IN a year of divided government and people — from the Left to the Right — the Republican-thin majority in the US House of Representatives managed to pass only 27 bills that were signed into law by President Joe Biden.

Of the 27 safe and sanitized bills mostly passed with no objections and amendments, 11 were for renaming a facility's designation, 12 were related to funding, including the government's appropriation spending for the year, five were related to improving veterans services and benefits; none about visas and petition-related matters that would reduce the huge immigrant backlog reported by the National Visa Center (NVC) at 394,386 as of June 2024.