Portal:Florida and the U.S. Congress

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  Kirsten Gillibrand was sworn in as the Junior Senator for New York, filling the seat vacated by Hillary Clinton.

• Norm Coleman has accepted a job as a consultant and strategic adviser for the Republican Jewish Coalition. His lawsuit challenging the recount in the Minnesota Senate contest has been scheduled to begin January 26, 2009.

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  Ken Salazar now serves as Secretary of the Interior for the Obama administration. Michael Bennet will fill his vacant Senate seat.

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  Hillary Clinton has been confirmed as Secretary of State for the Obama administration. Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand will fill her vacant Senate seat.

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  Roland Burris has been sworn in as the Junior Senator from Illinois.

• The 111th Congress convened on Jan. 6th, including 65 freshmen.
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  Rep. Ray LaHood accepted an offer to become Barack Obama's new Secretary of Transportation.

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  Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) has announced he will not seek re-election in 2010.

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  Rep. Tom Cole(R-Okla.) stepped down as the Chairman of the National Republican Campaign Committee. Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) will fill the post for the 111th Congress.

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  Ted Kaufman (D-Del.) was appointed to fill Sen. Joe Biden's (D-Del) Senate seat by Gov. Ruth Ann Minner (D-Del.) on Nov. 24.

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  Between 2004-2007, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) allegedly funneled nearly $80,000 in campaign cash to a company run by his son to build and operate a pair of websites one expert valued at no more than $1,000.

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  On December 8, 2008, Rep. Vito Fossella (R-N.Y.) was sentenced to 5 days in a Virginia cell after being found guilty of drunken driving.

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  The Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled that Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) cannot withdraw his original guilty plea in his 2007 disorderly conduct case.

• John Fleming, Jr. (R) defeated Paul Carmouche (D) in the Dec. 6 general election for the Louisiana 2nd House seat.

• Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) was arrested on federal corruption charges for allegedly trying to sell an appointment to the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by President-Elect Barack Obama.

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  Mary Jo Kilroy (D) defeated Steve Stivers (R) in the congressional election for the 15th District of Ohio.

• Anh Cao (R) defeated Rep. William Jefferson (D) in the Dec. 6 congressional election in the Louisiana 2nd Congressional district.

• Tom McClintock (R) defeated Democrat Charlie Brown in the race for the open seat in California's 4th congressional district.

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  Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R) won the runoff election against Jim Martin (D) for the Georgia Senate seat on Dec. 2, 2008.

• Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Florida) has announced he will not seek reelection in 2010. He has yet to decide if he will serve out the rest of his term in Congress.

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  President Elect Barack Obama named New York Sen. Hillary Clinton his Secretary of State.

• Democrats in the House selected Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) as chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. He replaces former chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.).

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  Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) was defeated by Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich (D) following a count of absentee ballots.

• Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) will retain his chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs, following a vote by the Democratic caucus.

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  President-Elect Barack Obama (D) resigned his seat in the United States Senate.

• Rick Renzi of Arizona has been further charged with racketeering, falsifying a tax return, among other wrongdoings.

• Five House races in Alaska, Ohio. California and Louisiana are still undecided, as are Senate races in Minnesota, Georgia and Alaska. Three of the defending incumbents in the races - Ted Stevens (R), William Jefferson (D) and Don Young (R) - are under federal investigation on corruption charges. (Full story.)

• Sen. Bob Byrd announced that he will voluntarily step down from the chairmanship of the Senate Appropriations Committee. (Nov. 7, 2008)

• Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) was named by president-elect Barack Obama as his incoming chief of staff. (Nov. 6, 2008)

• In Texas, Pete Olson defeated Rep. Nick Lampson in the 22nd Congressional district. Reps. John Culberson, Michael McCaul, and Ciro Rodriguez successfully defended their seats in contested races.

• The race between Rep. Dave Reichert and Darcy Burner in Washington is still undecided. All other incumbents were re-elected.
• Utah's 3rd district will be represented by Jason Chaffetz, who will replace Rep. Chris Cannon.

• Mark R. Warner was elected to the Senate in Virginia in a close race. Gerald E. Connolly was elected to the House, while Glenn Nye defeated Rep.Thelma D. Drake.

• Phil Roe of Tennessee was elected to represent the 1st district.

• In Puerto Rico, Pedro Pierluisi was elected to replace Luis Fortuno.

• In South Carolina, all incumbents were re-elected, including Reps.Joe Wilson and Henry Brown who competed in contested races.

• All incumbents in Rhode Island were re-elected.

• Alan Grayson, Bill Posey, Tom Rooney, and Suzanne Kosmas replaced Reps. Ric Keller, Dave Weldon, Tim Mahoney, and Tom Feeney, while Rep. Vern Buchanan, Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Rep. Ron Klein, and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart were re-elected in Florida.

• In Connecticut, incumbent representatives Joe Courtney and Chris Murphy won, while Jim Himes replaced incumbent Chris Shays.

• Rep. Mark Udall was elected to Colorado's senate, and Jared Polis, Betsy Markey, and Mike Coffman were elected to the House.

• In California, Duncan Hunter was elected to the House, and Reps. Dan Lungren, Jerry McNerney, David Dreier, Dana Rohrabacher, and Brian Bilbray retained their seats.

• In Arizona, Ann Kirkpatrick was elected to replace Rep. Rick Renzi, while Reps. John Shadegg, Harry Mitchell, and Gabrielle Giffords held on to their seats.

• Rep. Don Young defended his seat in Alaska.

• Bobby Bright and Parker Griffith replaced Rep. Terry Everett and Rep. Bud Cramer, and incumbent Mike Rogers defended his seat in Alabama.

• In Oregon, Sen. Gordon Smith was defeated by Jeff Merkley in a highly contested race. Kurt Schrader was elected to the House in the 5th district of Oregon.

• All incumbents in Oklahoma were re-elected.

• Rep.Steve Chabot was defeated by Steven Driehaus in Ohio. Steve Austria, Marcia L. Fudge and John Boccieri were also elected to the House.

• In North Carolina, Kay R. Hagan defeated Sen. Elizabeth Dole in a highly contested race. Larry Kissell defeated Rep. Robin Hayes in the 8th district of North Carolina, and Rep. Patrick McHenry was re-elected.

• Michael McMahon, Paul Tonko, Dan Maffei, Chris Lee, and Eric Massa were elected in contested races in New York. Reps. John Hall, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Michael Arcuri retained their seats, while Rep. Randy Kuhl was defeated.

• In New Mexico, Martin Heinrich and Harry Teague were elected to Congress. Tom Udall was elected to the Senate.

• In Minnesota, Erik Paulsen defeated Jigar Ashwin Madia in a contested race. Reps. Tim Walz, John Kline, and Michele Bachmann defended their seats.

• Mark Schauer defeated Rep. Tim Walberg and Gary Peters defeated Rep.Joe Knollenberg in the Michigan congressional elections.

• In Maine, Chellie Pingree was elected in a contested race.

• William Jefferson and Anh Cao will compete in the general election for the Louisiana 2nd congressional district, and Paul Carmouche and John Fleming Jr. will compete in the Louisiana 4th. The general election will take place on Dec. 6, 2008.

• In Louisiana Rep. Don Cazayoux was defeated by Bill Cassidy, and Steve Scalise retained his seat.

• In Kentucky, Brett Guthrie was elected to represent the 2nd Congressional District in a contested race, and John Yarmuth was re-elected.

• In Kansas, Lynn Jenkins defeated Rep. Nancy Boyda. Rep.Dennis Moore successfully defended his seat.

• In Iowa, Tom Latham retained his seat in Congress.

• Mark Souder and Baron Hill retained their seats in Indiana.

• In Illinois, Debbie Halvorson and Aaron Schock were elected in contested races. Reps.Peter Roskam, Melissa Bean, Mark Kirk, Judy Biggert, and Bill Foster all retained their seats in races.

• In Idaho, Walter Minnick defeated Rep. Bill Sali in a contested race. Jim Risch won the Senate race.

• In Georgia, Jim Marshall and John Barrow were re-elected in contested races.

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  Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) was elected President of the United States. He won more than 330 electoral votes.

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  Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) was convicted on seven federal counts of "knowingly and willfully" making false statements on his Senate personal financial disclosure forms.

• The judge overseeing Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens' (R) federal trial granted prosecutors an extension, a day after he threw out evidence because it had been withheld from defense attorneys.

• The House and Senate approved a financial recovery bill designed to prop up the struggling financial sector of the U.S. economy, by using $700 billion in federal funding to purchase and insure troubled assets.

• Rep. Peter Welch (D) received both the Democratic and Republican nominations following last week's congressional primary in Vermont.

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  Following weeks of delay while absentee ballots were tallied, Rep. Don Young (R) was declared winner of the Republican primary for Alaska's At-large congressional district.

• On September 13, 2008, the Virgin Islands held their congressional primaries.

• On September 9, 2008, Delaware, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia all held their congressional primaries.

• On September 6, 2008, Guam held their congressional primaries.

• On September 4, 2008, lobbyist Jack Abramoff received a four-year prison sentence for his role in lawmaker corruption.

• On September 2, 2008, Arizona held their congressional primaries.

• On August 26, 2008, Alaska and Florida held their congressional primaries.

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  On August 20th, Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio) passed away after suffering an aneurysm while driving.

• On August 19, 2008, Wyoming and Washington held their congressional primaries.

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  On August 15th, former House Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) was released from jail after serving 17 1/2 months of a 30-month sentence stemming from his involvement in the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal. Ney received early release from a Cincinnati halfway house for good behavior and participation in a drug and alcohol program.

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  In an August 14th ruling, a U.S. district judge rejected two lines of argument offered by Rep. William Jefferson's legal defense team, upholding racketeering charges brought against the Louisiana Representative. The legal defeat for Jefferson was the latest development in the legal battle surrounding a 16-count indictment.

• On August 14th, federal prosecutors revealed new evidence against Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) in the ongoing VECO corruption case. Among the allegations was the claim that Stevens offered to use his Washington connections to push a stalled pipeline project in his home state of Alaska.

• On August 12, 2008, Nevada, Connecticut, and Colorado all held their congressional primaries.

• On August 7, 2008, Tennessee held their congressional primaries.

• On August 5, 2008, Kansas, Missouri, and Michigan all held their congressional primaries.

• Following his indictment, and in keeping with party rules, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) stepped down as the top Republican on the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee; the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee; and the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery.

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  On July 29, Federal investigators announced Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) had been indicted on seven counts of making false statements on financial disclosure forms.

• On July 25, a day after House Democrats fell short of moving forward legislation to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Senate Republicans successfully blocked the Senate's Democratic majority's attempt to gain cloture for its energy speculation legislation.

• In a press conference July 17, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) vehemently denied any wrongdoing regarding his use of congressional stationery to write on behalf of a school that bears his name.

• Both the House and the Senate quickly overrode President Bush's veto of the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 yesterday.

• The Senate voted overwhelmingly to authorize new surveillance powers for President Bush, and to provide immunity to phone companies that helped the government listen in on Americans' phone conversations without a warrant.

• On July 15, 2008, Georgia held their congressional primaries while Alabama held primary runoffs in two districts.

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  On July 9, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) returned to the Senate floor to break an impasse on the contentious Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008. After Democrats won a crucial procedural vote, the Senate cleared the bill 69-30. It was a wide enough margin to override a threatened veto of the bill, with votes to spare.

• Former North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms (R) died Friday, July 4th in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was 86.

• Congress approved emergency 2008 Iraq War funding spending legislation for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and included money to fund an extension of unemployment insurance, a new veterans' education benefit and flood recovery. President Bush is expected to sign the bill this week.

• An expansion of the country's Global AIDS program, which provides monetary assistance for impoverished nations affected by the disease, was blocked by a group of Republican Senators prior to the July 4th recess. The Senators sought more input in crafting the legislation.

• The main housing and mortgage crisis bill got stuck in the Senate before the 4th of July recess as Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) demanded a vote on his renewable energy amendment in the face of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) efforts to pass the bill without amendments.

• The Senate this week confirmed five nominees to the Federal Election Commission, ending a months-long standoff between Senate Democrats and the White House.

• In reaction to the Countrywide loan scandal, all six members of the Senate Ethics Panel proposed that there should be stricter mortgage disclosure requirements for lawmakers.

• Rep. Chris Cannon (R-Utah) became the third House incumbent to lose a primary this year, falling to former gubernatorial aide Jason Chaffetz in Utah’s 3rd district.

• Francis “Frank” Powers, 67, the millionaire endorsed by Republican leaders as their candidate for the New York congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Vito Fossella (R-N.Y.), died Sunday in his sleep of natural causes.

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  Donna Edwards was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives during a special election in Maryland's 4th congressional district.

• As his legal troubles mounted last year, Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) began to pay off a loan to an executive of a Maryland-based global satellite company who was cooperating with prosecutors and could potentially testify against him.

• A magazine has revealed that some politicians, including Sens. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) and Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), may have received favorable mortgage deals from Countrywide Financial Corporation.

• The House approved the extended unemployment (H.R.5749) bill Thursday by capturing a slim two-thirds majority of votes.

• The debate on the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 was blocked after the Senate Democrats did not get enough votes to invoke cloture.

• The House failed to "fast track" the extended unemployment (H.R.5749) The bill would extend emergency unemployment compensation for 13 weeks beyond the 26 weeks already authorized under law.