Each branch of the US political infrastructure has various checks and balances to make sure that no one branch can overpower the other. However, with recent attempts to block the Executive from overriding the other branches. And attempts to override the Judiciary, there has been debate. About whether Congress, the legislative branch of the USA, is the last branch with any power. Those who argue that Congress has become the last powerful branch may argue. That Congress has the ability to override a presidential veto. And block judicial appointments, impeach the executive or elect one if the electoral college votes are less than 50%.
For any one candidate and create constitutional amendments. That the judiciary has to follow and the executive cannot override. While those who argue. That Congress is no longer the most powerful branch may argue. That the House and Senate are severely divided by partisanship, that senators and congressmen are often controlled by their constituents rather than the party and that frequent re-elections mean that Congress is more accountable to the people than the executive or legislative. In this essay I will be analysing how Congress is no longer the last powerful branch of government.
Congress has the ability to override a presidential veto and block judicial appointments. For example, in 2016 Congress overrode a presidential veto by Obama to block a bill. About sponsors of terrorism, and blocked 71 judicial appointments by Obama. This shows the power of Congress because it has the ultimate authority to pass legislation. Even with interference from the executive. However, it is possible to argue that this requires a super-majority of 2/3rds of both the House and Senate to override. A presidential veto, and this has caused many attempts to override the presidential veto to fail. Nevertheless, this does not mean it is impossible. And very popular laws can be passed if it enjoys bipartisan support like the one mentioned above.
127 our experts are availableright now
The House and Senate are severely divided by partisanship. With increasing polarisation of the US political scene. Democrats and Republicans are often loyal to their party, and as a result Congress has become very inefficient as many laws are not passed due to infighting between the two parties as senators from one party can refuse to support a bill purely because it came from another party, which can weaken the power of Congress. However, it is possible to argue that there are still groups of senators that are willing to support bipartisan efforts, such as the Blue Dog Democrats. Nevertheless, groups like these are slowly declining as senators become more polarised. Congress can impeach the executive or elect one if the electoral college votes are less than 50% for any one candidate.
An example of this is when Clinton was impeached, or the current impeachment process against Trump. This means that Congress can threaten the executive with impeachment if the executive interferes with Congress or tries to overstep its boundaries. However, it is possible to argue that impeachment efforts by the House can be rejected by the Senate, as it is the House which begins the impeachment process and the Senate which tries the executive, which can be prevented from happening if the House is controlled by a different party from the Senate, which may try and protect the executive if it is the same party as the executive. Nevertheless, impeachment of a president can severely prevent their likelihood of being re-elected, even if they were not officially removed from office.
Senators and congressmen are often controlled by their constituents rather than the party. An example of this is how congressmen may try and push pork-barrel legislation to benefit their constituents, even though this may not be compatible with the budget set by the majority leader or Speaker. This can cause unnecessary spending and cause infighting within parties, which can cause inefficiency as parties are not uniform in voting and passing legislation. However, it is possible to argue that bipartisanship increases in recent times causes this to be less frequent, as congressmen think less about what is best for their constituents and what is better for the party. Nevertheless, the frequent elections of congressmen and Senators causes them to be more worried about their constituents as failure to follow their needs can cause them to be replaced quickly for a different candidate.
Congress can create constitutional amendments that the judiciary has to follow and the executive cannot override. For example, the 26 amendment was passed in 1971, which overrode the judicial decision that each state could keep their voting age at 21 if they so wished, and instead the national voting age was set to 18. This means that the Congress can override the judiciary as well, and the judiciary has no power over this, which causes the Congress to have a check that is superior over the judiciary as well as the executive, as we have seen previously. However, it is possible to argue that this is too difficult as it requires a 2/3rds majority in both the House and Senate for a constitutional amendment to be passed. Nevertheless, this is not impossible, and if the judiciary makes a ruling that is unpopular with the vast majority of Congress, it can be overridden, as we saw in the case of the 26th amendment.
Frequent re-elections mean that Congress is more accountable to the people than the executive or legislative. The house is re-elected every 2 years, and a 1/3rd of the Senate is re-elected every 2 years. This means that each Congressman or Senator is accountable to the public as they can be re- elected if they do not follow their constituents’ wishes, which can cause each one to fight for their own state’s interests rather than considering what is good for the country as a whole, which can cause a lack of unity in Congress, which severely limits Congress’s power. However, it is possible to argue that this factor is more important in the House than the Senate, which has more frequent elections. Nevertheless, separation of powers causes strong levels of representation for both chambers, which creates an individual mandate for each politician.
To conclude, the points I have made are that Congress has the ability to override a presidential veto and block judicial appointments, The House and Senate are severely divided by partisanship, Congress can impeach the executive, Senators and congressmen are often controlled by their constituents rather than the party, Congress can create constitutional amendments that the judiciary has to follow and the executive cannot override and that frequent re-elections mean that Congress is more accountable to the people than the executive or legislative. Overall, I believe that Congress is no longer the last powerful branch of government. This is because both partisanship and too much accountability to constituents has severely limited unity in the House and Senate and therefore weakened the power of Congress.
