Congress Passed Fewest Laws in Decades in 2023: Report; Capitol Hill Stunner: 2023 Led to Fewest Laws in Decades

Congress passed fewest laws in decades in 2023: report

It’s been a do-little Congress this year.

The House and Senate passed the fewest laws in more than two decades in 2023, putting the 118th Congress on track to be one of the least productive in modern history, Axios reported Tuesday.

Just 24 bills had cleared both chambers as of Monday — the fewest since at least the 101st Congress in 1989, according to data the outlet obtained from the analytics firm Quorum.

Four of those bills have yet to be signed into law by President Biden. Many were related to ongoing government funding or else enjoyed wide support from Republicans and Democrats.

Between 1999 and 2001, the 106th Congress enacted the most legislation in the past three decades, with 550 bills voted through.

The 108th Congress also approved 180 bills in 2003, the most during the first year of a legislative session over the same period, Quorum found.

The first half of the 118th Congress saw the House majority change hands from Democrats to Republicans and the continuation of a narrow Democratic majority in the Senate.

The 104th, 112th and 113th Congresses passed nearly three times as many bills despite Republicans controlling at least one of its chambers under Democratic Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

During the 117th Congress, Biden signed large legislative packages like the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill and the $437 billion Inflation Reduction Act, whose climate-focused provisions were heavily opposed by congressional Republicans. --->READ MORE HERE

Capitol Hill stunner: 2023 led to fewest laws in decades:

The 118th Congress is on track to be one of the most unproductive in modern history, with just a couple dozen laws on the books at the close of 2023, according to data from data analytics firm Quorum.

Why it matters: It's the product of not only divided partisan control of Washington, but infighting within the House Republican majority that has routinely ground legislative business to a halt.

That includes the three-week period this fall in which Congress was paralyzed Republican's inability to find a replacement for ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)

The big picture: Just 20 bills have been passed by both chambers and signed into law this year, with another four currently awaiting President Biden's signature, according to the Quorum data.

That's far below even historically unproductive first years: The 104th, 112th and 113th Congresses, in which Republicans controlled one or both chambers with Democrats Bill Clinton and Barack Obama in the White House, passed between 70 and 73 laws.

2023 also marks the low point in a years-long trend toward gridlock: Five of the six most unproductive first years have been since 2011.

--->READ MORE HERE

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