A government divided
The dirty little secret about our governing processes is that the only time
Congress can bring about real change in the country is when the president's
political party controls both houses of Congress.
AS THE FIRST session of the 110th Congress heads into its August recess,
opinion polls show Congress' favorability rating even lower than that of
President Bush. What the poll numbers do not show are the reasons for public
dissatisfaction with their legislators. But common wisdom suggests that it has
to do with the lack of legislative accomplishment.
What is unclear is what the public expected.
It is true that about the only significant new piece of legislation enacted
so far this year has been the increase in the minimum wage. However, that was
accomplished only because enough Republican senators supported the measure to
make it veto-proof.
The dirty little secret about our governing processes is that the only time
Congress can bring about real change in the country is when the president's
political party controls both houses of Congress.
Otherwise, a Senate minority or the presidential veto power makes change
highly unlikely.
Under current Senate rules, 41 senators can block any legislative proposals.
So the House can send over measure after measure by majority vote, but the
Senate remains the legislative graveyard.
And even when the Senate can muster 60 votes to get something done, it takes
67 senators (plus two-thirds of the House) to override a presidential veto.
The current partisan breakdown of the Senate is almost a guarantor of
gridlock. There are actually 49 elected Democrats and 49 Republicans, plus two
independents who vote with the Democratic caucus in order to organize the body
and elect a majority leader. For most of this year, one of the Democrats, Tim
Johnson of
49-49 deadlock
Apparently the only reason Lieberman voted with the Democratic caucus at the
start of the session was his promise to
Two other important bills were passed late in the week, just before the
summer recess: an ethics-reform package and a homeland security bill, which
will implement a number of the recommendations of the Sept. 11
Commission, which was headed by former Gov. Tom Kean.
The latter piece of legislation has had major input from
Bills are languishing
Meanwhile, the House has passed numerous bills that are languishing on the
Senate side. Among the House-approved legislation are a Fair pay bill, which
would overrule a Supreme Court decision in June limiting suits for wage
discrimination; the Employee Free Choice Act, which would make it easier for
labor unions to obtain recognition from employers; a prescription drug bill,
which would require the federal government to negotiate lower prescription drug
costs; a bill expanding federal funding for stem cell research; a Hate Crimes
Prevention Act, which would expand the ability of state and local governments
to prosecute crimes committed against persons because of their race, color,
religion, national origin, sexual orientation or disability; and the Crime
Background Check Improvement Act, which would prohibit individuals adjudicated
to be mentally ill from possessing firearms.
It may well be that one of the public's major frustrations with
congressional inaction this year results from the war in
So there is little chance of actually bringing the issue to a binding vote.
And even if seven more Republicans joined the Democrats to try to force a
prompt troop withdrawal, it is next to impossible for the legislative branch to
micromanage troop movements in the face of an intransigent White House.
So Congress is left with mainly symbolic gestures.
Of course, the ultimate congressional weapon is impeachment. But such a move
would not only divide the nation, it would require 67 votes in the Senate to be
successful, an unimaginable result.
Another issue on which the public would clearly like to see positive action
is health care – but, again, it will require a superhuman effort to craft a
bipartisan bill that would also be acceptable to Bush.
One major piece of proposed legislation, which is mainly
the handiwork of Rep.Rush Holt, D-Hopewell, involves
regulation of electronic voting machines to guarantee against fraud and
manipulation of electoral results. For a while it appeared that adoption
was possible in time for the 2008 elections, but recent opposition by local
election officials fearful that the new rules could not be implemented by next
year threatens to derail passage until the 2012 elections.
Some polls suggest that the public actually prefers divided government, in
which the White House is controlled by one party and Congress (or at least one
branch) by the other. But if that is what the public wants, it will also have
to accept a good measure of legislative stalemate.
Frank Askin is professor of law
and director of the Constitutional Litigation Clinic,