The American Government

The book How Congress Works, by Lee H. Hamilton, tells us a brief summary of the interworking’s of congress. The book begins to convey the role of congress in chapter one, the author begins with congresses important roles in our democracy. Which are passing budgets, manage conflicts that arise, debate issues facing the country and most importantly to act within the system of checks and balances. In our government neither congress nor president is supreme, most of the authority is with the citizens. The United States government is balanced into three branches of government: Congress, POTUS, SCOTUS, the House of Representatives and the Senate: also between the Federal Government and the States. The States are broken down into different regions with different issues facing them and different interests eventually boiling down to the bill of rights. Congress has the power of lawmaking, along with what the President’s agenda is, recommending bills to congress, and the power of the President to veto bills. Congress contains the power of the purse in which Congress controls the power of taxation and spending. Congress legislations and policies control some aspects of our lives like taxation or when they regulate us. Our Government

The legislative branch, Congress, has the power to make laws valid for the whole country. Powers like the regulation of taxes, regulation of commerce between the states and with foreign countries, the power to declare war, and the power to impeach the President are some of the issues the legislative branch has to deal with. Congress has two chambers (or "houses"): the Senate and the House of Representatives ("the house").

Gridlock is one of the United States leading problems, and the main reason why people find the government to be “useless” or “slow” when trying to come to a consensus on major issues. Congressional gridlock is when neither the House or Congress seems to be able to respond with solutions to our nation’s pressing problems, and fails to enact any meaningful legislation to fix national issues. Gridlock mainly occurs when the president and the majority in one or both houses have different political beliefs and are in different parties. You hear everyone talking about gridlock and how it needs to be fixed, but you never actually see our political leaders doing anything about it.

Congress enacts laws that touch every aspect of American lives, from the taxing policies, to what behaviors are against the law, as well as regulating interstate commerce.

The United States is no longer the democracy it stands for. Democracy stands for a government controlled by the majority of the population. The United States is no longer controlled by the majority. America is controlled by the powerful corporations and rich elite. The combination of an uninformed, disinterested public, a flawed election process, and an economy controlled by 1% of the population have all led to the formation of the American Oligarchy.

Congressional gridlock has become a major problem over the past several years, the lack of power that any-one party has held for more than just a couple years means that very little has been accomplished by Congress. A Congressional gridlock is a situation when a law can not be passed due to disagreements either between political parties, branches of government or between the houses of Congress. These disagreements that do not end in compromise slow the legislative process and leave both parties unhappy. Gridlock can also occur within the Congressional Senate when a minority party member begins a filibuster.

The Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia (1967) resulted in the striking down of state laws that prohibited whites and African Americans from marrying. Mildred Loving, one of the parties in the case, issued a statement on the fortieth-anniversary of her case in which she urged that same-sex couples be allowed to marry.

Congressional gridlock is not a modern invention in the world of politics. Alexander Hamilton use to complain about the deadlock “flaw” in the design of Congress. In politics, “Congressional gridlock” is a situation in Congress where there are complications in passing laws for the people. Gridlock could be prevented if we had a democracy for the majority and unified. While many view this as frustrating, gridlocks are starting to become a political norm. This leads to a divided government. Congressional gridlock in the states has become an everyday topic that nobody really understands what to do. The creation of gridlock is seen every day. The failure that Congress comes with when trying to agree upon the nation’s budget, or have the right

Congress is the legislative branch of our national government and shares power with the president as well as the Supreme Court. It has five fundamental functions, which include lawmaking, helping constituents, performing oversight, and educating the public,

Gridlock is caused by a variety of other factors. Both branches of Congress might have the same party majority, but the President may be of another. If this happens, the President may resort to his veto powers to stop a piece of legislation from continuing and or his executive order powers to progress a specific bill to be passed.. Another cause of gridlock is extreme party polarization. The gap between parties is quickly growing and there aren’t enough independents and moderates to even the scale. Back in 2013, there were only 6 moderates in all of Congress. The officials aren’t all to blame though. The people’s voting habits have an effect on gridlock. Through the years, incumbents have been repeatedly voted back into office. This continuous cycle is going to further increase the presence of gridlock. New ideas and minds are being kept out of Congress and having the same viewpoints in control is going to hinder

Congressional gridlock has been around for centuries in Congress and does not seem to be changing anytime soon. Congressional gridlock refers to the inaction of the government and failure to make a decision or legislative law that satisfy the needs of the people. This inaction of the government and stagnation occurs when two parties cannot agree on a single matter, and they cannot come to a good agreement on how or when the law is going to be passed, thus leaving complex problems in the nation unhandled. Congressional gridlock does not just come and take over the government on its own, though. It is evident that congressional gridlock is a major problem in the American government that needs to be addressed because there are so many root causes that the government fails to fix including gerrymandering and a lack of “bridge-builders.” Solutions to these causes that have yet to be made include improving the system of checks and balances and reducing representative dynamics and some of the nation’s most pressing problems that should not even be examples of congressional gridlock include climate change and the gun laws issue.

THESIS: The Legislative Branch consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate which forms the United States Congress; the Constitution grants Congress the single authority to pass legislation and declare war, the right to approve or reject Presidential appointments, and significant investigative powers.

The definition of congressional gridlock is the inability of the government to act because different parties (usually rivals) control different parts of the government. When two major partisan parties have a differentiating stands when it comes to ideology that’s when gridlock occurs. The House of Representatives and the senate are controlled by different parties, and this is when congressional gridlock can occur. This situation is very common and is a bit complex because in order for bills to be presented, the house has to be in agreeance with it first. Many members fear losing control with the decisions they make, without Congress all being controlled by the same party. If congress were to side with the opposing party on an issue that could benefit many lives, they won’t because they feel that they will not be loyal to their colleagues’ beliefs and stand on that

Congress has many functions to keep it working and functioning. They do many things to make laws, make sure they’re fair, and much more. There are also many committees with important jobs. There are many things that influence congressional elections such as reapportionment, redistricting, much more. There are many people who make up the House and Senate and they have many important jobs to keep things running smoothly.

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes…to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States … (and) .....To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States