Congress Passing Legislation At Historically Low Clip

Congress is on track to pass the least amount of legislation in any two-year session since former President Barack Obama’s presidency.

The 119th Congress has enacted 97 bills into law thus far and passed 274 bills during the 118th Congress; the previous lowest number of bills passed happened during Obama’s administration when 284 bills were passed during the 112th Congress, according to GovTrack. Lawmakers will likely have difficulty passing more legislation before the midterm elections in November.

That figure is historically low, especially with one party controlling the legislative and executive branches. In former President Joe Biden’s first two years, Democrats enacted 365 bills while controlling both chambers, and lawmakers passed 385 bills during former President Barack Obama’s first two years, according to GovTrack.

Republicans have struggled to send key legislation to President Donald Trump’s desk, including the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, a third reconciliation package and trans-related bills. The Senate passed a second reconciliation package Friday following an 18-hour vote-a-rama, which would provide over $30.73 billion to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), $22.57 billion to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and $2.5 billion in Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appropriations through 2029.

“Despite a razor-thin House majority and a string of record-setting government shutdowns forced by the Democrats, Speaker Johnson, his leadership team, and House Republicans have delivered countless positive legislative results for the American people – including lower taxes, secure borders, reduced crime, a return to American energy dominance, massive reductions in burdensome regulations, fraud, waste, and abuse, and more,” a spokesperson for Speaker Mike Johnson told the Daily Caller News Foundation