The 94th 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, 1975, to January 3, 1977, during the last two years of Gerald Ford's presidency.
| 94th United States Congress | |
|---|---|
93rd ← → 95th | |
United States Capitol (c. 1970)
| |
January 3, 1975 – January 3, 1977 | |
| Members | 100 senators 435 representatives 5 non-voting delegates |
| Senate majority | Democratic |
| Senate President | Nelson Rockefeller (R) |
| House majority | Democratic |
| House Speaker | Carl Albert (D) |
| Sessions | |
| 1st: January 14, 1975 – December 19, 1975 2nd: January 19, 1976 – October 1, 1976 | |
This is the most recent Congress with a Republican senator from Hawaii, Hiram Fong, and Democratic senators from Utah and Wyoming, Frank Moss and Gale W. McGee. Fong retired and the other two lost re-election at the end of the 94th Congress. This is also the earliest Congress to feature members of the current 118th Congress, Chuck GrassleyofIowa and Ed MarkeyofMassachusetts (then as representatives, now as senators).
The apportionment of seats in this House of Representatives was based on the 1970 United States census. The Democrats not only maintained their majorities in the House and Senate, but would increase their numbers to supermajority status in both chambers.
37 Republicans
| Party (shading indicates majority caucus) |
Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Independent | Conservative | Republican | Vacant | ||
| End of previous Congress | 56 | 1 | 1 | 40 | 98 | 2 |
| Begin (January 3, 1975) | 60 | 1 | 1 | 37 | 99 | 1 |
| August 8, 1975 [a] | 38 | 100 | 0 | |||
| September 18, 1975 [a] | 61 | 37 | 100 | 0 | ||
| January 2, 1977 [b] | 60 | 38 | 100 | 0 | ||
| Final voting share | 61% | 39% | ||||
| Beginning of the next Congress | 61 | 1 | 0 | 38 | 100 | 0 |
| Party (shading indicates majority caucus) |
Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Republican | Vacant | |||
| End of previous Congress | 232 | 174 | 406 | 29 | |
| Begin | 291 | 144 | 435 | 0 | |
| End | 287 | 146 | 433 | 2 | |
| Final voting share | 66% | 34% | |||
| Beginning of the next Congress | 292 | 143 | 435 | 0 | |
Senators are popularly elected statewide every two years, with one-third beginning new six-year terms with each Congress, In this Congress, Class 1 meant their term ended with this Congress, facing re-election in 1976; Class 2 meant their term began in the last Congress, facing re-election in 1978; and Class 3 meant their term began in this Congress, facing re-election in 1980.
| House seats by party holding plurality in state | |
|---|---|
80+% to 100% Republican
|
80+% to 100% Democratic
|
60+% to 80% Republican
|
60+% to 80% Democratic
|
Up to 60% Republican
|
Up to 60% Democratic
|
Many of the congressional districts 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.
The count below reflects changes from the beginning of the first session of this Congress.
Total seats with changes: 8
| State (class) |
Vacated by | Reason for change | Successor | Date of successor's formal installation[c] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Hampshire (3) |
Vacant | Disputed election. Interim senator appointed August 8, 1975. |
Norris Cotton (R) |
August 8, 1975 |
| New Hampshire (3) |
Norris Cotton (R) |
Interim appointee lost election. Successor elected September 16, 1975. |
John A. Durkin (D) |
September 18, 1975 |
| Michigan (1) |
Philip Hart (D) |
Died December 26, 1976. Successor appointed December 30, 1976, to finish the term, having already been elected to the next term. |
Donald Riegle (D) |
December 30, 1976 |
| Missouri (1) |
Stuart Symington (D) |
Resigned December 27, 1976, to give successor preferential seniority. Successor appointed December 27, 1976, to finish the term, having already been elected to the next term. |
John Danforth (R) |
December 27, 1976 |
| Nebraska (1) |
Roman Hruska (R) |
Resigned December 27, 1976, to give successor preferential seniority. Successor appointed December 28, 1976, to finish the term, having already been elected to the next term. |
Edward Zorinsky (D) |
December 28, 1976 |
| Ohio (1) |
Robert Taft Jr. (R) |
Resigned December 28, 1976, to give successor preferential seniority. Successor appointed December 28, 1976, to finish the term, having already been elected to the next term. |
Howard Metzenbaum (D) |
December 29, 1976 |
| Rhode Island (1) |
John Pastore (D) |
Resigned December 28, 1976, to give successor preferential seniority. Successor appointed December 29, 1976, to finish the term, having already been elected to the next term. |
John Chafee (R) |
December 29, 1976 |
| Minnesota (2) |
Walter Mondale (DFL) |
Resigned December 30, 1976, after being elected Vice-President of the United States. Interim Senator appointed December 30, 1976. |
Wendell R. Anderson (DFL) |
December 30, 1976 |
| California (1) |
John V. Tunney (D) |
Resigned January 1, 1977, to give successor preferential seniority. Successor appointed January 2, 1977, to finish the term, having already been elected to the next term. |
S. I. Hayakawa (R) |
January 2, 1977 |
| District | Vacated by | Reason for change | Successor | Date of successor's formal installation[c] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oklahoma 5th | John Jarman (D) | Changed parties. | John Jarman (R) | January 23, 1975 |
| Illinois 5th | John C. Kluczynski (D) | Died January 26, 1975. | John G. Fary (D) | July 8, 1975 |
| California 37th | Jerry Pettis (R) | Died February 14, 1975. | Shirley Neil Pettis (R) | April 29, 1975 |
| Tennessee 5th | Richard Fulton (D) | Resigned August 14, 1975, after being elected Mayor of Nashville. | Clifford Allen (D) | November 25, 1975 |
| New York 39th | James F. Hastings (R) | Resigned January 20, 1976. | Stan Lundine (D) | March 2, 1976 |
| Texas 22nd | Robert R. Casey (D) | Resigned January 22, 1976, after being appointed a commissioner on the Federal Maritime Commission. | Ron Paul (R) | April 3, 1976 |
| Texas 1st | Wright Patman (D) | Died March 7, 1976. | Sam B. Hall Jr. (D) | June 19, 1976 |
| Pennsylvania 1st | William A. Barrett (D) | Died April 12, 1976. | Michael Myers (D) | November 2, 1976 |
| Massachusetts 7th | Torbert Macdonald (D) | Died May 21, 1976. | Ed Markey (D) | November 2, 1976 |
| Missouri 6th | Jerry Litton (D) | Died August 3, 1976. | Tom Coleman (R) | November 2, 1976 |
| Ohio 18th | Wayne Hays (D) | Resigned September 1, 1976, due to the Elizabeth Ray sex scandal. | Vacant | Not filled this term |
| Michigan 7th | Donald Riegle (D) | Resigned December 30, 1976, after being appointed to the United States Senate. |
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.
