The 117th session of Congress ends today. It is being hailed as a model of bipartisan productivity
gonna see the fever break,” Joe Biden said of Republicans in Congress who had reflexively opposed laws backed by Democrats. It was 2012, and Mr Biden was predicting better legislative co-operation during Barack Obama’s second term. His faith has not wavered since then. In 2019 he spoke of a looming Republican “epiphany”, and in March 2021 he said it would arrive “between now and 2022”.
Has Mr Biden revived old-fashioned dealmaking? On numerical measures of productivity and bipartisanship, the 117th Congress looks ordinary. But surprisingly, this is not because it has been over-hyped. Instead, the legislature achieved more during Mr Obama’s and Donald Trump’s presidencies than its reputation suggests.
Not all major laws have equal impact, and this definition of bipartisan excludes bills like the recent Bipartisan Infrastructure Act. But on these criteria, the 117th Congress passed 12 major laws, near the average of 12.7 in 2001-21. Just five were bipartisan, the fewest since 2004. Every Republican opposed its two big spending bills.
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