Emma Fordham

Mrs. Yandell
October 27, 2014
Government
Is Congress Effective?
Aside from becoming emotionally invested in football teams, the preferred pastime of
many Americans is complaining about Congress. Everybody, regardless of party lines or moral
beliefs, can agree that Congress is not doing a fantastic job of helping to run our country. The
system set up by the Founding Fathers is not a bad one. Two separate houses (the House of
Representatives and the Senate) were designed to balance one another out. Unfortunately,
somewhere between 1775 and today, the system stopped functioning smoothly. The truth of the
matter is that Congress is not even close to being as effective as it could be. One of the problems
that Congress faces today is that it is too evenly balanced. According to an article written by The
Washington Post, our current Congress is the most politically divided one since the
Reconstruction Era.
1
Think angry Southerners versus victorious Northerners, throw in a dash of
brutal violence, and then put that image into todays standards. That is the atmosphere in
Congress. The original system of legislative checks and balances has no hope of being successful
in an environment where one party (Democrats) controls the Senate, the other party
(Republicans) controls the House, and both are too stubborn to reach a compromise. Why do the
two houses find it so impossible to reach a suitable compromise? Many members are focused on

1. Ezra Klein, 14 reasons why this is the worst Congress ever, The Washington Post, July 13, 2012,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/07/13/13-reasons-why-this-is-the-worst-congress-
ever/.
fighting with each other and voting along party lines rather than working for American citizens.
For example, the House voted to repeal the Affordable Healthcare Act. The Senate repealed that
repeal. The House attempted to repeal the act againthirty-two more times. The House voted to
repeal the Affordable Healthcare Act on thirty-three separate occasions knowing that it was the
Democrats signature piece of legislation and that there was no way on Earth that the Democrat-
controlled Senate would ever support that repeal.
2
The biggest problem that Congress faces is
that the American people genuinely do not approve of the work Congressmen and
Congresswomen are doing. According to a Gallup poll, only ten percent of citizens think that
Congress is doing an effective job.
3

Obviously, the majority of Americans (myself included) do not think that Congress is
effective. However, I do not believe that any of the problems todays Congress faces are the fault
of the system itself; rather, it is the stark difference in the political beliefs of both houses and the
members absolute refusal to find a compromise that stop Congress from getting things done. In
order to improve the effectiveness, I think that there should be explicit deadlines that Congress
must make a decision on certain, important bills by; if they do not meet these deadlines,
consequences such as a pay decrease or less vacation time should be enacted. I also think that
there should be mandatory sessions led by a therapist on dealing with people and compromising,
because members of different parties seem to have an incredibly hard time acting like logical,
civil adults. Really, though, the only true way to fix Congress is if the American people step up
and stop reelecting members who are unable to get things done. The people control the
government, and its time that they realize this and take action.


2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
Bibliography
Klein, Ezra. 14 reasons why this is the worst Congress ever. The Washington Post. July 13
2012. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/07/13/13-reasons-why-
this-is-the-worst-congress-ever/