Congress had enacted 121 public laws through Oct. 14, the second-lowest total at this point in a two-year term over the past four decades, according to a Pew Research Center analysis. Only the preceding Congress had passed fewer by its comparable preelection break, with 106.
The Pew Research Center analysis compared public laws enacted by the past 20 Congresses using Congress.gov legislative records. The count is a snapshot before this November's election, not a final judgment on the 119th Congress, which has more than two months left in its term and may meet again afterward.
Fewer laws, but some major measures
Pew classified 109 of the current Congress's 121 laws as substantive, meaning they spend money, create or change permanent law, direct government action, transfer land or otherwise have a real-world effect, however limited. That also is the second-lowest preelection substantive total in the 40-year comparison. The 118th Congress had enacted 84 such laws by the same stage.
The remaining 12 laws were ceremonial under Pew's coding, such as measures chiefly honoring a person or group. Pew excluded private laws benefiting specific individuals and bills that Congress passed but the president vetoed. Its categories are deliberately broad: A law can count as substantive even if its practical effect is small.
The count does not imply Congress has done nothing of consequence. Pew identified the July 2025 tax-and-spending package as a major law. Other measures established a framework for stablecoins, rescinded $9 billion in previously authorized spending on foreign aid and public broadcasting, directed release of federal investigative files on Jeffrey Epstein, and changed housing rules and incentives.
Congress also enacted 23 laws overturning Biden-era regulations and one voiding a Washington, D.C., local law. Together, those 24 reversals account for about 20% of the 121 public laws in Pew's tally. The count measures enacted laws, not how many residents each one affects, how long the legislation is or whether its effects are beneficial.
A longer decline and a later legislative rush
From the 100th through the 110th Congresses, covering 1987 to 2009, the average preelection total was 440 public laws, including 306 Pew classified as substantive. Pew found that preelection lawmaking has been much lower in more recent terms. The current tally extends that pattern, though the comparison does not measure committee work, constituent service, oversight or confirmation votes.
Later sessions can alter the picture. Pew counted laws as part of a lame-duck period when they became law on or after Election Day near the end of a congressional term. A few bills passed before Election Day but signed afterward are therefore included in that category.
For the 100th Congress, 78 measures — 11% of its eventual total — became law after Election Day in 1988. The post-election share rose to 38% for the 113th Congress and 61% for the 118th. In the preceding term, 168 of its eventual 274 laws were enacted during the lame-duck period, according to Pew.
The 119th Congress could likewise add laws after the midterms. Whether it does so, and what those laws contain, will determine how its final record compares with earlier terms. For now, the 121-law figure describes the period through Oct. 14, before that possible late-session work.
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