The Senate and the House of the Representatives are mandated with the responsibility of formulating and passing bills, policies and laws to enhance the living standards of the people and facilitate economic development. This is an imperative role that is bestowed on the members of the Senate and the House of Representatives, but the manner in which these legislative bodies execute their responsibilities and duties and interact with each other culminates to a real legislative game. In most cases, the move by the members of the Senate and the House of Representatives to either pass or not pass certain bills is influenced by the interests and goals of each individual member to be reelected, remain in power, and earn particularized benefits attached to a certain policy (Schank 8).
In other words, members of the Congress may be concerned about the welfare of their constituencies and people when formulating and passing policies, but their main concern is to be reelected into office in the next general election. To achieve this goal, the members take position and make public comments about certain policies, which favor or address the needs of their constituencies, and refute those policies, which do not serve the interest of their people and campaign sponsors. In this regard, members of the two chambers may fail to pass a policy that aims to benefit the entire nation because that policy does not address the goals and interests of individual politicians.
I was surprised to understand that the legislators are hypocrites who pretend to address the concerns of their constituencies and ordinary people, but instead, they only mind about their personal goals and special interests. This level of greediness and selfishness is evident when legislators fail to pass bills or policies, which are meant to be implemented without reauthorization directives. To counteract this move, the legislators advocate for reauthorization of these policies because they want to remain in power, obtain particularized benefits and earn credit from their constituencies; an aspect that interferes with national governance and democracy.
Committees, staffers and MCs play an integral in legislation formulation. One outstanding aspect is that staffers, MCs and Committees are perceived as conduits, which are used to fuel the political agenda and ideologies of a given politician or party. In most cases, committees, MCs and staffers use their legal and executive discretion to advance, popularize and influence political ideologies of their bosses (legislators) without considering the pertinent issues facing ordinary citizens.
Work cited
Schank, Joshua. All Roads Leads to Congress. New York: Bipartisan Policy Center: Fordham University, 2008. Print.
