To What Extent is Congress the Broken Branch in US Politics - Essay Example

IS CONGRESS THE BROKEN BRANCH IN US POLITICS? College To What Extent is Congress the Broken Branch in Us Politics? The US congress is an important part of the government that plays an important role in the public welfare. In the last two centuries the idea that the congress is the broken branch of the US political structure has been a controversial topic generating mixed reactions from both the public and political experts. According to public debates, the congress continues to score low as far as taking care of the public welfare and most citizens have asserted that the congress needs reforms to avoid its political paralysation. On the other hand, the political experts have asserted the congress is fairly performing and only a little amendment would help this branch of the government to perform as per the expectations of the public. However, the experts also feel that there is need for amendment if political efficiency is to be attained. Notably, the congress has failed to solve the public issues and have underperformed due to its political disability and complex problems that have undermined its performance. Therefore, it is true that the US congress is to a great extent the broken branch of the US politics. In the US, the Congress is a 535 members committee that comprises the 435 representative members and 100 senators. The role of the congress is to discuss pertinent issues arising within the public and to present the constituency issues affecting the public. Some of the public issues include drug abuse, resources allocation and the health crisis that may arise within the public. Another role of the congress is to act as an oversight to evaluate government performance, analyse the public policies put forward by the executive body to ensure that they are fair to the public and to regulate the government powers. On this note, the congress owes a great deal of responsibility to the public, as the welfare of the public is dependent on the efficiency of this branch of the government. In executing their duties, the congress is expected to maintain high ethical conduct, fairness and integrity in all operations (Adler & Wilkerson, 2012). In the recent past, a great controversy has emerged, with both the public and the political analysts questioning the efficiency of the congress in executing its roles. The majority of the public have shown that to a great extent the US congress is the dysfunctional part of the US political structure. The centre for congressional studies conducted a research to investigate the public opinion on the performance of the congress and their recommendation for the same. The public scored a D for the congress’ role in dealing with pertinent issues emerging within the public arena. They scored the same grade for the congress participation in controlling the excessive partisan in the congress. In response to the congress role of the congress deliberate in conducting their operations in a sincere manner, most citizens scored a D minus. They also scored low for the role of this branch in upholding ethical conduct within its operations. This kind of response indicates that a large percentage of the public regard the congress as dysfunctional and a paralyzed part of the US government. In their recommendation, the expressed dissatisfaction of the congress structured and felt that the government should reform it to ensure that the body is more independent and focussed on the public welfare. A recent research shows that the public is dissatisfied with both the republicans and the democrats in the congress (Levinson, 2009). On this note, it is clear that the public feels that to a great extent the congress is broken and requires urgent reformation to inject efficiency in this branch. The political analysts and congress experts have come up with a different argument in judging the performance of the congress. This group has stated that the congress is performing fairly well but not to the expectation of the US. About 57% of the political experts stated that the congress satisfies over half of its political obligations while the rest felt that the congress has a lot to do to satisfy the demands of the public. However, there has been a concession among experts that there is need for a comprehensive reform in the structure of the congress to ensure that it can operate with expected efficiency. The idea that prevails is that the weaknesses of the Congress are limited by its poor structural formation that has constrained its power to perform. On the other hand, the experts have criticized the Congress resistance to reform as this underpins its continued under-performance which has triggered the public alarm. Ornstein and Mann (2006) criticized the congress for failing to institute political changes and its reform to the pressure from the public pushing it to change. This implies that the reason why the congress has remained paralyzed is because it has opposed any changes, whereas it is only through change that its performance can be improved. On this note, it is clear that the Congress is a broken branch that is resistance to reformation. One of the reasons why the Congress has scored low on performance is because of the issue bipartisan membership that has resulted into a controversial debate. The congress is represented by a majority of the republicans and the democrats (Mayhew, 2009). This kind of structural formation has led to an immense competition while discussion contentious issues in the house setting. While each group lays strategies to win over contentious motions, the taste of the debate is lost and most experts feel that the public welfare is omitted in these debates. While the people expect the congress to debate on matters that affect public focussing on the long term solutions, the congress has become a tag of war between the democrats and the republicans. Additionally, this has kind of competition has resulted in arm twisting at the height of the rivalry of the bipartisanship. For instance, in a debate on drugs in the congress, the voting process was punctuated by incidences of arm twisting and corruption deals. This is a clear manifestation of incoherence of the congress. While the congress is supposed to vote as a coherent body, is clear that increased partisan has resulted to poor performance and misdirected objectivity. Resultantly, the public welfare of the constituency has become a secondary priority to the congress. In a nutshell, this kind of incoherence and misguided competition has undermined the performance of the congress. Another reason why the congress has become a target for public criticism is its failure to accomplish its oversight function effectively. The Congress has a role to monitor the government and to ensure that it performs according as per the standards of the government. The principle reason why the congress has failed to perform its oversight function is because of the existence of members from the same party as the president. For a government body to perform an oversight role it should be independent from the government to avoid any bias that may be aimed at supporting the government. However, since the majority of the congress constitutes members of the same party as the ruling president, it is clear that their oversight function is limited as the majority seek to support the government and oppose the other party from raising any motion against the government (Mayhew, 2009). The result is that the congress has distanced itself from the oversight role and let the executive body of the government design questionable policies that are dissatisfying to the public. As a result, the congress has failed in satisfying its primary role in evaluating government policies and ensuring that they satisfy the public demands. Failing in its primary role makes warrants the congress to be termed as a broken entity that has lost its primary role. In conclusion, the controversy about the performance of the US congress shows that to a great extent the congress is the broken branch of the government. The public have scored low on its performance in remaining ethical in dealing with public issues. On a personal level, the public feel that the congress has failed to act upon serious issues such as drug abuse and trafficking that are affecting the public in a great way. Most of them feel that the congress should be reformed to ensure that it performs better and that it upholds the due purpose of its formation. The congress experts have reacted more friendly, suggesting that it is the structural formation of the congress that has culminated in its poor performance. Evidently, there is great support for reformation of the congress. The major reason that has resulted to inefficiency of this body is the political rivalry that exists between the republicans and the democrats who are the majority in the congress. On the other hand, their role to watch over the government has been diffused due to their affiliation to the government party. The only solution that exists is that there is an urgent reformation of the Congress to inject efficiency to this broken part of the US politics. Bibliography Adler, E. S., & Wilkerson, J. D. (2012). Congress And The Politics Of Problem Solving. Cambridge [England: Cambridge University Press. Levinson, S 2009, Is Congress The Broken Branch?: Still Complacent After All These Years: Some Rumination On The Continuing Need For A New Political Science (Not To Mention A New Way Of Teaching Law Students About What Is Truly Most Important About The Constitution), Boston University Law Review, 89, P. 409, Lexisnexis Academic: Law Reviews, Ebscohost, Viewed 2 April 2014. Mann, T. E., Ornstein, N. J., Annenberg Foundation Trust At Sunnylands., & Annenberg Public Policy Center. (2006). The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America And How To Get It Back On Track. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Mayhew, DR 2009, Is Congress The Broken Branch?: Is Congress The Broken Branch?, Boston University Law Review, 89, P. 357, Lexisnexis Academic: Law Reviews, Ebscohost, Viewed 2 April 2014. Read More