UNFINISHED Evaluate the view that Congress is effective at carrying out if legislative function?

Question 1

intro

Answer 1

not effective at carrying out legislative process

Question 2

para 1 theme

Answer 2

constitution

Question 3

para 2 theme

Answer 3

partisanship

Question 4

para 1 - constitution

Answer 4

• The process is so challenging and the congressional session is short that the chance of passing legislation is limited.
  
  • The Constitutional restraints in place make legislation impossible.
  • Legislation must be agreed upon by both houses, making legislation very difficult, especially considering polarisation in recent years. E.g. There was a partisan divide over the implementation of the ‘Patient Protection and the Affordable Care Act’, which led to a 16 day shutdown during the Obama administration. This in fact gained zero votes from the Republicans
    The use of filibuster has meant that practically every vote needs a supermajority. This is because stopping a filibuster requires 60 senators to support a closure motion, which considering the 50/50 split in the current Senate would not practically happen. In fact, from 1917-1970, the closure procedure was only used 8 times. It was this exact method that was used by Republicans to block background checks on buying weapons. Many attempts have been made to remove the filibuster, including on November 21st 2013.

Question 5

para 1 - however

Answer 5

• Idea of ‘compromise, compromise, compromise’ (madison). Madison also argued that the existence of supermajorities was a “shield to some particular interests, and another obstacle generally to hasty and partial methods”. FF Alexander Hamilton mentioned how they were necessary as they “established a salutary check upon the legislative body”.
  
  • Filibusters ensure that the minority party is able to influence legislation, once again avoiding this tyranny of the majority.
  • Filibusters ensure that the governing party has to compromise or face gridlock. This is in comparison to alternative use of budget reconciliation bills, which can only debate for 20 hours and need only a simple ,majority, meaning that the majority party will easily dominate the party in the minority.
    Congress is still able to pass legislation. E.g. CRA was passed into law on July 2nd 1964, and prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, colour, religion, sex or national origin

Question 6

para 1 - rebuttal

Answer 6

• The fact is that legislation has become more and more impossible. The use of filibuster has made it so
  The ‘barriers to passing legislation are substantial’ as theorist Loomis argues. Congress had a 2% bill success in 2012. The 116th Congress passed a measly 344 pieces of enacted legislation, compared to the 804 pieces in the 95th Congress (1977-Oct 1978)

Question 7

para 2 - partisanship

Answer 7

• In the 113th Congress (2012-14), Representatives voted with their party 92% of the time, while Democrats in the Senate reached a figure of 94%
  
  • There was a partisan divide over the implementation of the ‘Patient Protection and the Affordable Care Act’, which led to a 16 day shutdown during the Obama administration. This in fact gained zero votes from the Republicans
  • Having a majority in Congress is crucial. When the Democrats lost the House in 2010 and Senate in 2014, legislation became practically impossible. In this period, Congress was one of the most unproductive of all time, passing 296 pieces of legislation. This is in comparison to the do-nothing Congress of 1948, which was criticised after passing 906 bills.
    Conversely, in times of united government, scrutiny is reduced through party dominance. during the premiership of George W Bush, the Republicans would hold a majority in both houses until January 2007. As a result Congressional oversight became non-existent. Between 2003 and 2005, the senate armed services committee held no hearing on combat operations in Afghanistan and only 9 on Iraq, making up a minute 9% of their total overall hearings. This would be explained in Ornstein and Mann’s “when Congress checks out” (2006). There were 37 investigation hearings between 2003-04, a drastic drop-off from the 135 in 1993-94

Question 8

para 2 - however

Answer 8

The equality of both houses in the legislative process ensures that the needs of both the people and the states are heard, with compromise being integral to the process