A number has been going viral on social media: Congress worked just 87 days in 2025—for full pay and benefits. 

The actual figure is likely slightly higher—the official House calendar shows 142 legislative days. Of course, official government websites can no longer be trusted, but either way, the broader outrage is completely justified. Because when you look at what they accomplished in those days, the picture gets even uglier.

Let’s do the math: at a base salary of $174,000, that’s roughly $153 per hour for an eight-hour workday. Add in their platinum health insurance, generous pensions, and travel allowances, and you’re looking at a compensation package that would make any American worker weep.

When asked what he’d accomplished in 2025, Rep. David Joyce—a 13-year GOP veteran—paused for five seconds before answering: “I guess we got the big, beautiful bill done. Other than that, I really can’t point to much.”

The 119th Congress passed just 38 bills in its first year—a modern record for the lowest legislative output in the first year of a presidency.

That “big, beautiful bill” is the only thing worth examining, because it reveals everything broken about how Congress operates.The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (vomit) cut over $1 trillion from healthcare programs—the largest rollback of federal health support in American history.

​​An estimated 10 million people will lose their health insurance. Medicaid, which provides coverage to 72 million Americans, took a historic beating. The enhanced ACA subsidies that helped 23 million people afford health insurance? Gone, with premiums set to double or triple for millions starting January 1st.

Here’s the kicker: despite slashing healthcare, nutrition assistance, and student aid, the bill still adds $3.4 trillion to the deficit over the next decade. When you include interest on that borrowing, it’s closer to $4 trillion.

How is that mathematically possible? Because while Congress was cutting healthcare for working families, they were handing out tax cuts overwhelmingly benefiting the wealthy. 

Households making over $1 million per year will see their taxes drop by $97,000 annually. The top 10% of earners get an average tax cut of $14,700 per year. Meanwhile, families making $24,000 or less actually lose about $1,200 per year when you account for the healthcare and food assistance cuts.

Congress literally took money from the poorest Americans and handed it to millionaires—while increasing the national debt by trillions. It’s not fiscal conservatism. It’s not even fiscal incompetence. 

It’s a deliberate upward transfer of wealth dressed up in deficit rhetoric.

And they did this in just 142 days of work. 

Then, Congress just adjourned for the year without fixing the ACA subsidy crisis they created. Twenty-two million Americans will wake up on January 1st to premium increases they can’t afford. 

Congress doesn’t care. They’ve got theirs. They worked their 142 days, collected their six-figure salaries, maintained their premium healthcare, and went home for the holidays while millions of Americans face a crisis they manufactured.

Here’s my proposal: pay them hourly. Let’s see how quickly they find more working days when their paycheck depends on showing up. Watch how fast they’d pass legislation if their health insurance was tied to productivity metrics. Imagine the efficiency if they had to worry about losing coverage because they couldn’t get their work done.

But here’s the thing—and this is important—we shouldn’t be arguing that Congress should work more. 

We should be demanding that all of us get to work less.

The problem isn’t that they have it too good. It’s that the rest of us don’t have what they have.

Okay, so maybe they’re less productive than the average worker. We live in an era of unprecedented technological advancement. AI and automation are making us more productive than ever. The entire promise of technological progress was supposed to be making human life easier—shorter workweeks, more time with family, less grinding just to survive. 

Instead, productivity gains have been captured almost entirely by the wealthy while ordinary workers work longer hours for stagnant wages.

Congress is living in the future the rest of us were promised. Part-time hours. Full-time pay. Comprehensive healthcare. Generous time off. Job security. 

That shouldn’t be a perk reserved for 535 elected officials. That should be the baseline for a civilization that has the wealth and technology to make it possible.

The viral outrage about Congress’s work schedule is justified. But let’s be clear about what we’re actually angry about. It’s not that they’re working too little—it’s that they’re working too little while cutting our healthcare, transferring wealth upward, and still managing to add trillions to the debt.

This Congress set records in 2025, but not the kind anyone wants. The longest government shutdown in U.S. history—43 days. The fewest bills passed. A record number of retirements as members flee a sinking ship. And one of the most regressive pieces of legislation in modern American history, all pushed through using special budget rules to avoid any real debate.

The system is working exactly as designed—just not for you. Congress members aren’t lazy. They’re just not working for us. They’re working for the billionaires and corporations who fund their campaigns. And they got exactly what they paid for: $97,000 in annual tax cuts for millionaires, paid for by stripping healthcare from 10 million Americans.

So yes, let’s talk about Congress’s work schedule. Let’s talk about their productivity. Let’s talk about their compensation. But let’s make sure we’re having the right conversation: not that they should suffer more, but that the rest of us deserve what they have. A livable income. Time to rest. Healthcare that doesn’t bankrupt us. The dignity of not having to grind yourself into dust just to survive.

Congress has shown us it’s possible. 

Now let’s demand they make it possible for everyone else.