Updated November 06, 2024 at 10:55 AM ET
With the 118th Congress on track to be the least productive in modern history, lawmakers next year will face a new, low bar.
As of November, just 106 laws were enacted, less than a third of the 365 enacted laws by the preceding, 117th Congress. When sitting members return to a lame duck session later this month, they’ll have a long to-do list but are unlikely to undo this new distinction.
Still, if Washington enters a new season of divided government next year, as seems likely, Congress could be on track for an even less productive future.
“Is this Congress going to be any better at solving public problems than the one that preceded it?” says Sarah Binder, politics professor at George Washington University. “It’s a pretty low bar ... (the 118th Congress) really only managed to reach agreement on ... the must-pass measures.”
And those same must-pass measures will be part of the first wave of urgent questions facing the next Congress.
That includes addressing the U.S. debt limit yet again after lawmakers suspended it in 2023 and kicked the can to next year. On Jan. 2, the debt ceiling will be reinstated, starting a new clock for the U.S. to default on its debts, which would threaten to plunge the U.S. economy into crisis. It will be up to the Treasury Department to warn how much time is left before that limit is breached.
The next Congress may also need to address a long-term spending plan to fund the U.S. government for the current fiscal year, which began Oct. 1. Lawmakers in September passed a stopgap, temporary funding bill — known as a continuing resolution — that expires on Dec. 20.
New lawmakers will also need to consider whether to extend the tax cut package passed under former President Donald Trump. Questions of whether to pass new waves of aid to foreign allies, including Ukraine and Israel, will also be on tap.
Finally, one issue that will likely dog the new Congress, as it has in previous sessions, is whether to address immigration, a top voter issue this past election cycle.
“It’s a laundry list of issues that have been talked about for a decade or more — maybe decades — without any major action,” Binder says.
If the same party controls the Senate and the White House, that could replicate efforts by the past Democratic and Republican administrations that saw key confirmations to the Supreme Court and more.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has told voters on the campaign trail that he hopes Republicans can use the Budget Reconciliation Act — as Democrats did previously — to overcome the Senate filibuster to pass partisan priorities. Republicans hope if such a scenario plays out, they can reauthorize the Trump tax cuts, among other efforts.
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