership
President pro tempore	Chuck Grassley	Republican
Senate Majority Leader	John Thune	Republican
Senate Majority Whip	John Barrasso	Republican
Senate Minority Leadership
Senate Minority Leader	Chuck Schumer	Democratic
Senate Minority Whip	Dick Durbin	Democratic

House of Representatives

U.S. House leadership
Position	Representative	Party
Speaker of the House	Mike Johnson
House Majority Leadership
House Majority Leader	Steve Scalise
House Majority Whip	Tom Emmer
House Minority Leadership
House Minority Leader	Hakeem Jeffries
House Minority Whip	Katherine Clark

Members

See also:List of current members of the U.S. Congress

For a full list of all the new members of Congress, clickhere.

The number of new members in previous sessions of Congress were:

• 118th Congress—seven new Senators and 77 new Representatives
• 117th Congress—nine new Senators and 62 new Representatives
• 116th Congress—nine new Senators and 93 new Representatives
• 115th Congress—seven new Senators and 55 new Representatives

Partisan balance

Of the 12 new senators in Congress, six are Republican and six are Democratic. Of the 63 new representatives, 30 are Republican and 33 are Democratic.

Congressional committees

U.S. Senate

U.S. House

Joint committees

Analysis

Salary

As of 2025, members of Congress are paid $174,000 per year. Senate majority and minority leaders, as well as the president pro tempore, receive $193,400. The Speaker of the House receives $223,500.^[2]

Some historical facts about the salary ofUnited States Congress members:

• In 1789, members of the Congress received $6 per diem^[2]
• In 1874, members of the Congress earned $5,000 per year^[2]
• In 1990, members of the Congress earned $98,400 per year^[2]
• From 2000-2006, the salary of a member of theUnited States Congress increased every year, going from $141,300-$165,200 in that time span.^[2]

Key legislation in the 119th Congress

This section provides links to coverage of key federal legislation considered during the 119th Congress. To be included, the bill must have met several of the following qualifying factors:

• Collaboration between the president and congressional leadership on the bill
• Use of the reconciliation process to pass the bill
• Changes to the congressional procedure to pass the bill
• Estimated cost of the bill as evaluated by theCongressional Budget Office
• Extent of public relations campaign to promote the bill
• Domestic and international policy ramifications

Legislation

• Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Extensions Act, 2026
• One Big Beautiful Bill Act
• Budget resolutions proposed during the 2025 U.S. Congress reconciliation process

Federal government funding

See also:On the Ballot Episode 176: Federal government shutdowns explained

On March 14, 2025, Congress approved a federal funding bill hours before the previous continuing resolution funding the government was set to expire. Ahead of the deadline, Ballotpedia recorded an episode ofOn the Ballot covering federal government shutdowns. Listen to the full episode below:

Noteworthy events

Arizona attorney general lawsuit dismissed after Adelita Grijalva's swearing-in (2025)

On October 21, 2025, Arizona Attorney GeneralKris Mayes (D) andAdelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.) filed a lawsuit against U.S. House SpeakerMike Johnson (R-La.), after he refused to seat Grijalva while the House was out of session leading up to and during the federal government shutdown. Grijalva won a special election to representArizona's 7th Congressional District on September 23, 2025. At the time the lawsuit was filed, Johnson had not called the House into session since September 19. Johnson did not swear Grijalva in for 50 days after her election.^[3] Grijalva was sworn in on November 12, when the House returned from an 8-week recess to vote on acontinuing resolution to fund the government.^[4] The lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed on November 14, 2025.^[5]

In a statement when the lawsuit was filed, Grijalva said, "Speaker Johnson’s obstruction has gone far beyond petty partisan politics – it’s an unlawful breach of our Constitution and the democratic process. The voters of Southern Arizona made their choice, yet for four weeks, he has refused to seat a duly elected Member of Congress – denying Southern Arizona its constitutional representation."^[6] Johnson responded to the lawsuit, saying, "We run the House. She has no jurisdiction. We're following the precedent. She's looking for national publicity. Apparently, she's gotten some of it but good luck with that."^[7]

On October 29, the gap between Grijlava's election and swearing-in reached 39 days, making it the longest span between these events in U.S. history.^[8] Before Grijalva's election, there were three otherspecial elections to the U.S. House during the119th Congress. Two special elections in Florida on April 1, 2025, resulted in the election ofJimmy Patronis (R-Fla.) andRandy Fine (R-Fla.). Both Patronis and Fine were sworn in during a pro forma session the following day.^[9]James Walkinshaw (D-Va.) was elected in a special election in Virginia on September 9, 2025, and was sworn in the next day during a regular session.^[10]

Federal government shutdown (2025)

On October 1, 2025, a funding gap for the federal government began after Congress was unable to pass budget legislation. The government had been operating under the 2025 Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, a continuing resolution passed on March 15, which provided for a federal government budget through September 30, 2025.^[11] The shutdown lasted for 42 full days, making it the longest shutdown in United States history. It ended on November 12, 2025, after PresidentDonald Trump (R) signed acontinuing resolution into law, funding the government through January 30, 2025.

This is the 16th lapse in government funding since fiscal year 1980. Of these 16 lapses in funding, 11 have resulted in federal agency closures and employee furloughs. If a funding gap is short or occurs over a weekend, affected agencies may not begin shutdown procedures before Congress restores funding. See the table below to read more about government funding lapses since fiscal year 1980.^[12]

The most funding gaps since fiscal year 1980 occurred during the Reagan administration (8). DuringGeorge Bush's (R) andJoe Biden's (D) presidencies, the federal government did not have any funding gaps.

Most federal government funding lapses since fiscal year 1980 have occurred when the federal government had divided government (12). One lapse occurred when Democrats held a trifecta, and two lapses occurred when Republicans held a trifecta. A funding lapse began in fiscal year 2019 when Republicans held a trifecta, but the next Congress was sworn in during the lapse, so the lapse ended with a divided government.

The most government shutdowns occurred under divided government (8). Two occurred with a Republican trifecta (fiscal years 2018 and 2025), and one began during a Republican trifecta and was resolved during a divided government (fiscal year 2019).

See also

• United States Congress elections, 2026
• United States Senate elections, 2026
• United States House of Representatives elections, 2026
• U.S. House leadership elections, 2025
• 119th Congress legislative calendar
• 118th United States Congress
• United States Congress
• United States Senate
• United States House of Representatives

Footnotes

v • e United States Congress Background United States Senate •United States House of Representatives •United States Constitution •Congressional Budget Office •Federal Election Commission •Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee •National Republican Congressional Committee •Lifetime voting records •Net Worth of United States Senators and Representatives •Staff salaries of United States Senators and Representatives •Filing requirements for congressional candidates •Filling vacancies in the U.S. Senate •Classes of United States Senators •President Pro Tempore of the Senate •United States Speaker of the House •Filibuster States' delegations Alabama •Alaska •Arizona •Arkansas •California •Colorado •Connecticut •Delaware •Florida •Georgia •Hawaii •Idaho •Illinois •Indiana •Iowa •Kansas •Kentucky •Louisiana •Maine •Maryland •Massachusetts •Michigan •Minnesota •Mississippi •Missouri •Montana •Nebraska •Nevada •New Hampshire •New Jersey •New Mexico •New York •North Carolina •North Dakota •Ohio •Oklahoma •Oregon •Pennsylvania •Rhode Island •South Carolina •South Dakota •Tennessee •Texas •Utah •Vermont •Virginia •Washington •West Virginia •Wisconsin •Wyoming •Non-voting members Special elections 2025-2026 •2023-2024 •2021-2022 •2019-2020 •2017-2018 •2015-2016 •2013-2014 2026 Congress Elections •Senate Elections •House Elections •Candidates running for Congress 2024 Congress Elections •Senate Elections •House Elections •Candidates who ran for Congress 2022 Congress Elections •Senate Elections •House Elections •Candidates who ran for Congress 2020 Congress Elections •Senate Elections •House Elections •Candidates who ran for Congress 2018 Congress Elections •Senate Elections •House Elections •Candidates who ran for Congress 2016 Congress Elections •Senate Elections •House Elections •Candidates who ran for Congress 2014 Congress Elections •Senate Elections •House Elections •Candidates who ran for Congress Sessions 119th United States Congress •118th United States Congress •117th United States Congress •116th United States Congress •115th United States Congress •114th United States Congress •113th United States Congress •112th United States Congress •111th United States Congress •110th United States Congress Joint Congressional committees Deficit Reduction •Printing •Taxation •Library •Economic U.S. Senate Committees Aging •Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry •Appropriations •Armed Services •Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs •Budget •Commerce, Science and Transportation •Energy and Natural Resources •Environment and Public Works •Ethics (Select) •Finance •Foreign Relations •Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions •Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs •Indian Affairs •Intelligence (Select) •Judiciary •Rules and Administration •Small Business and Entrepreneurship •Veterans' Affairs U.S. House Committees Agriculture •Appropriations •Armed Services •Budget •Education and the Workforce •Energy and Commerce •Ethics •Financial Services •Foreign Affairs •Homeland Security •House Administration •Intelligence (Permanent Select) •Judiciary •Natural Resources •United States House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform •Rules •Science, Space, and Technology •Small Business •Transportation and Infrastructure •Veterans' Affairs •Ways and Means Super PACs American Bridge 21st Century •American Crossroads •American Unity PAC •Campaign for Primary Accountability •Club for Growth Action •Congressional Leadership Fund •Cooperative of American Physicians IE Committee•Crossroads Generation •Ending Spending Action Fund •Endorse Liberty •Fair Share Action •FreedomWorks for America •Government Integrity Fund •House Majority PAC •Independence USA Fund •League of Conservation Voters •Liberty for All PAC •Senate Majority PAC •National Association of Realtors •NEA Advocacy Fund •NextGen Climate Action •Now or Never PAC •Planned Parenthood Votes •Ready for Hillary •Republican Jewish Coalition Victory Fund •Restore America's Voice PAC •SEIU Pea-Federal •Women Vote! Personal Gain Index Changes in Net Worth of U.S. Senators and Representatives •The Donation Concentration Metric