Polarization Of Congress

The United States Congress is often described with two words: unproductive and unpopular. As Congress’s approval ratings continue to plummet it has become evident that gridlock plays a major role in voter’s feelings towards congressional productivity. Many voters are beginning to worry that Congress is more broken than ever due to the fact that it seems as if it is unable to make even the smallest bipartisan decisions anymore (NBC News). Congress is appearing to seem dysfunctional to the public eye in regard to the responses to many issues including health care and immigration (NBC News). Growing partisanship and inability to compromise is seemingly the cause of the ineffectiveness of Congress. Liberals and Conservatives are both guilty …show more content…
Due to polarization, only twenty-three bills were able to be passed in the 112th Congress, and an even lower 15 bills were passed in the 113th Congress as of July 1st (NBC). Divided government has hindered the ability of Congress to pass many bills. It has been described that opposing parties find that preventing the other party from passing any given bill has become the number one priority in Congress (NBC). This poses a problem when a stalemate occurs and few to no bills at all are getting approved. The public begins to view Congress as worthless and lazy, therefore lessening their approval ratings. This has been an ongoing issue the past decade. Among the bills that have resulted in gridlock include immigration, electricity and infrastructure in Africa, same-sex marriage, and gun control laws …show more content…
A no budget no pay approach would be a simple way to fix the inefficient Congress. This proposal would provide some incentive for senators and representatives to pass bills on time. This takes a more personal approach toward fixing Congress in the way that if bills did not get passed on time that the members of Congress would not get paid. In regard to budget bills, this would prevent government shutdowns in the United States. It seems that this failure to pass bills in Congress has become standard operating procedure. Congress has passed a budget on time only four times since 1952. For the past decade and a half, annual budgets have averaged being four months late. Some members of Congress say that having their salary docked until they pass a budget would be an unfair penalty. Applying reasonable pressure to focus Congress' collective mind is a good place to start in regard to urging them to negotiate, compromise, and get bills passed