The 110th United States Congress was a 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 Presidency of 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.
The Democratic Party won a majority in both chambers, giving them full control of Congress for the first time since the 103rd Congress in 1993, which was also the previous time they controlled the House.
Officially in the Senate, there were 49 Democrats, 49 Republicans, and two independents, but because both of the independents caucused with the Democrats, this gave the Democrats an operational majority. No Democratic-held seats had fallen to the Republican Party in the 2006 elections.
This is the most recent Congress to feature Republican senators from Minnesota (Norm Coleman), New Mexico (Pete Domenici) and Oregon (Gordon Smith), in which Domenici retired and the other two lost re-election at the end of the Congress.
Democrat Nancy Pelosi became the first female speaker of the House. The House also received the first Muslim (Keith Ellison) and Buddhist (Hank Johnson and Mazie Hirono) members of Congress.
Major events
Members debated initiatives such as the Democrats' 100-Hour Plan and the Iraq War troop surge of 2007.
Support for the Iraq War
Following President Bush's 2007 State of the Union Address, Congress debated his proposal to create a troop surge to increase security in Iraq. The House of Representatives passed a non-binding measure opposing the surge and then a $124 billion emergency spending measure to fund the war, which included language that dictated troop levels and withdrawal schedules. President Bush, however, vetoed the bill as promised, making this his second veto while in office. Both houses of Congress subsequently passed a bill funding the war without timelines, but with benchmarks for the Iraqi government and money for other spending projects like disaster relief.
Other events
January 23, 2007: President Bush delivered the 2007 State of the Union Address
August 2, 2007: The Republican minority disputed the results of a vote to recommit. This led to an investigation by the House Select Committee on Voting Irregularities. December 18, 2007: The Senate set a record for the most cloture votes. January 2008: Start of the Great Recession January 28, 2008: President Bush delivered the 2008 State of the Union Address September 15, 2008: The precipitation of global financial crisis intensifies a recession that began in January. November 4, 2008: General elections - Democrats increased their congressional majorities and Senator Barack Obama was elected president.
Major legislation
{ | class="toc" |- | Contents: Enacted Pending or failed Vetoed|} These are partial lists of prominent enacted legislation and pending bills.