Congress is on pace to finish another two-year session with one of the lowest legislative outputs in modern history, a striking reality given that Republicans currently control both Congress and the White House.
According to data from GovTrack, just 97 bills have been enacted into law so far during the current Congress. Even when looking at the entire previous Congress, lawmakers passed only 274 bills, making the last two Republican-controlled Congresses among the least productive in terms of legislation passed since the Obama administration.
The comparison becomes even more notable when measured against previous periods of unified government.
During President Joe Biden’s first two years in office, Democrats passed 365 bills while controlling both chambers of Congress. During President Barack Obama’s first two years, lawmakers enacted 385 bills. By contrast, Republicans have struggled to advance several of President Donald Trump’s major legislative priorities despite holding the House, Senate, and presidency.
One of the most prominent examples is the SAVE America Act, legislation that would require proof of U.S. citizenship to vote in federal elections. The bill passed the House in April but has stalled in the Senate, where Republicans have been unable to secure the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster.
Frustrated by the roadblock, Trump has repeatedly urged Senate Republicans to eliminate the filibuster. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, however, has acknowledged that the votes simply are not there.
Even within the Republican conference, opposition remains.
Senators Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Mitch McConnell, and Thom Tillis have all opposed the legislation, making passage even more difficult.
The SAVE Act is far from the only item stuck in legislative limbo.
Republicans are also attempting to advance a third reconciliation package that House Speaker Mike Johnson says will focus on affordability measures and anti-fraud reforms. That effort is especially important because lawmakers have yet to deliver the roughly $1.5 trillion in spending cuts that were promised during negotiations surrounding the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act.
Johnson insists those cuts are still coming.
“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,” a spokesperson for Johnson told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The spokesperson pointed to tax cuts, border security measures, energy policies, regulatory reforms, and efforts to reduce government waste as accomplishments already achieved.
Republicans have had somewhat greater success using reconciliation, which bypasses the Senate filibuster. Just last week, Senate Republicans passed a second reconciliation package after an exhausting 18-hour vote-a-rama.
That package included more than $30 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, roughly $22.5 billion for Customs and Border Protection, and additional Department of Homeland Security funding extending through 2029.
Beyond immigration, lawmakers are still working through several major policy areas.
The House passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a sweeping housing affordability package aimed at expanding housing construction, limiting institutional ownership of single-family homes, easing local permitting restrictions, and encouraging manufactured housing development. However, because the House amended a version previously approved by the Senate, negotiators must still reconcile the differences before the bill can reach Trump’s desk.
Congress is also facing a deadline on infrastructure funding.
Lawmakers are attempting to pass the BUILD America 250 Act, a five-year transportation authorization package that would fund highways, bridges, and public transit projects. The current infrastructure law expires on September 30, putting pressure on both chambers to act.
Another major area of legislative activity has been transgender-related policy.
According to the Trans Legislation Tracker, lawmakers have introduced 127 bills this year dealing with issues ranging from women’s sports to parental rights and medical procedures involving minors.
Still, despite all of the legislative proposals, the final number of enacted laws remains remarkably low.
Part of the explanation, lawmakers argue, is that Congress increasingly packages numerous policy priorities into massive omnibus bills rather than passing smaller standalone legislation. The Working Families Tax Cut Act, for example, bundled tax policy, border security, healthcare, and energy provisions into a single package that might once have been divided into multiple separate bills.
But even with that explanation, the numbers remain difficult to ignore.
Republicans hold only a narrow 217-212 majority in the House, giving leadership little room for defections. Meanwhile, the Senate’s 60-vote threshold continues to complicate passage of most major legislation.
