U.S. Congress Passed A Historically Low 20 Laws This Year
Congratulations to the U.S. Congress for a historically inept year of doing nothing and still getting paid for it!
According to the data analytics firm Quorum, the 118th Congress has passed just 20 total laws this year - with four more awaiting President Biden's approval (someone may have to remind him about those by the way). Regardless, the total number by the end of the year of signed legislation will be in the low 20's - a pathetic number compared to previous Congressional sessions.
Sure, Congress is currently split between the Republicans holding the House and Democrats controlling the Senate, but this year especially has shown incompetence to a new degree.
By comparison, other split chambers in recent decades included the 104th, 112th and 113th Congresses. They all passed between 70 and 73 laws despite also having Democratic Presidents at the time in Bill Clinton and Barak Obama.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is one of the more popular Democratic Congresswomen in the House. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE NOW?
The issue of course, is one of not only bitter fighting amongst Democrats versus Republicans, but also within the Parties themselves. This past fall Congress was essentially in a three-week stalemate after Republicans ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy without having a formidable replacement ready to go. Instead it took multiple votes, a wide array of potential nominees and weeks of bickering before Speaker Mike Johnson would be sworn in.
Democrats had their own issues as some reasonable ones tried to balance being on the Left but not going full "we need to impound every gas-powered SUV right now!" Leftist rhetoric.
WHAT WERE SOME OF THE BILLS THAT DID PASS?
Well, we had one enacted law having to do with minting a coin commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Marine Corps. Other passed laws involved renaming various federal centers and VA clinics. There was also funding for Ukraine, a lot of it.
Yes, despite a year that saw the airline industry get absolutely rocked by Southwest to start the year, the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment, Congress promising to do something about Ticketmaster's monopoly only to not do anything about it, a TikTok ban that went nowhere or helping our schools that are still trying to recover from pandemic-mandated policies, our politicians did nothing.
Meanwhile, at the state level, we had states like California who legalized jaywalking, banned certain candy and fined retailers who don't sell gender-neutral toys. New York went after coal oven pizzerias and received authority to quarantine you legally against your will. (Yikes!)
Come to think of it, maybe the government not doing anything is actually beneficial to the American people. But at least tell us where the aliens are.