X-Nico

48 unusual facts about United States Senate


Anti-pharming

In March 2005, U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced the Anti-Phishing Act of 2005, a bill that proposes a five-year prison sentence and/or fine for individuals who execute phishing attacks and use information garnered through online fraud such as phishing and pharming to commit crimes such as identity theft.

Ashkan Soltani

In 2011, he testified at two different hearings held by US Senate committees focused on privacy related matters.

Assistant Secretary of Energy for Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability

The Assistant Secretary for Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability is appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate.

Book TV

While the primary mission of C-SPAN2 is live coverage of the United States Senate, Book TV programs are sometimes also scheduled to air during the week when the Senate is not in session.

Bureau of Justice Assistance

On Monday, December 13, 2010, President Barack Obama sent to the U.S. Senate the nomination of Denise O'Donnell, of New York, to be the Director of the Bureau, in the place of Domingo S. Herraiz, who resigned.

Canadian federal election, 1957

A final parliamentary conflict was sparked by the suicide of Canadian Ambassador to Egypt E.H. Norman in the midst of allegations made by a United States Senate subcommittee that Norman had communist links.

Cat Whitehill

On February 1, 2006, she testified at a committee hearing of the United States Senate in support of Title IX, the civil rights law that, among other things, provides women and girls the same opportunities to participate in school sports that boys and men are offered.

Chappaquiddick Island

The island became internationally recognized following the July 18, 1969 incident, where the car of U.S. Senator Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy was accidentally driven off the island's Dike Bridge, which fatally trapped his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, inside.

Charles Gayarré

In 1830 he was elected a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives; in 1831 was appointed deputy attorney general of his state; in 1833 he became presiding judge of the city court of New Orleans; and in 1834 he was elected as a Jackson Democrat to the United States Senate.

China Hands

Notable was the invitation to the surviving China Hands to testify to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in 1971.

Chip Reid

Reid began covering the Senate and the House of Representatives for NBC News in the fall of 2004; and, he served as a political coverage anchor for MSNBC, as well as a reporter for all the major NBC News broadcasts.

Day of Affirmation speech

Kennedy, who was then a U.S. Senator from New York, gave the speech two years before his 1968 presidential campaign, which came to an end when Kennedy was assassinated on June 5, 1968 in Los Angeles.

FGR-17 Viper

Following the anger caused by the letting of this second contract and because of the earlier GAO report on the Viper, massive cost overruns, and then the safety concerns revealed in the Army's evaluations, in December 1982 Senator Warren Rudman (R-NH) inserted an amendment into the Army's funding bill.

Francis H. McAdams

He joined the board on July 31, 1967, having been nominated a few months earlier by President Lyndon Johnson, and was confirmed by the United States Senate on April 20, 1978.

Frank Hoffman

Nordy served as sergeant-at-arms of the U.S. Senate, retiring in 1984.

George H. Bender

He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1939 to 1947 and 1951 to 1954, and also in the U.S. Senate from 1954 to 1957.

George H. McLain

McLain also ran twice for the United States Senate: as a write-in Democrat in 1946 (special election) and for his party's nomination 1964, losing both times.

Government of Memphis, Tennessee

Harold, Jr. gave up the seat to make an unsuccessful run for the United States Senate seat being vacated by Bill Frist.

Harry Augustus Garfield

This roused a storm of protest from many manufacturers, and the U.S. Senate voted a resolution, requesting postponement, but this reached him after the order had been signed.

Hennepin Canal Parkway State Park

The United States Senate appointed a committee to study the value of Low's proposal.

Henry B. Krajewski

He was also an American Third Party candidate for the United States Senate from New Jersey in 1954.

Herbert Hoover Supreme Court candidates

Additionally, with his failed nomination of John J. Parker, Hoover became the first president since Grover Cleveland to have a Supreme Court nomination rejected by the United States Senate.

Indirect election

the United States Senate was indirectly elected by state legislatures until, after a number of attempts over the previous century, the 17th amendment to the constitution was ratified in 1913.

James P. Lucier

James P. Lucier, is an author, and was a staff member of the United States Senate for 25 years, and was a former staff director for the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

John F. Kennedy Supreme Court candidates

White was confirmed by the United States Senate just eight days later, on April 11, 1962, in a voice vote.

Keith Norton

As environment minister, he became the first Canadian politician to speak before a committee of the United States Senate.

Laos–United States relations

In an effort to halt the planned repatriation, the Republican-led U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives both appropriated funds for the remaining Thailand-based Hmong to be immediately resettled in the U.S.; Clinton, however, responded by promising a veto of the legislation.

Lodge-Philbin Act

The Act was pushed through Congress by Massachusetts Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. during the Cold War, looking especially for recruits from Eastern Europe (the Soviet Bloc) to form infiltration units working in that part of the world.

Lyndon B. Johnson Supreme Court candidates

However, the Warren Court's form of jurisprudence had angered many conservative members of the United States Senate, and the nomination of Fortas provided the first opportunity for these senators to register their disenchantment with the direction of the Court; they planned to filibuster Fortas' nomination.

Mark Rosenker

He began his second term in January 2005 after unanimous confirmation by the United States Senate.

McLane–Ocampo Treaty

Although U.S. President James Buchanan strongly favored the arrangement, and Mexican President Benito Juárez badly needed the money to finance the war he was waging against the Conservative Party, it was never ratified by the U.S. Senate.

Mike Bond

Bond was a Democratic candidate for the United States Senate in Montana in 1982, and served in Al Gore's 2000 Presidential campaign as head of Colorado Business Leaders for Gore and as a spokesman in several western states (Colorado, Utah, and Oregon) for Gore environmental positions.

Morton A. Hill

The Hill-Link Report, which recommended maintaining anti-obscenity statutes, was read into the record of both the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives.

Recorded vote

If the "Yeas and Nays" are granted and are about to happen, then a Clerk proceeds to call the Roll of Senators in alphabetical order.

Rockline

Notable non-musical guests include then Governor of Arkansas Bill Clinton with running mate, then-United States Senator from Tennessee Al Gore during their presidential campaign in 1992; and on December 16, 1993 radio superstar Howard Stern, the latter of whom was promoting his New Year's Eve Pay-per-view special.

Skilcraft

In 1971, Senator Jacob Javits introduced legislation extending the act to severely handicapped individuals.

Thomas B. Fargo

However, an uproar was created in the Senate as it was customary for a Navy flag officer to serve as Commander of PACOM and no other branches, thus the Air Force general was not confirmed by the Senate.

Thomas Holdup Stevens

Commodore Chauncey appointed him acting lieutenant in January 1813 and his permanent commission in that rank, to date from July 24, was confirmed by the Senate on August 3.

Toombs County, Georgia

The County is named for Robert Toombs, United States representative and senator.

U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board

Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the agency's board members are appointed by the president and confirmed by the United States Senate.

Under Secretary of Energy for Energy and Environment

The Under Secretary of Energy is appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate.

United States Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

The Deputy Secretary is nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate.

United States Senate election in Connecticut, 1986

The 1986 United States Senate election in Connecticut took place on November 3, 1986, alongside other elections to the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives.

United States Senate election in Florida, 1998

The 1998 United States Senate election in Florida took place on November 3, 1998 alongside other elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.

United States Senate elections, 1838

The United States Senate election of 1838 was an election which had the Democratic Party lose five seats in the United States Senate.

United States Senate elections, 1890

The United States Senate election of 1890 was an election in which the Republican Party lost two seats in the United States Senate, though still retaining a commanding majority.

United States v. Lovett

The Senate Appropriations Committee and the full Senate unanimously and repeatedly rejected the measure.

William J. Zloch

He was confirmed by the United States Senate on November 1, 1985, and received his commission on November 4, 1985.


1967 Oak Lawn tornado outbreak

Senator Charles Percy and Illinois Governor Otto Kerner visited to speak with victims and thank the recovery volunteers.

A. Jeff McLemore

In 1928, McLemore made one more run for public office for an open U.S. Senate seat, but was defeated by Thomas T. Connally.

Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

The AND has been criticized for its connections to the pharmaceutical industry, including an inquiry from Senator Chuck Grassley.

Alabama elections, 2004

The 2004 United States Senate election in Alabama took place on November 2, 2004 alongside other elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives, various state and local elections, and the presidential election of that year.

Atchison County Historical Museum

Both town and museum are named after United States Senator and legendary "President for a day" David Rice Atchison.

Baton Rouge Community College

Along with former Senator John Breaux and Congresswoman Corrine Brown, former President Bill Clinton visited the college on February 8, 2008 to campaign for his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, in the Louisiana 2008 Democratic primary,

Betty Little

After the appointment of Kirsten Gillibrand to the United States Senate in January 2009, Little expressed interest in running for U.S. Congress in New York's 20th congressional district and announced her intention to seek the Republican nomination for the special election for the seat.

Blue slip

In the Senate, a blue slip is an opinion written by a Senator from the state where a federal judicial nominee resides.

COICA

Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act, proposed legislation in the United States Senate that allows the blocking the domain names of web sites accused of piracy

Conservatives without Conscience

Conservatives Without Conscience is a book written by John Dean, who served as White House Counsel under U.S. President Richard Nixon and then helped to break the Watergate scandal with his testimony before the United States Senate.

Edmund W. Wells

He was appointed to the newly created 4th district by President Benjamin Harrison and his nomination was supported by U.S. Senator William B. Allison of Iowa, Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen J. Field, Arizona Territorial Governors Richard C. McCormick, Anson P. K. Safford, and Lewis Wolfley, Arizona Territorial Justices Charles G. W. French and William W. Porter, Arizona Territorial Secretary John J. Gosper, and Oakes Murphy.

Firearm Owners Protection Act

In the Report of the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, 97th Congress, Second Session (February 1982), a bipartisan subcommittee (consisting of 3 Republicans and 2 Democrats) of the United States Senate investigated the Second Amendment and reported its findings.

Frederick M. Bernthal

In 1978, Bernthal became a legislative assistant to Sen. Howard Baker (RTenn.).

George Bradley Kellogg

In March 1867 President Andrew Johnson nominated Kellogg to be United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, but he was not confirmed by the United States Senate.

Gina Marie Groh

In March 2011, United States Senators Joe Manchin and Jay Rockefeller recommended Groh to President Obama to fill a vacant seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia.

Harry S. Truman Supreme Court candidates

On September 19, 1945, Truman nominated Burton, who was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on the same day by voice vote, without hearing or debate.

Industrial Commission

The Industrial Commission included McKinley's Ohio running mate, Commissioner Andrew L. Harris (a Governor of Ohio and Civil War General) who served as Chair of the Agriculture Subcommittee, and prominent Senators and Congressmen.

James Kimbrough Jones

Jones was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-seventh and Forty-eighth Congresses (March 4, 1881-March 4, 1885); he was re-elected to the Forty-ninth but tendered his resignation on February 19, 1885, having been elected to the United States Senate that year.

John Earl Haynes

During the last years of the 1970s Haynes served as a legislative assistant to Sen. Wendell Anderson, a Democratic Governor of Minnesota named to replace Walter Mondale in the United States Senate when the latter was elected Vice President of the United States.

Joseph Alioto

His second wife, Kathleen Sullivan Alioto, was a member of the Boston School committee and a candidate for a United States Senate in Massachusetts in 1978 primary.

Joseph Anderson

Joseph Inslee Anderson (November 5, 1757 – April 17, 1837) was an American soldier, judge, and politician, who served as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 1799 to 1815, and later as the first Comptroller of the United States Treasury.

Marion De Vries

On December 5, 1900, President McKinley nominated De Vries to the same seat, which had been vacated by Joseph Biddle Wilkinson, Jr. He was confirmed by the Senate on December 10, 1900.

National Freedom Day

National Freedom Day is a United States observance on February 1 honoring the signing by Abraham Lincoln of a joint House & Senate resolution that later became the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning

Since the advent of air travel, the United States Senate no longer needs to have long recesses due to the difficulty of travel.

Obama: From Promise to Power

Mendell, a Chicago Tribune reporter, had covered Obama since the beginning of his campaign for the U.S. Senate in Illinois.

Office of Territorial Affairs

The first Director of Territories was Ernest Gruening, who served from 1934 to 1939, and later served as the territorial governor of Alaska and then as one of the first senators elected from Alaska upon statehood.

Reunion Society of Vermont Officers

Almost all prominent Vermonters who had served in the Civil War were members of the Society, including U.S. Senator Redfield Proctor, Interstate Commerce Commission member Wheelock G. Veazey, and Governors Peter T. Washburn, Roswell Farnham, John L. Barstow, Samuel E. Pingree, Ebenezer J. Ormsbee, Urban A. Woodbury, Josiah Grout, and Charles J. Bell.

Richard W. Mallary

He was not a candidate for reelection to the Ninety-fourth Congress in 1974 but was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the United States Senate, losing to present U.S. Senator from Vermont Patrick Leahy in his initial run for the U.S. Senate.

Saint Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church

The congregation gained national attention in 2001 when it ordained Anita C. Hill (not to be confused with Anita Hill of the Clarence Thomas US Senate confirmation hearings).

Silver State Helicopters

On 23 May 2008 US Senator Bill Nelson (D-Fla) called for a Federal Trade Commission investigation of Silver State, indicating that he believes that it was a Ponzi scheme.

Stately Victor

Owned by Thomas F. and Jack Conway, the latter once a Kentucky Democratic Party candidate for the United States Senate, Stately Victor won the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on April 10, 2010, prior to running in the Kentucky Derby.

Styles Bridges

Bridges ran for the position of governor of New Hampshire in 1934, and won, becoming the nation's youngest governor at the time, according to John Gunther's book, Inside U.S.A. He was elected to the United States Senate in 1936, and would serve until his death in 1961.

Susan Thomases

In May 1995, the United States Senate, which had come under Republican control after the 1994 midterm elections, convened the Special Committee to Investigate Whitewater Development Corporation and Related Matters, under the chairmanship of Senator Alfonse D'Amato.

Thomas Jefferson Building

Senate, House and Supreme Court pages formerly attended school together in the Capitol Page School located on the attic level above the Great Hall.

United States Congress Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress

The last and most recent version of this committee attempted further reforms, some of which were adopted by Congress when Republicans gained control of the House and Senate after the 1994 Congressional elections.

United States Deputy Undersecretary of Defense

Officials are appointed Deputy Undersecretary of Defense by the President and are confirmed by the Senate by majority vote.

United States House of Representatives election in Pennsylvania, 1788

On July 8, 1788, the Congress of the Confederation passed a resolution calling the first session of the 1st United States Congress for March 4, 1789, to convene at New York City and the election of Senators and Representatives in the meanwhile by the States.

United States Senate elections, 1884

The United States Senate election of 1884 was an election which had the Republican Party gain four seats in the United States Senate, and which coincided with the presidential election of 1884.

United States Senate Special Committee to Investigate Crime in Interstate Commerce

The United States Senate Special Committee to Investigate Crime in Interstate Commerce was a special committee of the United States Senate which existed from 1950 to 1951 and which investigated organized crime which crossed state borders in the United States.

William Lockhart Garwood

1629 (President Jimmy Carter previously had nominated Andrew L. Jefferson, Jr. to the seat, but the United States Senate had declined to act on Jefferson's nomination before Carter's presidency ended).

William Tyndale College

In that same year, United States Senator Debbie Stabenow and Sen. Carl Levin also helped the college receive federal funding totaling $461,000.

William Wesley Cox

He ran in many elections, and his last attempt at office was in 1944, running for the United States Senate seat in Missouri, at the age of 79.