The 108th 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 from January 3, 2003, to January 3, 2005, during the third and fourth years of George W. Bush's presidency.
108th United States Congress | |
---|---|
107th ← → 109th | |
January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2005 | |
Members | 100 senators 435 representatives 5 non-voting delegates |
Senate majority | Republican |
Senate President | Dick Cheney (R) |
House majority | Republican |
House Speaker | Dennis Hastert (R) |
Sessions | |
1st: January 7, 2003 – December 8, 2003 2nd: January 20, 2004 – December 9, 2004 |
House members were elected in the 2002 general election on November 5, 2002. Senators were elected in three classes in the 1998 general election on November 3, 1998, 2000 general election on November 7, 2000, or 2002 general election on November 5, 2002. The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the 2000 United States census.
This is the most recent Congress to have a Democratic senator from South Carolina, Fritz Hollings, who retired at the end of the Congress.
Both chambers had a Republican majority, with the Republicans slightly increasing their edge in the House, and regaining control of the Senate, after party control had switched back and forth during the 107th Congress due to various factors. With President Bush, this gave the Republicans an overall federal government trifecta.
The party summary for the Senate remained the same during the entire 108th Congress.
Party (shading shows control) |
Total | Vacant | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic (D) |
Independent (I) | Republican (R) | Other |
|||
End of previous congress | 48 | 1 | 50 | 1 | 100 | 0 |
Begin | 48 | 1 | 51 | 0 | 100 | 0 |
End | ||||||
Final voting share | 48.0% | 1.0% | 51.0% | 0.0% | ||
Beginning of next congress | 44 | 1 | 55 | 0 | 100 | 0 |
Due to resignations and special elections, Republicans lost a net of two seats to the Democrats. All seats were filled though special elections. (See Changes in membership, below.)
Affiliation | Party (Shading indicates majority caucus)
|
Total | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic (D) |
Independent (I) |
Republican (R) |
Vacant | ||
End of previous Congress | 209 | 1 | 223 | 433 | 2 |
Begin | 204 | 1 | 229 | 434 | 1 |
May 31, 2003 | 228 | 434 | 1 | ||
June 5, 2003 | 205 | 229 | 435 | 0 | |
December 9, 2003 | 228 | 434 | 1 | ||
January 20, 2004 | 227 | 433 | 2 | ||
February 17, 2004 | 228 | 434 | 1 | ||
June 1, 2004 | 207 | 228 | 435 | 0 | |
June 9, 2004 | 206 | 434 | 1 | ||
July 20, 2004 | 229 | 435 | 0 | ||
August 31, 2004 | 205 | 228 | 434 | 1 | |
September 23, 2004 | 204 | 227 | 432 | 3 | |
Final voting share | 48.0% | 52.0% | |||
Non-voting members | 4 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
Beginning of next Congress | 201 | 1 | 232 | 434 | 1 |
The Senators are preceded by the class, In this Congress, Class 3 meant their term ended with this Congress, requiring reelection in 2004; Class 1 meant their term began in the last Congress, requiring reelection in 2006; and Class 2 meant their term began in this Congress, requiring reelection in 2008.
The Members of the House of Representatives are preceded by the district number.
Members who came and left during this Congress.
There were no changes in Senate membership during this Congress.
District | Vacated by | Reason for change | Successor | Date of successor's formal installation[a] |
---|---|---|---|---|
Hawaii 2nd | Ed Case (D) | Member-elect Patsy Mink (D) died September 28, 2002, but was posthumously elected to the 108th Congress. Ed Case had won a special election for the seat in the 107th Congress November 30, 2002, but not for the 108th Congress. A special election was held January 4, 2003. |
Ed Case (D) | January 4, 2003 |
Texas 19th | Larry Combest (R) | Resigned May 31, 2003, for personal reasons. A special election was held June 3, 2003. |
Randy Neugebauer (R) | June 5, 2003 |
Texas 4th | Ralph Hall (D) | Changed political parties, with no interruption in his service. | Ralph Hall (R) | January 5, 2004 |
Kentucky 6th | Ernie Fletcher (R) | Resigned December 9, 2003, to become Governor of Kentucky. A special election was held February 17, 2004 |
Ben Chandler (D) | February 17, 2004 |
South Dakota at-large | Bill Janklow (R) | Resigned January 20, 2004, because of a December 2003 felony conviction in relation to a traffic accident. A special election was held June 1, 2004. |
Stephanie Herseth (D) | June 1, 2004 |
North Carolina 1st | Frank Ballance (D) | Resigned June 9, 2004, as a result of health problems. A special election was held July 20, 2004 |
G. K. Butterfield (D) | July 20, 2004 |
Louisiana 5th | Rodney Alexander (D) | Switched parties August 9, 2004 | Rodney Alexander (R) | August 9, 2004 |
Nebraska 1st | Doug Bereuter (R) | Resigned August 31, 2004, to head the Asia Foundation. | Remained vacant until the next Congress. | |
Florida 14th | Porter Goss (R) | Resigned September 23, 2004, to head the CIA. | Remained vacant until the next Congress. | |
California 5th | Bob Matsui (D) | Died January 1, 2005 | Remained vacant until the next Congress. |
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.
Employees include:[b]