For 2305's to chew on this week as we look through the legislative branch.
It's the 113th meeting of the Congress since they first met in 1789 following the first election held under the current Constitution.We will discuss the achievements of the first Congress periodically - they established the original agencies, passed the Bill of Rights and put in place early legislative processes.
We'll talk loosely about factors related to it, but the Wikipedia on it is worth a quick look.
It contains a list of party leaders and the standing committees and subcommittees.The principle feature of the current Congress is its split control - one party controls the House - the other the Senate. Another - as mentioned below - is the polarization between the parties. The ideological distance between the two parties is only increasing. The current impasse over the continuing resolution and the debt ceiling is argued to be a direct consequence of it.
External forces which have spurred this division between the parties punishes members who might seek to compromise.
We'll go it this week.
