Josh Devos
Congress has become the least powerful branch of government. Discuss (45):
Congress general info:
To understand the q. we need to understand the structure of congress and what may affect its
power in comparison to the 2 other branches.
Legislative branch that is divided into 2 chambers; house and senate
House – 435 reps and represent smaller congressional districts, holding votes every 2 years.
Senate – 100 reps, 2 from each state and voted on every 6 years, less of them, less accountable and
more immune from public pressure – seen as the stronger chamber.
Both perform actions that extend to other branches, impeachment and confirmation of officials are
2 simple examples of this.
Congress is not least powerful – Power of legislation & FF intention:
Only branch with power to legislate and pass bills which affects every citizen of the United States.
Having a congress is important, as they are directly accountable to those who vote them in and can
represent much smaller numbers than what a singular exec would.
Founding Fathers (FF) wanted a congress to check the powers of both executive and judicial branch
through separation of powers (main principles of the constitution).
If legislation has cross-party support, it will be passed.
EX: PARTIOT ACT passed with bi-partisan support in both chambers following 9/11 terror attacks
and No Child Left Behind Act.
Link: Only the most quality pieces of legislation get passed as it needs to be agreed in both
chambers, takes away potentially bad laws being enacted through an easy legislative process.
Congress is least powerful – Problems with legislative process - (House & Senate):
In the House, the gerrymandering of districts has taken place in order to group certain voters
sharing the same ideology into one district. This has led to an increase in extreme views which in
turn leads to more extreme candidates.
In the Senate, the increased use of the filibuster and the decrease in presidential deference shows
how votes in congress may be divided in a hyper-partisan way.
This partisanship has lead to a decrease in the ability to compromise, especially in the House,
between the 2 parties.
Although some say that gridlock is a good thing, as it is what the FF intended on (checks within a
branch), ultimately, less bills have been passed and government shutdowns have occurred.
EX: the 112th congress was noted as being the most unproductive congress ever, leading to public
dissatisfaction with politics which exacerbates the problem even more as voter turnout decreases
and only extreme voters decide to vote.
Link: This shows how little power the legislative branch has over other branches if they cannot
conduct their legislative function effectively.
Congress is not the least powerful – checks on the exec:
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