“As a new committee chairman, Representative Hensarling has focused his attention on the Financial Services Committee,” said Sarah Rozier, a spokeswoman for Mr. Hensarling. “As chairman, he has made a decision not to act as the original sponsor for bills under the committee’s jurisdiction and, instead, work his policy priorities with other members.”

In data from the past 20 years, there was no other House committee leader who did not introduce at least one bill in a two-year Congress. But others have also reduced their output. Tom Rooney, a Florida Republican, has proposed only four pieces of legislation in the current Congress after sponsoring 25 and 21 in his first two terms.

Michael Mahaffey, a spokesman for Mr. Rooney, explained that since he had joined the Appropriations Committee, responsible for setting spending plans, most of his legislative work took place in that committee. Other appropriators, even longtime committee members, have reduced the number of bills they have introduced this Congress.

Washington-watchers love to debate how productive Congress is — or isn’t. None of the measures for calculating productivity are perfect; the number of bills passed doesn’t address the quality of legislation, while days in session doesn’t account for the speed in which some consequential bills are passed or the negotiations that occur when Congress is technically not meeting. Most measures “are prejudiced against literal conservatives,” Ms. Kanthak said. “There are a number of Republicans that see their job as stopping Barack Obama,” rather than passing (or even proposing) laws.

The appropriations process — 12 spending bills that Congress must pass each year — is often the best opportunity for lawmakers to make a mark. Mr. Sherman, the California Democrat, said: “If you’re introducing a bill to pass it or to have it ready to go for something that’s actually going to pass, you’ve got a lot less reason, a lot fewer good shots. Now it’s: I’ve got an idea, how can that be an amendment on an appropriations bill.”

Although bill introductions are not a measurement of legislative productivity, they are necessary. Between 1995 and 2002, as many as 7,000 pieces of legislation were introduced, most of which were bills (there are several types of resolutions as well). Beginning with the 109th Congress in 2005, the final Congress before a new Democratic majority, new legislation topped 9,000, before drifting back down.

Bill introductions in the current Congress are on the level of what they were in 1998 or 2000, signaling that the legislative push that marked the late 2000s is over, at least for now.

“I miss this,” Mr. Price said. “I love that process of taking a bill and seeing it through. But there are other things you can do in this environment to compensate.”