The 117th Congress with Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Kamala Harris & Joe Biden Crushed It

WASHINGTON (AP) — The 117th Congress opened with the unfathomable Jan. 6, 2021, mob siege of the Capitol and is closing with unprecedented federal criminal referrals of the former president over the insurrection — all while conducting one of the most consequential legislative sessions in recent memory.

Lawmakers are wrapping up the two-year session having found surprisingly common ground on big bills...

The Congress passed monumental legislation — including a bill making one of the most substantial infrastructure investments in a generation and another federally protecting same-sex and interracial marriages. It rallied the U.S. to support Ukraine in the war against Russia. Senators confirmed the nation’s first Black woman, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, to the Supreme Court.

Among the rare moments of agreement: passage of the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act, making lynching a federal hate crime, after more than 120 years and some 200 failed efforts to pass such legislation.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., compared this session to the Lyndon Johnson and Franklin Roosevelt administrations that produced some of the nation’s most lasting laws.

“These two years in the Senate and House — in the Congress — were either the most productive in 50 years (since the) Great Society (legislation), or most productive in 100 years since the New Deal (legislation) ,” he said.

Together, lawmakers sent Biden the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that invested in the nation’s roads, bridges and public works, and another big package to invest in semi-conductor industry and scientific research in the U.S.

Democrats alone approved a massive coronavirus aid package that put money in Americans’ pockets, supported business and funded free vaccines, a $1.9 trillion deal...

While Biden’s promised “Build Back Better” fell apart, his party regrouped to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, which that may not have curbed rising prices but delivered the nation’s biggest investment yet in efforts to curb climate change and capped monthly insulin prices for seniors at $35 starting in January.

The first bill to curb gun violence, though modest compared to advocates’ demands, became law after the tragic school shooting in Uvalde, Texas ...

As the worst war in Europe since World War II broke out, Congress...(passed a)....$45 billion tranche of Ukrainian aid...

Among the committee’s 11 recommendations to shore up democracy, Congress took a first step by passing the Electoral Count Act to bolster the way Congress tallies the presidential vote.