Congress, Politics, Books
and American History

The Senate convened its first session on the 113th Congress on Thursday. Incoming Senate freshmen, along with Senators re-elected in the 2012 election, were sworn in to office.

The 12-member freshmen class in the 113th Congress is made up of three Republicans, eight Democrats and one Independent. Among them is Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), the first openly gay person elected to the Senate; and Mazie Hirono (D-HI), the first Buddhist, the first Asian-American woman and the first Japanese-born person elected to the Senate. More »

The House of Representatives opened the 113th Congress Thursday, by re-electing Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) as House speaker. There are 233 Republicans and 200 Democrats in the House of Representatives, with special elections taking place over the next several months for the vacant seats which were held by Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) and Tim Scott (R-SC).

There will be a special election on April 8 for the Jackson seat and in May for the seat held by Rep. Tim Scott who was named by the Governor to replace Sen. Jim DeMint who resigned from the Senate. More »