In the House, the Speaker (that is, the leader of the majority party in the chamber) can prevent proposals from being scheduled for a vote. For example, the Senate’s current filibuster rule specifies that a super-majority – 60 of the 100-member body – must support bringing a measure to the floor for a vote. Moreover, Congressional procedures further constrain reform. This requirement invites deadlock when opposing parties control different political institutions. The Constitution specifies that, in order for legislation to be adopted, a bill must be voted by both houses of Congress and approved by the President. In contrast to a parliamentary system of fused powers, the separation of powers creates a built-in, that is, structural, potential for gridlock when each branch is controlled by an opposing party. In less than two months, we may learn that it was not even the end of the beginning.Ī place to begin to explain Washington’s current dysfunctional condition is the basic design of American political institutions, notably, the presidential system that allocates the executive and legislature independent powers. The culmination of a protracted, tragi-comic, and embarrassing spectacle, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (to paraphrase Winston Churchill) was not the end, nor even the beginning of the end. While the agreement forestalled major fiscal disruption for the time being, it was a ramshackle and inadequate attempt to deal with the problems that it was ostensibly designed to solve. In effect, the agreement invited Congress to address the issue of spending cuts before the impending March deadline. The agreement postponed for two months the substantial reduction in military and civilian programmes that had been scheduled to begin January 1, 2013. However, because the agreement did not extend a previously enacted cut in the payroll tax, levied to finance social programmes, the net income of all working Americans and their families has been reduced. Instead, the Taxpayer Relief Act raises taxes for the small number of Americans whose annual taxable income exceeds $400,000 and left income tax rates unchanged for other Americans. Passage of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 enabled Congress to prevent falling off the so-called fiscal cliff – shorthand for legislation that, but for passage of the Taxpayer Relief Act, mandated increases in income taxes for all Americans and steep cuts in military and civilian spending. However, … convinced us that it was the worst Congress ever.” What explains the current gridlock in Washington? It was this pattern that prompted two political analysts to publish a scathing critique of Congressional dysfunctions in early 2012 with the disturbing title, It’s Even Worse Than It Looks. In a recent article updating their account, they went further: “ thought that the 112th Congress was the worst we had seen in our four decades in Washington. Later that year, on August 2, 2011, with the US only hours away from reaching the deadline to avoid defaulting on the federal debt, Congress voted to raise the debt ceiling. For example, in April 2011 the government was nearly forced to shut down all non-essential federal services and furlough 800,000 federal employees because Congress refused to pass a budget. For years, American political institutions have apparently been in a state of near-paralysis (the qualifier – “apparently” – is intended to convey the fact that the system is working just fine for the top few percent, who for the past several decades have appropriated most of the benefits generated by economic growth). Nor was the recent cliffhanger unprecedented. The last-minute agreement simply postponed the day(s) of reckoning for several months. The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, passed at the 11th hour (in fact, it was passed after the official deadline of Decem– near midnight on January 1, 2013), is a short-term fix to the self-imposed fiscal crisis. However, the near-failure to avert the so-called “fiscal cliff” in late December, coming on the heels of other recent spectacles of government dysfunction, prompts the question: why should the American political system serve as a model for other countries to emulate? So do the International Republican Institute and National Democratic Institute for International Affairs – government-funded organisations affiliated with the major American political parties. Official agencies, including the State Department, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and National Endowment for Democracy, provide assistance for American-style democracy promotion to governments around the world. For generations, American political leaders have proclaimed the exceptional virtues of the country’s political system.
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