Get During The 2009 Legislative Session

Legislative. The legislative branch is made up of the House and Senate, known collectively as the Congress. Among other powers, the legislative branch makes all laws, declares war, regulates interstate and foreign commerce and controls taxing and spending policies.

On any given day, however, the Senate may meet in a variety of designated sessions to fulfill its legislative, executive, and constitutional duties. Daily Session: The Senate's routine day. Special Session: When the Senate convenes an extra session, following sine die adjournment, it is known as a special session.

Dates of Sessions of the Congress CongressSessionBegin Date1162 1Jan 3, 2020 Jan 3, 20191152 1Jan 3, 2018 Jan 3, 20171142 1Jan 4, 2016 Jan 6, 20151132 1Jan 3, 2014 Jan 3, 201358 more rows

A term of Congress is two years long and begins on January 3 of each odd-numbered year. Each Member of the U.S. House of Representatives is elected to serve for one term at a time, and may be elected later to serve additional terms. A session of Congress is one year long.

From 1789 to 1795 the Senate always met in closed sessions. After the Senate agreed to open its doors to the public in 1795, it continued to conduct all executive business—that dealing with treaties or presidential nominations—in closed session.

The annual series of meetings of a Congress is called a session. Each Congress generally has two sessions, based on the constitutional mandate that Congress assemble at least once a year. In addition, a meeting of one or both houses is a session.

A legislative session is the period of time in which a legislature, in both parliamentary and presidential systems, is convened for purpose of lawmaking, usually being one of two or more smaller divisions of the entire time between two elections.