He loves specifically to tout the successes of the 119th Congress under his stewardship, regularly promoting to anyone with a recorder or camera the number of bills passed out of his chamber and the significant items—tax cuts and border enforcement funding, mainly—that have become law.
asserted
that → love → chamber
“I have been saying for months . . . this has literally been the most productive and successful and aggressive Congress since 1949,” Johnson told reporters last week.
asserted
Johnson → say → reporters
“And I think it’s in the top five of all time.”
asserted
it → think → time
“This has been the most aggressive and productive Congress in seventy-seven years—since Harry Truman was president,” Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.), the chair of the House Republican Conference, told reporters.
asserted
McClain → tell → reporters
“In terms of number of bills passed, tax legislation, and deregulation, this has been the most successful Congress.
asserted
this → pass → bills
Now I know you don’t all hear that because sometimes that doesn’t get covered, and we focus more on what we need to do.
asserted
we → know → what
We still need to do some work, but we need to take a moment and just look at the work that this Congress has accomplished.
asserted
Congress → need → that
Johnson and McClain’s boasting narrative about the 119th Congress is likely to be repeated by House Republicans taking the stage at this week’s Republican midterm convention in Dallas.
asserted
narrative → repeat → Dallas
It’s true that the House has passed hundreds of bills and resolutions since the start of 2025.
asserted
House → ’ → 2025
When you take a look at how much of the legislation that got out of the House actually got through the Senate as well and onto the president’s desk to be signed into law, the successes of the 119th Congress start to look a bit different from the story Johnson would have you believe.
asserted
you → take → story
According to GovTrack, just 1 percent of the bills introduced in the House so far have been individually enacted into law—a continuation of the GOP majority’s snail-like pace from the previous Congress.
uncertain
percent → accord → Congress
The success rate for this Congress ticks up to 2 percent if you include legislation that has been enacted through being incorporated into other bills.
asserted
that → tick → bills
That combined success rate is the worst of any Congress going all the way back to the 93rd, which met through 1973 and 1974, the earliest period for which GovTrack makes its data available.
asserted
data → combine → which
Beyond its superlatively dismal legislative showing, the 119th Congress has stood out in other bad ways.
asserted
Congress → stand → ways
The longest government shutdown in U.S. history took place in the fall of 2025, lasting forty-three days.
asserted
shutdown → take → days
The first session of the 119th Congress saw fewer votes than any first session in the twenty-first century.
asserted
session → see → century
You’ll sometimes hear conservatives argue that it’s actually better for lawmakers to spend more time not legislating on the theory that this would mean they’re spending less taxpayer money than they would be if they were passing more laws.
asserted
they → hear → laws
If someone takes this angle in conversation with you, just ask them what happened to the federal deficit—and the national debt—during this sluggish Congress.
asserted
what → take → Congress
The passed legislation Johnson and Co. have been touting includes major tax cuts, such as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,”1 which have slashed revenue and pushed the deficit higher from fiscal year 2025 to 2026.
asserted
which → pass → 2026
If Democrats take back control of the House and possibly the Senate, Congress will probably not suddenly start boosting its successful legislation numbers.
uncertain
Congress → take → numbers
If bills start landing at a higher rate on President Trump’s desk during the first session of the 120th Congress, he will likely just start vetoing more of them.
asserted
he → start → them
The second session will then have relatively few working days owing to the monumental election cycle coming our way in 2028.
asserted
cycle → have → 2028
When the opposition controls one or both chambers, the result is a policy agenda that leans more heavily on oversight and serves as a dry run for a potential trifecta.
asserted
that → control → trifecta
Of course, gaining a trifecta was once a virtual guarantee of a productive Congress.
asserted
gaining → gain → Congress
If Democrats paint the town blue in 2028, we’ll see if they maintain that tradition—one more that their colleagues across the aisle have broken with in the Trump era.
asserted
colleagues → paint → era
I rarely say this to people who aren’t me, but you have got to calm down
I’m sensing the emergence of a new Labor Day tradition.
asserted
I → say → tradition
Last year, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) spent the long weekend posting and replying to random accounts on X instead of barbecuing or swimming or doing any of the sorts of things that others typically do to mark the ceremonial end of the summer.
asserted
others → spend → summer
And this year, Lee once again got to cooking in virtual spaces instead of local ones.
asserted
Lee → get → ones
On Labor Day, Lee posted thirty times.
asserted
Lee → post → Day
His subject matter ranged from musings about whether lasers could be “used to stop illegal immigrants” to insinuations that Democrats believe accused murderer Lindsay Clancy is a hero.
uncertain
Clancy → range → insinuations
He also replied to eighteen more posts, including one strangely formatted math puzzle, bringing his total tweet count for the day to nearly fifty.
asserted
He → reply → fifty
This might seem like odd behavior, particularly for a senator.
uncertain
This → seem → senator
But for Lee, it’s just another day in the office—or out of the office: He’s even attempted to conduct official Senate business from the timeline instead of from within the actual chamber.
asserted
He → ’ → chamber
If you know someone with digital habits like Lee’s, try getting them a Brick.
asserted
you → know → Brick
It blocks a phone’s access to apps like X—great for holiday weekends, although the true poster will always find a way to get their tweets out.
asserted
poster → block → tweets
I see.
asserted
I → see → ?
You think this has nothing to do with you.
asserted
this → think → you
Speaking of time spent online over Labor Day weekend, I caught up with Bulwark Economics Editor Catherine Rampell for a video to discuss a strange trend in the world of politics.
asserted
I → speak → politics
Apparently, Trump-themed merchandisers are seeing a decline in business as the president’s approval rating searches out new depths.
asserted
rating → theme → depths
We have some real-world examples of how and where this has become most noticeable.
asserted
this → have → examples
…and 4 more, not listed.
