The main job of Congress is to enact legislation so that the executive branch can carry out its constitutional responsibilities. I’ve touched on this earlier while addressing shrinking the size and cost of the federal government.

Congress does all kinds of other stuff—constituent services; fundraising and campaigning, especially by House members; holding various hearings and investigations; and reviewing Presidential appointment nominations.

Easily available online records that give consistent breakdowns of legislative action start around 1981. On average, 12,500 pieces of legislation, excluding amendments and concurrent resolutions, are introduced in each Congress. The modern numbers were lowest during the Clinton years and highest during the latest three Congresses.

The 97th Congress (1981-1982) introduced 12,661 pieces of legislation (excluding amendments and concurrent resolutions), 529 (4.18%) of which became law. The 98th (1983-1984) saw 5.80% become law, the 99th 6.24%, and the 100th 7.11%. That covers President Ronald Reagan’s tenure.

Image by Grok AI.

Bush the First saw 5.93% and 5.31%.

Clinton’s time in office had 5.02%, 4.38%, 4.67%, and 5.90% of introduced legislation become law.

Congress under Bush II saw gradually less legislative success at 3.79%, 5.05%, 3.88%, and 3.41%.

With Obama, the decline continued to a 2.90%, 2.35%, 2.83%, and 2.78% success rate.

During Trump’s first occupancy of the White House, the 115th Congress introduced 13,355 pieces of legislation and saw 443 (3.32%) become law.

The 116th introduced 16,426 pieces of legislation and saw 344 become law—down to 2.09%.

Biden’s first Congress—the 117th—introduced 17,651, with only 365 (2.07%) becoming law.

More than the presidency affects these outcomes. The issues of the days and times, the number of promises Congress members made to their constituents during their campaigns (thus the number of throw-away bills), the makeup of the House and Senate, and congressional leadership, especially of committees, all affect the number introduced as well as those addressed and voted on in committee that might eventually become law.

The 118th Congress has been different. Out of 18,656 pieces of legislation introduced (as of December 9), so far, only 137 have become law. That’s 0.73%. There are only a few more days of work left to this Congress, including deciding whether or not to extend the continuing resolution that expires on December 30.

It looks like nine bills have been sent to the President, who has yet to take action, and another dozen or so have passed both chambers and are waiting for the next steps.

This Congress sent an additional 12 bills to the President, who then vetoed them. They all failed to pass over his veto. Each contained Congressional disapproval of a rule promulgated by an executive agency.

The Vice President broke 26 ties during the 117th and, so far, seven during the 118th Congress.

Let’s go a little granular. It turns out that the demographics of the successful legislation resemble those from most recent years (based on a quick perusal but not a detailed analysis). Of the 137 new laws, 119 (87%) bills were short or very short and contained only a single issue. That’s actually pretty typical. We the People like this very much.

Typical, also, is the breakdown of these bills into categories. Thirty-five of these bills (33%) are related to appropriations, reauthorizations of programs, and funding extensions.

Thirty-eight (28%) are commemorative—that is, naming a post office or other federal facility, naming a national park, and issuing coins or medals.

Fourteen (10%) address veterans or the military, and five (4%) Indian issues.

Three were for appointments to the Smithsonian.

Forty-one (30%) were new or amended laws or policies. Almost all of these were short, single-issue bills.

On Monday, November 25, 2024, in between pardoning the Thanksgiving turkeys and traveling to Staten Island to speak at and take part in serving a Friendsgiving meal, President Biden had a busy day. He signed 30 pieces of legislation, nearly a quarter of all legislation that became law in the past two years. Twenty-one of them (70%) were commemoratives.

“And For Other Purposes” Bills

It is the “and for other purposes” bills that drive voters crazy. This session, for example, Senate Bill 870 started out as a sweet little 6-page bill called the Fire Grants and Safety Act, reauthorizing the US Fire Administration through 2032 and funding it through 2030. It was originally funded at $65 million.

By the time it became law, it was 36 pages long and completely overhauled our non-military nuclear policy. The price tag for the fire portion is now $4.255 billion for 5 years. The cost of part B is left up to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to figure out and report to Congress. There is no CBO budget estimate provided for this bill. N.B.: The NRC gets 90% of its operating costs from fees and licenses rather than appropriations.

This bill contains a provision that the NRC’s Commissioner, regardless of all other laws and regulations, can recruit and directly appoint not more than twenty excepted service staff each year at a compensation rate not to exceed $204,000 a year plus a $25,000 signing bonus.

Then there are the head-scratchers. The Coastal Barriers Resources Act of 1982 encourages the conservation of storm-prone and dynamic coastal barriers by withdrawing the availability of federal funding and financial assistance within designated areas. H-5490 reauthorizes and amends this act, adding nearly 300,000 acres, including multiple sites meeting waiver requirements. The CBO estimates the cost of this bill will be $16 million due to “increasing the number of properties that are eligible for federal flood insurance coverage.” Huh?

The 118th Congress (2023-2024) was handicapped from the outset by the now-known-to-be-blatant lack of electoral integrity in 2020 that was further compounded in 2022. These schemes were pulled off at the state and local level, as well as at the federal level, with the assistance and collusion of executive branch employees and left-facing political operatives. Not only was the tie-breaker in the Senate affected, but many, many down-ballot races as well. It is an unbalanced Congress with far too many illegitimate seat warmers in office.

We the People expect the 119th to do better.

Anony Mee is the nom de blog of a retired public servant who X-tweets at oh_yeahMee.