{"id":13358,"date":"2015-08-31T09:45:29","date_gmt":"2015-08-31T14:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/current-congress-is-looking-a-little-more-productive-so-far\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:19:38","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:19:38","slug":"current-congress-is-looking-a-little-more-productive-so-far","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2015\/08\/31\/current-congress-is-looking-a-little-more-productive-so-far\/","title":{"rendered":"Current Congress is looking a little more productive \u2013 so far"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated data on the legislative productivity of the 114th Congress is available here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

\"laws<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

With\u00a0the House and Senate on their\u00a0August recess<\/a>\u00a0until after Labor Day,\u00a0it seems like a good time to\u00a0check on\u00a0how\u00a0the 114th Congress stacks up against its predecessors when it comes to legislative productivity \u2013 both in total laws passed and in the share of them that make substantive changes in the law.<\/p>\n\n

As it turns out, there are early hints that congressional productivity may be on an upswing, after two successive Congresses that enacted the fewest- and\u00a0second-fewest laws<\/a>\u00a0in at least four decades. According to the Library of Congress’\u00a0THOMAS database<\/a>, Congress passed 49\u00a0measures\u00a0before its summer break (though some of them weren’t formally signed into law by President Obama until afterward). We\u00a0categorize\u00a035\u00a0of\u00a0those acts\u00a0as “substantive” by our\u00a0deliberately generous criteria \u2013 that is, any legislation\u00a0other than\u00a0renaming buildings, giving out medals, commemorating historic events and other purely ceremonial acts.<\/p>\n\n

By contrast, the 112th Congress had passed just 28 pieces of legislation \u2013 19 of them substantive \u2013 by the time its August 2011 recess rolled around, matching the level of the 104th Congress in 1995. The 113th Congress was slightly more productive, passing 31 laws (24 of them substantive) by its first August recess, which is formally known as a\u00a0district (or state) work period<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Lawmakers don’t always get off to such a slow start. In 2007, Congress had passed 81 laws (though 35 of them were ceremonial); four years earlier, 79 laws had been passed by the time Congress went on its August break. But early-session activity doesn’t always indicate how productive a Congress will be over its entire two-year term: The 106th Congress, which passed 580 laws during its 1999-2000 term, had passed just 56 by its August 1999 recess.<\/p>\n\n

So what did the current Congress accomplish in its first seven months? Among other things, it\u00a0scaled back the government’s ability to\u00a0access Americans’ phone records<\/a>; extended Obama’s authority to\u00a0“fast track” trade agreements<\/a>, including the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership; passed a temporary extension for the\u00a0federal highway program<\/a>; and revised the formula that determines\u00a0how Medicare pays doctors<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Among the\u00a0unfinished business<\/a>\u00a0for when Congress returns: cybersecurity legislation, a debate on the nuclear weapons deal with Iran, a stopgap spending bill by Oct. 1 to avoid another government shutdown, an overall spending plan (and debt-limit increase) for the coming fiscal year, and a permanent fix for the highway trust fund.<\/p>\n\n

Note: This post has been updated since its original publication on Aug. 7, 2015.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Legislative productivity may be on an upswing, as lawmakers enacted more bills before their August break than either of the two preceding 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