Your link says that the number of new laws was regularly in the 600s or 700s in the 70s and 80s; in the last decade it’s been down in the 300s (it crept above 4

Your link says that the number of new laws was regularly in the 600s or 700s in the 70s and 80s; in the last decade it’s been down in the 300s (it crept above 400 once, for the 115th Congress, which was a Republican Congress under a Republican president). Sure, the total amount of legislation in Congress has gone up (since the 80s - the 70s we’re far more prolific), but the bills don’t make it through. Bills that die in committee or get voted down don’t matter. The president doesn’t need to veto things outright - leaders in Congress get the message and don’t bother passing bills if they can’t get enough support to override the veto.