Congressional Effectiveness in Legislation
Congress faces significant challenges in its legislative role, impacting its overall effectiveness. The legislative process is lengthy and complex, designed to ensure thorough scrutiny of bills. However, this often results in a low passage rate, with only 2-3% of bills becoming law in recent years.
Example: The Affordable Care Act of 2010 and Trump's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2018 are rare examples of major legislation passing, highlighting the difficulty of enacting significant laws.
The legislative process requires majorities in both houses and can be further complicated by presidential vetoes and Supreme Court decisions. While this system prevents hasty legislation, it also makes it challenging to address pressing national issues promptly.
Highlight: The lengthy legislative process, while ensuring scrutiny, often leads to gridlock and difficulty in passing timely, necessary laws.
Congressional Representation Challenges
Congress's effectiveness in representation is a mixed picture. While there has been an increase in minority representation, with 9.2% Black representatives (compared to 13.6% of the population) and 8.9% Hispanic representatives (compared to 18.9% of the population), challenges remain.
Vocabulary: Majority-minority districts are electoral districts where one or more racial, ethnic, or language minorities form the majority of the voting-age population.
Influence of lobbyists in Congress legislation is a significant concern. Lobbyists have substantial impact, with 90% of House members and 97% of Senators receiving contributions from pharmaceutical companies, potentially skewing representation.
Example: The case of Eric Cantor's deselection highlights the power of grassroots movements against established lobbying interests.
Partisan polarization has increased, making bipartisan cooperation more difficult. However, caucuses provide some opportunity for bipartisan work on specific issues.
Highlight: While diversity in Congress has improved, the influence of lobbyists and partisan polarization continue to challenge effective representation.
