19 February 2021
Red & Black
Opinions 15
Bipartisanship Helps Congess Function Efficiently Cassie Carr Red & Black Staff
Congressional unity is at an alltime low. Consider, for instance, the percentage of congressional voting that follows party lines. In 1950, approximately 40 percent of votes followed party lines. This number has since spiked, however, rising to nearly 65 percent in 2020, according to recent data collected by Medium. This spike in partisanship is also visible in Medium’s data representing differences in congressional ideologies. There was
only about a 0.4 difference between the ideologies of the average Republican and Democrat in 1950. In 2020, this number was closer to 0.85, an increase of nearly 112 percent. So, what are the consequences of such a severe partisan divide? Well, prime amongst them is certainly the sharp decline in congressional productivity. The 80th Congress, held from 1947 to 1948, had 3,186 bills introduced in the Senate. Of these, 1,670 bills were passed, meaning that about 52 percent of all introduced bills actually made it outside the walls of Congress. Contrastingly, during the 115th Congress, held from 2017 to 2018, while a similar amount of bills was
introduced to the Senate, 3,874, only 583 of those bills were passed. In other words, during the 115th Congress, only 15 percent of introduced bills were passed, accounting for a near 71 percent decline in productivity between 1947 and 2017. In President Biden’s inaugural address, he appealed to Congress and the American people alike, calling for an end to the extreme partisan politics that have become all too common: “To restore the soul and secure the future of America requires so much more than words. It requires the most elusive of all things in a democracy: Unity.” But with the thin majorities at play in this most recently elected 117th Congress, is unity really in sight for
the country? It seems unlikely. In the House, Democrats only hold a 222211 majority, meaning that it would only take a small group of dissenters to block legislation that might have otherwise passed. An even more dismal story holds true for the Senate, where the divide sits at 50-50, meaning any dissent on either side could also mean the end to any proposed bills. Thus, while President Biden’s message of unity is certainly a welcome change in tone from the previous administration, its weight seems minimal at present. He said it best himself, bipartisanship is going to require “much more than words,” and as of now, that appears to be the only thing at play.
Courtesy The CT Mirror
Congress votes to approve legislation for COVID-19 emergency response funding in one of the few overwhelmingly unified votes in recent years.
