Congress began 2025 with an ambitious agenda, but 12 months later it has ceded much of its power to President Trump and passed a record few bills.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Congress kicked off 2025 with a big legislative agenda. House Speaker Mike Johnson expressed this in his first State of the Union address this year.
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MIKE JOHNSON: Despite our great problems and even our differences and our healthy debates, this great institution – the House of the People – will continue to stand strong.
FADEL: But 12 months later, Congress has ceded most of its power to President Trump and passed a record low number of bills. NPR Congressional Correspondent Claudia Grisales has been following this and joins us now. Hello Claudia.
CLAUDIA GRISALES, BYLINE: Hi, Leila.
FADEL: Okay. So, Republicans in Congress started the year with ambitious plans to pass bills, strengthen the economy, solve the border crisis, strengthen the military. Did any of this happen?
GRISALES: Not really, unless you look at their massive tax and spending plan that they called “One Big Beautiful Bill” that became law. They say this is a key piece of legislation passed, but the jury is still out on whether it will have the advertised impact on the economy. And this was an exception to the rule. This year, Congress transferred most of its powers to the president. This included dismantling large parts of the federal government, taking over control of the budget during the government shutdown by directing spending that was prohibited at the time and initiating the return of billions in spending that had been approved by Congress. And as you mentioned, we received information from the public affairs network C-SPAN. They reported that the number of laws passed this year is at an all-time low.
FADEL: Republicans are in the majority in both the House and Senate, but it's a very narrow number. How will leaders fare in 2025?
GRISALES: Yes. This definitely made things difficult for them. In the House of Representatives, we saw Speaker Mike Johnson lose control of the conference. By the end of the year, he faced a rare series of successful dismissal motions. This is a bipartisan effort by the rank and file to bypass the Speaker and pass legislation. And none was more remarkable than the one that secured the release of Jeffrey Epstein's files. He also saw resistance from Republicans when he virtually shut down the house during the 43-day government shutdown. He faces a record number of House retirements. They include nearly 30 Republicans.
FADEL: Okay, so there is some kind of division within his party. What about the Senate? How did Majority Leader John Thune compare?
GRISALES: Well, he didn't end the year with the same level of hostility, but he also saw problems. I asked him about lessons learned. That's what he told me.
JOHN THUNE: You know, I mean, sometimes you get frustrated because you don't do what you want to do. But we need to keep trying.
GRISALES: The Senate ultimately confirmed most of Trump's administration and federal court nominees. But until recently, we hadn't seen more Senate Republicans publicly oppose the president on certain issues, such as strikes against suspected drug traffickers at sea. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told me that these problems and the chaos we're seeing in the federal government, the economy, Trump's tariff policies have all created an opportunity for Democrats.
FADEL: Now Congress faces even greater challenges next year as midterm elections loom. What do you expect to see?
GRISALES: Well, lawmakers are looking specifically at the midterm elections in November. Even as Republicans redistrict to add seats in the House, it is still unclear whether they will be able to maintain their majority. They face another government shutdown in January, in addition to calls for Washington to address the affordability crisis that we expect to dominate the campaign. And then there are the spikes in health insurance premiums after Congress failed to extend subsidies for Obamacare plans. This will likely add fuel to the fire by preventing Congress from addressing many of the pressing concerns of American families in November.
FADEL: This is NPR's Claudia Grisales. Thank you, Claudia.
GRISALES: Thank you.
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