113th United States Congress

113th United States Congress
Martin Falbisoner · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Name	113th United States Congress
Term start	January 3, 2013
Term end	January 3, 2015
Senate control	Democratic Party
House control	Republican Party
Vice president	Joe Biden
Speaker	John Boehner
Majority leader	Harry Reid
Minority leader	Mitch McConnell

113th United States Congress

The 113th United States Congress convened from January 3, 2013, to January 3, 2015, comprising the federal legislative bodies elected in the 2012 United States elections and preceding the 114th United States Congress. It featured a split control between the Democratic Party in the United States Senate and the Republican Party in the United States House of Representatives, producing clashes over Affordable Care Act, sequestration, and federal funding that involved actors such as Barack Obama, John Boehner, Harry Reid, and Mitch McConnell.

Major events and timeline

Key events included the implementation milestones of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the 2013 United States federal government shutdown triggered by a funding standoff involving the Tea Party movement and the Republican Study Committee, and the July 2013 suspension of routine business after the defeat of various appropriations bills, which drew responses from Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and the Office of Management and Budget. The death of Senator Frank Lautenberg in 2013 and special election contests such as the 2013 special election in New Jersey's 10th district reshaped rosters; legislative calendar milestones included passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 and votes tied to the 2014 United States Senate elections and the 2014 United States House of Representatives elections.

Composition and membership

The Senate began with a Democratic caucus majority including members of the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party and independents who caucused with Democrats, such as Bernie Sanders and Angus King. The House majority was Republican, featuring members affiliated with the House Freedom Caucus, the Republican Study Committee, and centrist groups like the Tuesday Group. Notable freshman members included Ted Cruz, who earlier had served in the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee context, and Representatives elected in the 2012 cycle who joined delegations such as the California congressional delegation and the Texas congressional delegation. Changes during the term included resignations, appointments, and special elections involving figures like John Ensign-era successors and state-level appointees from governors such as Chris Christie and Andrew Cuomo.

Leadership and committee organization

Senate leadership featured Harry Reid as Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell as Senate Minority Leader, and committee chairs from the majority such as the chairs of Senate Finance Committee and Senate Judiciary Committee overseeing nominations and legislation. House leadership included Speaker John Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor until his primary defeat, and later leadership adjustments involving Kevin McCarthy and the House Republican Steering Committee. Committee organization in the House placed Republicans in chair positions on panels like the House Ways and Means Committee, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and the House Appropriations Committee, while Democratic chairs in the Senate held panels such as Senate Armed Services Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee that reviewed nominations including those for Defense and State posts.

Legislative activity and major legislation

Major enacted measures included the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013, which addressed elements of the Budget Control Act of 2011 and altered sequestration caps; the 113th also considered the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013 in Senate debate, and numerous amendments related to repeals or fixes to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. High-profile floor votes involved cloture motions on nominations and budget resolutions, with filibuster dynamics shaped by the "nuclear option" debate legacy and earlier precedents. The Congress also passed authorization and reauthorization acts affecting agencies such as the Federal Aviation Administration and measures addressing veterans' affairs.

Budget, appropriations, and federal spending

Fiscal disputes dominated appropriations cycles, leading to continuing resolutions and the October 2013 shutdown tied to disagreements over funding strings attached to the Affordable Care Act. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 averted further sequestration cuts in part and reset caps negotiated under the Ryan-Murray budget deal framework. Debates over debt ceiling adjustments involved the Thrift Savings Plan indirectly through broader fiscal policy discussions, and the Congress engaged with the Congressional Budget Office estimates and scoring in considering the impact of tax extenders, discretionary caps, and entitlement program projections.

Investigations, confirmations, and oversight

The 113th held oversight hearings and investigations into matters such as the Benghazi attack and the Internal Revenue Service controversy over nonprofit targeting, with committees like the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee conducting depositions and subpoenas that featured actors including Hillary Clinton, J. Russell George, and holdouts from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Confirmation battles for executive and judicial nominees involved cloture votes and high-profile nominees to the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Cabinet posts, reflecting tensions between leaders such as President Barack Obama and Senate Republicans like John McCain.

Impact and legacy

The split Congress shaped midterm dynamics that influenced the 2014 United States elections and led to strategic shifts within the Republican National Committee and Democratic campaign arms like the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Legislative compromises such as the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 produced short-term fiscal relief but left longer-term debates over the Budget Control Act of 2011 framework unresolved. Oversight episodes and confirmation precedents from this term affected later practices in the Senate Committee on the Judiciary and the House's investigative approaches, contributing to institutional debates that carried into the subsequent 114th Congress and broader political contests involving figures like Nancy Pelosi, Paul Ryan, Elizabeth Warren, and Marco Rubio.

Category:United States Congresses