Has Congress Stopped Working?

A new cohort of Senators and House Representatives has just been elected. As the fanfare and chaos of election season fade, attention turns now to how these newly elected officials will govern. Republicans widened their majority in the Senate, while Democrats took back a sizeable majority in the House, the question remains how the two will work together through the legislative process.

Over time the legislative process has been breaking down, with less legislation getting into committees. According to Pro Publica, the count of committee hearings dealing directly with legislation has dropped significantly between the 101st Congress, governing between 1989-1990, and the 114th Congress, governing between 2015-2016. The number of Senate committee hearings dealing with legislation has fallen by about 85 percent over this period, with the Senate holding 500 committee hearings in the 101st Congress and only 69 hearings in the 114th Congress.

The change in the House is just as severe as the Senate. The 114th Congress conducted about 72 percent fewer committee hearings dealing with legislation than the 101st Congress did. That change translates into 937 committees between 1989 and 1990, and only 254 committee hearings between 2015 and 2016.