The 119th Congress

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Between The Bills

Federal Policy Analysis for the Public

Between the BillsExplore

An interactive examination of the institutions, decisions, and legislation shaping American life.

Follow a bill downOr jump to the collections

Thomas U. Walter, Section through dome of U.S. Capitol, 1859. Library of Congress. Public domain.

The route

Every bill starts the same way. Almost none finish.

Follow the line. It runs through the five places a bill has to pass, with the count of the 118th Congress’s 16,565 measures that got there.

The first page of the enrolled Civil Rights Act of 1964, H.R. 7152, stamped Public Law 88-352 and received by the White House.
The enrolled Civil Rights Act of 1964 (H.R. 7152). LBJ Presidential Library. Public domain.

I

Introduced

16,565measures introduced

Any member can introduce a bill. It gets a number, a sponsor and a committee, and its record begins.

The Capitol dome under construction, with a crane on top of the unfinished drum.
The Capitol dome under construction, 1861. Library of Congress. Public domain.

II

Committee

2,13812.9% of all measures

Committees decide what moves. A hearing, a markup or a report is the first sign a bill is alive.

14,224 were referred and never acted on.

The House of Representatives in session, members at their desks and the gallery full.
Frances Benjamin Johnston, the House of Representatives in session, 1906. Library of Congress. Public domain.

III

The floor

9625.8% of all measures

Leaders choose what reaches a vote. Passing one chamber gets a bill halfway.

1,379 got committee attention and never passed a chamber.

Engraving of a crowded Senate chamber during a swearing-in ceremony.
After James E. Taylor, the Senate chamber, Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, 1873. Library of Congress. Public domain.

IV

The other chamber

2901.8% of all measures

Then it starts again on the other side of the Capitol, where the calendar and the rules are different.

672 passed one chamber and never passed the other.

President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act at a desk, surrounded by members of Congress and civil rights leaders.
Cecil Stoughton, President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act, July 2, 1964. White House Press Office. Public domain.

V

The president

2741.7% of all measures

A signature makes it law. A veto sends it back, where it usually stays.

13 were vetoed.

274 of 16,565. The other 16,291 are still on the record, wherever they stopped.

The collections

Five wings. One is open.

Each collection covers one part of American government, built from its official record. Congress opens first; the others are being built now.

  1. IThe legislative branchCongressHow 535 members turn thousands of bills into a few hundred laws, and what happens to everything else.1 open · 4 in developmentEnter the collection
  2. IIThe judicial branchThe CourtsWhich cases reach the Supreme Court, how the justices divide, and how long a ruling takes.In development
  3. IIIThe executive branchThe ExecutiveExecutive orders, vetoes and appointments, counted from the federal record.In development
  4. IVThe votersElectionsTurnout, margins and the maps that decide them, across states and decades.In development
  5. VFifty legislaturesThe StatesWhat statehouses pass while Congress waits, and where the same ideas spread.In development

Try it

Introduce a bill.

Each press draws a real measure from the 118th Congress, at random, and shows how far it got. Keep pressing. It takes a while to see a law.

You introduced
0
Became law
0
The real rate
1.7%

118th CongressH.R. ____

A bill to be named. Press the button to draw one from the record.

Collection I / Congress

Inside the Congress collection

Investigation 001 Open now

Where Do Bills Go to Die?

An interactive investigation into the legislative graveyard.

Explore the investigation
The House of Representatives in session, members at their desks and the gallery full.

Investigation 002

The Bipartisanship Question

Does bipartisan sponsorship change a bill’s odds of becoming law, and in which policy areas?

In development.

The first page of the enrolled Civil Rights Act of 1964, H.R. 7152, stamped Public Law 88-352 and received by the White House.

Investigation 003

Congress Through Time

How has legislative activity changed from one Congress to the next?

In development.

Engraving of a crowded Senate chamber during a swearing-in ceremony.

Investigation 004

The Committee Bottleneck

Which committees advance legislation, and which rarely do?

In development.

The Capitol dome under construction, with a crane on top of the unfinished drum.

Investigation 005

The Geography of Congress

How do legislative priorities vary across states and congressional districts?

In development.

Collection IOpen the Congress collection

Start with the record.

  1. No. 1

    Every number has a source.

    Counts come from the Library of Congress’s Bill Status records, published by GovInfo. Each investigation links the files it used and lets you download the rows.

  2. No. 2

    Definitions come first.

    “Died in committee” and “passed” mean specific things in the record. We say which actions we count before we count them.

  3. No. 3

    A pattern is not a cause.

    When two things travel together in the data, we report it as a pattern and say what it cannot show.