House reaches legislative milestone not seen since late 1970s

WASHINGTON — The House achieved a milestone Friday not seen since 1977 when HR 10000 was introduced, surpassing the usual four-digit bill number. The last time the chamber reached this figure was during the first session of the 95th Congress, which in all saw 14,414 House bills introduced.

This session’s HR 10000, introduced by Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., would direct the Department of Veterans Affairs to employ at least one sexual assault forensic examiner at every VA hospital. Lead co-sponsors are Reps. Tim Kennedy, D-N.Y., Nancy Mace, R-S.C., Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., and Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla.

It’s one of 23 bills introduced during Friday’s pro forma session, bringing the total number so far this Congress to 10,019.

The first 20 bill numbers are reserved for the speaker and minority leader for significant pieces of legislation; not all have been used, so in reality the number of introduced bills thus far is 10,010. That doesn’t include joint resolutions, which have the same effect as bills and are also signed into law by the president.

The last lawmaker to have the distinction of affixing his name to an HR 10000 was Rep. Fred B. Rooney, D-Pa. His 1977 bill would have funded a large-scale expansion of comprehensive medical eye care centers; it never made it out of what was then called the House Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee, renamed Energy and Commerce in 1981.

Between 1950 and 1980, it was common for House lawmakers to introduce a large number of bills. In the 90th Congress, members introduced over 22,000 bills, according to documents from the House historian’s office. During those three decades, the average number of introduced bills was over 15,000. After that point and up until 2018, the average dropped to just under 6,500 bills.

The numbers crept up past 9,000 in the 116th Congress, and topped 9,700 in the 117th Congress before the 10,000 barrier was broken once again in the 118th.

Even with the bills reserved for the GOP and Democratic leaders that have not been introduced, this Congress has seen the most bills introduced since the 95th, according to records kept by the Library of Congress.

A large contributor to the sizable number of bills introduced in the 118th is Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz. In April 2023, Biggs introduced over 500 bills in one day to reduce nondefense discretionary spending within various federal agencies and programs to pre-pandemic levels.

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(Paul Jenks contributed to this report.)