Why is the legislative process in congress so difficult?
There are many reasons why the legislative process in congress is so difficult. Probably the biggest
reason for this is partisanship and the fact there is often a divided congress, like there will be in the
113th congress today where the democrats hold a majority in the senate and the Republican hold a
majority in the House. A partisan is a committed member of a political party who wholly supports their
own party’s policies and quite reluctant to acknowledge what their political opponents have to say.
Both the House and Senate have to examine a bill and they both have to agree on it to be passed, if
each chamber has an opposing party majority to the other then it is likely that they will not both agree
on the bill. If the bill is proposed by a member of the minority party in one of the chambers then it is
unlikely that it will get passed in that chamber. A poll taken in January 2011 shows that only 20%
approved of the job congress was doing and 73% was disapproving believing that congress is often
beset by gridlock and that little useful work is done. After an outcome of gridlock the conference
committee then tries to make a compromise between the house and the senate and this can take a
long time, again making the process of passing legislation difficult.
If the majority parties in congress are the opposing party to the president then this can also lead to
difficulties. Because the president may not want to pass a bill proposed by the opposing party.
Furthermore if both chambers are lead by the opposing party to the president it will be very difficult
for him to get his own legislation passed. The bills which are going to be debated, are decided by the
House Rules Committee, so Obama may not even get his legislation debated because in the current
congressional session the republicans hold the majority in the house and Obama is a democrat.
Another reason the legislation process can be difficult regarding the President is the fact he has the
power to veto. A crude veto is where he returns a bill to congress unsigned along with two reasons for
his objection Congress can override the presidents veto but only with a two thirds majority vote and
this is very hard to obtain from both chambers, especially if they are both dominated by opposing
parties. The president can also use a pocket veto which is where he leave sit on is desk unsigned until
the time for signing the bill runs out and into recess. During Clintons 8 years of presidency he used the
veto 36 times. With those 3 vetoes congress attempted to override 13 them, it failed 11 and succeeded
in just 2. So the president can make the legislative process difficult because even if there has been a
lot of time spent working on the bill, without the president’s approval, it cannot be passed.
The legislation process in the senate can also be made difficult because senators are able to use a
filibuster. This is a device by which a senator or group of senators can attempt to talk a bill to death by
using delaying tactics. The filibuster derives from a senators right of unlimited debate. A three-fiths
vote is required to end a filibuster and this can be hard to achieve if the senator using the filibuster is
of the majority party in the senate. If a bill is delayed because a filibuster has been used then the time
for the bill will run out and therefore will not be passed because a decision hasn’t been made.
There are many reasons why the legislative process in congress is so difficult. Probably the biggest
reason for this is partisanship and the fact there is often a divided congress, like there will be in the
113th congress today where the democrats hold a majority in the senate and the Republican hold a
majority in the House. A partisan is a committed member of a political party who wholly supports their
own party’s policies and quite reluctant to acknowledge what their political opponents have to say.
Both the House and Senate have to examine a bill and they both have to agree on it to be passed, if
each chamber has an opposing party majority to the other then it is likely that they will not both agree
on the bill. If the bill is proposed by a member of the minority party in one of the chambers then it is
unlikely that it will get passed in that chamber. A poll taken in January 2011 shows that only 20%
approved of the job congress was doing and 73% was disapproving believing that congress is often
beset by gridlock and that little useful work is done. After an outcome of gridlock the conference
committee then tries to make a compromise between the house and the senate and this can take a
long time, again making the process of passing legislation difficult.
If the majority parties in congress are the opposing party to the president then this can also lead to
difficulties. Because the president may not want to pass a bill proposed by the opposing party.
Furthermore if both chambers are lead by the opposing party to the president it will be very difficult
for him to get his own legislation passed. The bills which are going to be debated, are decided by the
House Rules Committee, so Obama may not even get his legislation debated because in the current
congressional session the republicans hold the majority in the house and Obama is a democrat.
Another reason the legislation process can be difficult regarding the President is the fact he has the
power to veto. A crude veto is where he returns a bill to congress unsigned along with two reasons for
his objection Congress can override the presidents veto but only with a two thirds majority vote and
this is very hard to obtain from both chambers, especially if they are both dominated by opposing
parties. The president can also use a pocket veto which is where he leave sit on is desk unsigned until
the time for signing the bill runs out and into recess. During Clintons 8 years of presidency he used the
veto 36 times. With those 3 vetoes congress attempted to override 13 them, it failed 11 and succeeded
in just 2. So the president can make the legislative process difficult because even if there has been a
lot of time spent working on the bill, without the president’s approval, it cannot be passed.
The legislation process in the senate can also be made difficult because senators are able to use a
filibuster. This is a device by which a senator or group of senators can attempt to talk a bill to death by
using delaying tactics. The filibuster derives from a senators right of unlimited debate. A three-fiths
vote is required to end a filibuster and this can be hard to achieve if the senator using the filibuster is
of the majority party in the senate. If a bill is delayed because a filibuster has been used then the time
for the bill will run out and therefore will not be passed because a decision hasn’t been made.
