| Understanding Congress |
| By Kevin R. Kosar February 9, 2026 Congress sent President Donald Trump a $174.7 billion spending package late last month. The White Office said little upon signing the Commerce, Justice, Science; Energy and Water Development; and Interior and Environment Appropriations Act of 2026. The House passed the bill by a vote of 397 to 28, and the Senate supported it 82 to 15. Democrats supplied 206 votes in the House and 35 votes in the Senate. It was a bipartisan slam dunk. Both Republicans and Democrats crowed loudly over the win. Why all the comity? Certainly, neither Democrats nor Republicans were spoiling for the bill to fail and for another government shutdown to ensue. Another factor was that this minibus package carried 3,030 community project funding grants, also known as earmarks. Republicans and Democrats alike got to direct federal spending to fund projects in their home states and districts. The statute’s Interior and Environment section has hundreds of line items for upgrading sewer lines and drinking water systems. Similarly, the Energy and Water Development section will use federal funds for energy development projects and for US Army Corps of Engineers projects to improve shipping ports and channels. The law’s Commerce, Justice, and Science section is a veritable smorgasbord of local projects. Funds will flow to universities for research on semiconductors, fentanyl detection inventions, and cancer cures. The earmarks eruption came after Congress enacted hardly any of them for two years. Legislators’ inability to pass annual funding bills in 2024 and 2025 necessitated enacting continuing resolutions, which usually are not able to carry new directed spending requests. Congress brought back earmarks five years ago after a lengthy moratorium. New rules were adopted to prevent scandalous dealings in the early 2000s that sent one legislator, a few congressional staff, and some lobbyists to prison. Earmarks do not increase federal spending. They are merely congressional directives. Why let the executive branch decide which flood-prone areas deserve mitigation funding? The Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse. Republicans and Democrats are exceedingly eager to fight over every major policy matter. Yet this law got made. Perhaps the lesson is that Congress might get more done were it to give all legislators a voice in crafting legislation more often. Did someone send you this email? Subscribe today. |
| Toxic Congress vs. Secret CongressCertainly, John Q. and Jane Q. Public are not much impressed by our nation’s legislature. A mere 15 percent of individuals surveyed by Gallup in October 2025 approved of “the way Congress is handling its job.” Some 79 percent of respondents disapproved of the national legislature’s performance. This is no mere blip; public approval of Congress has generally hovered between 10 and 30 percent for 20 years. The public is not utterly wrong in feeling there are no heroes on Capitol Hill. Legislators are increasingly passive. One need only remember that the tariff power that President Donald Trump is wielding willy-nilly is a legislative authority. Yet the public’s view is excessively jaundiced. It is not as if Congress were doing nothing. The 118th Congress, which was racked by myriad partisan disputes and a lengthy fight over who would get to be Speaker of the House, nonetheless enacted nearly 300 laws comprising 4,500 pages of text. The current Congress, which spent months out of session, nonetheless has enacted 60 laws. So Congress is both deeply dysfunctional and surprisingly functional. It frequently fails in some spectacularly obvious ways that are readily visible to voters (e.g., budgeting and appropriations), yet it does valuable things that are nearly invisible to Americans (e.g., passing the Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2025). How can that be? The answer is that we have two Congresses. There is the toxic Congress filled with raging partisans who trash-talk one another, reflexively support or oppose whoever is president, and cannot pass policy on major issues, like immigration. Then there is the secret Congress of lawmakers who move myriad bills and gently curb the executive branch’s errors and excesses. It is little noticed by the public and not sufficiently covered by the media. |
| Featured Research |
| Two Cheers for a Semi-Normal Appropriations ProcessPhilip Wallach | The Dispatch Even in a year when Congress is maddeningly passive and tentative in checking the executive branch, legislators have fulfilled their most important constitutional duty. That is worth celebrating. |
| Icons of Congress: Daniel WebsterJay Cost | Understanding Congress Daniel Webster was one of the greatest orator-politicians in the history of the United States. A relentless defender of the American Union, he dedicated much of his political career to its preservation in the face of those who would tear it apart over sectional interests. |
| A Conservative Case for the FilibusterLaura Dove | American Enterprise Institute The Senate was designed to cool political passions and protect minority viewpoints, and the filibuster is one of the few means to accomplish those goals. Eliminating it would centralize power in the majority party. |
| Latest Podcast |
| What’s Wrong with Congress?Kevin R. Kosar | Understanding Congress Kevin R. Kosar discusses Congress’s troubles and explains that we have two legislatures: a competent secret Congress and a wet, hot, mess that is the toxic Congress. |
| Keep Reading |
| Has Trump Achieved a Lot Less Than It Seems?Yuval Levin | The Ezra Klein Show |
| How Congress Became the Weakest BranchJay Cost | Deseret News |
| Make the President a Less Powerful Legislator-in-ChiefAdam J. White | NYU Law Democracy Project |
| The Federal Government Booked a $1.8 Trillion Deficit Last YearKevin R. Kosar | Washington Examiner |
| Only Congress Can Spare Mark Kelly Political Punishment from the PentagonJohn G. Ferrari | The Hill |
| Upcoming AEI EventUnderstanding the Presidential Pardon: A Book Event with Saikrishna PrakashMonday, February 9, 2026 | 4:00–5:30 p.m.Please join AEI for an event hosted by AEI’s Gary J. Schmitt to discuss Saikrishna Prakash’s new book, The Presidential Pardon: The Short Clause with a Long, Troubled History. |
| Last Thought |
| “Today, Senate debates are relatively rare, and the rhetoric in the chamber pales in comparison to Webster’s stirring oratory. Yet Americans would be wise to revisit Webster’s speeches, for they are a reminder that Congress can be a forum where the public’s views are given expression in a reasoned, eloquent, and uplifting fashion.” —Jay Cost |
| Thanks for reading! For more, check out UnderstandingCongress.org. |
| Tips? Comments? Questions? Email understandingcongress@aei.org. Ensure delivery | Subscribe American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research Robert Doar, President 1789 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20036202.862.5800 | www.aei.org Unsubscribe from the link below. |
| Donate to AEI in support of defending and promoting freedom, opportunity, and enterprise. |
Stay in the know about our news and events.