How do we measure the performance and efficacy of a given Congress? There are several criteria for evaluation: legislative output, in quantity and quality; oversight of executive performance; investigative work, both of government officials and programs, and of the private sector’s failures and miscreancy; advise and consent in the Senate; protection of its own prerogatives; and ethical standards.
On all these fronts, the 119th Congress has been an abysmal failure, perhaps the worst I have seen in well over five decades of immersion in the legislative branch. We have had congresses that have failed in one or more categories, but none — before this one — that have failed on all of them.
Legislative Output
The best grade would come here, but a generous one would be a D-Minus. Congress did pass the Epstein Transparency Act; a law to reimburse organ donors for expenses, and remove online deepfake and non-consensual sexual content. They also passed housing reform and a few other narrow bills. Then there was the Laken Riley Act — which, despite its professed goal of punishing the undocumented who have committed violent crimes, gave more power to the Department of Homeland Security, enabling thuggish ICE and CBP agents to assault and arrest thousands of non-violent undocumented individuals
Of course, its supposed big “accomplishment” was the One Big Beautiful Bill — a reconciliation package that has added immensely to the national debt. It gave ginormous additional tax breaks to business and billionaires (while reducing benefits to everyone else), offered a huge sum to ICE and CBP without any constraints on their lawless or violent behavior, and added an extra $150 billion to defense. But the worst parts were cuts of nearly a trillion dollars in Medicaid, almost $300 billion cuts in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP), or food stamps, and the evisceration of clean energy tax credits, compounded by opening much more public lands for fossil fuel drilling and development.
Oversight
An essential function of Congress is to make sure that laws are faithfully executed, and that the executive branch operates in good faith, with competence and honesty. This responsibility has been non-existent, despite the destruction of key government programs by DOGE, including many actions taken outside the law by non-government employees. Nothing on the destruction of USAID, which led directly to the unnecessary deaths of over 700,000 people, or the misuse of Social Security and IRS data.
Other areas screaming for oversight (yet receiving none whatsoever) include ICE predations; ludicrous tariffs; widespread corruption and insider trading; threats to law firms and universities; executions of fishermen and others in international waters without cause; the takeover of Venezuela and rape of its assets; the disastrous Iran War; destruction of expertise at the FDA and the CDC; erasure of research for pediatric cancer and Alzheimers; firing thousands of government employees across all agencies; giving immense power to non-government bad actors like Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner; dismissing and mistreating of a slew of top military leaders; destroying the East Wing of the White House and the Kennedy Center; ethical violations by justices of the Supreme Court, and so much more.
Investigations
Again, none were received, except useless investigations of Biden and the Biden Administration. Nothing on Epstein except performative efforts, nothing on pay-for-play pardons, crypto corruption, insider trading by members of the White House, Cabinet, and Trump family. Nothing on the corruption of Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski at the Department of Homeland Security, the misuse of FBI resources by Director Kash Patel, and other unethical behavior that demands attention — including companies and tech billionaires giving money for Trump’s vanity projects in return for favors (e.g., government grants, tax breaks, and regulatory relief).
Advise and Consent
Only the consent part seems to have worked, as the Republican Senate rubber-stamped nearly all Trump nominees, including flagrantly unqualified and corrupt ones. The list is too long to repeat, but think Tulsi Gabbard, Kristi Noem, Pete Hegseth, RFK Jr., Todd Blanche, Howard Lutnick, Sean Duffy, Linda McMahon, Bill Pulte, Russell Vought, Kimberly Guilfoyle, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, along with judges who had never tried cases, and a slew of nominees who refused to acknowledge who won the 2020 election. Most confirmation hearings were a joke, with little attempt to explore qualifications, suitability, or character.
Protecting Congressional Prerogatives
Donald Trump usurped key congressional powers over spending and taxing, tariffs and war-making, refused to follow the law on the Epstein files, and issued executive orders that ignored laws and the role of Congress. Then there’s the Supreme Court, which gave unlimited power to the executive, at the expense of Congress. And once again, not a peep from the majority. This complete lack of what scholars call “institutional patriotism,” the willingness to let a president and a Supreme Court trample on fundamental constitutional powers given to Congress, is unprecedented.
Ethics
This Congress has continued to refuse to ban stock trading by its members — or by the president. The Senate Ethics Committee continued its long pattern of ignoring, in a bipartisan way, any malfeasance. To its credit, the House did censure a Republican, Chuck Edwards, for unwanted advances toward staff, with broad bipartisan support — after he announced he would not run for reelection. The censure of Democrat Al Green for disrupting the State of the Union address was a partisan one, after a long history of giving a pass to other members who had disrupted presidential addresses.
The overall record is reprehensible. Voters who want to see a change from this abysmal record and shameful lack of accountability must exercise their solemn right and register their discontent at the ballot box today. One can only hope the 120th Congress will fare better. It would be a mighty challenge to do worse.
Norman Ornstein is a renowned political scientist, co-host of the podcast “Words Matter,” and author of several books, including “It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism.”
