bipartisanship and divided / unified gov Flashcards
bipartisanship is not explicitly mentioned in the constitution however the
separation of powers and system of checks and balances makes it ineveitable that compromise is necessary in order to get anything done
if there is a divided govenbemnt , when the president is from a diffrent party to congress or even one half of congress , bipartisanship is
necessary for laws to get passed and for the system to work effectively
in an ideal situation bipartisanship would lead to an effective policy based on compromise and widespread support however given the
highly partisan political environment in America in the 21st century , in reality the need for bipartisanship has resulted in gridlock and nothing getting passed when there is a divided government
when there is a unified government it is much easier to get
significant legislative achievements passed , particularly those from the presidents agenda
this is much more difficult under a divided government
between 1975 and 2025 there has been just 16 years with unified government compared to
34 years with divided government
in the 50 years between 1925 and 1975 it was the opposite with
34 years of unified government and just 16 years of divided government
the last 3 presidents (Obama , Trump and Biden ) have only unified government for the first
2 years of their presidency with divided government thereafter
this has resulted in the majority of their legislative achievements coming in the first 2 years , for example
Obama - affordable care act passed in march 2010
Trump - tax cuts and jobs act passed in December 2017
Biden - inflation reduction act passed in august 2022
arguments that bipartisanship and divided government are effective
- can be argued that divided government and the need for bipartisanship is effective as it leads to congress better scrutinising the actions of the president , including their treaties , budgets and nomination which require congress approval this plays
a crucial role in holding the president to account and protecting democracy
the house judiciary committee in the democrat controlled house of representatives , for example played a key role in investigating the Watergate scandal and the complicity of republican president Richard Nixon in 1973 , eventually resulting in his impeachment
arguments that bipartisanship and divided government are effective
- when there is a unified government , it arguably results in much less effective scrutiny
during the Iraq war and war on terror , for example George Bush presidency received little scrutiny from the republican controlled congress
the senate hasn’t rejected a treaty from president of its own party since 1935 whilst 4 have been rejected under divided government in this time
arguments that bipartisanship and divided government are effective
- furthermore bipartisanship arguably forces the democrats and republicans to compromise and pass legislation , there have been a number of recent legislative achievements under divided government
the coronavirus aid relief and economic security (CARES) Act , a $2.2 trillion economic stimulus law in response to COVID-19 , was passed under divided government in march 2020
the infrastructure investment and jobs act , which included approximately $1.2 trillion in spending , was passed in November 2021 . even thought this was under significant bipartisan support. It passed by senate by 69-30.
arguments that bipartisanship and divided government are ineffective
- on the other hand it can be argued that divided government doesn’t result in effective scrutiny of the president instead it results in highly partisan , political attacks aimed at harming the president at the next election , for example
both trump , Clinton and Biden have faced attempted impeachment , the latter in particular can be seen as problematic as the key charge has no firm proof
the US house select committee on events surrounding the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi for example was set up in 2014 by a republican House of Representatives . It can be argued that it was partly set up to blame and damage the likely Democrat presidential candidate in 2016 Hillary Clinton , who was Secretary of State at the time of attack but found little evidence
arguments that bipartisanship and divided government are ineffective
- it can be argued that bipartisanship and divided government isn’t effective in forcing parties to work together and compromise , instead it leads to gridlock and the failure to pass key pieces of legislation , in the past few decades there has been
little success in passing legislation on immigration reform on climate change , despite both pressing issues
a key example of legislative inaction is congress’s failure to pass the DREAM act under the Obama administration , which would have provided a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children
Despite widespread public support and numerous attempts to pass the legislation , it was consistently blocked under a divided government in congress , leaving millions of indviduals in legal limbo and at risk of deportation from the only country many of them have known as home
arguments that bipartisanship and divided government are ineffective
- the failure of bipartisanship has also resulted in two major government shutdowns in recent years when congress has rejected the presidents budget for example ,
Obamas budget was rejected by the republican controlled house of representatives in 2013 , resulting in 1 16 day government shutdown of the federal government until a compromise was reached , this was largely due to disagreement over the affordable care act
Trumps budget was rejected by republican congress in 2018/19 resulting in the longest government shutdown in US history of 35 days , this was largely due to disagreement over funding trumps proposed wall along the US Mexican border
