Fun Facts on the 111th Congress

Each session of Congress has its own unique makeup and characteristics. Check out some of the stats on the 111th Congress and impress your friends at Quizzo:

• Makeup of the U.S. House of Representatives
  110th Congress: 235 Democrats, 198 Republicans, 2 Vacancies
  111th Congress: 256 Democrats, 178 Republicans, 1 Vacancy



• Make up of the U.S. Senate
  110th Congress: 48 Democrats, 2 Independents, 49 Republicans, 1 Vacancy
  111th Congress: 55 Democrats, 2 Independents, 41 Republicans, 2 Disputed Seats
  
  
• While President-elect Barack Obama will be sworn in as one of the youngest presidents in our history, he'll be working with our nation's oldest Congress to date. The average age in the House of Representatives is 57, while the average age in the Senate is 63 - new records. However, while the average age in Congress may have gone up, there are still a bunch of new, younger faces in this year's group, including Jared Polis (CO-2), Glenn Nye (VA-2), and Tom Perriello (VA-5).



• Republican Anh "Joseph" Cao from Louisiana's 2nd Congressional District is the first U.S. House Representative of Vietnamese descent.



• A record number of women are serving in the new Congress: 95 (78 in the House, 17 in the Senate).



• The youngest member of the new Congress is Republican Representative Aaron Schock from Illinois' 18th Congressional District at 27 years old. The oldest is Democratic Senator Robert C. Byrd from West Virginia at 91 years old.



• The dominant declared profession of members in Congress is law, but it's hardly the only one. There's also: sixteen medical doctors, two veterinarians, an optometrist, four ministers, five Peace Corps volunteers, four sheriffs, a volunteer fireman, an FBI agent, three physicists, one microbiologist, a radio talk show host, a television reporter, five accountants, an astronaut, two professional musicians, a screenwriter, an NFL football player, three organic farmers, a ski instructor, a casino dealer, a waitress, a mortician, and a taxicab driver.



• Twelve Representatives and one Senator were born outside the United States. They hail from Cuba, Mexico, Taiwan, Japan, Pakistan, Peru, Canada, Vietnam, and the Netherlands.

For more cool information on the new Congress, check out the report from Congressional Research Service.