President And Congress Relationship Essay

The relationship between the President and Congress has been the subject of much talk and debate over the years. This relationship is affected by many things, what party is in the White House and the Congress and if they are opposition parties. Their relationship is affected by the personalities and agendas of both the President and the Leadership of the Congress and how willing they are to work together to get legislation passed. This relationship is one of constant change and controversy throughout American history. So, how does one go about comparing the relationship between congress and a president? One of the first factors in defining this relationship is establishing the party lines that exist between the White House and Capitol Hill, meaning is it a divided government or a single-party government. The next factor is what kind of legislation was passed and was the President responsible for that or was the congress. Another factor just as important was what legislation was not passed, why it was not passed, and who was responsible for that. It is also critical when comparing presidents that you compare presidents that are of the same era in American history.
After September 11, Bush won eleven of twelve house votes and thirty of thirty-one votes in the senate on which he took a clear position (CQ Almanac 2001 B-3). Only for a short period did his success rate drop and this was due to James Jeffords leaving the GOP and giving control to the democrats but this only lasted until September 11. During this nine week period, twelve senate votes that took place during this period Bush lost 5, which is a 58 percent success rate (CQ Almanac 2001, B-3). Bush’s support even dropped in the house to 78 percent during the period of Memorial Day to the Terrorist attacks on September 11 (CQ Almanac 2001,