Recently we wrote a little something for The Fulcrum about whether Congress - and the House especially - is as unproductive as it seems.

What we found was that no, actually, apart from a small number of hot button issues, many bills were passing by significant margins, often by 400 votes or more, meaning these were votes nearly every House member could get behind.

Since we first wrote that piece, the House moved on a host of foreign policy bills that were either motivated by Iran's retaliatory strike on Israel on April 14 or were foreign aid bills that had been in limbo due to minority opposition in the House since last fall.

We looked at these latest bills passed in the House and Senate and found that the pattern still largely held. Only one party line vote was added while several slightly bipartisan votes (fewer than 300 yes votes) and a few more very bipartisan votes (over 300 yes votes) were added. The new total of votes was 71; party line went down to 11%; slightly bipartisan up to 34% and very bipartisan down to 54% (from 59%).

In short, even though there are some areas which are both a big deal and on which the parties simply do not align such as abortion or climate change, the work of government covers a broad spectrum and on many of these issues, broad agreement exists. At least, enough agreement to get bills passed with moderate support from both parties.

Both chambers return next week so we'll see you again next Friday to cover whatever they will have gotten up to.