95th United States Congress

The 95th 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, 1977, to January 3, 1979, during the final weeks of Gerald Ford's presidency and the first two years of Jimmy Carter's presidency.

95th United States Congress
94th ←
→ 96th
United States Capitol
January 3, 1977 – January 3, 1979
Members100 senators
435 representatives
5 non-voting delegates
Senate majorityDemocratic
Senate PresidentNelson Rockefeller (R)[lower-alpha 1]
(until January 20, 1977)
Walter Mondale (D)
(from January 20, 1977)
House majorityDemocratic
House SpeakerTip O'Neill (D)
Sessions
1st: January 4, 1977 – December 15, 1977
2nd: January 19, 1978 – October 15, 1978

The apportionment of seats in this House of Representatives was based on the 1970 United States census. Both chambers maintained a Democratic supermajority, and with Jimmy Carter being sworn in as president on January 20, 1977, this gave the Democrats an overall federal government trifecta for the first time since the 90th Congress ending in 1969.

As of 2022, this was the most recent Congress to approve an amendment (the unratified District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment) to the Constitution. This is the last time the Democratic Party or any political party held a 2/3 supermajority in the House.

This is the last congress to at any point have no female senators (from its beginning, January 3, 1977, until the swearing-in of Muriel Humphrey (D-MN) on January 25, 1978; and again from the departure of both Humphrey and Maryon Allen (D-AL) on November 7, 1978, to the early swearing-in of Nancy Kassebaum (R-KS) on December 23, 1978).

Major events
Main articles: 1977 in the United States, 1978 in the United States, and 1979 in the United States

Hearings

Major legislation
Main article: List of United States federal legislation, 1901-2001 § 95th United States Congress

Constitutional amendments
See also: List of amendments to the United States Constitution

Treaties ratified
  • March 16, 1978: First of the Torrijos-Carter Treaties (Panama Canal) treaty: "The Treaty Concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the Panama Canal", commonly known as the "Neutrality Treaty"
  • April 19, 1978: Second of the Torrijos-Carter Treaties treaty, commonly known as "The Panama Canal Treaty"

Party summary

Senate
Party standings on the opening day of the 95th Congress
  61 Democratic Senators
  1 Independent Senator, caucusing with Democrats
  38 Republican Senators
Party
(shading shows control)		 Total Vacant
Conservative
(C)		 Democratic
(D)		Independent
(I)		Republican
(R)
End of previous congress 1 60 1 38 100 0
Begin 0 61 1 38 100 0
End 58 41
Final voting share 0.0% 58.0% 1.0% 41.0%
Beginning of next congress 0 58 1 41 100 0

House of Representatives
Party
(shading shows control)		 Total Vacant
Democratic
(D)		 Republican
(R)
End of previous congress 287 146 433 2
Begin 292 143 435 0
End 275 141 41619
Final voting share 66.1% 33.9%
Beginning of next congress 276 157 433 2

Leadership

Senate
Senate President
Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Rockefeller (R),
until January 20, 1977
Walter Mondale
Walter Mondale (D),
from January 20, 1977
House Speaker
Tip O'Neill
Tip O'Neill (D)

Majority (Democratic) leadership

Minority (Republican) leadership

House of Representatives

Majority (Democratic) leadership

Minority (Republican) leadership

Caucuses

Members

Senate

In this Congress, Class 2 meant their term ended with this Congress, facing re-election in 1978; Class 3 meant their term began in the last Congress, facing re-election in 1980; and Class 1 meant their term began in this Congress, facing re-election in 1982.

House of Representatives

Members of the House of Representatives elected statewide at-large, are preceded by "At-large", and the names of those elected from districts, are preceded by their district numbers.

Many of the congressional district numbers are linked to articles describing the district itself. Since the boundaries of the districts have changed often and substantially, the linked article may only describe the district as it exists today, and not as it was at the time of this Congress.

Changes in membership

The count below reflects changes from the beginning of the first session of this Congress.

Senate
See also: List of special elections to the United States Senate
  • Replacements: 11
  • Deaths: 4
  • Resignations: 5
  • Vacancy: 0
  • Total seats with changes: 9
Senate changes
State
(class)		 Vacated by Reason for change Successor Date of successor's
formal installation[lower-alpha 2]
Arkansas
(2)		 John L. McClellan
(D)		 Died November 28, 1977.
Successor appointed to finish the term.		 Kaneaster Hodges Jr.
(D)		 December 10, 1977
Montana
(2)		 Lee Metcalf
(D)		 Died January 12, 1978.
Successor appointed to finish the term.		 Paul G. Hatfield
(D)		 January 22, 1978
Minnesota
(1)		 Hubert Humphrey
(DFL)		 Died January 13, 1978.
Successor appointed to continue the term.		 Muriel Humphrey
(D)		 January 25, 1978
Alabama
(3)		 James Allen
(D)		 Died June 1, 1978.
Successor appointed to continue the term.		 Maryon Pittman Allen
(D)		 June 8, 1978
Alabama
(3)		 Maryon Pittman Allen
(D)		 Appointee lost special election.
Successor elected November 7, 1978.		 Donald Stewart
(D)		 November 8, 1978
Minnesota
(1)		 Muriel Humphrey
(DFL)		 Appointee retired when successor qualified.
Successor elected November 7, 1978.		 David Durenberger
(R)		 November 8, 1978
Montana
(2)		 Paul G. Hatfield
(D)		 Lost nomination to the next term.
Resigned early December 12, 1978.
Successor appointed, having already been elected to the next term.		 Max Baucus
(D)		 December 15, 1978
Kansas
(2)		 James B. Pearson
(R)		 Resigned December 23, 1978.
Successor appointed, having already been elected to the next term.		 Nancy Kassebaum
(R)		 December 23, 1978
Mississippi
(2)		 James Eastland
(D)		 Resigned December 27, 1978.
Successor appointed, having already been elected to the next term.		 Thad Cochran
(R)		 December 27, 1978
Minnesota
(2)		 Wendell R. Anderson
(DFL)		 Resigned December 29, 1978.
Successor appointed, having already been elected to the next term.		 Rudy Boschwitz
(R)		 December 30, 1978
Wyoming
(2)		 Clifford Hansen
(R)		 Resigned December 31, 1978.
Successor appointed, having already been elected to the next term.		 Alan Simpson
(R)		 January 1, 1979
Virginia
(2)		 William L. Scott
(R)		 Resigned January 1, 1979.
Successor appointed, having already been elected to the next term.		 John Warner
(R)		 January 2, 1979

House of Representatives
  • Replacements: 6
  • Deaths: 6
  • Resignations: 21
  • Contested election: 0
  • Total seats with changes: 25
See also: List of special elections to the United States House of Representatives
House changes
District Vacated by Reason for change Successor Date of successor's
formal installation[lower-alpha 2]
Minnesota 7th Robert Bergland (DFL) Resigned January 22, 1977, after being appointed United States Secretary of Agriculture Arlan Stangeland (R) February 22, 1977
Washington 7th Brock Adams (D) Resigned January 22, 1977, after being appointed United States Secretary of Transportation John E. Cunningham (R) May 17, 1977
Georgia 5th Andrew Young (D) Resigned January 29, 1977, after being appointed United States Ambassador to the United Nations Wyche Fowler (D) April 6, 1977
Louisiana 1st Richard Alvin Tonry (D) Forced to resign May 4, 1977 Bob Livingston (R) August 27, 1977
New York 18th Ed Koch (D) Resigned December 31, 1977, after being elected Mayor of New York City Bill Green (R) February 14, 1978
New York 21st Herman Badillo (D) Resigned December 31, 1977, after becoming Deputy Mayor of New York City. Elected on the Republican and Liberal tickets on February 14, but officially took office as a Democrat after being accepted by the caucus on February 21. Robert Garcia (D) February 21, 1978
Tennessee 5th Clifford Allen (D) Died June 18, 1978 Vacant Not filled this term
California 18th William M. Ketchum (R) Died June 24, 1978
Illinois 1st Ralph Metcalfe (D) Died October 10, 1978
Maryland 6th Goodloe Byron (D) Died October 11, 1978
California 11th Leo Ryan (D) Murdered by members of the Peoples Temple at the Guyana Airport November 18, 1978, shortly before the Jonestown Massacre
Wisconsin 6th William A. Steiger (R) Died December 4, 1978
Montana 1st Max Baucus (D) Resigned December 14, 1978, after being appointed to the U.S. Senate having already been elected.
Mississippi 4th Thad Cochran (R) Resigned December 26, 1978, after being appointed to the U.S. Senate having already been elected.
Wyoming at-large Teno Roncalio (D) Resigned December 30, 1978
California 3rd John E. Moss (D) Resigned December 31, 1978
California 14th John J. McFall (D) Resigned December 31, 1978
California 33rd Del M. Clawson (R) Resigned December 31, 1978
Kansas 5th Joe Skubitz (R) Resigned December 31, 1978
Michigan 10th Elford Albin Cederberg (R) Resigned December 31, 1978
New Jersey 14th Joseph A. LeFante (D) Resigned December 31, 1978
New York 9th James J. Delaney (D) Resigned December 31, 1978
Texas 6th Olin E. Teague (D) Resigned December 31, 1978
Texas 11th William R. Poage (D) Resigned December 31, 1978
Texas 17th Omar Burleson (D) Resigned December 31, 1978

Committees

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.

Joint committees

Employees

Legislative branch agency directors

Senate

House of Representatives

See also

Notes
  1. U.S. Vice President Nelson Rockefeller's term as President of the Senate ended at noon January 20, 1977, when Walter Mondale's term began.
  2. When seated or oath administered, not necessarily when service began.

References
  • Martis, Kenneth C. (1989). The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
  • Martis, Kenneth C. (1982). The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
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