The 112th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, from January 3, 2011, until January 3, 2013. It convened in Washington, D.C., on January 3, 2011, and ended on January 3, 2013, 17 days before the end of the presidential term to which Barack Obama was elected in 2008. Senators elected to regular terms in 2006 completed those terms in this Congress. This Congress included the last House of Representatives elected from congressional districts that were apportioned based on the 2000 census.
In the 2010 midterm elections, the Republican Party won the majority in the House of Representatives. While the Democrats kept their Senate majority, it was reduced from the previous Congress.
This was the first Congress in which the House and Senate were controlled by different parties since the 107th Congress (2001–2003), and the first Congress to begin that way since the 99th Congress (1985–1987). It was also the first Congress since the 36th Congress, over 150 years, in which the Republican Party held the House but not the Senate. In this Congress, the House of Representatives had the largest number of Republican members, 242, since the 80th Congress (1947–1949). This was the only Congress between the 79th (1945–1947) and the 117th (2021–2023) that did not include a member of the Kennedy family.
As of 2022, this is the most recent Congress in which Democrats held a Senate seat in Nebraska or a House seat in Arkansas, the last in which Republicans held both Senate seats in Maine, and the last in which Democrats did not hold all seats in Connecticut.
Major events
January 6, 2011: On the second day of the 112th Congress, the House of Representatives read a modified version of the U.S. Constitution, a first. January 8, 2011: 2011 Tucson shooting: Representative Gabby Giffords and nineteen other people were shot by a gunman in Tucson, Arizona. Six of them, including a federal judge and a congressional aide, died. Votes on the House floor were suspended for one week. January 25, 2011: 2011 State of the Union Address March 19, 2011: The United States initiated Operation Odyssey Dawn as part of the international military intervention in the Libyan Civil War. The intervention continued under the auspices of NATO as Operation Unified Protector until the end of military operations in October 2011. May 2, 2011: Navy SEALs killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Operation Neptune Spear. April 9, 2011: A last-minute deal between both parties averts a partial shutdown of the federal government. August 2, 2011: The 2011 debt-ceiling crisis ends with the Budget Control Act of 2011. December 18, 2011: The United States completed its withdrawal of troops from Iraq, formally ending the Iraq War. January 24, 2012: 2012 State of the Union Address June 28, 2012: In National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act's constitutionality but found the expansion of Medicaid unconstitutionally coercive on the states. November 6, 2012: 2012 general elections, including: 2012 United States House of Representatives elections, in which Democrats gained eight seats, but not enough to retake the majority 2012 United States Senate elections, in which Democrats gained two seats in their majority 2012 United States presidential election, in which Barack Obama was re-elected to a second term December 14, 2012: The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting leaves 28 dead, and prompts debate on gun control in the United States. January 1, 2013: United States fiscal cliff avoided. (See American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012)
Potential government shutdown
A failure to pass a 2011 federal budget nearly led to a shutdown of non-essential government services on April 9, 2011, with the furlough of 800,000 government employees appearing imminent. President Obama met Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker John Boehner in the days preceding the deadline but was unable to come to an agreement to pass a budget. A one-week budget was proposed to avoid a government shutdown and allow more time for negotiations; however, proposals from both parties could not be accommodated. Obama said he would veto a proposed Republican budget over Republican social spending cuts. This was also backed by Senate Democrats who objected to such cuts as that of Planned Parenthood. However, an agreement was reached between the two parties for a one-week budget to allow for more time to negotiate after Republicans dropped their stance on the Planned Parenthood issue. The two parties ultimately agreed on a 2011 federal budget the following week.