This report presents a profile of the membership of the 116^th Congress (2019-2020) as of May 20, 2020. Statistical information is included on selected characteristics of Members, including data 2020. Statistical information is included on selected characteristics of Members, including data Jennifer E. Manning on party affiliation, average age, occupation, education, lengthleng th of congressional service, religious Senior Research Librarian affiliation, gender, ethnicity, foreign birth, and military service.

In the House of Representatives, there are 237 Democrats (including 4 Delegates), 200 199 Republicans (including 1 Delegate and the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico), 1 Independent/Libertarian, and 34 vacant seats. The Senate has 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats, and 2 Independents, who both caucus with the Democrats. Additionally

•  The average age of Members of the House at the beginning of the 116^th116th Congress was 57.6 years; of Senators, 62.9 years.
•  The overwhelming majority, 96%, of Members of Congress have a college education.
•  The dominant professions of Members are public service/politics, business, and law.
•  Most Members identify as Christians, and the collective majority of these affiliate with a Protestant denomination. Roman Catholics account for the largest single religious denomination, and numerous other affiliations are represented, including Jewish, Mormon, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu, Greek Orthodox, Pentecostal Christian, Unitarian Universalist, and Adventist.
•  The average length of service for Representatives at the beginning of the 116^th116th Congress was 8.6 years (4.3 House terms); for Senators, 10.1 years (1.7 Senate terms).
•  A record 131 women serve in the 116^th116th Congress: 105 in the House, including 3 Delegates and the Resident Commissioner, and 26 in the Senate.
•  There are 54 African American Members of the House and 3 in the Senate. This House number includes two Delegates.
•  There are 51 Hispanic or Latino Members (a record number) serving: 46 in the House, including 2 Delegates and the Resident Commissioner, and 5 in the Senate.
•  There are 20 Members (14 Representatives, 3 Delegates, and 3 Senators) who are Asian Americans, Indian Americans, or Pacific Islander Americans. This is also a record number.
•  A record four American Indians (Native Americans) serve in the House.

The portions of this report covering political party affiliation, gender, ethnicity, and vacant seats may be updated as events warrant. The remainder of the report will not be updated.

Congress is composed of 541 individuals¹ Congressional Research Service link to page 4 link to page 4 link to page 4 link to page 5 link to page 8 link to page 9 link to page 9 link to page 10 link to page 10 link to page 10 link to page 11 link to page 11 link to page 12 link to page 12 link to page 12 link to page 5 link to page 6 link to page 9 link to page 13 Membership of the 116th Congress: A Profile Contents Overview and Total Members in History............................................................................. 1 Party Breakdown ............................................................................................................ 1 Age............................................................................................................................... 1 Occupations ................................................................................................................... 2 Education ...................................................................................................................... 5 Congressional Service...................................................................................................... 6 Religion......................................................................................................................... 6 Gender and Ethnicity ....................................................................................................... 7 Women Members ...................................................................................................... 7 African American Members ........................................................................................ 7 Hispanic/Latino American Members............................................................................. 8 Asian/Pacific Islander American Members .................................................................... 8 American Indian Members .......................................................................................... 9 Foreign Birth ............................................................................................................ 9 Military Service ........................................................................................................ 9 Tables Table 1. Average Age of Members, 113th-116th Congresses .................................................... 2 Table 2. Most Frequently Listed Occupational Categories by Members, 116th Congress ............. 3 Table 3. Average Length of Service for Members of Congress, 112th-116th Congresses ............... 6 Contacts Author Information ....................................................................................................... 10 Congressional Research Service Membership of the 116th Congress: A Profile Overview and Total Members in History Congress is composed of 541 individuals1 from the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Puerto Rico. Since 1789, 12,349 individuals²individuals2 have served as either Representatives (11,042 individuals) or as Senators (1,984 individuals).³3 Of these individuals, 677 have served in both chambers. An additional additional 178 individuals have served in the House in the roles of territorial Delegates or Resident Commissioners.⁴

4 The following is a profile of the 116^th116th Congress (2019-2020).⁵

5 Party Breakdown

In the 116^th116th Congress, the current party alignments as of May 2026, 2020, are as follows:

•  House of Representatives: 237 Democrats (including 4 Delegates), 200 199 Republicans (including 1 Delegate and the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico), 1 Independent/Libertarian, and 34 vacant seats.
•  Senate: 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats, and 2 Independents, who both caucus with the Democrats.

Age

Age The average age at the beginning of the 116^th116th Congress was 57.6 years for Representatives and 62.9 years for Senators.6 1 T his 541 number is the maximum number of individuals who may currently serve in the House and Senate and assumes that no seat is temporarily vacant. As of May 29, 2020, there were four House vacancies. T he 116th Congress began with one vacant House seat. T he 541 number includes the 535 Members from the 50 states (100 Senators, 435 Representatives), 5 Members who are Delegates (from the District of Columbia, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands), and 1 Member who is Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico. References in this report to “Representative(s)” include the 435 Members of the House fr om the 50 states and exclude the Members who are Delegates and the Resident Commissioner. For more information on the status of the Delegates and Resident Commissioner, refer to CRS Report R40170, Parliam entary Rights of the Delegates and Resident Com m issioner from Puerto Rico , by Christopher M. Davis. 2 U.S. Congress, House, Office of the Historian, “T otal Members of the House and State Representation,” at http://history.house.gov/Institution/Total-Members/Total-Members/, updated January 3, 2019, and CRS calculations. Information about all the Members who have served in Congress is available in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, a website maintained by the Clerk of the House and the Secretary of the Senate, at http://bioguide.congress.gov. 3 A cumulative chronological list of all U.S. Senators is available on the Senate website at http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/senators_chronological.htm. Information about all House Members is available on the House website at http://history.house.gov/Institution/Total-Members/T otal-Members/. 4 T he Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico serves a four-year term, unlike other House members who serve two-year terms. T he Philippines was represented in the House by Resident Commissioners from 1907 until 1946, when it became an independent nation. For more information, see CRS Report R40555, Delegates to the U.S. Congress: History and Current Status, by Christopher M. Davis. 5 For background information on the previous Congress, refer to CRS Report R44762, Membership of the 115th Congress: A Profile, by Jennifer E. Manning. 6 For more information about age distributions in the House in the 116 th Congress, see an online feature of the Washington Post, “ Democrats’ generational gap grows with return of Speaker Pelosi and longtime deputies,” at Congressional Research Service 1 link to page 5 link to page 6 Membership of the 116th Congress: A Profile Table 1 shows the average ages at the beginning of the 116th and three previous Congresses. Table 1. Average Age of Members, 113th-116th Congresses Average (mean) age at the beginning of the Congress Newly Elected Newly Elected Congress Representatives Representatives Senators Senators 116th 57.6 years 47.9 years 62.9 years 58.1 years 115th 57.8 years 50.8 years 61.8 years 54.8 years 114th 57.0 years 52.3 years 61.0 years 50.7 years 113th 57.0 years 49.2 years 62.0 years 53.0 years Source: CRS calculations based on CQ, “116th Congress: Birthdays,” 62.9 years for Senators.⁶

Table 1 shows the average ages at the beginning of the 116^th and three previous Congresses.

The U.S. Constitution requires Representatives to be at least 25 years old when they take office.⁷ 7 The youngest Representative in the 116^th116th Congress, and the youngest woman ever to serve in Congress, is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), born October 13, 1989, who was 29 at the beginning of the 116^th116th Congress. The oldest Representative is Don Young (R-AK), born June 9, 1933, who was 85.

Senators must be at least 30 years old when they take office. The youngest Senator in the 116^th 116th Congress is Josh Hawley (R-MO), born December 31, 1979, who was 39 at the beginning of the Congress. The oldest Senator in the 116^th116th Congress is Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), born June 22, 1933, who was 85.

Occupations

According to data on occupations in the CQ New Members Guide, in the 116^th116th Congress law ties with public service/politics as the most commonly declared profession of Senators, followed by business; for Representatives, public service/politics is first, closely followed by business, then law.⁸

law.8 Table 2 uses data from the CQ Member Profiles to present the occupational categories most frequently listed as prior careers of Members of the 116th Congress. https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/politics/young-democrats-pelosi-opposition/. 7 Article I, Section 2, clause 2, of the U.S. Constitution. 8 “Demographics: Congress by the numbers,” in CQ New Members Guide, November 12, 2018, p. 98, available in the CQ.com subscription database at https://plus.cq.com/flatfiles/editorialFiles/temporaryItems/2018/nmg-demographics.pdf. CQ.com is available in all House and Senate offices. T his data does n ot include the Delegates and Resident Commissioner. For more information on the prior occupations of House Members of the 116 th Congress, see an online feature of the New York Tim es, “ Paths to Power: How Every Member Got to Congress,” January 26, 2019, at https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/01/26/opinion/sunday/paths-to-congress.html. Please note that the data in these third party resources are unlikely to be updated after publication. Congressional Research Service 2 Membership of the 116th Congress: A Profile Table 2. Most Frequently Listed Occupational Categories by Members, 116th Congress At the beginning of the 116th Congress Occupation Representatives Senators Public Service/Politics 184 47 Business 183 29 Law 145 47 Education 73 20 Sources: CQ New Members frequently listed as prior careers of Members of the 116^th Congress.

A closer look at the range of prior occupations and previously held public offices of Members of the House and Senate at the beginning of the 116^th116th Congress, as listed in their CQ Member Profiles,⁹ Profiles,9 also shows the following:

•  50 Senators with previous House service;
•  95 Members have worked in education, including teachers, professors, instructors, school fundraisers, counselors, administrators, or coaches (75 in the House, including 2 delegates, 20 in the Senate);
•  3 physicians in the Senate, 13 physicians in the House, plus 5 dentists and 3 veterinarians;¹⁰
• veterinarians;10  2 psychologists (all al in the House), an optometrist (in the Senate), a pharmacist (in the House), and 2 nurses and 1 physician assistant (in the House);
•  7 ordained ministers, all al in the House;
•  41 former mayors (34 in the House, 7 in the Senate);
•  13 former state governors (12 in the Senate, 1 in the House) and 7 lieutenant governors (4 in the Senate, 3 in the House);
•  16 former judges (all al but 1 in the House) and 42 prosecutors (10 in the Senate, 32 in the House) who have served in city, county, state, federal, or military capacities;
•  2 former Cabinet Secretaries (1 in each chamber), and 3 Ambassadors (all in the House);¹¹
• al in the House);11 9 CQ Member Profiles are available on the CQ.com subscription database at http://www.cq.com/members/home.do. T he CQ.com database is available in all House and Sen ate offices, as well as some academic libraries. T he profiles are also available in print form in the CQ publication Politics in Am erica. T he professions listed here are not exhaustive and are not necessarily the ones practiced by Members immediately prior to entering Congress. Most Members list more than one profession in their CQ Mem ber Profiles. 10 One of the medical doctors in the Senate is an ophthalmologist, and one of the medical doctors in the House is also a veterinarian. In addition to these numbers, another physician was sworn into the House in September 2019 . For more information on medical professionals serving in the House, see the Library of the House of Representatives’s “Membership Profile” web page at http://library.clerk.house.gov/membership-profile.aspx. For Senators, see the Senate Historical Office’s “Physicians in the Senate” web page at https://www.senate.gov/senators/PhysiciansintheSenate.htm. 11 In addition, one Senator previously served as the U.S. T rade Representative, a position carrying the rank and title of Ambassador. Congressional Research Service 3 Membership of the 116th Congress: A Profile  246 former state or territorial legislators (43 in the Senate, 203 in the House, 246 former state or territorial legislators (43 in the Senate, 203 in the House, including 2 Delegates and the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico);¹²
• 12  at least 89 former congressional staffers (19 in the Senate, 70 in the House, including 3 Delegates), as well wel as 6 congressional pages (3 in the House and 3 in the Senate);¹³
• 13  3 sheriffs, 1 police chief and 3 other police officers, 1 firefighter, 3 CIA employees, and 1 FBI agent (all al in the House);
•  3 Peace Corps volunteers, all al in the House;
•  1 physicist and 1 chemist, both in the House;
•  11 engineers (10 in the House and 1 in the Senate);
•  20 public relations or communications professionals (4 in the Senate, 16 in the House), and 10 accountants (2 in the Senate and 8 in the House);
•  6 software company executives in the House and 2 in the Senate;
•  19 management consultants (5 in the Senate, 14 in the House), 5 car dealership owners (all al in the House), and 4 venture capitalists (2 in the House, 2 in the Senate);
•  12 bankers or bank executives (3 in the Senate, 9 in the House), 29 veterans of the real estate industry (4 in the Senate, 25 in the House), and 10 Members who have worked in the construction industry (1 in the Senate, 9 in the House);
•  6 social workers (2 in the Senate, 4 in the House) and 3 union representatives (all al in the House);
•  13 nonprofit executives in the House;
•  3 radio talk show hosts (1 in the Senate, 2 in the House); 4 radio or television broadcasters, managers, or owners (all al in the House); 6 reporters or journalists (1 in the Senate, 5 in the House), a public television producer in the House, and a newspaper publisher in each chamber;
•  21 insurance agents or executives (4 in the Senate, 17 in the House) and 4 Members who have worked with stocks or bonds (all al in the House);
•  1 artist, 1 book publisher, and 2 speechwriters (all al in the House), and 1 documentary filmmaker in the Senate;
•  6 restaurateurs (5 in the House, 1 in the Senate), as well wel as 2 coffee shop owners, 1 wine store owner, and 1 whiskey distiller (all distil er (al in the House);
•  27 farmers, ranchers, or cattle farm owners (5 in the Senate, 22 in the House);
•  1 almond orchard owner and vintner, as well wel as a forester and a fruit orchard worker (all al in the House);
•  1 flight attendant and 1 pilot, both in the House;
•  3 professional football footbal players, 1 hockey player, 1 baseball basebal player, and 1 mixed martial arts fighter (all al in the House); and
• 12 National Conference of State Legislators, “Former State Legislators in the 116th Congress” (as of January 11, 2019), at http://www.ncsl.org/documents/statefed/Former_StateLegislators116thCongress.pdf. 13 Michael L. Koempel and Judy Schneider, Congressional Deskbook, 6th ed. (Washington: T he Capitol.Net, 2012), Figure 5.22, supplemented by data from CQ Member Profiles and House and Senate payroll documents. Congressional Research Service 4 Membership of the 116th Congress: A Profile  8 current members of the military reserves (7 in the House, 1 in the Senate) and 7 current members of the National Guard (all al in the House).

Other occupations listed in the CQ Member Profiles include emergency dispatcher, letter carrier, animal nutrition specialist, cake decorator, waiter, electrician, rodeo announcer, carpenter, computer systems analyst, software engineer, R&D lab executive, and explosives expert.

Education

Education As has been true in recent Congresses, the vast majority of Members (94.8% of House Members and 100% of Senators) at the beginning of the 116^th116th Congress hold bachelor'’s degrees. Sixty-eight percent of House Members and 77% of Senators hold educational degrees beyond a bachelor's.¹⁴ ’s.14 The CQ Member Profiles at the beginning of the 116^th116th Congress indicate the following:

•  17 Members of the House have no educational degree beyond a high school diploma;
• diploma;  6 Members of the House have associate'’s degrees as their highest degrees;
•  99 Members of the House and 18 Senators earned a master'’s degree as their highest attained degrees;
•  161 Members of the House (36.6% of the House) and 53 Senators (53% of the Senate) hold law degrees;
•  21 Representatives and 4 Senators have doctoral (Ph.D., D.Phil., Ed.D., or D. D. Min) degrees; and
•  21 Members of the House and 4 Senators have medical degrees.¹⁵

15 By comparison, approximately 35 years ago in the 99^th99th Congress (1985-1986), 85% of House Members and 88% of Senators held bachelor'’s degrees. Approximately 45 years ago, in the 94^th 94th Congress (1975-1976), 82% of House Members and 88% of Senators held bachelor'’s degrees. About 60 years ago, in the 87^th87th Congress (1961-1962), 76% of House Members and 76% of Senators held bachelor'’s degrees.¹⁶

16 Five Representatives and one Senator are graduates of the U.S. Military Academy, three RepresentativesRepresentatives17 and one Senator graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, and one Senator graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy. Five Representatives and one Senator were Rhodes Scholars, two Representatives were Fulbright Scholars, two Representatives were Marshall Marshal Scholars, and two Representatives and one Senator were Truman Scholars.¹⁷

Congressional Service

The average length of service for Representatives at the beginning of the 116^th18 14 CQ, “116th Congress: Education,” at https://plus.cq.com/members/factfile/education. 15 T hree Senators and 13 Representatives have M.D. degrees, 1 Senator has an O.D. (doctor of optometry) degree, 5 Representatives have D.D.S. (doctor of dental surgery) degrees, and 3 Representatives have D.V.M. (doctor of veterinary medicine) degrees. One of the Representatives has both an M.D. and a D.V.M. degree. An additional Representative with an M.D. degree was sworn into the House in September 2019. 16 CRS Report R42365, Representatives and Senators: Trends in Member Characteristics Since 1945 , coordinated by R. Eric Petersen. 17 One of these Naval Academy graduates was sworn into the House in May 2020. 18 Rhodes and Marshall scholarships fund study at British universities; Fulbright scholarships fund international exchange programs; T ruman scholarships fund graduate study toward public service. Congressional Research Service 5 Membership of the 116th Congress: A Profile Congressional Service The average length of service for Representatives at the beginning of the 116th Congress was 8.6 Congress was 8.6 years (4.3 House terms); for Senators, 10.1 years (1.7 Senate terms).

At the beginning of the 116^th116th Congress, 90 of the House Members, including the Resident Commissioner for Puerto Rico (20.4% of the total House Membership), had first been elected to the House in November 2018, and 9 of the Senators (9% of the total Senate membership) had first been elected to the Senate in November 2018.¹⁸19 These numbers are higher than at the beginning of the 115^th115th Congress, when 11.8% of the House and 7% of the Senate were newly elected "freshmen."

“freshmen.” At the beginning of the 116^th116th Congress, 144 House Members, including 1 Delegate and the Resident Commissioner (32.7% of House Members), had no more than two years of House experience, and 19 Senators (19% of Senators) had no more than two years of Senate experience.

For more historical information on the tenure of Members of Congress, see CRS Report R41545, Congressional Careers: Service Tenure and Patterns of Member Service, 1789-2019, by William Wil iam T. Egar and Amber Hope Wilhelm.

Religion

Religion Ninety-seven percent of the Members of the 116^th116th Congress report an affiliation with a specific religion.¹⁹

religion.20 19 T his number includes one Senator appointed in December 2018 and sworn in at the beginning of the 116 th Congress. For more information on the “freshmen” of the 116th Congress, see Brookings Institution, “Congress in 2019: the 2nd most educated and least politically experienced House freshman class,” December 28, 2018, at https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2018/12/28/congress-in-2019-the-2nd-most-educated-and-least-politically-experienced-house-freshman-class/. 20 Nineteen Members of the 115th Congress do not specify a religious affiliation, or report themselves as unaffiliated. Pew Research Center on Religion and Public Life Project, “Faith on the Hill: T he Religious Composition of the 116 th Congress,” January 3, 2019, at http://www.pewforum.org/2019/01/03/faith-on-the-hill-116/. Congressional Research Service 6 Membership of the 116th Congress: A Profile Statistics gathered by the Pew Research Center on Religion and Public Life, which studies the religious affiliation of Representatives and Senators, and CQ at the beginning of the 116^th 116th Congress showed the following:

•  54.9% of Members (233 in the House, 60 in the Senate) are Protestant, with Baptist as the most represented denomination, followed by Methodist;
•  30.5% of Members (141 in the House, 22 in the Senate) are Catholic;
•  6.4% of Members (26 in the House, 8 in the Senate) are Jewish;
•  1.9% of Members (6 in the House, 4 in the Senate) are Mormon (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints);
•  2 Members (1 in the House, 1 in the Senate) are Buddhist, 3 Representatives are Muslim, and 3 Representatives are Hindu; and
•  other religious affiliations represented include Greek Orthodox, Pentecostal Christian, Unitarian Universalist, and Adventist.²⁰

21 Gender and Ethnicity

Women Members

A record 131 women Members (24.2% of the total membership) serve in the 116^th116th Congress, 22 more than at the beginning of the 115^th Congress.²¹115th Congress.22 One hundred five women, including 3 Delegates as well wel as the Resident Commissioner, serve in the House and 26 in the Senate. Of the 105 women in the House, 90 are Democrats, including 2 of the Delegates, and 15 are Republicans, including 1 Delegate as well wel as the Resident Commissioner. Of the 26 women in the Senate, 17 are Democrats and 9 are Republicans.²²

23 By comparison, approximately 35 years ago in the 99^th99th Congress (1985-1986), 23 women served in the House, and 2 in the Senate. Approximately 45 years ago, in the 94^th94th Congress (1975-1976), there were 19 women in the House, and none in the Senate.

African American Members

There are a record 57 African American Members (10.5% of the total membership) in the 116^th 116th Congress, 5 more than at the beginning of the 115^th Congress.²³115th Congress.24 Fifty-four serve in the House, including two Delegates, and three serve in the Senate. This number includes one Representative, as wel as well as one Senator, who are of African American and Asian ancestry, and one Representative Representative who is of African American and Hispanic ancestry. In this report, each of these three Members is counted as belonging to two ethnic groups. Fifty-three of the African American House Members, 21 Detailed religious affiliation information for Members of the 116 th Congress, and comparisons to the U.S. general population are available at http://www.pewforum.org/2019/01/03/faith-on-the-hill-116/. 22 T he 116th Congress began with 131 women Members; one woman House Member resigned in November 2019, and one woman Senator was appointed in December 2019. 23 For more information, see CRS Report RL30261, Women in Congress, 1917-2020: Service Dates and Committee Assignm ents by Mem ber, and Lists by State and Congress, by Jennifer E. Manning and Ida A. Brudnick ; and the Office of the House Historian’s Women in Congress website at http://history.house.gov/Exhibition-and-Publications/WIC/Women-in-Congress/. 24 T he 116th Congress began with 57 African American Members; one African Am erican House Member passed away in October 2019, and one was sworn into the House in May 2020. Congressional Research Service 7 Membership of the 116th Congress: A Profile counted as belonging to two ethnic groups. Fifty-three of the African American House Members, including two Delegates, are Democrats, and one is a Republican. Two of the Senators are Democrats and one is Republican. Twenty-four African American women, including two Delegates, serve in the House, and one serves in the Senate.²⁴

25 By comparison, approximately 35 years ago in the 99^th99th Congress (1985-1986), 21 African American Members served in the House, and none in the Senate. About 60 years ago, in the 87^th 87th Congress (1961-1962), there were 4 African American Members of Congress, all al serving in the House.

House. Hispanic/Latino American Members

There are 51 Hispanic or Latino Members in the 116^th116th Congress, 9.4% of the total membership and a record number.²⁵26 Forty-six serve in the House, including two delegates and the Resident Commissioner, and 5 in the Senate. These numbers include two House Members who are also of Asian descent, and one House Member also of African ancestry; these Members are counted in both ethnic categories in this report. Of the Members of the House, 37 are Democrats (including 2 Delegates) and 9 are Republicans (including the Resident Commissioner). Fourteen are women, including the Resident Commissioner. Of the five Hispanic Senators (three Republicans, two Democrats), one is a woman. By comparison, approximately 35 years ago in the 99^th99th Congress (1985-1986), 14 Hispanic or Latino Members served in Congress. All Al 14 were male Members of the House.

Asian/Pacific Islander American Members

A record 20 Members of the 116^th116th Congress (3.8% of the total membership) are of Asian, South Asian, or Pacific Islander ancestry.²⁶27 Seventeen of them (16 Democrats, 1 Republican) serve in the House, and 3 (all al Democrats) serve in the Senate. These numbers include one House Member and one Senator who are also of African American ancestry, and another House Member of Hispanic ancestry; these Members are counted in both ethnic categories in this report. Of those serving in the House, three are Delegates. Ten of the Asian, Pacific Islander, or South Asian American Members are female: seven in the House, and all al three in the Senate. By comparison, approximately 35 years ago in the 99^th99th Congress (1985-1986), there were five Asian/Pacific Islander Americans in the House, and two in the Senate.

25 For more information, see CRS Report RL30378, African American Members of the U.S. Congress: 1870-2019, by Ida A. Brudnick and Jennifer E. Manning; and the Office of the House Historian’s Black Am ericans in Congress website at https://history.house.gov/baic/. Due to differences in data collection or characterization, demographic data in other studies on Members of Congress may differ from those presented in this report. 26 T his number includes three House Members and one Senator who are of Portuguese ancestry and belong, or have belonged, to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus or the Congressional Hispanic Conference. For more information, see the Office of the House Historian’s Hispanic Am ericans in Congress website at http://history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/HAIC/Hispanic-Americans-in-Congress/. Due to differences in data collection or characterization, demographic data in other st udies on Members of Congress may differ from those presented in this report. 27 For more information, see the Office of the House Historian’s Asian and Pacific Islander Americans in Congress website at http://history.house.gov/apa/. Due to differences in data collection or characterization, demographic data in other studies on Members of Congress may differ from those presented in this report. Congressional Research Service 8 Membership of the 116th Congress: A Profile American Indian Members American Indian Members

There are four American Indian (Native American) Members of the 116^th116th Congress; two of each party, all al in the House.²⁷28 This is two more than in the 115^th115th Congress, and a record number.

Foreign Birth

Twenty-three Representatives²⁸Representatives29 and five Senators (5.2% of the 116^th116th Congress) were born outside the United States. Their places of birth include Canada, Cuba, Ecuador, Germany, Japan, Peru, and India. Some of these Members were born to American citizens working or serving abroad.²⁹ 30 The U.S. Constitution requires that Representatives be citizens for seven years and Senators be citizens for nine years before they take office.³⁰

31 Military Service

At the beginning of the 116^th116th Congress, there were 96 individuals (17.8% of the total membership) who had served or were serving in the military, 6 fewer than at the beginning of the 115^th115th Congress (102 Members). According to lists compiled by CQ, the House as of January 2019 had 78 veterans (including 4 female Members, as well wel as 1 Delegate); the Senate had 18 veterans, including 3 women.³¹32 These Members served in the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War, and combat or peacekeeping missions in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Kosovo, as well wel as during times of peace. Seven House Members and one Senator are still stil serving in the reserves, and seven House Members are still stil serving in the National Guard. Four of the seven female veterans are combat veterans.

veterans. The number of veterans in the 116^th116th Congress reflects the trend of steady decline in recent decades in the number of Members who have served in the military. For example, 64% of the Members of the 97^th Congress (1981-1982) were veterans, and in the 92^nd Congress (1971-1972), 73% of the Members were veterans.³²