Good morning. It's Sunday, December 28th.

I'm Melissa Murray in for my friend Ali Velshi.

And 2025 has been a record-breaking year for Congress, but not exactly the way that they would like.

Congress is doing less voting, less legislating, and less showing up for work.

As the 119th Congress reaches the midway point of its term,

the president has signed 38 bills passed by Congress into law.

At that rate, this Congress will be significantly less productive than the last Congress,

which was the least productive Congress in 50 years.

The House of Representatives held the fewest roll call votes of any Congress in the first year of its term this century, just 362.

That's especially bizarre for a trifecta government in which the Republicans control every branch.

The 43-day government shutdown this fall was the longest in American history.

And for the entirety of that shutdown and then some, 54 days in all,

Speaker Mike Johnson kept the House away from Capitol Hill. That decision

contributed to the fewest voting days for the House in any non-election year this century,

apart from 2021, where we were affected by the pandemic. When lawmakers did return from the shutdown,

they were angry and frustrated with one another, and it showed. They began wielding the censure, a rare, often bipartisan, and very

serious condemnation of a House member as a commonplace weapon. Four censure resolutions were put

up for vote in just a week's time in November, more than prior

Congresses would see in an entire term. For this grumpy group of 435 members, swearing,

shouting, and personal attacks are becoming increasingly common, and the toxic environment is

beginning to take its toll. Members of Congress are retiring, resigning, or seeking higher office at a record rate.

Twenty Democrats and 26 Republicans have decided not to return to Congress, a number that is

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