President Donald Trump’s first year back in office has seen a historically inactive Congress, with just 38 bills passed into law—barely 4% of the 906 bills enacted by the so-called “do-nothing” 80th Congress under Harry Truman. The Republican-led House and Senate have largely ceded legislative authority to the White House, as Trump centralises power through executive orders.
Most of the bills passed were disapproval resolutions rolling back Biden-era regulations, or must-pass measures like the National Defense Authorization Act and continuing resolutions to fund the government. Notable exceptions include the Laken Riley Act, requiring detention of non-citizens charged with certain crimes, and the Take It Down Act, targeting nonconsensual intimate images, championed by First Lady Melania Trump.
The House held just 362 roll-call votes this year, the lowest for a first-year Congress this century and half the number in 2017. The Senate was busier with 659 votes, but most were on judicial and agency nominees. Congress also failed to extend Covid-era subsidies for Affordable Care Act marketplaces, leaving millions facing premium hikes.
Ohio Republican Representative David Joyce criticised the record, saying, “We dropped the ball miserably by not doing something on health care all year long… We didn’t do a damn thing about it.” He noted that aside from Trump’s tax and spending package, passed via party-line reconciliation, “I really can’t point to much that we got accomplished.”
