On Wednesday afternoon, Speaker Mike Johnson adjourned the House and sent the 433 current members back to their districts. They won’t return until after the midterm elections.
It is a fitting end to what has been, undoubtedly, the most ineffective, underperforming and borderline useless Congress in American history.
This might seem like a harsh judgment, but the numbers bear it out. Since convening in January 2025, the 119th Congress has passed 108 major laws — and only 36 this year. Up to this point on the calendar, no Congress has passed fewer laws in modern American political history — except for the last Congress, which was also led by Johnson.
Johnson said in January, “I have no intention of getting in the way of President Trump and his administration,” and on this point he’s been a man of his word.
The 119th is on pace to pass fewer laws than any Congress since the Civil War. Even the infamous Do-Nothing Congress of 1947-1948 enacted more than 900 laws. Johnson has canceled 63 scheduled voting days. Through Aug. 31, the House was in session for 383 hours — an average of 48 hours per month. By comparison, the onerous Medicaid work requirements Republicans enacted in 2025 asked recipients to work 80 hours per month.
And this isn’t just an issue of quantity; it’s also one of quality. The only major bill the 119th enacted was H.R. 1, widely known as the “big beautiful bill,” which cut taxes, slashed Medicaid and remains deeply unpopular with Americans.
Beyond that, the 119th’s legislative accomplishments were the Laken Riley Act, which tightens immigration enforcement; the Genius Act, which regulates the crypto industry; the Take It Down Act, which addresses artificial intelligence-produced imagery; and a bill to release the so-called Epstein files.
Americans hoping Congress would work to lower healthcare costs, address Social Security’s long-term solvency, fund new infrastructure or undo President Donald Trump’s tariffs are out of luck. Indeed, on healthcare, the 119th actually made the problem worse by refusing to act when certain Affordable Care Act subsidies expired at the end of 2025, raising healthcare premiums for millions of Americans.
And Congress’s job is more than passing laws. It’s also tasked with conducting oversight of the other branches of government. Here the story is even worse.
Last week, the House passed a resolution for the third time directing Trump to end the Iran war. Those efforts have gone nowhere in the Senate.
This is what happens when Americans elect a political party — and a president — that has shown over and over and over again that it simply has no interest in governing the country.
This toothless symbolism — opposed by the overwhelming majority of congressional Republicans — seems to be the bare minimum that the GOP-controlled Congress is capable of doing.
Even though the Iran war is six months old; even though it’s deeply unpopular; even though it is leading to munitions shortages that could make it difficult for the United States to respond to international crises elsewhere, neither the Senate Armed Services nor the Senate Foreign Relations committees have held a single open hearing about the war. The same is true for the House Armed Services and House Foreign Affairs committees.
Indeed, the reason Johnson suddenly pulled the plug on the House this week was because of Republican Rep. Thomas Massie’s efforts to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Massie introduced a privileged resolution, forcing a vote of the House, and Johnson feared the result would embarrass the Trump administration.
The speaker’s call for an early recess came days after a former employee of Anthropic wrote on X that there’s a 10% chance that AI tools “could kill all humans.” Soon after, several major AI tech executives called for Congress to regulate the technology’s development. It’s not every day — or really ever — that tech executives ask Washington to meddle in their businesses. But even these calls weren’t enough for congressional Republicans to do their jobs.
Instead, Johnson punted, declaring, “Congress is obviously less qualified than the people who are pushing this frontier to know the ins and outs of it.” (You’ll be shocked to hear that Trump adamantly opposes regulating AI.)
Setting aside the fact that an oversight hearing is, in part, meant to educate Congress and the public on these issues, Johnson’s logic suggests Congress is incapable of any oversight at all.
As Democratic Rep. Sarah McBride put it, Johnson is making an “argument against representative government itself.”
It’s small wonder poll after poll shows Republicans on the verge of a serious political drubbing.
Suffice it to say, if you think oversight of the Iran war and the potentially emerging AI threat has been lackluster, you won’t be surprised to hear that Congress has also conducted no meaningful oversight of the Trump administration despite the seemingly daily news stories about its corrupt acts.
Johnson said in January, “I have no intention of getting in the way of President Trump and his administration,” and on this point he’s been a man of his word.
When Trump refused to spend funds that Congress appropriated — a clear violation of Congress’s constitutional prerogatives — congressional Republicans did nothing. When Trump shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development and began eliminating the Department of Education — institutions created by Congress — Republicans looked the other way. When the president nominated scandal-ridden and unqualified individuals for Cabinet positions and federal judgeships, the Senate, more often than not, acted like a rubber stamp.
As Trump and his advisers have claimed more and more power for the executive branch, including powers the Constitution reserves for Congress, congressional Republicans have responded with “please, sir, have another.”
The GOP controls all three branches of government and still can’t accomplish anything. This is what happens when Americans elect a political party — and a president — that has shown over and over and over again that it simply has no interest in governing the country. Trump is more focused on his ballroom, arch and getting his name on the Kennedy Center than on helping actual Americans.
Congressional Republicans are not going to push the president to do more. Not only are they ideologically predisposed to do as little as possible with the powers of the federal government, but they are more focused on keeping their jobs than actually doing their jobs. In the modern GOP, the surest way to retain one’s seat is to not get on the wrong side of Trump. If he doesn’t care about a policy issue, chances are they won’t either.
It’s small wonder poll after poll shows Republicans on the verge of a serious political drubbing. At this point, it is hardly a partisan argument to say that a vote for Republicans this fall is a vote for two more years of Congress sitting on its hands and doing nothing for Americans.
