House lawmakers barely edged out COVID-era voting days in 2025, despite being in the make-or-break year for President Trump's MAGA agenda.
Why it matters: House Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La.) lawmakers are frustrated and losing their cool, and aside from the "one big, beautiful bill," Republicans don't have much to brag about.
- "You cannot deliberate with your colleagues if you're out somewhere else," Johnson said in March, arguing against allowing new parents to proxy vote.
🛑 But Johnson kept the House out for 54 days during the government shutdown, a major contributor to the year's unusually light calendar.
- Johnson argued the House had "done its job" by passing a clean government funding measure. At the time, most of his conference was publicly supportive of the approach.
- The speaker also frequently canceled votes when internal tensions flared or legislation wasn't going his way, further shrinking days of floor action.
- His use of distance as a governing tool helped seal the deal on crucial votes. But it came at a cost.
The other side: "Congressional Republicans executed the most ambitious and successful agenda by any Republican Congress in history," a Johnson spokesperson told Axios, pointing to the passage of the "Working Families Tax Cut," and the codification of 70 of Trump's executive orders.
🔥 Between the lines: When lawmakers returned from their two-month hiatus, the agenda was filled with resolutions to punish colleagues, infighting and even a literal fire at the Capitol that some viewed as a fitting metaphor for the state of the House.
- Members across the spectrum are frustrated by the chamber's inaction, with many acknowledging that little has been accomplished since passing the "big, beautiful bill."
- That includes failing to pass any appropriations bills since the shutdown ended.
- It also includes letting Democrats seize the initiative on Affordable Care Act subsidies, which will expire at the end of this year, by forcing a vote in January.
👀 What they're saying: Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) told Axios that Johnson "squandered" Republicans' opportunity to move their agenda while they control all of Washington.
- "This has not exactly been the finest hour for the U.S. House of Representatives. Over the last several months, the House has been missing in action in a lot of ways," Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) said in early December.
- Congress has been "sidelined by Johnson under full obedience" to the White House, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said in her resignation statement.
The bottom line: "There's a lot of palpable frustration, which is why I think you're seeing a lot of people retire, you're seeing a lot of people leave," Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) told Axios.
