The 118th Congress was the least productive this century and passed fewer bills into law than any other Congress in at least 50 years. According to data from the Congressional archives, the House and Senate passed 209 bills into law over the last two years; the average since the year 2000 is 372.
There are many reasons for the gridlock, but it can be summed up like this — Republicans controlled the House with a seven-seat majority, Democrats controlled the Senate with a two-seat majority, and compromise was scarce.
Each chamber contributed to the pace.
For instance, House Republicans approved bills they knew the Senate wouldn’t approve or signed by President Joe Biden.
“Why waste the time bringing it? And we said it’s not a waste of time because, number one, it shows the American people how to fix these problems,” Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told reporters. “But it also lays out that road map so if we do get the House, Senate and White House in January, which we now have this mandate from the American people, that we will have already started to process to show the country how we can get it done.”
Senate Democrats were criticized for a lax schedule. In 2024, the chamber only worked five days a week 13 times.
“I think we’ve got a pretty good record on the infrastructure bill on the other measures to deal with COVID, I think there’s a solid record of accomplishment,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told Straight Arrow News. “And the American people measure the results of a Congress not by the amount of time they spend sitting at their desks or walking around the halls, but what the results are.”
Here’s what Congress did and didn’t do:
Achievements:
- They stopped the Washington, D.C. City Council’s attempts to overhaul its criminal code.
- They extended the debt ceiling until January 2025.
- They gave veterans with disabilities a cost of living adjustment.
- They reauthorized the FBI’s foreign surveillance program.
- They reauthorized the Federal Aviation Administration.
Failures:
- They did not properly fund the government. They passed temporary measures to prevent a shutdown but did not pass any formal appropriations bills.
- They did not approve an overhaul of the nation’s immigration law despite a record number of illegal crossings at the southern border.
- They did not pass the Kids Online Safety Act, meant to add protections for minors on social media.
The 119th Congress begins Friday, Jan. 3, and lawmakers have their work cut out. The debt ceiling expires on Jan. 1, so the Treasury Department will need immediate approval to borrow money. Or, it could default on loans, and government funding will expire on March 14.
