Broken Branch: The Role Of Congress In The United States

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The term broken branch suggests that Congress is the most ineffective branch out of the different parts that make up the federal government of the US. This label may be given to the legislative branch because of the notorious reputation they have got from the common public of America as being an unproductive group of individuals, as Tocqueville said ‘When one enters the House of Representatives at Washington, one is struck by the vulgar demeanor of that great assembly’. However a key issue, which is difficult for congress as a unit to overcome, is the automatic negative bias that was originally built in by the Founding Fathers, which prevents the system to be very effective as a heavy load from the checks and balances.

Most recently public esteem in Congress has declined. In 2011 (following/during the passage of the Healthcare legislation), only 9% of Americans approved of the way Congress was doing its job, this was an all time low, moreover this was lower than the approval rating of Obama. This was further demonstrated by the midterm election of 2014 where the Republics gained 9 seats in Congress, meaning they now have the majority in both chambers. This change in power of Congress shows that the people are dissatisfied with what was the current
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‘Lance Armstrong is a liar, a hypocrite, a con-man, a bully, a crook and an acommanical sociopath!’ ‘So when do you think he’ll run for Congress?’ this type of description gives the impression