The Article
Turmoil in Congress
Tuesday was the first meeting of the brand new Congress. Without much surprise there already is trouble turmoil. To start, Paul Ryan's constituents defy him, and there is immediate movement toward the repealment of the Affordable Health Care Act.
Will this Congress be able to work smoothly and more quickly now that both houses and the president are of the same party? Do you think Republicans will ever actually be able to repeal the Affordable Care Act? How do you think the Democratic minority will act?
***also please note that the author nonchalantly uses the word kerfuffle like it's no big deal.
Since we learned that a united government is unlikely to increase the number of bills passed significantly, I don't think Congress will work much more smoothly. There is however, a greater shot of some more extreme proposals like the ACA repeal and repeal of Planned Parenthood funding of happening. Although the Democratic minority will probably be able to save parts of the ACA, I don't think much of it will survive. The filibuster can only be used so much, and can theoretically be removed. Honestly, the Democratic minority is going to face a tough next few years, and are going to be opposed to much of the Trump/GOP agenda. Also, it's worth noting the GOP majority in Congress is now smaller than it was before the election, so at least Senate votes are not really certain.
ReplyDeleteSamir has a point. Congress will not pass laws significantly faster, especially with a lot of the GOP in Congress still skeptical of Trump. However, I do think that there is a good chance most of the ACA will be repealed. Samir is right about how the filibuster can only be used so much and how the Democrats are going to face a tough two years. When midterms come around, I think that Democrats will win back majority in at least one of the houses. But I think the ACA will be repealed by then.
DeleteThis past week, I was talking to one of my past teachers one day and he this topic came up. He said that he feels that even if the Affortable Care Act is repealed, it would only be replaced with something that is pretty much the same, just with Trump's name on it. I've thought about that too, but part of me also thinks that in general nothing will happen, at least for a while. What would happen if the act were to be repealed without a planned replacement? What would all those people who are benefitted by the act do then?
ReplyDeleteI think that the Democratic minority will be very vocal about why repealing this act would be a bad idea, but against a snake like Mike Pence, I don't know how successful they'll be. Trump may not know much, but Pence actually does, so if he preps the Republican majority, who's saying that the Democrats would actually be able to beat them?
While I'm sure that having a Republican majority in senate will help Trump in passing his policies, I'm not so sure on how much of an effect it will really have. I'm sure he will have a couple boring policies that will always go through, but if he attempts to go with bolder strategies, then I have no idea if the internal divisions within the Republican party will reopen, and if that will effect future votes. Of course, it will almost be a given that the Democratic minority will vote against him, unless in a freak event Trump proposes something that works for both sides. Overall, I see the congress moving a bit more smoothly and promoting the idea that they as a government are functioning better than Obama's government just by passing more things with a majority house, but I seriously doubt that Congress will do any better of a job of actually improving the country in any way, shape, or form.
ReplyDeleteI think that the unified GOP government will function somewhat more smoothly than the latest divided government. While there are serious ideological differences in the party, they agree with each other more than they do with the Democrats. But Trump will definitely be a wild card because he is so different from most of his party in trade and economic intervention. His ability to stop the ethics gutting almost immediately after his tweet came out suggests he may be a more influential president than I thought he would be. I'm not sure what will happen with the ACA, but it seems that it will be significantly altered rather than completely removed based on the few details we have. Trump seems to want to keep certain provisions, as do some GOP congressmen. If the law is going to be repealed, I think the delay will be necessary so that people don't lose coverage, even if they insurance companies are angered by it. Democrats will certainly do what ever they can to stop the repeal, but I doubt they have a chance. I truly hope Chuck Schumer keeps his word and tries to work with Trump on certain matters like infrastructure. The GOP obstruction was so devastating for the last 8 years that I would be furious if Democrats attempted to stop every single thing Trump did, even if it was beneficial or uncontroversial.
ReplyDeleteI think that this government will work smoothly for the most part for as long as it is unified. However, I predict upsets and across the aisle switches. It's no secret that Trump isn't the most popular president and I assume that this will hurt him in the long run. I unfortunately don't think that the repeal of the ACA is a stretch I think it's extremely possible and very likely. Samir is also correct that it is likely that planned parent hood funding will be taken away. I can only hope that the democratic minority sticks together and tries to work across the aisle with republicans who have denounced Trump and his policy ideas. As much as I despise filibustering, it may be our only hope. Its not a matter of how smoothly congress will work, but rather if they will be doing good for our country and its people, something I highly doubt will happen in the next four years.
ReplyDeleteAs we have learned, a unified government does not equate to a productive government. A government that is ideologically in line is more productive. From what I can tell, this Congress is all over the place. The GOP certainly has solid goals in place (repealing and replacing the ACA and defuning PP), but those plans may not be accomplished smoothly. Whatever ends up happening I know there will be major pushback from the Democratic party and grassroots organizations. Getting rid of the ACA will be a huge burden for the Republicans. As millions of people use it, it will be incredible difficult to ensure coverage for those using it after it has been repealed. This Congress will face many problems.
ReplyDeleteI think congress will work more smoothly at some times, but a unified governement doesn't mean more passages in congress. With a republican majority, I think the first order of business will be trying to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act with something Trump can take credit for. I think the Democrats are going to try and stick to their guns and keep as many parts of the ACA as possible. It will be interesting to see, as Trump has made his distaste for the ACA well known.
ReplyDeleteI think that the government will work more smoothly on smaller, less controversial bills. With the latest divided government, every bill was a production, or so it felt. At the very least, I believe that they will be able to pass smaller, conservative-oriented bills. However, as more controversial bills come up, I believe that there will be issues. Not only will the Democrats use the filibuster (not on presidential nominations though, they got rid of that), but the internal fracture and ideological differences inside the Republican party, especially in the Senate, will make it extremely difficult to pass controversial bills such as the wall. The fractures are already evident in the Office of Congressional Ethics fiasco. Furthermore, I think that the Republicans will be able to "repeal and replace", but like Heidi said, it will be quite similar to the ACA. The Congress may be slightly more efficient, but, like Shannah said, it will face many problems.
ReplyDeleteOne party having control of both houses of Congress does not necessarily ensure a higher rate of efficiency. Members of the same party in Congress could have great variations in ideology. Since the houses have a Conservative majority, run run-of-the-mill conservative bills will be passed without much difficulty - but as Liam said, bigger, more significant bills will be highly debated (for example, the wall). In addition to Trump having enemies in the Senate, he only has a slight majority. Therefore, the Democrats will use the fillibuster quite often and it will not be easy for the Republicans to scrape together the 60 votes necessary to block it.
ReplyDeleteRepublicans are very used to being the minority party - blocking, disagreeing, and uniting against and Democratic efforts. Now they are the majority party and it seems like they are freaking out a little bit; their divisions are becoming more apparent. It will be interesting to see how they behave in the upcoming four years.
I do think think this government will run smoothly at all. The Congress is controlled by one party, the president's party, but that doesn't really mean anything. In this situation, I think Trump's erratic and radical ideas won't sit well in Congress. I don't think that these two branches see eye to eye on many issues, and I don't think Comgress will get along with Trump. I don't see a smooth government over the next few years, but we shall see.
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing like a little bit of "intraparty conflict" to ring in the New Year. This is going to be morre fun than I initially thought. As we have mentioned before, even if a president And both houses are of the same party, there can be divisions within the Republican party that won't be willing to agree with everything he proposes. Trump has been spewing ridicule for both parties from the start and I don't see why any Congressman or Congresswoman would want to make up with him completly just because he is the President. As for the ACA, I think the Republicans will start with repealing bits and pieces until they get what they want or until they have changed the entire act. The Democrats will have to make some extreme deals if they want the essence of the ACA to stay intact, so extreme that I doubt they will actually propose anything.
ReplyDeleteA divided government doesn't always mean more conflicts within Congress, just like how a unified government doesn't always ensure smooth passages of bills and reforms. Ideologies swing on both ends of the spectrum of both parties, so it's hard to reach agreements on larger, more sweeping bills. However, for smaller bills, that may be where Congress will be able to get stuff done, as more people would be willing to compromise on the smaller things. However, we will have to wait and see as to how productive Congress will be today.
ReplyDeleteThis congress will not be able to move more smoothly and quicker than the previous congress, and that is due to the filibuster that the democrats have in the Senate. They will be using this filibuster on major bills such as the repeal of ACA and the defunding of planned parenthood. Not to mention that the Republican congress are not all united behind one thing all the time, the republican congress is still very divided. The John McCains of congress are not on the same page as the Paul Ryans. But within the next two years I do believe that parts of the ACA will be repealed, but not the entire program. Democrats will never allow that.
ReplyDeleteAs we learned in class, a government totally united under the same majority party doesn't necessarily equate to greater legislative efficiency. In order for Congress to work more quickly or with a greater degree of unity, all factions within the elected Republican officials must also come to a consensus. While the new Congress is showing a willingness to come together on issues (like with their work to repeal the Affordable Care Act), several Republican senators like Rand Paul and Marco Rubio have at least spoken against some of the directions the party is currently taking on various issues- potentially indicating a future lack of efficiency. As for the Democrats, they'll likely have the opposite perspective of the filibuster that they did during Obama's presidency now.
ReplyDeletePerhaps Congress will now work as smoothly as sandpaper on concrete, compared to the previous sandpaper on sandpaper.
ReplyDeleteBut really, Congress may work more smoothly if Trump moves to more moderate ideas (courtesy of a little birdie in his ear with a big wad of cash). It's entirely possible. Like other presidents, Trump could move to more moderate views after being elected to office. Yet, the rest of the right may not share ideals, so it's equally as entirely possible for Congress to be as inefficient as it has been. I'm sure my eyes will be glued to this in the same way that they would a train wreck in slow motion: with morbid curiosity.
I agree with the majority that Congress will likely not move more smoothly. Despite being the same party, many congressmen are certainly not from the same section of their parties, as many are moderates or more extreme. There will always be conflict, and as we learned in class there is no real correlation between the president and congress being the same party and the number of bills and laws passed. However, I am interested in what Samir said about Congress potentially passing more extreme legislature. As they are the same party, Congress may be more likely to pass more conservative legislature than it has before, but I would be shocked if the Democrats did not do everything in their power to slow or stop those passages.
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