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The Pros And Cons Of Congressional Gridlock

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What is Gridlock and why should we care about it? According to Political Dictionary’s Gridlock, “gridlock is a situation in which the government is unable to pass new legislation, often because the presidency and the Congress are controlled by different political parties.” Congressional Gridlock is a recurring issue in America’s political system. It is crippling the efficacy of the government's ability to lead the country to prosperity. Currently, most of the House of Representatives is republican, and the President is democratic. Political party values are usually the main reason behind gridlock. In recent years, the house of representatives, the senate, and the president have been different parties. This causes gridlock to occur often, which puts the country’s law-making system behind.
When Gridlock occurs, legislation is stopped, and we cannot pass the necessary laws for this country to function. Gridlock can be seen occurring recently between the House and the Senate and between Congress and the President. For example, the House of Representatives could try and pass a law up to the president, but the senate would deny it on the basis that they are opposing political parties. Another example would be if congress was one party, and the president another. The …show more content…

An example of this would be Gun Control laws. Gun control laws have been at a gridlock since 1999, after the massacre at Columbine High School. The House and Senate are constantly against each other on this topic. One side wants to implement gun control laws, meanwhile the other wants to leave it as is. Neither side can get enough votes to pass it, so they are stuck at a stalemate, or at least they were. In June 2022, 50 democrats voted for the passing of the law, and so did 14 republicans. They got 64 out of the 60 votes needed to pass the law onto President Biden. They were in a gridlock for 23 years. 23 years with no legislation

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By means of a cloture vote sixty senators may end discussion and vote on the proposed bill. Without this precaution, a simple majority may pass legislation without considering the opinions of the minority. This is especially dangerous in the United States – a country historically dominated by only two political parties. Since a single political party seldom gains the necessary supermajority of sixty senators needed to move to direct vote, the filibuster ensures that the minority party retains a voice in government.

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Chapters 1 and 2 Study Guide: The Constitution Key Terms: 1. Political Gridlock: Definition: When there is difficulty passing legislation or resolving issues due to opposing factions with differing interests. Current Event: Currently, President Obama, a Democrat, is experiencing significant political gridlock due to the Republican majority in Congress. The divisions between the factions prevent the passage of legislation.

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A filibuster is a tactic in the legislative process sometimes used in the US Senate by opponents of a bill to block its passage. In the Senate use their unique right to unlimited debate as a way to prevent or delay the Senate from ever voting on a bill. Senator’s work together can practically debate forever, tying up the legislative agenda until the proponents of a bill finally give up their battle. Filibusters are not allowed in the House of Representatives because House rules limit the time allowed for debate on bills. In 2013 because of Democratic frustration about filibusters of judicial and executive branch nominees the filibuster’s rules changed.

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what is this thing called Congressional Gridlock? My complete understanding of Congressional gridlock it is when government officials can’t compromise to pass laws. Gridlock happens when the government is mostly divided. Congressional Gridlock is when republicans and democratic branches are not unified. If the house has a majority of republicans and they pass a bill, and the president which is democratic he can decide to veto the bill.

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Although some believe filibusters in the Senate can be a manipulative interpretation of the constitution, and a waste of time, they are in fact necessary to American democracy to protect the interests of American people and to open the discussion for negotiation on legislation. Filibusters in the senate protect the rights of American citizen’s by allowing a faction of people to shut down legislation they believe to be deficient. On September 24th, 2013 Ted Cruz started the second longest filibuster in American history in efforts to sway the Senate to repeal funding for The Affordable Care Act. Cruz felt as though “it is not working” and “it would be a huge burden” to the working class (Ted Cruz 2013). His filibuster was successful in shutting

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Congressional Caucus Chaos In “With Boehner’s Departure, Congressional Dysfunction Will Only Grow,” Norman J. Ornstein argues that a radical group in the Republican Party has kept progress from being made and John Boehner resigning from his Speaker of the House position will not make things on Capitol Hill any more productive. Ornstein says that, “The realists, like Boehner, understand that divided government requires compromise,” but unfortunately, extremists are unwilling and outright opposed to doing just that. Ornstein believes a successful upcoming congressional session does not have a chance at occurring and finds Radical Republicans to blame because they have made stopping President Obama’s plans a priority. I agree that one group of Republicans are keeping Congress from not only passing meaningful legislation on the controversial topics, but keeping them from passing common sense laws; however, I disagree with the author in regards to Congress staying on this uncivil, unproductive path.

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Congressional gridlock is not an uncommon thing in congress. Congressional gridlock happens when there is difficulty passing a law that is trying to satisfy the needs of the people. Gridlock often makes us feel stuck. Neither political party can reach an agreement to enforce a law on an issue, therefore they continue to meet and discuss until a conclusion is made. Gridlock is also referred to as “deadlock” or “political stalemate” because it is almost as if there is nothing either party can do.

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For instance, It is notable that the Congress is sparingly divided along supporter lines which in turn affects the decision making by the entire congress. Bureaucratic wrangling

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In parliament, there are more than two political parties, making it more difficult to have a majority of votes in each house. A filibuster is a technique that senators use in order to delay a decision on a bill or piece of legislation. A filibuster can go on for hours

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According to Sean Theriault, a political science professor at the University of Texas, congress is more divided than ever before. The 113th congress, a Republican-controlled congress, lead the U.S. into a government shutdown, estimated to have cost the economy $24 billion. Instead of working with Democrats on key issues, the GOP pursued a detrimental shutdown, in order to reiterate their hatred of Obamacare. The governing style, or lack thereof, of the GOP has been to spite the president and other Democrats. This has come at the expense of the American people, who now sense that congress is now more interested in bickering than working on important issues such as income inequality, immigration reform, and climate

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The House of Representatives and Senate need to resolve differences because of the Constitution. The U.S. Constitution requires the House and Senate to pass legislation in the exact same form and fashion. Therefore, if there are any discrepancies between the two chambers, they will have to resolve the differences. This process is quite difficult because they have differing rules, processes, and, especially, party control. For example, if the Republicans control the House and the Democrats control the Senate, there will be numerous differences in the “same” bill.

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Bipartisanship is crucial to passing effective legislation. When both party disagree with each other gridlock occurs. This gridlock forces both sides to stonewall the other to get a bill passed that is lopped sided favoring one party over the other. Bipartisanship allows all voices to be heard which creates a bill that congress can pass that represents the greater good of the country rather than one party’s constituency. With bipartisanship congress works smoother and is favored by the country with positive rating.

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A divided government is a situation in which one party controls the executive branch while another party controls Congress (in general, when separate branches are controlled by different parties). For example, take the executive and legislative branch. Both branches work together, but due to the two different parties, nothing will get done because of their different beliefs. Both parties’ strong ideas gets in the way of anything being done. The trust and confidence in the government declines because people are resentful since nothing is moving forward.

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Attempting to enact significant legislation requires Congress and the White House to compromise and anticipate what others will approve of and pass. When a bill successfully passes both houses of Congress, which has become increasingly difficult due to party polarization and radical groups within the House of Representatives and the Senate, it then goes to the president for signing. This is a lengthy process, and in order for groups of people with opposing views to settle in agreement on a measure, a great deal of negotiation is often required. This can result in a piece of legislation that is a compromised, diluted version of its original form that is not an effective solution to the initial problem. Vague, weak legislation often necessitates further action by the other two branches of government in order to interpret and execute it properly.

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Additionally, a consequence of having a two party system is the constant standstill on issues. With the Democrats and Republicans relentlessly fighting, they cannot come to agreements on key issues. For example, the recent commotion on Healthcare. Former President Barack Obama, who was a Democrat, implemented the Affordable Care Act against the views of the Republicans. Instead of expanding and improving the many weak areas of the Act, the majority of the Republican party insisted on repelling and replacing.

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