Congress Synthesis Essay

This written report is appertaining to the book How Congress Works and Why You Should Care, written by Lee H. Hamilton. This book is published by Indiana University Press in Bloomington, IL, it was copyrighted in 2004 by the publisher.

Throughout history, there have been many factors that seem to have influenced the operations of Congress. Some of these factors have been the committee system, seniority, and political parties. These are only a few of the factors that actually have an influence on Congress’s decisions of certain operations.

The inter workings of Congress have been studied extensively by Richard Fenno and David R. Mayhew. Mayhew’s study of Congress took place in Washington, while Richard Fenno conducted his research by following politicians within their congressional district. Mayhew attributes three primary goals to congressmen- getting reelected, achieving influence within Congress and making “good Policy”. Fenno also attributes three basic goals, having influence inside the House than other congressmen. Second, helping their constituents and thereby insuring their reelection, and lastly helping make good policy. The purpose of this paper is to research a member of Congress and to make a direct connection between his activity in Washington and his home district. The paper will answer whether the congressmen is a delegate or trustee. Are the actions a pursuit for reelection? Are the committee assignments a path for movement within the House or outside? What legislation has he/she sponsored or co-sponsored and does it directly reflect his/her districts political view. And finally, do major industries and interest groups within his/she district affect the way he/she votes.

In the past century, people continued to express an increasingly discontent view of Congress especially true when one looks back before the Clinton Impeachment debacle As the size of the nation and the number of congressman have grown, the congress has come under attack by both public influences and congressman themselves. Yet looking at one congressman's relationship with his or her constituents, it would be hard to believe that this is the branch of government that has come under suspect. In "If Ralph Nader says congress is 'The broken branch,' how come we love our congressman so much?" author Richard F. Fenno, Jr., provides insight into this view and why, through congress coming under fire, constituents still feel positively about

Otto von Bismarck once said, “Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.” The arduous process that a bill undergoes in order to become a law may seem grueling and pointless; however, the processes high caliber of difficulty allows for the extreme prestige and exclusivity of bills that are passed. Because the process is so exhausting, and filibusters, subsequently requiring a super-majority vote to pass a bill, have always been such a threat in Congress, historically, bills that attempt to reform sensitive issues have not fared well in the legislative branch. However, when Congress does pass controversial laws, it then also faces the task of effectively enforcing them. But, when the process is carried out to

Recently, many political scientists have argued over whether today’s Congress is centralizing or decentralizing. Centralization allows Congress to act quickly and decisively, but at the expense of the members of Congress and their constituents, while decentralization protects and enhances the interests of individual members and their constituents, but at the expense of its ability to act quickly and decisively. At its birth, Congress was created as a decentralized body, and although it has fluctuated over the years, the Constitution, congressional incentive for reelection, the committee system, and weak central leadership has certainly maintained such a decentralized institution.

The increasing importance of big money in campaigns has also heightened the polarization within Congress. Candidates have been forced to develop strong views on the most polarizing topics, such as abortion, LGBT rights, and gun regulations. If a candidate does not express strong views on these topics, wealthy Republican or Democratic super PACs are not likely to back them. This has caused more gridlock in Congress as many members are not willing to compromise on these important topics (La Raja

Recently many people believe that congress has not been working efficiently. Over the past couple of years the amount of laws passed has been at an all time low, and Congress has been receiving mostly negative reviews from the American public. In his book Unlock Congress, Michael Golden discusses many of the problems that have been negatively affecting Congress. Golden then offers many different solutions that he believes will help Congress work more smoothly.

Today our Congress isn’t working on any major problems in the U.S. The U.S. Congress is weak, which it shouldn’t be, it should be strong, and be able to make decisions, but from it being weak, it results in Congress being unable to make major decisions. Of course the are some who the the very opposite or differently of one’s thinking. Many would say that Congress is strong, because Congress is united. This would be true on some very rare occasions.

The political climate today is increasingly becoming more turbulent as Republicans and Democrats volley for superiority in Washington. The two parties are becoming more polarized by the hour, and this is affecting the ability of the government to move forward and pass legislation and continue to improve America. The Senate is in a state of gridlock on some of the most important issues to the people of the United States to date, and yet the senators which the people elected are instead caught up in fighting the people on the other side of the aisle. They should be listening to what their constituents need and want. Today Republican senators are using filibusters, scare tactics, and even entire news networks

In recent years, there has been an increasing trend of polarization between the ideologies of the two parties in State Legislatures. This polarization can have wide reaching effects in regards to the policies, or the lack thereof, that are created and passed in state legislatures, and this polarization also impacts state-level elections. The increasing partisanship at the State Level also has an impact in the ease of passing laws, as well as the ability of elected officials to be able to keep their campaign promises and to implement their policy goals. There are many reasons for this trend, though there are a few major reasons that I believe are the root causes of increased polarization in American state legislatures. One of the primary causes

For Centuries in the United States, Congressional gridlock has been one of the main difficulties of prosperity and progress. The government of the United States has had the opportunity to make the life of its citizens better but due to the epidemic of gridlock a lot of the issues we face are unresolved or ignored. Going forward I will give causes, solutions and some examples of the effect that it has had on the democracy of the United States as well as examples of congressional gridlock.

In recent years, congress has been incredibly adversarial to the president, providing that it is not controlled by members of his (the president) political party affiliation. The main source of this weakness is that congress and its members are defined by partisanship, they value tribalism, and are rewarded based on their loyalty to their party and antagonism to their opposition. This makes congress a breeding ground for viscous opposition where any room for compromise between parties is villainized, because of this the president can only govern efficiently when his party controls a significant percentage of both or either house. The major cause of this new political culture is highly contested, some say it is because political parties have come to gain too much power by way of their influence and ability to build campaign war chests. Others believe that political parties are too weak, citing that special interests and third party intervention has made members of either party less responsive to their leaders causing them to govern based on their fiscal supporters, which, would not allow compromise between two single groups. Regardless, it is very appropriate to cast the blame of a dysfunctional congress upon party politics. To illustrate this relationship between the executive and partisan congress we will look at the presidency of Barack Obama,

In this editorial, Michael Dobie expresses his stance on our modern day Congress. The main issue that he has with it is that Congress is unable to complete anything at all. He believes that so many of our issues, such as the Zika virus, gun control, our national spending, aren’t being acted on because both parties of Congress are unwilling to work together to develop a strategy to any of these issues. He also shares the statistic that 83% of Americans are not satisfied with the way that Congress is currently functioning. In short, Dobie concludes that Congress, as a group, does not perform their duties as they should be and due to that, are unable to find solutions to our major problems, which we are currently dealing with.

Understanding the functions of the Senate and Congress is integral in understanding American politics. The United States government is comprised of three different branches; the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch. This essay will provide an overview of the U.S. Congress and addressed the differences between the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. This essay will analyze the powers granted to the U.S. Congress and explain the roles and functions of the House of Representatives and the Senate. This essay will also explain the organization of political parties as well as leadership roles in the house.