- Democrats in the House selected Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) as chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. He replaces former chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.).
- Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) was defeated by Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich (D) following a count of absentee ballots.
- Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) will retain his chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs, following a vote by the Democratic caucus.
- President-Elect Barack Obama (D) resigned his seat in the United States Senate.
- Rick Renzi of Arizona has been further charged with racketeering, falsifying a tax return, among other wrongdoings.
- Sen. Bob Byrd announced that he will voluntarily step down from the chairmanship of the Senate Appropriations Committee. (Nov. 7, 2008)
- Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) was named by president-elect Barack Obama as his incoming chief of staff. (Nov. 6, 2008)
- Alan Grayson, Bill Posey, Tom Rooney, and Suzanne Kosmas replaced Reps. Ric Keller, Dave Weldon, Tim Mahoney, and Tom Feeney, while Rep. Vern Buchanan, Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Rep. Ron Klein, and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart were re-elected in Florida.
- All incumbents in Oklahoma were re-elected.
- Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) was elected President of the United States. He won more than 330 electoral votes.
- Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) was convicted on seven federal counts of "knowingly and willfully" making false statements on his Senate personal financial disclosure forms.
- The judge overseeing Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens' (R) federal trial granted prosecutors an extension, a day after he threw out evidence because it had been withheld from defense attorneys.
- The House and Senate approved a financial recovery bill designed to prop up the struggling financial sector of the U.S. economy, by using $700 billion in federal funding to purchase and insure troubled assets.
- Rep. Peter Welch (D) received both the Democratic and Republican nominations following last week's congressional primary in Vermont.
- Following weeks of delay while absentee ballots were tallied, Rep. Don Young (R) was declared winner of the Republican primary for Alaska's At-large congressional district.
- On September 13, 2008, the Virgin Islands held their congressional primaries.
- On September 6, 2008, Guam held their congressional primaries.
- On September 4, 2008, lobbyist Jack Abramoff received a four-year prison sentence for his role in lawmaker corruption.
- On September 2, 2008, Arizona held their congressional primaries.
- On August 26, 2008, Alaska and Florida held their congressional primaries.
- On August 15th, former House Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) was released from jail after serving 17 1/2 months of a 30-month sentence stemming from his involvement in the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal. Ney received early release from a Cincinnati halfway house for good behavior and participation in a drug and alcohol program.
- In an August 14th ruling, a U.S. district judge rejected two lines of argument offered by Rep. William Jefferson's legal defense team, upholding racketeering charges brought against the Louisiana Representative. The legal defeat for Jefferson was the latest development in the legal battle surrounding a 16-count indictment.
- On August 14th, federal prosecutors revealed new evidence against Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) in the ongoing VECO corruption case. Among the allegations was the claim that Stevens offered to use his Washington connections to push a stalled pipeline project in his home state of Alaska.
- On August 7, 2008, Tennessee held their congressional primaries.
- On July 29, Federal investigators announced Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) had been indicted on seven counts of making false statements on financial disclosure forms.
- On July 25, a day after House Democrats fell short of moving forward legislation to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Senate Republicans successfully blocked the Senate's Democratic majority's attempt to gain cloture for its energy speculation legislation.
- In a press conference July 17, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) vehemently denied any wrongdoing regarding his use of congressional stationery to write on behalf of a school that bears his name.
- The Senate voted overwhelmingly to authorize new surveillance powers for President Bush, and to provide immunity to phone companies that helped the government listen in on Americans' phone conversations without a warrant.
- On July 15, 2008, Georgia held their congressional primaries while Alabama held primary runoffs in two districts.
- Former North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms (R) died Friday, July 4th in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was 86.
- Congress approved emergency 2008 Iraq War funding spending legislation for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and included money to fund an extension of unemployment insurance, a new veterans' education benefit and flood recovery. President Bush is expected to sign the bill this week.
- An expansion of the country's Global AIDS program, which provides monetary assistance for impoverished nations affected by the disease, was blocked by a group of Republican Senators prior to the July 4th recess. The Senators sought more input in crafting the legislation.
- The main housing and mortgage crisis bill got stuck in the Senate before the 4th of July recess as Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) demanded a vote on his renewable energy amendment in the face of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) efforts to pass the bill without amendments.
- The Senate this week confirmed five nominees to the Federal Election Commission, ending a months-long standoff between Senate Democrats and the White House.
- In reaction to the Countrywide loan scandal, all six members of the Senate Ethics Panel proposed that there should be stricter mortgage disclosure requirements for lawmakers.
- Rep. Chris Cannon (R-Utah) became the third House incumbent to lose a primary this year, falling to former gubernatorial aide Jason Chaffetz in Utah’s 3rd district.
- Francis “Frank” Powers, 67, the millionaire endorsed by Republican leaders as their candidate for the New York congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Vito Fossella (R-N.Y.), died Sunday in his sleep of natural causes.
- Donna Edwards was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives during a special election in Maryland's 4th congressional district.
- As his legal troubles mounted last year, Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) began to pay off a loan to an executive of a Maryland-based global satellite company who was cooperating with prosecutors and could potentially testify against him.
- A magazine has revealed that some politicians, including Sens. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) and Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), may have received favorable mortgage deals from Countrywide Financial Corporation.
- The House approved the extended unemployment (H.R.5749) bill Thursday by capturing a slim two-thirds majority of votes.
- The House failed to "fast track" the extended unemployment (H.R.5749) The bill would extend emergency unemployment compensation for 13 weeks beyond the 26 weeks already authorized under law.
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