119th United States Congress

120th Congress →

← 118th Congress

The 119th United States Congress is the current meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

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

The Twentieth 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, click here.

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.

Partisan composition, U.S. Senate
119th Congress
Party	Members
Democratic	45
Republican	53
Independent	2
Vacancies	0
Total	100

Partisan composition, U.S. House
119th Congress
Party	Members
Democratic	213
Republican	219
Vacancies	3
Total	435

Congressional committees

U.S. Senate

• Committee on Aging (Special)
• Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
• Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
• Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
• Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
• Committee on Environment and Public Works
• Committee on Ethics (Select)
• Committee on Finance
• Committee on Foreign Relations
• Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
• Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
• Committee on Indian Affairs
• Committee on Intelligence (Select)
• Committee on Rules and Administration
• Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
• Committee on the Judiciary
• Senate Committee on Appropriations
• Senate Committee on Armed Services
• Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs
• Senate Committee on the Budget

U.S. House

• Committee on Agriculture
• Committee on Education and the Workforce
• Committee on Energy and Commerce
• Committee on Ethics
• Committee on Financial Services
• Committee on Foreign Affairs
• Committee on Homeland Security
• Committee on House Administration
• Committee on Intelligence (Permanent Select)
• Committee on Judiciary
• Committee on Natural Resources
• Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
• Committee on Rules
• Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
• Committee on Small Business
• Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
• Committee on Ways and Means
• House Committee on Appropriations
• House Committee on Armed Services
• House Committee on Budget
• House Committee on Veterans' Affairs
• United States House of Representatives Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party

Joint committees

• Joint Committee on Printing
• Joint Committee on Taxation
• Joint Committee on the Library
• Joint Economic Committee

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.

Some historical facts about the salary of United States Congress members:

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

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 the Congressional Budget Office
• Extent of public relations campaign to promote the bill
• Domestic and international policy ramifications

Legislation

• 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 of On the Ballot covering federal government shutdowns. Listen to the full episode below:

On the Ballot Episode 176: Federal government shutdowns explained

Noteworthy events

Arizona attorney general files lawsuit over Adelita Grijalva's swearing-in (2025)

On October 21, 2025, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) and Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.) filed a lawsuit against U.S. House Speaker Mike 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 represent Arizona's 7th Congressional District on September 23, 2025. Johnson has not called the House into session since September 19, and has not sworn Grijalva in during any pro forma sessions since then. The lawsuit requested that the court allow another authority to administer Grijalva's oath of office if Johnson does not do so.

In a statement, 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."

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."

Before Grijalva's election, there were three other special elections to the U.S. House during the 119th Congress. Two special elections in Florida on April 1, 2025, resulted in the election of Jimmy Patronis (R-Fla.) and Randy Fine (R-Fla.). Both Patronis and Fine were sworn in during a pro forma session the following day. 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.

Federal government shutdown (2025)

On September 30, 2025, a funding gap for the federal government began after Congress was unable to pass budget legislation. After the Senate failed to vote on a continuing resolution bill, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought ordered agencies to begin shutdown procedures. 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.

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.

Federal government lapses in funding since fiscal year 1980

Fiscal year	Date funding ended	Duration of funding gap (days)	Date funding restored	Shutdown procedures followed
1980	September 30, 1979	11	October 12, 1979	No
1982	November 20, 1981	2	November 23, 1981	Yes
1983	September 30, 1982	1	October 2, 1982	Yes
1983	December 17, 1982	3	December 21, 1982	No
1984	November 10, 1983	3	November 14, 1983	No
1985	September 30, 1984	2	October 3, 1984	No
1985	October 3, 1984	1	October 5, 1984	Yes
1987	October 16, 1986	1	October 18, 1986	Yes
1988	December 18, 1987	1	December 20, 1987	No
1991	October 5, 1990	3	October 9, 1990	Yes
1996	November 13, 1995	5	November 19, 1995	Yes
1996	December 15, 1995	21	January 6, 1996	Yes
2014	September 30, 2013	16	October 17, 2013	Yes
2018	January 19, 2018	2	January 22, 2018	Yes
2019	December 21, 2018	34	January 25, 2019	Yes
2026	September 30, 2025	28 (ongoing)	TBD	Yes

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

Federal government lapses in funding since fiscal year 1980 by presidential administration

Presidential administration	Number of funding lapses	Number of funding lapses resulting in shutdown
Jimmy Carter (D)	1	0
Ronald Reagan (R)	8	4
George H.W. Bush (R)	1	1
Bill Clinton (D)	2	2
George W. Bush (R)	0	0
Barack Obama (D)	1	1
Donald Trump (R) - I	2	2
Joe Biden (D)	0	0
Donald Trump (R) - II	1	1

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).

Federal government lapses in funding since fiscal year 1980 by trifecta

Funding lapse fiscal year	Funding lapse start	Funding lapse end	Shutdown procedures followed	President	Senate control	House control
1980	September 30, 1979	October 12, 1979	No	Jimmy Carter (D)	Democratic	Democratic
1982	November 20, 1981	November 23, 1981	Yes	Ronald Reagan (R)	Republican	Democratic
1983	September 30, 1982	October 2, 1982	Yes	Ronald Reagan (R)	Republican	Democratic
1983	December 17, 1982	December 21, 1982	No	Ronald Reagan (R)	Republican	Democratic
1984	November 10, 1983	November 14, 1983	No	Ronald Reagan (R)	Republican	Democratic
1985	September 30, 1984	October 3, 1984	No	Ronald Reagan (R)	Republican	Democratic
1985	October 3, 1984	October 5, 1984	Yes	Ronald Reagan (R)	Republican	Democratic
1987	October 16, 1986	October 18, 1986	Yes	Ronald Reagan (R)	Republican	Democratic
1988	December 18, 1987	December 20, 1987	No	Ronald Reagan (R)	Democratic	Democratic
1991	October 5, 1990	October 9, 1990	Yes	George H.W. Bush (R)	Democratic	Democratic
1996	November 13, 1995	November 19, 1995	Yes	Bill Clinton (D)	Republican	Republican
1996	December 15, 1995	January 6, 1996	Yes	Bill Clinton (D)	Republican	Republican
2014	September 30, 2013	October 17, 2013	Yes	Barack Obama (D)	Democratic	Republican
2018	January 19, 2018	January 22, 2018	Yes	Donald Trump (R)	Republican	Republican
2019	December 21, 2018	January 25, 2019	Yes	Donald Trump (R)	Republican	Republican/Democratic
2026	September 30, 2025	TBD	Yes	Donald Trump (R)	Republican	Republican

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

Ballotpedia

About

Overview • What people are saying • Support Ballotpedia • Contact • Contribute • Job opportunities

---

Executive: Leslie Graves, Founder and CEO • Gwen Beattie, Chief Operating Officer

Communications: Alison Graves, Director of Communications • Carley Allensworth • Abigail Campbell • Frank Festa • Sarah Groat • Nathaniel Harwood • Dillon Redmond
External Relations: Geoff Pallay, Director of External Relations • Ken Carbullido, Vice President of Election Product and Technology Strategy • Ashley Fleming • Thomas Mardik • Hannah Nelson
Operations: Meghann Olshefski, Director of Operations • Amanda Herbert • Mandy Morris • Caroline Presnell • Kelly Rindfleisch
Tech: Matt Latourelle, Director of Technology Operations • Ryan Burch • Kirsten Corrao • Beth Dellea • Travis Eden • Tate Kamish • Margaret Kearney • Eric Lotto • Joseph Sanchez • Mary Susmitha

Contributors: Scott Rasmussen

---

Editorial Content

Josh Altic, Director of Content • Daniel Anderson, Associate Director of Elections & Data • Cory Eucalitto, Associate Director of Features • Ryan Byrne, Managing Editor of Ballot Measures • Mandy McConnell, Managing Editor of News • Doug Kronaizl, Managing Editor of Local Expansion • Abbey Smith, Managing Editor of Elections • Janie Valentine, Managing Editor of Law • Joel Williams. Managing Editor of Events • Andrew Bahl • Jaclyn Beran • Marielle Bricker • Joseph Brusgard • Emma Burlingame • Kelly Coyle • Jon Dunn • Victoria Edwards • Thomas Ellis • Nicole Fisher • Joseph Greaney • Thomas Grobben • Brianna Hosea • Molly Kehoe • Tyler King • Glorie Martinez • Norm Leahy, Senior Editor • Nathan Maxwell • Jimmy McAllister • Brandon McCauley • Ellie Mikus • Ellen Morrissey • Mackenzie Murphy • Kaley Platek • Samantha Post • Adam Powell • Annelise Reinwald • Ethan Rice • Spencer Richardson • Victoria Rose • Briana Ryan • Myj Saintyl • Maddy Salucka • Emma Soukup • Alexis Thacker • Mina Vogel • Samuel Wonacott • Trenton Woodcox