Will the new Congress continue the reputation of its predecessor as a ‘do-nothing Congress’ or will be productive?
Here’s a look – by the numbers – at the new wave of legislators on Capitol Hill:
13 – New senators. 84 – New House members.
7 – Members who are openly gay or bisexual.
78 – Women in the new Congress.
38 – Years in office of the longest currently serving senator, Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont.
53+ – Years in office of the longest currently serving congressman, John Dingell, D-Michigan.
5 – Net gain in number of seats women hold in 113th Congress over 112th.
3 – States with two women senators: California, New Hampshire, and Washington.
95 – Percent of the U.S. Senate that is white.
19 – Percent of the U.S. House of Representatives that belong to minority groups.
89 – Age of the oldest-ever member of the House, Ralph Hall, R-Texas. He broke the previous record on Christmas Day, his birthday.
8.5 – Percent of the U.S. House under 40.
27 – Percent of the Senate that is Catholic.
4 – The number of new U.S. House seats in Texas created by reapportionment; out 12 total. Texas gained more new seats than any other state.
5 – Members of the 113th Congress who had previous careers in professional sports.
12 – New members who have served in the U.S. military.
2 – Physicists in Congress: Rep. Bill Foster, a Democratic congressman-elect from Illinois, and Rep. Rush Holt, Jr., a New Jersey Democrat.
6 – Number of reindeer owned by Kerry Bentivolio, a congressman-elect from Michigan. He has worked as a Santa impersonator since the 1980s before running for Congress.
New Congress takes office Thursday, will tackle leftovers from old Congress
