The 96th 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 met in Washington, D.C. from January 3, 1979, to January 3, 1981, during the last two years of Jimmy Carter's presidency.
96th United States Congress | |
---|---|
95th ← → 97th | |
January 3, 1979 – January 3, 1981 | |
Members | 100 senators 435 representatives 5 non-voting delegates |
Senate majority | Democratic |
Senate President | Walter Mondale (D) |
House majority | Democratic |
House Speaker | Tip O'Neill (D) |
Sessions | |
1st: January 15, 1979 – January 3, 1980 2nd: January 3, 1980 – December 16, 1980 |
The apportionment of seats in this House of Representatives was based on the 1970 census.
Both chambers retained a Democratic majority (though downgraded from the supermajority status in the previous Congress), and with President Carter, maintained an overall federal government trifecta. This is the last Congress in which the Democrats retained a trifecta for more than one term.
This is the most recent Congress to feature a Democratic senator from Idaho, Frank Church, who lost re-election in 1980.
Party (shading shows control) |
Total | Vacant | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic (D) |
Independent (I) | Republican (R) |
|||
End of previous congress | 58 | 1 | 41 | 100 | 0 |
Begin | 58 | 1 | 41 | 100 | 0 |
End | 55 | 44 | |||
Final voting share | 55.0% | 1.0% | 44.0% | ||
Beginning of next congress | 46 | 1 | 53 | 100 | 0 |
House seats by party holding plurality in state | |
---|---|
80+% to 100% Republican | 80+% to 100% Democratic |
60+% to 80% Republican | 60+% to 80% Democratic |
50+% to 60% Republican | 50+% to 60% Democratic |
striped: 50–50 split |
Party (shading shows control) |
Total | Vacant | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic (D) |
Republican (R) | Conservative (C) |
|||
End of previous congress | 275 | 141 | 0 | 416 | 19 |
Begin | 276 | 156 | 1 | 433 | 2 |
End | 272 | 158 | 431 | 4 | |
Final voting share | 63.1% | 36.7% | 0.2% | ||
Beginning of next congress | 243 | 191 | 1 | 435 | 0 |
This list is arranged by chamber, then by state. Senators are listed in order of seniority, and representatives are listed by district.
Senators are popularly elected statewide every two years, with one-third beginning new six-year terms with each Congress, In this Congress, Class 3 meant their term ended with this Congress, requiring reelection in 1980; Class 1 meant their term began in the last Congress, requiring reelection in 1982; and Class 2 meant their term began in this Congress, requiring reelection in 1984.
The names of members of the House of Representatives are preceded by their district numbers.
The count below reflects changes from the beginning of the first session of this Congress.
State (class) |
Vacated by | Reason for change | Successor | Date of successor's formal installation[b] |
---|---|---|---|---|
Maine (Class 1) |
Edmund Muskie (D) |
Resigned May 7, 1980 to become United States Secretary of State. Successor appointed to finish the term. |
George J. Mitchell (D) |
May 19, 1980 |
New Hampshire (Class 3) |
John A. Durkin (D) |
Resigned December 29, 1980 to give successor priority in seniority. Successor appointed, having already been elected to the next term. |
Warren Rudman (R) |
December 29, 1980 |
Florida (Class 3) |
Richard Stone (D) |
Resigned December 30, 1980 to give successor priority in seniority. Successor appointed, having already been elected to the next term. |
Paula Hawkins (R) |
January 1, 1981 |
Alabama (Class 3) |
Donald Stewart (D) |
Resigned January 2, 1981 to give successor priority in seniority. Successor appointed, having already been elected to the next term. |
Jeremiah Denton (R) |
January 2, 1981 |
District | Vacated by | Reason for change | Successor | Date of successor's formal installation[b] |
---|---|---|---|---|
California 11th | Vacant | Rep. Leo Ryan died during previous congress | William Royer (R) | April 3, 1979 |
Wisconsin 6th | Vacant | Rep. William A. Steiger died during previous congress | Tom Petri (R) | April 3, 1979 |
Illinois 10th | Abner Mikva (D) | Resigned September 26, 1979, after being appointed judge of U.S. Court of Appeals | John Porter (R) | January 22, 1980 |
Pennsylvania 11th | Dan Flood (D) | Resigned January 31, 1980 | Ray Musto (D) | April 9, 1980 |
Louisiana 3rd | Dave Treen (R) | Resigned March 10, 1980, after being elected Governor of Louisiana | Billy Tauzin (D) | May 22, 1980 |
West Virginia 3rd | John M. Slack Jr. (D) | Died March 17, 1980 | John G. Hutchinson (D) | June 30, 1980 |
Michigan 13th | Charles Diggs (D) | Resigned June 3, 1980 | George Crockett Jr. (D) | November 4, 1980 |
New Mexico 2nd | Harold L. Runnels (D) | Died August 5, 1980 | Vacant | Not filled this term |
Pennsylvania 1st | Michael Myers (D) | Expelled October 2, 1980 | ||
South Carolina 6th | John Jenrette (D) | Resigned December 10, 1980 | ||
New Jersey 4th | Frank Thompson (D) | Resigned December 29, 1980, after being censured by the House of Representatives |
Lists of committees and their party leaders for members of the House and Senate committees can be found through the Official Congressional Directory at the bottom of this article. The directory after the pages of terms of service lists committees of the Senate, House (Standing with Subcommittees, Select and Special) and Joint and, after that, House/Senate committee assignments. On the committees section of the House and Senate in the Official Congressional Directory, the committee's members on the first row on the left side shows the chairman of the committee and on the right side shows the ranking member of the committee.