United States Senate Journal

Written record of proceedings within the US Senate

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The United States Senate Journal is a written record of proceedings within the United States Senate in accordance with Article I, Section 5 of the U.S. Constitution.

Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their judgment require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of either House, on any question, shall, at the desire of one-fifth of those present, be entered on the journal.

According to the Library of Congress, the Senate Journal should be seen as the minutes of floor action. It notes the matters considered by the Senate and the votes and other actions taken. It does not record the actual debates, which can be consulted through the "Link to date-related documents" in the full text transcription of the Journal. Historically, the Journal of the Senate, like Journal of the House of Representatives and Journals of the House of Commons and the House of Lords in British Parliament, was an important source of parliamentary law.

The Senate Journal was often used as a means to filibuster legislation as the Senate rules state that "the reading of the Journal shall not be suspended unless by unanimous consent". The first time this was used was when the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill was discussed in 1922, the Mississippi Senator Pat Harrison started discussing the Senate Journal and was unable to be clotured until the sponsors withdrew the Bill.

References

"Journal of the Senate Home Page: U.S. Congressional Documents". memory.loc.gov. Retrieved 2020-03-05.
Handler, Nicholas (May 2019). "Rediscovering the Journal Clause: The Lost History of Legislative Constitutional Interpretation". University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law. 21: 1219–1298.
IV, 1, (b), https://www.rules.senate.gov/rules-of-the-senate
Caro, Robert (2002). "3. Seniority and the South". Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-394-52836-0.

Sources

United States Congress

Members and leaders

Membership

Members	By length of service By shortness of service Youngest members Non-voting members Unseated members
Senate	Members seniority Dean Former Expelled or censured Classes Born outside the U.S. Resigned Appointed Switched parties
House	Members seniority Dean Former Expelled, censured, and reprimanded Served a single term Lost re-election in a primary Switched parties Elected but did not serve
New members	90th (1967) 91st (1969) 92nd (1971) 93rd (1973) 94th (1975) 95th (1977) 96th (1979) 97th (1981) 98th (1983) 99th (1985) 100th (1987) 101st (1989) 102nd (1991) 103rd (1993) 104th (1995) 105th (1997) 106th (1999) 107th (2001) 108th (2003) 109th (2005) 110th (2007) 111th (2009) 112th (2011) 113th (2013) 114th (2015) 115th (2017) 116th (2019) 117th (2021) 118th (2023) 119th (2025)

Leaders

Senate	President list President pro tempore list Leaders Democratic Caucus Chair Secretary Policy Committee Chair Republican Conference Chair Vice-Chair Policy Committee Chair
House	Speaker list Leaders Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group Democratic Caucus Republican Conference

Districts

Groups

Congressional caucus	Caucuses of the United States Congress
Ethnic and racial	African-American members Senate House Black Caucus Arab and Middle Eastern members Asian Pacific American members Asian Pacific American Caucus Hispanic and Latino members list Hispanic Caucus Hispanic Conference Jewish members Congressional Jewish Caucus Native American members
Gender and sexual identity	LGBT members Equality Caucus Women Senate House Issues Caucus current House
Occupation	Physicians
Religion	Buddhist members Hindu members Jewish members Mormon (LDS) members Muslim members Quaker members Sikh members

Powers, privileges, procedure, committees, history, media

Powers

Privileges

Procedure

Senate-specific

Committees

Items

History

Media

Capitol Complex (Capitol Hill)

Legislative
offices

Offices

Senate	Curator Historical Library
House	Congr. Ethics Emergency Planning, Preparedness, and Operations Interparliamentary Affairs Law Revision Counsel Legislative Counsel Library

Employees

Senate	Secretary Chaplain Curator Historian Librarian Pages Parliamentarian Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper
House	Chaplain Chief Administrative Officer Clerk Doorkeeper Floor Operations Floor Services Chief Historian Pages Board Parliamentarian Postmaster Reading Clerk Sergeant at Arms

Library of
Congress

Gov.
Publishing Office

Capitol Building

Office
buildings

Senate	Dirksen Hart Mountains and Clouds Russell
House	Building Commission office lottery Cannon Ford Longworth O'Neill Rayburn

Other
facilities

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