Lawmakers in the House and Senate introduced nearly 19,000 bills since convening on Jan. 3, 2023. Yet, only 137 have become public laws, according to data gathered by the National Archives and reviewed by the Washington Examiner. That is less than a 1% success rate and the total is the lowest since at least 1951, which is the earliest year documented in the Library of Congress’s digital archives.
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To be sure, lawmakers still have two weeks to pass legislation that could bump themselves above the low margin — especially as both chambers have a lengthy to-do list of legislation that must be passed before they expire at the end of the year. The last lame duck in 2022 saw a surge of action, with 148 pieces of legislation being passed and signed into law between the time lawmakers returned on Nov. 14, 2022, and before the next Congress convened in January 2023.
The 118th Congress could begin passing a flurry of noncontroversial items, such as bills to rename post offices. But at the top of lawmakers’ minds is a slew of disputed bills, such as the appropriations bill for fiscal 2025, the National Defense Authorization Act, the farm bill, and requests for disaster relief.
If Congress manages to pass those, it would certainly boost productivity. However, it’s likely the House and Senate will agree to punt many of those deadlines into the new year.
The 118th Congress got off to a slow start as House Republicans adjusted to their newfound majority, beginning with a drawn-out speaker fight that delayed any legislative action for the first week. The House was again thrown into a standstill for the entire month of October in 2023 when Kevin McCarthy was booted from the speakership, blocking lawmakers from doing any legislative business until that position was filled.
As a result, Congress only passed 34 public laws in 2023 — one of the most unproductive years in recent history. This year has already proven to be more productive, as Congress has passed 103 so far.
In fairness, one cannot simply look at how many bills are passed to conclude productivity, according to Charles Hunt, an assistant professor in political science at Boise State University. Oftentimes, lawmakers can fit more policy and funding into fewer bills, making it appear as if less is being done.
But even with that caveat, Hunt said, the current Congress has “been pretty historically unproductive.” But, he adds, “there are understandable reasons for this.”
“The main one is divided government: for a little bit longer, we have a Senate controlled by Democrats, and a House controlled by Republicans, so this makes it more difficult for the two chambers to get together and pass big legislation,” Hunt told the Washington Examiner. “It’s an election year, too, so bipartisanship isn’t exactly in vogue when the parties are spending all year making the case for why the other shouldn’t be in power next year.”
Although Republicans flipped control of the House in 2022, Democrats have held the Senate and White House, making it far more difficult to get bills passed and signed by the president. Even with those majorities set, Hunt said, the small margins in both chambers have made things far more difficult to get anything across the finish line.
But with Republicans securing a trifecta with control of the chambers of Congress and the Oval Office next year, GOP leaders are expecting a far more productive session.
“We’re going to ensure all this leadership will hit the ground running to deliver President Trump’s agenda in the 119th Congress,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said last month. “We will work closely with him and his administration to turn this country around and unleash, as he says, a new golden age in America.”
However, there are still concerns about whether the upcoming Congress, in which Republicans will have a historically slim margin in the House, will see even fewer bills being sent to President-elect Donald Trump’s desk.
Republicans will enter the 119th Congress with a 220-215 margin, giving them just a two-seat majority. However, the party will immediately be met with three vacancies for the first three months with the departures of former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who resigned last month, and Reps. Mike Waltz (R-FL) and Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who will join the Trump administration.
That leaves Republicans with a 217-215 majority, giving them virtually no room for error and a zero-vote margin to pass legislation.
And if this current Congress is any indication, Republicans could still have trouble passing things even with their newfound majorities.
“Trump won in a close election, and Republican majorities in both chambers are both quite small. And if this last Congress was any indicator, maintaining party unity in the House could be a challenge for Speaker Johnson, since their majority is going to be about as small as it was this year,” Hunt said. “So I don’t know that we’re guaranteed to suddenly get a flood of new legislation even when the next Congress starts.”
The last time Republicans had a GOP trifecta controlling the White House and both chambers of Congress, the party had a significantly productive two years. That was the 115th Congress during the first two years of Trump’s first term, during which lawmakers passed 442 public laws.
That’s the highest number of public laws passed since the 110th Congress when the Democratic-led House and Senate passed 460 public laws.
Now that Republicans control the Senate, GOP leaders in both chambers are expressing confidence that they will be able to secure a number of policy wins in Trump’s first 100 days in office — an ambitious timeline filled with a vast array of priorities.
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“The American people expect results, and this Republican team is united in our effort to deliver,” incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) told the Washington Examiner in a statement. “We have been given a clear mandate to secure the border, advance American energy dominance, strengthen national security, and extend pro-growth policies like the Trump tax cuts.
“Through a renewed focus on teamwork and open communication — within our conference, with the House, and with the White House — we’ll turn these priorities into tangible wins for families and businesses across the country.”
