The 119th Congress embarked on its first bona fide, bicameral recess this past week, so it is as good a time as any to revisit our every-so-often Congress-by-the-numbers columns. For those keeping score at home, this tracks from Jan. 3, when the latest Congress was sworn in, to March 14, the end of the last week of legislative session before they hit the hustings. Roll call votes House: 71 Senate: 135 Public laws enacted 4 (The most recent of which was the fiscal 2025 continuing resolution signed into law on March 15) Confirmations by the Senate 32 (15 department secretaries and 17 other various executive branch officers) Whole number of the House 431 Deaths 2 (Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Texas and Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva, D-Ariz.) Former presidents who lay in state in the Capitol 1 (Jimmy Carter) Joint addresses to Congress 1 (President Donald Trump, on March 4) Resignations 3 (Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla.; Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and JD Vance, R-Ohio. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who resigned in November of last year, did not take the seat he won in the November election) Announced retirements but serving out term 4 (Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Gary Peters, D-Mich., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Tina Smith, D-Minn.) Congressional approval numbers, per Gallup 17 percent (January 2025) 29 percent (February 2025) We’ll take another look at the numbers in the coming weeks. In the meantime, we will keep counting. Jason Dick is editor-in-chief of CQ Roll Call.
