D.C.-area lawmakers have introduced 639 bills this Congress. One has become law.

By Philippa Langstrom

WASHINGTON — The 15 lawmakers who represent the District, Maryland and Virginia have introduced 639 bills and joint resolutions as primary sponsors since the 119th Congress convened in January 2025. As of Oct. 22, exactly one had become law: Sen. Tim Kaine’s measure designating the George C. Marshall House in Virginia as an affiliated area of the National Park System.

That finding comes from a Washington Inquisitor review of every bill-status record the Government Publishing Office publishes for the 119th Congress, 19,605 measures in all, downloaded from GovInfo’s official bulk data repository on Oct. 26. The records reflect congressional action through Oct. 22.

The numbers say less about the delegation’s work ethic than about how little Congress as a whole is passing. Across both chambers, 17,016 bills and joint resolutions have been introduced this Congress, and 134 have become public laws, a rate of about 0.8%. The Washington Inquisitor separately reviewed the 134 enactments earlier Monday.

But even against that low bar, the region’s delegation, 14 Democrats and one Republican, has had a thin year on the floor. Its members got 17 of their 639 bills and joint resolutions through at least one chamber, 2.7%. Across Congress, about 5.8% of measures have passed their chamber of origin.

The member-by-member record

The table below counts bills and joint resolutions (H.R., S., H.J.Res. and S.J.Res.) for which each member is the primary sponsor. It excludes simple and concurrent resolutions, which cannot become law. “Cross-party cosponsor” means at least one original or later cosponsor from the other major party who had not withdrawn. The final two columns count measures each member signed onto as a cosponsor.

Source: Washington Inquisitor analysis of GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data for the 119th Congress, actions through Oct. 22, 2026. Walkinshaw was sworn in Sept. 10, 2025, after winning a special election, so his figures cover a shorter period.

Several patterns stand out.

**Wittman leads the delegation in House passage.** Five of the 20 bills the Republican sponsored have passed the House, more than any other member of the delegation. They include the SHARKED Act, the Protecting Access for Hunters and Anglers Act, the Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act, the AWRC Act and a post office naming. None has yet passed the Senate. Wittman is the only member of the delegation in the House majority.

**Vindman is the delegation’s busiest legislator by volume and its most bipartisan by count.** The first-term Democrat has sponsored 78 bills, more than any member except Norton, and 50 of them carry at least one Republican cosponsor. He has also cosponsored 1,017 bills, second only to Norton, and six of the bills he cosponsored have become law, the most in the delegation. None of his own bills has cleared a chamber.

**Norton sponsors the most and draws the fewest Republicans.** The District’s nonvoting delegate has introduced 95 bills, and three of them have a Republican cosponsor. One, a bill revoking the Securities and Exchange Commission’s independent leasing authority, passed the House in January 2025.

**Kaine is the only senator in the delegation to pass anything.** Besides the Marshall House law, three Kaine joint resolutions to terminate national emergencies the president declared to impose tariffs passed the Senate, according to the GovInfo records. All three are held at the House desk. Warner, Van Hollen and Alsobrooks have not passed a bill or joint resolution through the Senate this Congress.

The 17 that got through a chamber

Four of the 17 are post office namings, by Wittman, Subramanyam, Walkinshaw and Raskin. All four were placed on the Senate’s legislative calendar on Sept. 14, 2026, which makes them eligible for floor action without further committee work.

Where the delegation’s names do appear on new laws

The delegation’s members have had more success attaching their names to other lawmakers’ bills. Sixteen of the 134 public laws enacted this Congress list at least one D.C.-area member as a cosponsor, for 21 cosponsorships in all.

Source: GovInfo BILLSTATUS data. Cosponsors who withdrew are excluded.

Warner, the Senate Intelligence Committee’s vice chairman, cosponsored the April extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act’s Title VII authorities, and Kaine cosponsored the Retire through Ownership Act, which became law Oct. 15, according to the records. Vindman’s six enacted cosponsorships range from a tax-relief bill for disaster victims to the Medal of Sacrifice Act.

How the region compares

Source: Washington Inquisitor analysis of GovInfo BILLSTATUS data. “Became law” counts measures with a public or private law number; two of the 137 are private laws, leaving 134 public laws.

Two caveats matter. First, bill counts are an imperfect measure of influence. Senior lawmakers often shape legislation through committee work, appropriations and amendments to other members’ bills rather than as sponsors, and none of that appears in sponsorship tallies. Hoyer, the former House majority leader and a senior appropriator, has sponsored one bill this Congress. Ivey, who also sits on the Appropriations Committee, has sponsored three, including the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2025.

Second, much of a Congress’s lawmaking happens in its final weeks. Congress has about five weeks left in its session, and bills that have passed one chamber, including the four post office namings on the Senate calendar, are the likeliest candidates to move.

The delegation also has a stake in measures it did not sponsor. The Claiming Age Clarity Act, H.R. 5284, sponsored by Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-Pa.) with Beyer as lead Democrat, has passed both chambers and awaits presentment to the president. If signed, it would be the first enacted bill this Congress that Beyer has cosponsored, according to the GovInfo records.

Methodology

The Washington Inquisitor downloaded the GPO’s BILLSTATUS XML files for every H.R., S., H.J.Res., S.J.Res., H.Res. and S.Res. measure of the 119th Congress from GovInfo on Oct. 26, 2026, and parsed each record’s sponsor, cosponsors and actions. A measure was counted as passing a chamber if its action history includes a “Passed/agreed to in House” or “Passed/agreed to in Senate” entry. Members were matched by their Bioguide identifiers. Withdrawn cosponsors were excluded. The data reflect actions recorded through Oct. 22, 2026, and may lag congress.gov by several days.

The Washington Inquisitor has asked Kaine’s office, the campaigns of Wittman, Raskin, Subramanyam, Elfreth and Beyer, the Center for Effective Lawmaking and the POPVOX Foundation for comment and will update this story with any response.