WASHINGTON — Congress got next to nothing done during the past year and could accomplish even less in 2024 as attention shifts to the November elections.
House Republican and Senate Democratic leaders reached agreement on bills and resolutions they sent to the president’s desk just 34 times during the first year of the 118th Congress — making that session the least productive in decades.
Even when the two chambers brokered deals, several of the laws passed were just short-term extensions, allowing members of Congress to delay the tough job of compromise on big-picture legislation. They’ll need to tackle the farm bill, reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration and approve more than $1.5 trillion in federal spending this year, just to name a few of the unaddressed items.
Rank-and-file lawmakers aren’t entirely pleased with the lackluster results and have no insight on what leaders might bring up this year, outside of the pressing issues they’ve avoided dealing with and now must confront again in 2024.
Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy rebuked GOP leaders, saying during a floor speech in mid-November that for years he’s heard nothing but “excuses” and “empty promises.”
“I want my Republican colleagues to give me one thing, one thing, that I can go campaign on and say we did,” Roy said. “Anybody sitting in the complex, if you want to come down to the floor and come explain to me one material, meaningful, significant thing the Republican majority has done besides saying, ‘Oh, it is not as bad as the Democrats.’”
Oklahoma Republican Rep. Tom Cole, chair of the House Rules Committee, said in late December he hadn’t heard what legislation would move through his committee this year, but doesn’t expect much.
“Look, it’s divided government in a presidential year,” Cole said. “I don’t see us moving a lot of big legislation. I think the appropriations bills, and whatever the two sides agree should be attached to them, is probably the best you’re going to get.”
Cole said Democrats, who control the Senate, are just as much to blame for the low number of laws as Republicans, who control the House. But, he noted that it’s not necessarily a bad thing for Congress to be less productive than normal.
“If you’re Republican, you believe in less government, and not doing something is sometimes a good thing,” Cole said. “Just because we passed a law, doesn’t mean it was a good law and doesn’t mean it has a positive effect. But again, I think it’s more a function of what the distribution of power is, how polarized the country is right now.”
For the last three decades, Congress has been significantly more productive during its first session, typically passing at least 90 public laws in that first year.
On just two occasions have lawmakers not reached that benchmark; during the 117th Congress when there were 81 public laws during the first year and during the 113th there were just over 70 public laws.
Michigan Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow, chair of the Agriculture Committee, said there won’t be much time left in 2024 after factoring in work on the farm bill, government funding legislation and the elections.
“I’m continuing to work hard to get a bipartisan farm bill and work through issues related to that,” Stabenow said. “And then there certainly will be other things that need to be addressed as well. But way too much time is going to be taken up by appropriations.”
The elections, she said, “will take a lot of the attention” away from legislative work in Congress.
“They always do,” Stabenow said.
