Non-voting members of the United States House of Representatives
Non-voting members of the United States House of Representatives are representatives of their territory in the House of Representatives, who do not have a right to vote on proposed legislation in the full House but have floor privileges and are able to participate in certain other House functions. Non-voting members may vote in a House committee of which they are a member and introduce legislation. There are six non-voting members: a delegate representing the federal district of Washington D. C. a resident commissioner representing Puerto Rico, one delegate for each of the other four permanently inhabited US Territories: American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, the US Virgin Islands. As with voting members, non-voting delegates are elected every two years, the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico is elected every four years. Non voting members serve in the House of Representatives—not the Senate. All delegates serve a term of two years, they receive compensation and franking privileges similar to full House members.
Since 1993, the rules governing the rights of a non-voting member have changed three times, current delegates—along with the resident commissioner—enjoy privileges that they did not have previously. Territorial delegates existed before the ratification of the United States Constitution; the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 allowed for a territory with "five thousand free male inhabitants of full age" to elect a non-voting delegate to the Continental Congress. After the ratification of the Constitution, the first United States Congress reenacted the Ordinance and extended it to include the territories south of the Ohio River. In 1790, the state of North Carolina—having ratified the constitution, becoming the 12th state—sent its congressional delegation to what was the federal capital at New York City. Among them was former State of Franklin Governor John Sevier, whose district comprised the "counties beyond the Alleghenies", he took office June 16, 1790, the government of North Carolina had ceded his district to the federal government on February 25, 1790 and it was organized into a territory on August 7, 1790.
He remained a member of the House until March 3, 1791 when he was appointed brigadier general of the militia. On September 3, 1794, James White was elected by the Southwest Territory, which contained Sevier's former district, to be their delegate to Congress. A resolution was put forth in the House to admit him to Congress, but as a delegate was not a position stated in the Constitution, the House debated what, if any, privileges White would have; as the Northwest Ordinance had only stated that a delegate is to sit "in Congress" the first debate was which chamber a delegate would sit in. Resolutions that he sit in both chambers and that his right to debate be limited to territorial matters were defeated; the House voted to allow him a non-voting seat in the House. Following his placement, representatives debated. Representative James Madison stated "The proper definition of Mr. White is to be found in the Laws and Rules of the Constitution, he is not a member of Congress, so cannot be directed to take an oath, unless he chooses to do it voluntarily."
As he was not a Member, he was not directed to take the oath, though every delegate after him has done so. He was extended franking privileges, which allowed him to send official mail free of charge, compensation at the same rate as members. In 1802 Congress passed a law that extended franking privileges and pay to delegates. An act passed in 1817 codified the term and privileges of delegates: n every territory of the United States in which a temporary government has been, or hereafter shall be established...shall have the right to send a delegate to Congress, such delegate shall be elected every second year, for the same term of two years for which members of the House of Representatives of the United States are elected. Similar to delegates are resident commissioners, who represented the large areas acquired during the Spanish–American War, for much of the 20th century were considered colonies, not territories and unlike the acquired areas which would become the contiguous U. S. or Alaska and Hawaii, did not have residents with the rights of, or to U.
S. citizenship. Unlike incorporated territories, they have the right to secede from the Union, in the case of the Philippines, they have. Puerto Rico, a U. S. Commonwealth, has been represented by a non-voting Resident Commissioner since 1901; the resident commissioner holds a status similar to that of a delegate within the House, but serves a four-year term. The resident commissioner is the only individual elected to the House. From 1907 until 1937, while it was a U. S. territory, the Philippines elected two non-voting resident commissioners to serve in the U. S. House of Representatives. From 1937 until 1946, while it was a U. S. Commonwealth, the Philippines sent one non-voting resident commissioner to the House. Upon independence in 1946, the Philippines ceased to be represented in Congress. In the mid-1960s, a number of small territories which had no prospects of becoming states began to petition for representation in Congress. Starting in 1970, the House of Representatives started to grant representation to these territories, but with limited voting rights.
American Samoa, an insular area since 1929, first elected a delegate, A. U. Fuimaono, in 1970. However, A
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party referred to as the GOP, is one of the two major political parties in the United States. The GOP was founded in 1854 by opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which had expanded slavery into U. S. territories. The party subscribed to classical liberalism and took ideological stands that were anti-slavery and pro-economic reform. Abraham Lincoln was the first Republican president in the history of the United States; the Party was dominant over the Democrats during the Third Party System and Fourth Party System. In 1912, Theodore Roosevelt formed the Progressive Party after being rejected by the GOP and ran unsuccessfully as a third-party presidential candidate calling for social reforms. After the 1912 election, many Roosevelt supporters left the Party, the Party underwent an ideological shift to the right; the liberal Republican element in the GOP was overwhelmed by a conservative surge begun by Barry Goldwater in 1964 that continued during the Reagan Era in the 1980s. After the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the party's core base shifted, with the Southern states becoming more reliably Republican in presidential politics and the Northeastern states becoming more reliably Democratic.
White voters identified with the Republican Party after the 1960s. Following the Supreme Court's 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, the Republican Party made opposition to abortion a key plank of its national party platform and grew its support among evangelicals. By 2000, the Republican Party was aligned with Christian conservatism; the Party's core support since the 1990s comes chiefly from the South, the Great Plains, the Mountain States and rural areas in the North. The 21st century Republican Party ideology is American conservatism, which contrasts with the Democrats' liberal platform and progressive wing; the GOP supports lower taxes, free market capitalism, a strong national defense, gun rights and restrictions on labor unions. The GOP was committed to protectionism and tariffs from its founding until the 1930s when it was based in the industrial Northeast and Midwest, but has grown more supportive of free trade since 1952. In addition to advocating for conservative economic policies, the Republican Party is conservative.
Founded in the Northern states in 1854 by abolitionists, modernizers, ex-Whigs and ex-Free Soilers, the Republican Party became the principal opposition to the dominant Democratic Party and the popular Know Nothing Party. The party grew out of opposition to the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise and opened Kansas Territory and Nebraska Territory to slavery and future admission as slave states; the Northern Republicans saw the expansion of slavery as a great evil. The first public meeting of the general anti-Nebraska movement, at which the name Republican was suggested for a new anti-slavery party, was held on March 20, 1854 in a schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin; the name was chosen to pay homage to Thomas Jefferson's Republican Party. The first official party convention was held on July 1854 in Jackson, Michigan. At the 1856 Republican National Convention, the party adopted a national platform emphasizing opposition to the expansion of slavery into U. S. territories. While Republican candidate John C.
Frémont lost the 1856 United States presidential election to James Buchanan, he did win 11 of the 16 northern states. The Republican Party first came to power in the elections of 1860 when it won control of both houses of Congress and its candidate, former congressman Abraham Lincoln, was elected President. In the election of 1864, it united with War Democrats to nominate Lincoln on the National Union Party ticket. Under Republican congressional leadership, the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution—which banned slavery in the United States—passed the Senate in 1864 and the House in 1865; the party's success created factionalism within the party in the 1870s. Those who felt that Reconstruction had been accomplished, was continued to promote the large-scale corruption tolerated by President Ulysses S. Grant, ran Horace Greeley for the presidency; the Stalwart faction defended Grant and the spoils system, whereas the Half-Breeds pushed for reform of the civil service. The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act was passed in 1883.
The Republican Party supported hard money, high tariffs to promote economic growth, high wages and high profits, generous pensions for Union veterans, the annexation of Hawaii. The Republicans had strong support from pietistic Protestants, but they resisted demands for Prohibition; as the Northern postwar economy boomed with heavy and light industry, mines, fast-growing cities, prosperous agriculture, the Republicans took credit and promoted policies to sustain the fast growth. The GOP was dominant over the Democrats during the Third Party System. However, by 1890 the Republicans had agreed to the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Interstate Commerce Commission in response to complaints from owners of small businesses and farmers; the high McKinley Tariff of 1890 hurt the party and the Democrats swept to a landslide in the off-year elections defeating McKinley himself. The Democrats elected Grover Cleveland in 1884 and 1892; the election of William McKinley in 1896 was marked by a resurgence of Republican dominance that lasted until 1932.
McKinley promised that high tariffs would end the severe hardship caused by the Pa
Rob Bishop
Robert William Bishop is an American politician serving as the U. S. Representative for Utah's 1st congressional district, he is a member of the Republican Party. Bishop has been a member of Congress since 2003. Prior to his congressional tenure, Bishop was a member of the Utah House of Representatives. Bishop was born in Kaysville and graduated from Davis High School, he served as a Mormon missionary in Germany from 1970 until 1972. Bishop received a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City in 1974, he taught civics classes at Brigham City's Box Elder High School from 1974 to 1980. While a teacher at Box Elder, Bishop partnered with the Close Up Foundation to help students participate in Close Up's Washington, D. C. based civic education programs. He remains involved in the program and works to ensure that Utah students have the opportunity to visit Washington, D. C. Bishop was a member of the Utah House of Representatives from 1978 to 1994, he was House Majority Leader and served as Speaker of the House from 1992 until 1994.
In 1997, he was elected chairman of the Utah Republican Party, served for two terms in this position. He has worked as a legislative lobbyist in Washington. In 2002, Bishop returned to politics. 22-year incumbent Jim Hansen had announced his retirement. At the state Republican convention, he finished first in the seven-candidate field and went on to face State Representative Kevin Garn in a primary, he defeated Garn in that primary with 59.8 percent of the vote, all but assuring him of being the next congressman from this Republican district. As expected, he won the general election with 61% of the vote, he has won re-election in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012 with larger margins. In 2014, he was reelected with 64% of the vote. In the 2016 election cycle, 92.6% of contributions to Bishop's political campaign came from outside Utah, the highest out-of-state percentage of any member of the House, with much of the contributions coming from the energy and agribusiness sectors, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics.
Bishop announced in 2017 that he would not seek reelection in 2020. In 2010 Bishop introduced to the House an amendment to the United States Constitution, known as the "repeal amendment," which would allow a majority vote of the states to overturn any act of the United States Congress. Bishop supports repeal of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, saying it has been "hijacked" to control land and block economic development, that he "would love to invalidate" the law. Bishop is among those most critical of the Antiquities Act. Bishop opposed the designation of the Bears Ears National Monument and supports repealing or shrinking the designation. Bishop supports transferring federal public lands to the states. In February 2011, Bishop introduced a budget amendment that would have defunded the National Landscape Conservation System, which manages 27 million acres of Bureau of Land Management land, including the National Monument, National Conservation Area, National Wilderness Preservation, National Wild and Scenic Rivers, National Scenic Trail, National Historic Trail systems and other systems.
After coming under fire for introducing this amendment, Bishop withdrew it. On April 10, 2013, Bishop introduced the Ensuring Public Involvement in the Creation of National Monuments Act; the bill would amend the Antiquities Act of 1906 to subject national monument declarations by the President to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. At present, the President of the United States can unilaterally designate areas of federally-owned land as a national monument, whereas national parks and other areas are required to be enacted into law by the United States Congress. Bishop argued that "the American people deserve the opportunity to participate in land-use decisions regardless of whether they are made in Congress or by the President", he claims his new bill would ensure "that new national monuments are created with consideration of public input". In March 2019, Bishop said that "the ideas behind the Green New Deal are tantamount to genocide". Asked to elaborate how this was similar to genocide, Bishop answered, "I’m an ethnic.
I’m a westerner." Asked whether he believed that the Green New Deal would kill him, Bishop said, "If you implement everything they want to. Killing would be positive if you implement everything the Green New Deal wants to. That’s why the Green New Deal is not ready for prime time." Committee on Natural Resources - Chairman Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation House Armed Services Committee Tenth Amendment Task Force Second Amendment Task Force Congressional Lupus Caucus House GOP Policy Committee Co-founder of the Western States Coalition past Chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus Tea Party Caucus Republican Study Committee House Baltic Caucus Congressional Constitution Caucus Congressional Western Caucus United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus Bishop is married to Jeralynn Hansen, a former Miss Peach Queen for Brigham City, Utah. He and his family reside in Brigham City; the Bishops have one daughter. Well known for his fashionable three-piece suits, Bishop was named the third-best-dressed congressmen in 2012 according to the Washingtonian.
Congressman Rob Bishop official US House website Rob Bishop for Congress Rob Bishop at Curlie Appearances on C-SPAN Biography at the Biographical Directory
Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives
Party leaders and whips of the United States House of Representatives known as floor leaders, are elected by their respective parties in a closed-door caucus by secret ballot. With the Democrats holding a majority of seats and the Republicans holding a minority, the current leaders are: Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Majority Whip James Clyburn, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Minority Whip Steve Scalise. Unlike in Westminster-style legislatures or as with the Senate Majority Leader, the House Majority Leader's duties and prominence vary depending upon the style and power of the Speaker of the House; the Speaker does not participate in debate and votes on the floor. In some cases, Majority Leaders have been more influential than the Speaker. In addition, Speaker Newt Gingrich delegated to Dick Armey an unprecedented level of authority over scheduling legislation on the House floor; the current Minority Leader, Kevin McCarthy, serves as floor leader of the opposition party, is the counterpart to the Majority Leader.
Unlike the Majority Leader, the Minority Leader is on the ballot for Speaker of the House during the convening of the Congress. If the Minority Leader's party takes control of the House, the party officers are all re-elected to their seats, the Minority Leader is the party's top choice for Speaker for the next Congress, while the Minority Whip is in line to become Majority Leader; the Minority Leader meets with the Majority Leader and the Speaker to discuss agreements on controversial issues. The Speaker, Majority Leader, Minority Leader, Majority Whip and Minority Whip all receive special office suites in the United States Capitol; the floor leaders and whips of each party are elected by their respective parties in a closed-door caucus by secret ballot. The Speaker-elect is chosen in a closed-door session although they are formally installed in their position by a public vote when Congress reconvenes. Like the Speaker of the House, the Minority Leaders are experienced lawmakers when they win election to this position.
When Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, became Minority Leader in the 108th Congress, she had served in the House nearly 20 years and had served as minority whip in the 107th Congress. When her predecessor, Richard Gephardt, D-MO, became minority leader in the 104th House, he had been in the House for 20 years, had served as chairman of the Democratic Caucus for four years, had been a 1988 presidential candidate, had been majority leader from June 1989 until Republicans captured control of the House in the November 1994 elections. Gephardt's predecessor in the minority leadership position was Robert Michel, R-IL, who became GOP Leader in 1981 after spending 24 years in the House. Michel's predecessor, Republican John Rhodes of Arizona, was elected Minority Leader in 1973 after 20 years of House service. By contrast, party leaders of the United States Senate have ascended to their position despite few years of experience in that chamber, such as Lyndon B. Johnson, William F. Knowland, Bill Frist. Former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor had a comparatively quick rise to the post and was the youngest House Majority Leader in American history.
The House Majority Leader's duties vary, depending upon the political makeup of the majority caucus. In several recent sessions of Congress, with the notable exception of the Pelosi speakership, the Majority Leader has been responsible for scheduling the House floor's legislative calendar and direct management for all House committees. One statutory duty, per 19 U. S. C. § 2191, stipulates that an implementing bill submitted by the President of the United States for a fast-track negotiating authority trade agreement must be introduced in the House by the Majority Leader of the House. Before 1899, the majority party floor leader had traditionally been the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, the most powerful committee in the House, as it generates the Bills of Revenue specified in the Constitution as the House's unique power; the office of Majority Leader first occupied by Sereno Payne. Speaker David B. Henderson created the position to establish a party leader on the House floor separate from the Speaker, as the role of Speaker had become more prominent, the size of the House had grown from 105 at the beginning of the century to 356.
Starting with Republican Nicholas Longworth in 1925, continued through the Democrats' control of the House from 1931 to 1995, save for Republican majorities in 1947–49 and 1953–55, all majority leaders have directly ascended to the Speakership brought upon by the retirement of the incumbent. The only exceptions during this period were Charles A. Halleck who became Republican House leader and Minority Leader from 1959 to 1965, Hale Boggs who died in a plane crash, Dick Gephardt who became the Democrats' House leader but as Minority Leader since his party lost control in the 1994 midterm elections. Since 1995, the only Majority Leader to become Speaker is John Boehner, though indirectly as his party lost control in the 2006 midterms elections, he subsequently served as Republican House leader and Minority Leader from 2007 to 2011 and was elected Speaker when the House reconvened in 2011. In 1998, with Speaker Newt Gingrich announcing his resignation, both Majority Leader Dick Armey and Majority Whip Tom DeLay did not contest the Speakership which went to Chief Deputy Whip Dennis Hastert.
Traditionally, the Speaker is reckoned as the leader of the majority party in the House, with the Majority Leader as second-in-command. For instance, when the Republicans gained the majority in the House after the 2010 elections, Eric Canto
History of the United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives known as the lower chamber of the United States Congress, along with the United States Senate known as the upper chamber, are the two parts of the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. Like its counterpart, the House was established by the United States Constitution and convened for its first meeting on March 4, 1789 at Federal Hall in New York City; the history of this institution begins several years prior to that date, at the dawn of the American Revolutionary War. The First Continental Congress was a meeting of representatives of twelve of Great Britain's seventeen North American colonies, in the autumn of 1774; the Continental Congress sent a list of grievances to King George III. When the King failed to respond, the American Revolutionary War began in April 1775, the Second Continental Congress was convened—this time with thirteen colonies in attendance. A year on 4 July 1776, the Continental Congress declared the thirteen colonies free and independent states, referring to them as the "united States of America."
This was not a formal name, however, so "united" was not capitalized in the Declaration of Independence, "States" being capitalized only because all nouns were capitalized in English before the Industrial Revolution. The Second Continental Congress continued in office while the War for Independence continued, producing the Articles of Confederation— the country's first constitution— in 1777, ratified by all of the states by 1781. Under the Articles of Confederation, the Congress of the Confederation was a unicameral body in which each state was represented, in which each state had a veto over most action. States could, did, ignore what did pass; the ineffectiveness of the federal government under the Articles led Congress to summon the Convention of 1787. One of the most divisive issues facing the Convention was the structure of Congress. James Madison's Virginia Plan called for a bicameral Congress; the plan drew the support of delegates from large states such as Virginia and Pennsylvania, as it called for representation based on population.
The smaller states, favored the New Jersey Plan, which called for a unicameral Congress with equal representation for the states. A compromise, known as the Connecticut Compromise or the Great Compromise was reached; the Constitution was ratified by the end of 1788, its full implementation was set for March 4, 1789. The House of Representatives began work on April 1, 1789, when it achieved a quorum for the first time, with 59 members elected from 11 states. In 1790, North Carolina and Rhode Island elected representatives, bringing the total count of representatives to 65. In the 1st United States Congress, Frederick Muhlenberg, a Pennsylvania Lutheran minister and politician, was the first Speaker of the House; the early 19th century was marked by frequent clashes between the House of Representatives and the Senate. For most of the first half of the 19th century, a balance between the free North and the slaveholding South existed in the Senate, as the numbers of free and slave states were equal.
However, since the North was much more populous than the South, it dominated the House of Representatives. In 1825, new Speaker of the House Henry Clay officially announced that he and his followers would separate from Andrew Jackson and form the National Republican Party. Clay moved to the Senate. During the Civil War, the key policy-maker in Congress was Thaddeus Stevens, as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and as Republican floor leader, he took charge of major legislation that funded the war effort and revolutionized the nation's economic policies regarding tariffs, bonds and excise taxes, national banks, suppression of money issued by state banks, greenback currency, western railroad land grants. Stevens was one of the major policymakers regarding Reconstruction, obtained a House vote of impeachment against President Andrew Johnson. Hans Trefousse, his leading biographer, concludes that Stevens "was one of the most influential representatives to serve in Congress; the House with his wit, knowledge of parliamentary law, sheer willpower though he was unable to prevail."
Historiographical views of Stevens have shifted over the years, from the early 20th-century view of Stevens and the Radical Republicans as tools of big business and motivated by hatred of the white South, to the perspective of the neoabolitionists of the 1950s and afterwards, who applauded their efforts to give equal rights to the freed slaves. The Democrats were a weak minority from 1861 to 1874 made a major comeback in 1874 by winning 93 seats held by the GOP and becoming the majority; the Gilded Age was marked by close balances with the parties alternating control. Between 1860 and 1920 the average tenure of House members doubled from four to eight years; this number reflects the growth of "congressional careerism." The House began to develop a more stable culture, sessions of the House became longer, members of the House began to specialize in specific areas of policy. Power was decentralized from the Speaker of the House, seniority nearly assured advancement within the House; the increasing importance of the federal government, an increasing acceptance of leng
115th United States Congress
The One Hundred Fifteenth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D. C. from January 3, 2017, to January 3, 2019, during the final weeks of Barack Obama's presidency and the first two years of Donald Trump's presidency. Several political scientists described the legislative accomplishments of this Congress as modest, considering that both Congress and the Presidency were under unified Republican Party control. According to a contemporary study, "House and Senate GOP majorities struggled to legislate: GOP fissures and an undisciplined, unpopular president undermined the Republican agenda. Most notably, clashes within and between the two parties strained old ways of doing business." January 5, 2017: House of Representatives condemned United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334. January 6, 2017: Joint session counted and certified the electoral votes of the 2016 presidential election.
January 11–12, 2017: Senate, in an all-night session, took first steps to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The final vote was 51 to 48 to approve a budget resolution to allow "broad swaths of the Affordable Care Act to be repealed through a process known as budget reconciliation." January 20, 2017: Inauguration of President Donald Trump. February 7, 2017: Vice President Mike Pence cast the tie-breaking vote to confirm Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education; this was the first time in United States history that a cabinet confirmation was tied in the Senate and required a tie-breaking vote. February 28, 2017: President's speech to a Joint Session. April 6, 2017: Senate invoked the "nuclear option" to weaken Supreme Court filibusters. Nominee Neil Gorsuch was confirmed the next day. June 14, 2017: Majority Whip Steve Scalise and several staffers were shot during the 2017 Congressional baseball shooting, they were practicing for the annual Congressional Baseball Game. September 1, 2017: The Parliamentarian of the United States Senate decreed that the Senate had until the end of the month to pass ACA repeal via the reconciliation process, or the option would no longer be viable.
October 24 – December 14, 2017: 2017 United States political sexual scandals from the "Me too" movement: Allegations that Congressman Ruben Kihuen sexually harassed a campaign staffer led some in congressional leadership to call for his resignation. Kihuen announced he would not seek another term in office. Senator Al Franken announced he would resign "in the coming weeks" after photographs were made public suggesting that he sexually assaulted a Los Angeles-based radio personality during a USO tour in Iraq in 2006, he was accused by multiple female constituents of groping at various Minnesota fair appearances that he attended. Three members of Congress either announced their impeding resignations. Allegations that President Donald Trump raped and sexually harassed at least nineteen women, one girl, Miss Teen USA contestants resulted in calls by members of Congress for him to resign. Allegations that Republican Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore raped and sexually harassed at least eight women and one girl contributed to his defeat by Democrat Doug Jones in a special Senate election to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Allegations that Representative Blake Farenthold sexually harassed a former staffer resulted in the commencement of an investigation by the House Ethics Committee and his announcement he would not seek re-election in 2018. He subsequently resigned on April 6, 2018. January 20–22, 2018: United States federal government shutdown of January 2018 January 30, 2018: 2018 State of the Union Address February 9, 2018: United States federal government funding gap October 6, 2018: Senate confirms Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the U. S. Supreme Court. November 28, 2018: Senate discharges from committee and calendars S. J. Res. 54, bill that ends US intervention in the Yemeni Civil War. December 22, 2018 – January 25, 2019: 2018–19 United States federal government shutdown May 5, 2017: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017, H. R. 244, Pub. L. 115–31 August 2, 2017: Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, H. R. 3364, Pub. L. 115–44 December 12, 2017: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018, H.
R. 2810, Pub. L. 115–91 December 22, 2017: Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, H. R. 1, Pub. L. 115–97 February 9, 2018: Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, H. R. 1892, Pub. L. 115–123 March 23, 2018: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018, H. R. 1625, Pub. L. 115–141 April 11, 2018: Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act, H. R. 1865, Pub. L. 115–164 May 24, 2018: Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act, S. 2155, Pub. L. 115–174 May 30, 2018: Trickett Wendler, Frank Mongiello, Jordan McLinn, Matthew Bellina Right to Try Act of 2017, S. 204, Pub. L. 115–176 August 13, 2018: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019, H. R. 5515, Pub. L. 115–232 October 5, 2018: FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018, H. R. 302, Pub. L. 115–254 October 11, 2018: Music Modernization Act, H. R. 1551, Pub. L. 115–264 October 23, 2018: America's Water Infrastructure Act of 2018, S. 3021, Pub. L. 115–270 October 24, 2018: SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act, H. R. 6, Pub. L. 115–271 December 20, 2018: Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, H.
R. 2, Pub. L. 115–334 December 21, 2018: FIRST STEP Act, S. 756, Pub. L. 115–391 May 4, 2017: American Health Care Act, passed House May 4, 2017 June 8, 2017: Financial CHOICE Act, passed House June 8, 2017 Resignations and new members are discussed in the "Changes in membership" section, below. Section contents: Senate: Majority, Minority • House: Majority, Minority President: Joe Biden
Wildlife management
Wildlife management attempts to balance the needs of wildlife with the needs of people using the best available science. Wildlife management can include wildlife conservation and pest control. Wildlife management draws on disciplines such as mathematics, biology, ecology and geography to gain the best results. Wildlife conservation aims to halt the loss in the Earth's biodiversity by taking into consideration ecological principles such as carrying capacity and succession and environmental conditions such as physical geography and hydrology with the aim of balancing the needs of wildlife with the needs of people. Most wildlife biologists are concerned with the preservation and improvement of habitats although rewilding is being used. Techniques can include reforestation, pest control and denitrification, irrigation and hedge laying. Game keeping is the management or control of wildlife for the well being of game and may include killing other animals which share the same niche or predators to maintain a high population of the more profitable species, such as pheasants introduced into woodland.
In his 1933 book Game Management, Aldo Leopold, one of the pioneers of wildlife management as a science, defined it as "the art of making land produce sustained annual crops of wild game for recreational use". Pest control is the control of real or perceived pests and can be used for the benefit of wildlife, game keepers or safety reasons. In the United States, wildlife management practices are implemented by a governmental agency to uphold a law, such as the Endangered Species Act. In the United Kingdom, wildlife management undertaken by several organizations including government bodies such as the Forestry Commission, Charities such as the RSPB and The Wildlife Trusts and hired gamekeepers and contractors. Legislation has been passed to protect wildlife such as the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981; the UK government give farmers subsidies through the Countryside Stewardship Scheme to improve the conservation value of their farms. The history of wildlife management begins with the game laws, which regulated the right to kill certain kinds of fish and wild animal.
In Britain game laws developed out of the forest laws, which in the time of the Norman kings were oppressive. Under William the Conqueror, it was as great a crime to kill one of the king's deer as to kill one of his subjects. A certain rank and standing, or the possession of a certain amount of property, were for a long time qualifications indispensably necessary to confer upon any one the right of pursuing and killing game; the Game Act of 1831 protected game birds by establishing close seasons when they could not be taken. The act made it lawful to take game only with the provision of a game licence and provided for the appointment of gamekeepers around the country; the purposes of the law was to balance the needs for preservation and harvest and to manage both environment and populations of fish and game. Early game laws were enacted in the US. Other regulations during this time focused on restricting hunting. At this time, lawmakers did not consider population sizes or the need for preservation or restoration of wildlife habitats.
The late 19th century saw the passage of the first pieces of wildlife conservation legislation and the establishment of the first nature conservation societies. The Sea Birds Preservation Act of 1869 was passed in Britain as the first nature protection law in the world after extensive lobbying from the Association for the Protection of Seabirds; the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds was founded as the Plumage League in 1889 by Emily Williamson at her house in Manchester as a protest group campaigning against the use of great crested grebe and kittiwake skins and feathers in fur clothing. The group gained popularity and amalgamated with the Fur and Feather League in Croydon to form the RSPB; the Society attracted growing support from the suburban middle-classes as well as support from many other influential figures, such as the ornithologist Professor Alfred Newton. The National Trust formed in 1895 with the manifesto to "...promote the permanent preservation, for the benefit of the nation, of lands...to preserve their natural aspect."
On 1 May 1899, the Trust purchased two acres of Wicken Fen with a donation from the amateur naturalist Charles Rothschild, establishing the first nature reserve in Britain. Rothschild was a pioneer of wildlife conservation in Britain, went on to establish many other nature reserves, such as one at Woodwalton Fen, near Huntingdon, in 1910. During his lifetime he built and managed his estate at Ashton Wold in Northamptonshire to maximise its suitability for wildlife butterflies. Concerned about the loss of wildlife habitats, in 1912 he set up the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves, the forerunner of The Wildlife Trusts partnership. During the society's early years, membership tended to be made up of specialist naturalists and its growth was comparatively slow; the first independent Trust was formed in Norfolk in 1926 as the Norfolk Naturalists Trust, followed in 1938 by the Pembrokeshire Bird Protection Society which after several subsequent changes of name is now the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales and it was not until the 1940s and 1950s that more Naturalists' Trusts were formed in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire.
These early Trusts tended to focus on purchasing land to establish nature reserves in the geographical areas they served. The profession of wildlife management was established in the United States in the 1920s
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