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Politics Symposium: The Transformed Congressional Experience
As a political scientist and a member of the House of Representatives, I have often lamented and been frustrated by the growing irrelevance of Congress. Likewise, the American people have become increasingly disenchanted with Congress. According to an October 2015 Gallup poll, the approval rating of Congress is just 13%, based on the public's disgust with partisan gridlock and minimal legislative accomplishments. Even new Speaker Paul Ryan said, "The House is broken. We are not solving problems. We are adding to them. Neither the members nor the people are satisfied with how things are going" (Speaker Ryan's Press Office 2015). What has brought the Congress, which the Founding Fathers placed first and foremost in Article I of the Constitution, to this dismal state of affairs?
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Much scholarly discourse over the years has been devoted to the ebb and flow of power among the three branches, especially the expansion of executive authority at the expense of Congress. Reasons often cited for this shift in power include the vagueness of Article II which allows the person in the White House, often abetted by the Supreme Court, to assume powers not specifically denied; and a shrinking world which, thanks to technology, has generated greater international involvement by the US and the increased need for crisis management best conducted by one person, not 535. Growth of a professional bureaucracy dating from the New Deal, with its access to critical information, and the advent of television which has allowed charismatic leaders like Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton to bypass Congress and take their agendas directly to the people, have also been credited with contributing to the shift in power.
Still others cite the number of instances over the years when Congress has simply relinquished power to the executive to "get the monkey off its back." Take the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, for example, giving President Johnson carte blanche in Vietnam, and granting "fast track" authority to presidents, essentially reducing the role of Congress to a "yes" or "no" vote on multifaceted and multilateral trade agreements. Action after 9/11 stands as one of the strongest examples of abrogation of congressional power. A week after the worst terrorist attack in US history, Congress passed...