Essay On The Broken Branch

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Discussion 6 The Broken Branch As our textbook “By the People: Debating American Government” states, Congress is the legislative branch of the American government. The authority of Congress is significant, including the power to: 1. Raise revenue with taxes and borrowing in order to pay national debts and provide defense and general welfare, 2. Regulate trade and commerce between the states and other countries, 3. Institute laws for citizens including bankruptcy laws, issue money, and punish counterfeiters, 4. Create a patent system, 5. Found national units of weights and measures, 6. Enact laws subject to approval by the executive branch, 7. Establish a postal system, 8. Organize the judicial and executive branches of government, 9. Permit new states and control U.S. territories, 10. Declare war and control prisoner of war laws, 11. Fund the U.S. military branches, and 12. Other authority as provided by constitutional amendments. These are all very important powers and essential to the functioning of the American…show more content…
This partisanship has continued today and appears to have gotten worse. Disputes along party lines, usually Republicans versus Democrats, become more rampant with the system seemingly limping along. These factions in Congress are not compromising to resolve issues that will benefit the United States. There are now many occasions of stalling, suppressing procedurally, legislatively holding, or filibustering votes and bills by both factions in order to prevent passage of a bill or attempt to require changes in favor of their party. One example of a recent filibuster occurred in May 2015 when Rand Paul spoke on the Senate floor for 10 ½ hours challenging the Patriot Act and NSA spying. Strong, differing philosophies between the factions are hindering any capability of unifying to come to a workable

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