01 / 09 · orders in
More measures enter the system.
Recent completed terms recorded more introductions than the earliest terms in this series, with reversals along the way. Output needs a denominator.
This morning’s floor report
More goes in. Less comes out, and it takes longer.
The three numbers a plant manager checks first, comparing the first and latest completed Congresses.
Output
laws per term
Yield
laws ÷ measures introduced
Lead time
median days, introduction → law
The line: how a bill becomes law
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01
Introduced
A member files a bill or joint resolution.
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02
Committee
Study, hearings, amendments, and a committee decision.
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03
Floor vote
The origin chamber debates and passes it.
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04
Other chamber
The second chamber must pass identical text.
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05
President
Signs, vetoes, or lets it pass.
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06
Law
Recorded as a public or private law.
The data in depth
A deeper look at the numbers.
What goes in, what ships, and how it’s changed.
01 — Input
Bills introduced
Hover any bar for detail.
02 / 09 · output
Recent completed terms produced fewer laws.
Compare completed terms for a like-for-like view of output. The current term remains unfinished; its projected pace is an illustration, not a forecast.
03 / 09 · yield
A smaller share reaches enactment.
Compare the first and latest completed Congresses. Yield, the conversion rate, is laws enacted divided by eligible measures introduced in the term.
04 / 09 · what passes
And a lot of what passes is ceremonial.
Government operations dominate, but commemorations — renaming post offices, awarding medals, authorizing coins — are among the largest categories of all laws passed.
05 / 09 · the other lever
Two different forms of government action.
Executive orders and laws differ in scope and authority. Plotting them together describes their timing; it does not establish that one replaces or causes the other.
06 / 09 · lead time
What does pass moves slower.
Recent completed terms have longer median times to enactment than early terms in this series. The change is uneven, and this measure covers only bills that became law.
07 / 09 · fewer, but bigger
Fewer laws, but bigger ones.
Congress can pass many short laws or a few long ones. Text length adds context to the count, but does not establish policy impact or prove that provisions were bundled.
08 / 09 · common ground
What survives still tends to be bipartisan.
"Bipartisan" means a law drew co-sponsors from both parties. The typical enacted law has stayed broadly bipartisan term to term — a reminder of what it actually takes to make it through.
09 / 09 · who governs
Unified control gets more through — a little.
Unified government has generally led on volume, conversion, and speed. Divided government has typically been the slowest and lowest-output. Descriptive averages, not a verdict on governing.
What stands out
Two things the counts alone don't show.
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laws that do pass are ceremonial — renaming a post office, awarding a medal, authorizing a coin. Estimated from each law's title.
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executive orders signed this term, on an illustrative full-term pace of about —. This projection assumes the observed pace continues.
The bottom line
A law takes both chambers. An order takes one signature.
laws enacted
this term so far
this term so far
executive orders
same window
same window
Shift report
Put any two eras head to head.
Compare any two Congresses — or a single term against the average under unified or divided control. Every measure is shown per term, so a single Congress and a multi-term average compare fairly.
Teal = Side A, red = Side B. Bars are relative within each row; group rows average their Congresses. A shorter time is faster, not necessarily better.
Ask the floor
Have questions about the data?
Sample questions use precomputed answers. Live answers come from AI grounded in the snapshot, are subject to capacity limits, and can simplify or err; law-level detail covers current-Congress enactments. Check official sources before relying on an answer. Typed questions are sent to a third-party AI model to answer, so don't include personal information.