Let's analyze the given data to determine which party controlled each house of Congress during the 112th Congress (2011-2012).
### Senate Control:
1. Democrats: 53 seats
2. Republicans: 45 seats
3. Independents: 2 seats
To determine control of the Senate, we need to see which group or coalition has the majority of seats.
- Combined seats for Democrats and Independents: [tex]\( 53 + 2 = 55 \)[/tex]
- Seats for Republicans: 45
Since the combined seats for Democrats and Independents (55) are greater than the seats for Republicans (45), the Senate was controlled by the Democrats.
### House of Representatives Control:
1. Democrats: 200 seats
2. Republicans: 232 seats
3. Independents: 0 seats
To determine control of the House, we simply compare the number of seats for each party.
- Seats for Democrats: 200
- Seats for Republicans: 232
Since Republicans have more seats than Democrats (232 > 200), the House of Representatives was controlled by the Republicans.
### Conclusion:
With the above analysis, we can complete the statements as follows:
- The Senate was controlled by the Democrats because they had the majority with the support of the Independents.
- The House of Representatives was controlled by the Republicans because they had more seats than the Democrats.
Because of this, the houses of Congress likely experienced a split control, with different parties controlling each house.
Thus, we have the final statements filled in:
- The Senate was controlled by the Democrats because they held a majority with the Independents' support.
- The House of Representatives was controlled by the Republicans because they had more seats than the Democrats.
