The Pros And Cons Of Congressional Gridlock
What is Gridlock and why should we care about it? According to Political Dictionary’s Gridlock, “gridlock is a situation in which the government is unable to pass new legislation, often because the presidency and the Congress are controlled by different political parties.” Congressional Gridlock is a recurring issue in America’s political system. It is crippling the efficacy of the government's ability to lead the country to prosperity. Currently, most of the House of Representatives is republican, and the President is democratic. Political party values are usually the main reason behind gridlock. In recent years, the house of representatives, the senate, and the president have been different parties. This causes gridlock to occur often, which puts the country’s law-making system behind.
When Gridlock occurs, legislation is stopped, and we cannot pass the necessary laws for this country to function. Gridlock can be seen occurring recently between the House and the Senate and between Congress and the President. For example, the House of Representatives could try and pass a law up to the president, but the senate would deny it on the basis that they are opposing political parties. Another example would be if congress was one party, and the president another. The
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An example of this would be Gun Control laws. Gun control laws have been at a gridlock since 1999, after the massacre at Columbine High School. The House and Senate are constantly against each other on this topic. One side wants to implement gun control laws, meanwhile the other wants to leave it as is. Neither side can get enough votes to pass it, so they are stuck at a stalemate, or at least they were. In June 2022, 50 democrats voted for the passing of the law, and so did 14 republicans. They got 64 out of the 60 votes needed to pass the law onto President Biden. They were in a gridlock for 23 years. 23 years with no legislation
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