ETVT that congress legislate effectively (30) Flashcards
Gridlock is common
The Bicameral nature and the strict legislation process means gridlock is very common, especially in the modern day of hyper partisanship and polarisation of American politics, meaning there is usually very little compromise.
Only 2%-3% of bills become law between 2010-2020, as compared to 6%-7% of law in the 1980s, meaning that governments are ineffective when enacting policy and passing legislation.
The 112th Congress, 2011-2013, was the least productive in passing legislation since records began – only 284 bills were passed, and over 12,000 were introduced.
Both chambers need to agree on the federal appropriations bill in order to fund the federal government for the fiscal year, due to hyper-partisanship the 2013 and 2018 government shutdowns shoed the ineffective nature of the two branches.
In 2013 Republicans in the house and senators such as Ted Cruz and conservative groups such as heritage action offered several continuing resolutions that contained either delaying or defunding the ACA 2010, this meant that the two chambers were in deadlock, the house passed the continuing appropriations resolutions in 2014 and the senate stripped the bill of ACA measures.
Furthermore scrutiny to legislation is not effective as it is more often then not passed down party lines, for example the American Rescue Plan act 2021 was a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus that passed down party lines 50-49.
Tax cuts and jobs act 2017, reducing tax rates and limiting government spending bill was again split straight down party lines, with all democrats voting against the passage of the bill in both the house and the senate.
In 73% of votes in 2016 a majority of democrats voted against a majority of republicans.
Gridlock just means there is good scrutiny
Some argue that the low rate of legislation passage and the possibility of gridlock means that all legislation passed is necessary and as a result there is excellent scrutiny.
Furthermore partisanship and gridlock does not mean major legislation is not passed, furthermore bipartisan legislation is a common occurrence in congress.
Comprehensive Iran sanctions act 2010, this act was passed by the house 408-8 and senate 99-0 and signed into law by President Obama in 2010.
The CARES Act was a $2.2 trillion economic stimulus passed in the 116th congress, passing in the senate 96-0 and in the house with only 6 voting against.
Efficient legislation is clear.
Arguably the Affordable Care Act 2010 showed that congress could pass legislation that could overhaul the healthcare system if needed, furthermore whilst it was passed in the senate after making a number of amendments, it was then passed again in the House. GOOD SCRUTINY
Tyrnanny of the minority
The legislative process places far too much power with key individuals such as the house speaker and the majority leader, they are allowed to dominate the legislative process and congress suffers from tyranny of the minority.
2013 border security, economic opportunity and immigration act, conservative republicans in the house were opposed to this bill, house republicans and speaker Boehner said that this bill would not be introduced onto the house floor, this was called the ‘Hastert rule’.
This is a rule used by the speaker of the house, it limits the power of the minority party to bring bills up for a vote on the floor, the doctrine says that the speaker will not allow a floor vote on a bill unless a majority of the majority party supports the bill.
There is also the possibility of filibuster taking place in the senate, where senators exercise their rights of unlimited debate to delay a bill, stamina is more important than relevance when conducting a filibuster, it is a entirely partisan tool that is used to prevent the passage of legislation.
For instance, members of the House passed the DREAM act in December 2010, however a filibuster from senate republicans who knew they would lose a vote in the senate filibustered the bill and only 56 democrats voted in the senate to progress the bill, as a result it was defeated in the senate.
Cloture motions reached a high in 2008 with a record 139, here again a minority of the house have undue influence over proceedings if they wish, tyranny of the minority.
The House rules committee can use ‘closed rules’ to stop amendments made by the house on bills and prevent legislation from being approved by the members of the house, the house rules committee is a standing committee, and it choses which bills make it from the committee stage to the floor of the house.
Closed rules forbid any amendments to the bill, the chair of this committee has a lot of influence and decided what bills are debated on and how it is debated, in 2017-19 56% of bills debated under closed rules failed and stops the minority party amending the bill.
Cruz gave a 21-hour Senate speech in an effort to hold up a federal budget bill and thereby defund the Affordable Care Act.
Cruz persuaded the House of Representatives and House Speaker John Boehner to include an ACA defunding provision in the bill. During the filibuster he read Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
Tyranny of the minority isnt a issue
Filibusters have become less effective in recent years, in 2010 the senate adopted new precedent, it was named as the ‘nuclear option’, this meant that filibusters only required a simple majority vote to end them for executive and judicial branch nominations.
Democrat senators attempted to launch a filibuster against Gorsuch nomination to block his confirmation, however the ‘nuclear option’ was evoked and the nomination passed.
Filibusters are only effective if bills do not have support from over 60 senators, this ensures that bills passed in the senate have wide support and are of high quality with very good scrutiny.
Check on the presidents legislative powers
Legislation is a very important check on the presidents power, without gridlock and important checks from this branch of government then the President will have too much power over legislation, therefore in this sense congress is effective.
Clintons healthcare proposals were deeply unpopular and divisive and as a result the Clinton health care plan wasn’t even voted upon in congress as it simply did not have enough support, he preceded to lose both the house and the senate in 1994 and his reforms were not progressed.
After the Sandy hook shooting Obama attempted to pass his Assault Weapons ban, however there were significant concerns within both the senate and congress, it was defeated by a vote of 40-60.
The senate has the power to override a congressional veto, meaning that congress effectively prevents the president from gaining too much power over legislation, they can do so with a 2/3 majority to override the veto, for example Obama attempted to veto JASTA 2016, which had significant support in both houses and the veto was easily overridden 97-1.
Checks on the presdient are ineffective
The constitution gives the president power to veto legislation, this cannot be easily overridden by congress, this therefore gives the president far too much power over the legislation that is passed in congress.
Presidents are given the power by article 2 of the constitution to veto congressional, whilst in theory they have the power to override the veto, this requires a 2/3 majority of both houses, 93% of all presidential vetoes have been successful.
Donald Trump made 8 regular vetoes and none were overturned, and despite overriding JASTA Obama made 12 other Vetos that were all successful.
Furthermore in times of crisis the president can bypass congress easily and pass ineffective legislation.
In 2001 the 9/11 terror attacks in New York gave Bush a platform to increase his presidential power and get his way in congress. His approval ratings rose quickly and peaked at 90% that year after announcing his ‘war on terror’. Bush past the Patriot act 2001, expanding surveillance and the powers of the federal government, it passed in the senate 98-1.
There has been a lot of criticism of the powers it grants to the federal government, detention of immigrants, searches of home without warrants, and financial records without a court order arguably are in violation of a number of constitutional amendments.
