Major Events
- November 7, 2006 — California Representative Nancy Pelosi and Nevada Senator Harry Reid lead the Democratic Party in taking control of both the House and the Senate in the 2006 congressional elections, the first time in 12 years the Democrats secure control of both houses of Congress simultaneously.
- Prominent events included the filibuster "nuclear option" scare, the failure of the federal government to promptly respond to Hurricane Katrina disaster relief, the Tom DeLay corruption investigation, the CIA leak scandal, the rising unpopularity of the Iraq War, the 2006 immigration reform protests and government involvement in the Terri Schiavo case.
- In addition to the DeLay indictment, this Congress also had a number of scandals: Bob Ney, Randy "Duke" Cunningham, William J. Jefferson, Mark Foley scandal, and the Jack Abramoff scandals.
- This Congress met for 242 days, the fewest since World War II and 12 days fewer than the 80th Congress. As the Congress neared its conclusion, some commentators labelled this the "Do Nothing Congress," a pejorative originally given to the 80th United States Congress by President Harry Truman.
- The President vetoed only one bill, his first veto, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005.
Read more about this topic: 109th United States Congress
Famous quotes containing the words major and/or events:
“Uncle Ben’s brass bullet-mould
And powder horn, and Major Bogan’s face
Above the fire, in the half-light, plainly said
There’s naught to kill but the animated dead;”
—Allen Tate (1899–1979)
“I have no time to read newspapers. If you chance to live and move and have your being in that thin stratum in which the events which make the news transpire—thinner than the paper on which it is printed—then these things will fill the world for you; but if you soar above or dive below that plane, you cannot remember nor be reminded of them.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
Related Phrases
Related Words