(January 6, 2021) takes the
oath of office as the 46th
president of the United States. to a
joint session of Congress, with Vice President
Kamala Harris and House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi. , with Vice President Harris and House Speaker Pelosi. shortly after she was
confirmed by the United States Senate, joined by President Biden and Vice President Harris. • January 3, 2021: 117th Congress officially begins. Members-elect of the
United States Senate and the
United States House of Representatives are sworn in; though because of the
COVID-19 pandemic, House members-elect did not all gather in the chamber to be sworn in, but rather, were summoned to the chambers in seven groups of about 72 people. • January 5, 2021: Runoff elections were held in Georgia for the
regular and
special Senate elections, with Democrats winning both and gaining control of the Senate upon Kamala Harris's inauguration. • January 6–7, 2021: A
joint session to
count the presidential Electoral College votes is held. It was halted when
pro-Trump mob attacked the Capitol. By nightfall, the mob had been cleared and the vote counting resumed, with the certification being made official around 3:00a.m. on January 7. • January 13, 2021:
Second impeachment of Donald Trump: House impeached President Trump for inciting the January 6 attack on the Capitol. • January 20, 2021: The
inauguration of Joe Biden takes place. • January 20, 2021: With
Vice President Kamala Harris's inauguration, alongside the seating of three new Democratic senators (Ossoff, Warnock, Padilla – the two Georgia runoff winners and Harris's appointed replacement), Democrats take control of the Senate with a 50–50 split and Harris served as the tiebreaker in her role as Senate President. The Democrats gain a trifecta. • January 25, 2021: House Democrats formally send an article of impeachment against former president
Donald Trump to the Senate. • February 3, 2021: Senate organizing resolution passed, allowing Democrats to control committees and freshman senators to take committee appointments. • February 4, 2021: House voted 230–199 on , removing Representative
Marjorie Taylor Greene of
Georgia's 14th congressional district from the House committees on
Education and Labor and
the Budget. • February 9–13, 2021: The
Second impeachment trial of Donald Trump takes place. • April 2, 2021:
April 2021 United States Capitol car attack • April 13, 2021:
Officer Billy Evans lies in state in the U.S. Capitol. • April 22, 2021: House voted 216–208 on to make
Washington, D.C. the nation's 51st state. • April 28, 2021: President
Joe Biden addresses a joint session of Congress. • May 12, 2021: House Republicans vote to oust
Liz Cheney as conference chair for criticizing Donald Trump and opposing his
attempts to reject the results of the 2020 election. • May 14, 2021:
Elise Stefanik is elected
House Republican Conference chair. • June 17, 2021:
Juneteenth becomes the first newly created federal holiday since 1983. • October 21, 2021: House voted 229–202 on to hold former President
Donald Trump chief strategist
Steve Bannon in criminal contempt of Congress for his refusal to comply with the
House Select Committee investigation on the January 6 attack. • November 17, 2021: House voted 223–207 on to censure Representative
Paul Gosar of
Arizona's 4th congressional district and remove him from the House committees on
Oversight and
Natural Resources for posting an
anime video of him killing fellow Representative
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attacking President Biden. • December 14, 2021: House voted 222–208 on to hold former
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in criminal contempt of Congress for his refusal to comply with the
House Select Committee investigation on the January 6 attack. • February 4, 2022: The
Republican National Committee censures Representatives
Liz Cheney of
Wyoming's at-large district and
Adam Kinzinger of
Illinois's 16th congressional district for their positions as members on the
United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack. • February 24, 2022: President Biden announces severe sanctions on Russia following its
invasion of Ukraine. • March 1, 2022: President Biden delivers the
2022 State of the Union Address. • March 21–24, 2022: Hearings are held on the
nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. • March 24, 2022:
Nebraska Representative
Jeff Fortenberry is convicted by a jury in the
Central District of California of one count of scheming to falsify material facts and two counts of lying to federal investigators relating to an illegal donation made to his campaign in 2016 by Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire
Gilbert Chagoury. He resigns from Congress. • March 29, 2022:
Don Young, representative for
Alaska's at-large congressional district since 1973 and
dean of the House of Representatives, lies in state in the
U.S. Capitol, having died on March 18. • April 6, 2022: House voted 220–203 on to hold former President
Donald Trump officials
Peter Navarro and
Dan Scavino Jr. in criminal contempt of Congress for their refusal to comply with the
House Select Committee investigation on the January 6 attack. • April 7, 2022: The Senate confirmed
Ketanji Brown Jackson to the
United States Supreme Court. • May 24, 2022: The
Uvalde school shooting leaves 21 dead, and leaves Uvalde law enforcement officers criticized for their response. • June 9, 2022: The
House Special Select Committee investigating the
January 6th Insurrection held the first of several
summer hearings centered around the attack. • June 24, 2022: The
United States Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. • July 27, 2022: The Senate passed the
CHIPS and Science Act. • July 27, 2022: Senator
Joe Manchin strikes a deal with Senate Majority Leader
Chuck Schumer to resurrect some of President
Joe Biden's climate, tax and healthcare agenda in the
Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. • July 28, 2022: The House passed the
CHIPS and Science Act. • July 31, 2022:
U.S. drone strikes killed
al-Qaeda leader
Ayman al-Zawahiri. • August 4, 2022: The Senate voted 95–1 in favor of ratifying the accession of
Sweden and
Finland into NATO. • August 7, 2022: The Senate voted 51–50 to pass the
Inflation Reduction Act, with Vice President
Kamala Harris breaking the tie. • August 8, 2022: The
FBI executes a search warrant at former President
Donald Trump's
Mar-a-Lago residence. • August 12, 2022: The House voted 220–207 to pass the
Inflation Reduction Act. • August 16, 2022: President
Joe Biden signed the
Inflation Reduction Act into law. • August 24, 2022: President Biden
canceled up to $20,000 in student loan debt. • September 13, 2022: With the swearing-in of
Mary Peltola, for the first time Congress has indigenous representatives from
Native Alaskan,
Native American, and
Native Hawaiian peoples. • September 21, 2022: The Senate voted 69–27 to pass the
Kigali Amendment. • October 6, 2022: President Biden pardons all prior offenses of marijuana possession, and instructs Attorney General
Merrick Garland and Secretary
Xavier Becerra to reconsider how marijuana is scheduled under federal law. • November 17, 2022: House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi announces she will step down as House Democratic Leader, that began in January 2023. • November 30, 2022: House Democrats elect
Hakeem Jeffries as the new House Democratic Leader, that began with the next Congress. • December 9, 2022: Democratic senator
Kyrsten Sinema officially leaves the Democratic Party and becomes an
independent. • December 13, 2022: President Biden signs the
Respect for Marriage Act into law, repealing the 1996
Defense of Marriage Act. • December 21, 2022: Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed a
joint session of Congress. • December 29, 2022: President Biden signs the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 into law, including several pieces of subsidiary legislation. == Major legislation ==