Legislative Gridlock Essay

The legislative branch is the most powerful branch in government. The legislative branch is in charge of making and passing laws. They have the power to override a president’s decision, stop laws from being passed, and basically control all decisions the governments makes. The legislative branch, also called the congress, consists of the House of Representatives and the senate. The reason for two houses of congress is to balance out the concerns of smaller but more populated states against states that are larger but with less population (www.Usgovinfo.com).

The Congress has had many ups and downs, but what they want the people, us, to focus on are all the positives. Congress’ increase dysfunction has had lots of impacts on the United States. Most people have taken into consideration if our Congress is still as strong as it once was. The Congress doesn’t out into consideration on how every decision will create a ripple effect on the citizens of America. Congress has so much so much power, then why is it so dysfunctional? Some of the many reasons for Congress’ increase dysfunction over the last couple of decades are the government shutdown that happened last year and less compromise to get things done. For example, the government shutdown that occurred in 2013 impacted millions of Americans. When I had first

Another example of congressional gridlock preventing a bill becoming law is when President Obama was still in the Oval Office. In 2014, Congress was gridlocked over Immigration Reform. Republicans in the Senate were indecisive on a $2.7 billion dollar bill to help with Central Americans crossing the border illegally. While it may not seem as serious, many politicians deemed this as a “national crisis”. President Obama also fought for it to be passed in Congress but it ended up making Congress delay for another day. The House also got a bill suspended that would make the deportation process much more efficient.

Prompt: Some argue that Congress is broken, while others argue the status quo should be maintained. In your opinion, to what degree is Congress broken and in what ways could it be improved?

Congressional gridlock in the United States is at a high currently, doubling since the 1950s. Gridlock is the slowing of the legislative processes due to the difficulty of congressional officials to agree on certain bills and or laws. Gridlock makes the passage of legislation time consuming and hardly any progress can be accomplished. This is how Congress acquired the nickname “Do Nothing Congress.”This usually occurs when both parts of Congress, the House of Representatives and the Senate, are of opposing parties. This then makes the President have the final say.

Current and future lobbyists where benefited. Former lawmakers still won’t have to wait two years before they become lobbyists, and lobbyists will still be able to exploit loopholes in state law to conceal which lawmakers they are buying drinks and dinner. Immigration hardliners where also benefited, with a law that enforces agencies to cooperate with federal immigration authorities and bans those agencies from writing policies that prevent their offices from asking about the immigration status of people. Abortion opponents also came out benefited, lawmakers approved Senate Bill 8, a sweeping measure that bans the most common second-trimester abortion procedure.

Congressional gridlock has been around for centuries in Congress and does not seem to be changing anytime soon. Congressional gridlock refers to the inaction of the government and failure to make a decision or legislative law that satisfy the needs of the people. This inaction of the government and stagnation occurs when two parties cannot agree on a single matter, and they cannot come to a good agreement on how or when the law is going to be passed, thus leaving complex problems in the nation unhandled. Congressional gridlock does not just come and take over the government on its own, though. It is evident that congressional gridlock is a major problem in the American government that needs to be addressed because there are so many root causes that the government fails to fix including gerrymandering and a lack of “bridge-builders.” Solutions to these causes that have yet to be made include improving the system of checks and balances and reducing representative dynamics and some of the nation’s most pressing problems that should not even be examples of congressional gridlock include climate change and the gun laws issue.

This explain that the more time pass the more powerless the congress become. Another example

2. Some important qualities for a successful member of congress to have are to respect for each other and work together. That’s what Tip O’Neill says that’s what congress is all about.

The ban on earmarks has “tied the hands” of congressional leaders, because many Congressmen feel as though they are stuck when it comes to making decisions on legislation. The problem was that “House and Senate leadership and ranking committee members used earmarks to persuade their reluctant colleagues to vote for or against key bills” (Cost). This action resulted in false compromise, because these colleagues did not actually believe in their stance after being persuaded. These people were put in a position where they did not really have much of a

For example, congressed introduced an act that “prevented the interstate commerce in the products of child labor” (Doc 2) This set a restriction on child labor which was much needed in the American society. Children were being worked at much too young and had no restriction on the hours they could work. This was not healthy for the children at all. With this act produced by the government children were now unable to be put to work under the age of 16 and restricted their weekly hours from the age of 16 to 18. This was a vast improvement of these American lives, and overall saved many

As you can see from these examples though this problem is not just unique to Congress. It can also be seen in the "state legislatures of the colonial era, and in the British House of Commons of the sixteenth and twentieth centuries"

Visiting the Vermont State House seems to be an exercise in finding order in chaos. What I am sure is the methodical adherence to a complicated set of rules seems to an outsider like me to be madness. The following are a few observations of what I saw in relation to Squire and Moncrief’s book State Legislatures Today.

Why is it so difficult to accomplish anything in American government? The answer lies within three features of American government: the Hyperpluralist theory, separation of powers with checks and balances, and divided government. All these aspects of government result in gridlock, “a condition that occurs when interests conflict and no coalition is strong enough to form a majority and establish policy, so nothing gets done” (19).

Anyone may draft a bill, which means an ordinary citizen can actually write a bill. Only members of Congress, however, can introduce legislation, and any of the congresspersons become sponsors. A bill can have anywhere from one sponsor to an entire party support. There are four general types of legislation; bills, joint resolutions (resolutions between both chambers but requires signing), concurrent resolutions (a joint resolution that does not require signing), and simple resolutions. The legislative process begins when a bill or resolution is numbered, (H.R. signifies a House bill and S. a Senate bill), referred to a committee, and printed by the Government Printing Office.