Politics

Welcome Back, Congress

By Daniel Schuman

The House and Senate worked more days in 2009 than they have in any year since 1995, when the Republican party took control of both houses of Congress. This only became clear after reviewing data contained in a recently released report on congressional activity [PDF], which provides a wealth of statistics. Among the highlights:

• Last year, the Senate met for 191 days, and the House met for 159 days. Total time in session was 1,420 and 1,247 hours, respectively.
• More than 9,071 measures were introduced, of which 1,444 passed.
• Looking strictly at non-military nominations, 89% (or 3,222) nominations were confirmed; 4% (126) remain unconfirmed; and 0.4% (15) were withdrawn. Overall, the Senate received 24,951 nominations and confirmed 23,051.

Resources:

• Interim resume of congressional activity for the first session of the 111th Congress (2009)
• Senate resumes of congressional activity from 1947 onward (this yearly comparison chart [PDF] is particularly helpful)
• House resumes of congressional activity from 1947 onward
• “Vital Statistics on Congress 2008,” published by the Brookings Institution

Full post as published by Sunlight Foundation on January 08, 2010 (boomark / email).