Final Exam Questions - Essay Example

Answer The U.S. Congress is the chief legislative arm of the Federal Government of the United s with the principal responsibility of making laws for the U.S. Many Americans believed that the U.S. Congress is broken. This belief is founded on a number of reasons. First, as mentioned above, the chief responsibility of the U.S. Congress is to make laws. These laws are expected to improve the standard of living of Americans. This was the objective of the founding fathers. For instance, the first and second continental congresses, which are forerunners of the U.S. Congress, were convened to stop the Coercive Acts.

Though, the contemporary Congress still performs this duty, it has failed the American people in passing certain laws that are supposed to improve the quality of life of Americans. This is the case of the health care reform debate. Congress, in the view of many Americans, plays politics with the health care reform proposal without putting the interest of Americans in mind. Second, the founding fathers felt that a bond should exist between the people and their representatives. This is to ensure that representatives present the local concerns of their constituency at the national level for solution.

Many Americans believe their representatives do not actually represent them but rather represent special interests. The debate on health care reform substantiates this point. Third, the contemporary members of Congress earn much more than the median American income. For instance, non-officer members of Congress earned $169,300 annually while the yearly income of most Americans is $45,113 for men and $35,102 for women (Steven et al., 2006). This seems out of place in the opinion of many Americans, given that congresspersons were supposed to represent the people.

Fourth, the fact that Congress concealed their pay raise by slipping them into a large bill makes many Americans to distrust them (Steven et al., 2006). Last, the fact that many congresspersons run for reelection by running against Congress also make many Americans to believe that Congress is broken. Given the issues raised above, it is apparent that the contemporary U.S. Congress does serve the nation well. Congresspersons are not responsive to issues of public and national interests but rather focus on money and special interests.

In fact, I strongly believed that congressperson represent their political parties and big businesses and not their constituencies. This is far from the intentions of the founding fathers. Reference Steven S. S., Jason M. R., Ryan J. V-W. (2006). The American Congress (4th ed). Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.