118th United States Congress - Wikiwand

For a general discussion of the United States government's legislative branch, see United States Congress.

The 118th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It convened in Washington, D.C., on January 3, 2023, and ended on January 3, 2025, during the final two years of Joe Biden's presidency.

Quick Facts January 3, 2023 – January 3, 2025, Members ...

118th United States Congress
117th ← → 119th
United States Capitol (2023)
January 3, 2023 – January 3, 2025
Members	100 senators 435 representatives 6 non-voting delegates
Senate majority	Democratic (through caucus)
Senate President	Kamala Harris (D)
House majority	Republican
House Speaker	Kevin McCarthy (R) (until October 3, 2023)[a] Mike Johnson (R) (from October 25, 2023)
Sessions
1st: January 3, 2023 – January 3, 2024 2nd: January 3, 2024 – January 3, 2025

Close

In the 2022 midterm elections, the Republican Party won control of the House 222–213, taking the majority for the first time since the 115th Congress, while the Democratic Party gained one seat in the Senate, where they already had effective control, and giving them a 51–49-seat majority (with a caucus of 48 Democrats and three independents).^[b] With Republicans winning the House, the 118th Congress ended the federal government trifecta Democrats held in the 117th.^[1]

This congress also featured the first female Senate president pro tempore (Patty Murray), the first Black party leader (Hakeem Jeffries) in congressional history, and the longest-serving Senate party leaders (Mitch McConnell and Dick Durbin).^[c] The Senate had the highest number of Independent members in a single Congress since the ratification of the 17th Amendment after Joe Manchin left the Democratic Party to become an Independent.^[2]

The 118th Congress was characterized as a uniquely ineffectual Congress, with its most notable events pointing towards political dysfunction.^[3] The intense gridlock, particularly in the Republican-controlled House, where the Republican Conference's majority was often undercut by internal disputes among its members,^[4] resulted in it passing the lowest number of laws for the first year of session since the Richard Nixon administration, and possibly ever.^[5] By August 2024, the Congress has passed only 78 laws, less than a third of the next lowest laws per Congress in the 112th Congress, which also featured a Republican House opposing the Democratic Senate and White House.^[6] This resulted in the need for a legislative coalition to pass key legislation allowing the minority to exercise powers usually reserved for the majority. The fractious session demotivated many veteran legislators, with five committee chairs among the dozens declaring resignations before the end of the session, three of whom were eligible to reprise their positions if the Republican Party retained their majority for 2025.^[7] A higher-than-average number of retiring lawmakers were those attempting to pass bipartisan and collaborative legislation.^[8] Two complete discharge petitions were filed in late 2024, both Republican-led with majority Democratic support, demonstrating a trend towards bucking leadership and lack of party discipline;^[9] such a gambit was last successful in 2015 to support the Export–Import Bank. The second of these, a bill to remove certain Social Security restrictions, was subject to an unusual legislative procedure when a chair pro forma called forth a motion to table on a bill while the chamber was empty, flouting House convention and agreements.^[10]

The Congress began with a multi-ballot election for Speaker of the House, which had not happened since the 68th Congress in 1923. Kevin McCarthy was eventually elected speaker on the 15th ballot. After relying on bipartisan votes to get out of a debt ceiling crisis and government shutdown threats, McCarthy became the first speaker to ever be removed from the role during a legislative session on October 3, 2023.^[11] Following three failed attempts by various representatives to fill the post, on October 25, Mike Johnson was elected as speaker. Johnson would advance four more bipartisan continuing resolutions from November into March to avoid shutdowns.^[12][13] Congress finalized the 2024 United States federal budget on March 23, 2024, through two separate minibus packages.^[14] Following a contentious foreign-aid vote, a motion to remove Johnson from the speakership was defeated in a bipartisan vote.^[15]

Partisan disciplinary actions also increased. With the expulsion of New York representative George Santos from the House in December 2023 over the opposition of the speaker, this was the first congress since the 107th in which a member was expelled, and the first ever in which a Republican was. There was also an increase of censures passed in the House,^[16] being the first congress with multiple censures since the 1983 congressional page sex scandal and the most in one year since 1870. In December 2023, House Republicans authorized an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden,^[17] followed by the impeachment of Alejandro Mayorkas in February 2024, the first time a cabinet secretary has been the target of impeachment proceedings since William W. Belknap in 1876, and only the second such cabinet impeachment in history.^[18][19] The charges were dismissed by the Senate, the first time the Senate dismissed impeachment articles without trial after the reading.^[20]

• January 3, 2023, 12 p.m. EST: Congress convenes. Members-elect of the United States Senate are sworn in, but members-elect of the United States House of Representatives cannot be sworn as the House adjourns for the day without electing a speaker.^[21]
• January 3–7, 2023: The election for the House speakership takes 15 ballots. Kevin McCarthy is ultimately elected as speaker, but only after 6 representatives-elect vote "present", lowering the threshold to be elected from 218 to 215.^[22]
• February 2, 2023: House votes 218–211 to remove Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota from the Committee on Foreign Affairs for her comments about Israel and concerns over her objectivity.^[23]
• February 7, 2023: President Joe Biden delivers the 2023 State of the Union Address.
• April 27, 2023: South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol addresses a joint session of Congress.
• June 3, 2023: The 2023 debt-ceiling crisis ends with the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023.
• June 21, 2023: House votes 213–209 to censure Representative Adam Schiff of California for his actions during the congressional investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and the first impeachment of Donald Trump.^[24]
• June 22, 2023: Indian prime minister Narendra Modi addresses a joint session of Congress.
• July 12, 2023: Kamala Harris casts her 31st tie-breaking vote as Vice President, tying the record set by John C. Calhoun, to invoke cloture on Kalpana Kotagal's nomination to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.^[25]
• September 12, 2023: House opens an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden.
• September 29, 2023: Senator Dianne Feinstein of California dies.^[26]
• October 3, 2023: House votes 216–210 to remove Kevin McCarthy from the position of Speaker of the House through a motion to vacate the chair by Matt Gaetz of Florida.^[27] Patrick McHenry becomes Speaker pro tempore.
• October 17–25, 2023: October 2023 Speaker election
• October 19, 2023: President Biden gives a primetime oval office address, calling for a new aid package for Israel and Ukraine, amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Gaza war.^[28]
• October 25, 2023: Mike Johnson is elected Speaker of the House of Representatives.^[29]
• November 7, 2023: House votes 234–188 to censure Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan for her comments condemning Israel in the midst of the Gaza war.^[30]
• December 1, 2023: Over the opposition of the Speaker, the House votes 311–114–2 to expel Representative George Santos of New York following a United States House Committee on Ethics report that unanimously found substantial evidence Santos violated federal criminal law.^[31][32]
• December 5, 2023: Kamala Harris casts her 32nd and 33rd tie-breaking votes, surpassing the record set by John C. Calhoun, to invoke cloture and then confirm the nomination of Loren AliKhan to serve as a judge on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.^[33]
• December 7, 2023: House votes 214–191 to censure Representative Jamaal Bowman of New York for pulling a fire alarm in the Capitol in September.^[34]
• February 6, 2024: Members of the House vote on whether to impeach Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, but the vote to do so fails by 214–216.^[35]
• February 13, 2024: House votes again to impeach Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, succeeding 214–213.^[19]
• February 28, 2024: Senator Mitch McConnell announces he will step down as Republican Senate Leader at the end of the 118th Congress, in January 2025.^[36]
• March 7, 2024: President Biden delivers the 2024 State of the Union Address.
• April 11, 2024: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida addresses a joint session of Congress.^[37]
• April 16–17, 2024: Two articles of impeachment against Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas are delivered and read in the Senate, with votes on the following day to dismiss both articles without a full trial, 51–48 and 51–49.^[38]
• April 24, 2024: Representative Donald Payne Jr. of New Jersey dies.^[39]
• May 8, 2024: House votes 359–43 to table a resolution removing Mike Johnson from the position of Speaker of the House with 11 Republicans opposed.^[40]
• May 31, 2024: Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia leaves the Democratic Party and registers as an Independent.^[41]
• June 12, 2024: House votes 216–207 to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in criminal contempt of Congress for his refusal to comply with the House Oversight Committee's request to turn over audiotapes of Biden regarding his classified document incident.^[42]
• July 16, 2024: Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey is found guilty of conspiracy by a public official to act as a foreign agent. He later announced he would resign on August 20.^[43]
• July 19, 2024: Representative Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas dies.^[44]
• July 24, 2024: Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint session of Congress.^[45]
• August 21, 2024: Representative Bill Pascrell of New Jersey dies.^[46]
• November 5, 2024: 2024 United States elections were held. Former President Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the United States and JD Vance was elected the 50th vice president of the United States, while Republicans regained control of the Senate and retained control of the House of Representatives.
• November 13, 2024: Senate Republicans elect John Thune as the new Senate Republican leader that will begin with the next Congress.^[47]
• November 13, 2024: Representative Matt Gaetz resigns after being nominated by President-elect Trump for United States attorney general.^[48]
• December 29, 2024: Former President Jimmy Carter dies at 100 years old.^[49]
• January 3, 2025: 118th Congress ends.

Resignations and new members are discussed in the "Changes in membership" section:

Note: Democrats refer to themselves as a "caucus"; Republicans refer to themselves as a "conference".

Senate

Presiding

• President: Kamala Harris (D)
• President pro tempore: Patty Murray (D)^[64]

Majority (Democratic)

• Majority Leader/Chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus:^[ab] Chuck Schumer (NY)
• Majority Whip: Dick Durbin (IL)
• Chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee: Debbie Stabenow (MI)
• Chair of the Democratic Steering Committee: Amy Klobuchar (MN)
• Vice Chairs, Senate Democratic Caucus: Mark Warner (VA) and Elizabeth Warren (MA)
• Chair of the Democratic Outreach Committee: Bernie Sanders (VT)
• Secretary of the Senate Democratic Caucus: Tammy Baldwin (WI)
• Vice Chairs of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee: Joe Manchin (WV) and Cory Booker (NJ)
• Chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee: Gary Peters (MI)
• Vice Chair of the Democratic Steering Committee: Jeanne Shaheen (NH)
• Vice Chair of the Democratic Outreach Committee: Catherine Cortez Masto (NV)
• Deputy Secretary of the Senate Democratic Caucus: Brian Schatz (HI)
• Senate Democratic Chief Deputy Whip: Jeff Merkley (OR)
• Vice Chairs of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee: Tina Smith (MN) and Alex Padilla (CA)

Minority (Republican)

• Minority Leader: Mitch McConnell (KY)^[65][66]
• Minority Whip: John Thune (SD)
• Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference: John Barrasso (WY)
• Chairwoman of the Republican Policy Committee: Joni Ernst (IA)
• Vice Chair of the Senate Republican Conference: Shelley Moore Capito (WV)
• Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee: Steve Daines (MT)
• Chair of the Senate Republican Steering Committee: Mike Lee (UT)

Section contents: Senate, House, Joint

• List of new members of the 118th United States Congress
• 2022 United States elections (elections leading to this Congress)
  • 2022 United States Senate elections
  • 2022 United States House of Representatives elections
• 2024 United States elections (elections during this Congress, leading to the next Congress)
  • 2024 United States Senate elections
  • 2024 United States House of Representatives elections
• 2023–24 U.S. House legislative coalition