WASHINGTON (AP) — It turns out this Congress did not produce the fewest laws since the days of Harry Truman. But it was pretty darn close.
Thanks to a late flurry of bill signings by President Barack Obama, the perpetually gridlocked Congress that just adjourned has had 286 bills enacted into law during its two years of work.
That’s according to congressional records. The number includes 51 that the White House says Obama signed Thursday.
The 286 laws barely exceed the 283 enacted by the previous Congress.
But both totals are the lowest in congressional records dating to the 1940s.
And the numbers pale compared to what Truman called the “do-nothing Congress” of 1947 and 1948. It saw more than 900 measures enacted.