How Lawmakers Really Grade the First Year of the 119th Congress

Inside the ‘Circus’: How Lawmakers Really Felt About the First Year of the 119th Congress

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Key takeaways

• Lawmakers from both parties used words like “dysfunction,” “circus,” “stupidity,” and “failure” to describe the first year of the 119th Congress.
• Some Republicans framed 2025 as a year of “progress,” “productivity,” and “deliberate” governing, emphasizing economic and regulatory goals.
• The year saw a record-breaking government shutdown and an unusually high number of discharge petitions used to bypass House leadership.
• Members highlighted a disconnect between partisan theatrics and the quieter work of securing local wins for their districts.
• Many Democrats called the year a missed opportunity and one of the least productive sessions for everyday Americans.

Table of contents

• How lawmakers summed up 2025 in one word
• Why some Republicans say 2025 was “progress”
• Democrats’ starkly different read on Congress
• Productivity versus political theater
• What this means for you — and what to watch next

How lawmakers summed up 2025 in one word

Asked to describe the first year of the 119th Congress in just one word, members of Congress did not hold back. Their answers offer a surprisingly candid snapshot of how Washington really felt from the inside.

On the Democratic side, frustration dominated:

• Rep. Deborah Ross (D-N.C.) chose “dysfunction.”
• Rep. Juan Vargas (D-Calif.) called it “uselessness.”
• Rep. Gil Cisneros (D-Calif.) opted for a bleep-worthy “crapshow.”
• Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) labeled the year a flat-out “failure.”

Even some Republicans were blunt. Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) called the year “stupidity,” pointing to a six-week government shutdown followed by a week consumed by five separate censure votes instead of substantive legislation.

Others used metaphors: Rep. Lou Correa (D-Calif.) described Congress as a “three-ring circus without a ringmaster,” capturing the sense of chaos that many Americans felt watching from home.

Why some Republicans say 2025 was “progress”

Not everyone saw 2025 as a lost year. A group of Republicans framed the same events as a course correction.

• Reps. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Wis.) and Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) both chose the word “progress.”
• Norman highlighted talking points many voters care about: border security, lower inflation, gas prices, and a push to exempt tips from taxation.
• Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) called it a “productive” year, citing the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act headed to the president’s desk, a win for dairy-heavy states like Wisconsin.
• Rep. Tony Wied (R-Wis.) described the year as “deliberate,” emphasizing a return to “regular order” in the appropriations process, cutting regulation, and “putting more money back into people’s pockets.”

Data point for readers: this split in tone reflects a broader partisan pattern. Members closer to party leadership or focused on economic deregulation tended to stress incremental gains, even amid headline-grabbing chaos.

Democrats’ starkly different read on Congress

Many Democrats saw the same year as historically difficult — and deeply unproductive for everyday Americans.

“It’s been the most difficult year of my professional career,” said Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.), who argued that House leadership had effectively ceded power to the White House.

Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.) called the year “fascinating” mainly because of what she saw as “capitulation, duplicity and hypocrisy” inside the Republican conference. Freshman Rep. George Whitesides (D-Calif.) described his first year simply as “wild,” citing “crazy” dysfunction alongside efforts to still “do some good” for constituents.

From a civic-engagement perspective, this matters: when members openly brand Congress a “failure,” it reinforces public distrust — but it also signals that pressure from voters could be critical in shaping year two.

Productivity versus political theater

Beneath the sharp sound bites lies a bigger structural story. In 2025, Congress experienced:

• The longest government shutdown on record, lasting six weeks.
• A spike in the use of discharge petitions, rare procedural tools that allow a bipartisan majority to force votes over the objections of House leadership.
• Floor time consumed by multiple censure resolutions rather than major bipartisan legislation.

Some members, like Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.), tried to walk a middle line, calling the year “interesting” while emphasizing district-level wins: overturning a state ban on gas-powered vehicles, canceling high-speed rail funding, and securing infrastructure projects. He also argued the House could be doing “a lot more” on core national issues.

For readers tracking genuine productivity, this suggests a split-screen reality: loud national conflict on one side, quieter local deal-making on the other.

What this means for you — and what to watch next

Whether you resonate more with the word “progress” or “failure,” the first year of the 119th Congress has immediate implications for your life — from school milk programs and gas prices to border policy and regulatory shifts.

To stay informed and make your voice matter, consider:

• Track how your representative voted during the shutdown and on key economic bills. This can usually be done via the official House or Senate websites.
• Sign up for district newsletters from both your representative and your senators; they often highlight the quieter, concrete wins that don’t make national headlines.
• Compare rhetoric to results: Keep a simple list of specific promises (on inflation, border, or taxes) and note what actually passes in year two.
• Engage locally: Town halls, virtual Q&As, and local news outlets often offer more nuance than national cable coverage.

The House and Senate will return the week of Jan. 5 for year two of this Congress. Given how lawmakers themselves describe 2025 — from “circus” to “deliberate” — the coming year is likely to test whether Washington can shift from spectacle to solutions.

Want to go deeper? Explore related coverage on congressional productivity, government shutdowns, and bipartisan deal-making to see how this year compares historically and what patterns tend to repeat.

Source: https://spectrumlocalnews.com/me/maine/politics/2025/12/29/lawmakers-reflect-on-the-first-year-of-the-119th-congress