Tea Party America (BBC Documentary)

Interesting documentary from 2010 discussing the importance of the Tea Party within the Republican Party.

Partisanship and Gridlock in Congress: Can Democracy Work? Institute of Politics - Harvard Kennedy School of Government

Alex Keyssar, professor of history and social policy, Mark McKinnon, co-founder of No Labels, Theda Skocpol, professor of government and sociology, and Hilda Solis, former US Secretary of Labor joined moderator Karen Gordon Mills, former administrator of the US Small Business Administration for a discussion on partisanship and gridlock in Congress. President of Harvard University, Professor Drew Gilpin Faust delivered opening remarks prior to the panel. The speakers addressed topics ranging from campaign finance reform to the lack of compromise in Congress. Topics also discussed were the effect of the media on politics, what the Congress could do to address the lack of bipartisan cooperation, and the social and political phenomena that fuel the lack of cooperation.

Gridlock and divided government

A collection of recent news articles on gridlock and the political impact of divided government in the US.

• The New York Times - 'The Real Price of Congress's deadlock' Aug. 2013
• The Hill - 'Obama blames Boehner for gridlock' Sept 2013
• NBC News - 'Washington still in gridlock 11 days before shut-down deadline' Sept 2013
• RealClearPolitics - 'The Premature Burial of Divided Government' Oct 2012

Divided government in the US - the last 45 years

The checks and balances between the three branches of the federal government have important consequences for US politics. Gridlock can result when the Senate disagrees with the President. For most recent presidents have accused the Senate of either rejecting or blocking their judicial nominations for partisan reasons.

This raises the issue of 'divided government', a term used to refer to the situation in which one party controls the presidency and the other party controls Congress. Of late, this has become the norm. 

The 40 years between 1969 and 2009 have seen 22 years of divided government when both houses of Congress were controlled by the party which did not control the White House.

Year	President	Senate	House
1969-1971	R	D	D
1971-1973	R	D	D
1973-1975	R	D	D
1975-1977	R	D	D
1977–1979	D	D	D
1979–1981	D	D	D
1981-1983	R	R	D
1983-1985	R	R	D
1985-1987	R	R	D
1987-1989	R	D	D
1989-1991	R	D	D
1991-1993	R	D	D
1993–1995	D	D	D
1995-1997	D	R	R
1997-1999	D	R	R
1999-2001	D	R	R
2001-2003	R	D*	R
2003–2005	R	R	R
2005–2007	R	R	R
2007-2009	R	D	D
2009–2011	D	D	D
2011-2013	D	D	R
2013-2015	D	D	R

*The 2000 election resulted in a 50-50 tie in the Senate, and the Constitution gives tie-breaking power to the Vice President. The Vice President was Democrat Al Gore from January 3, 2001 until the inauguration of Republican Richard Cheney on January 20. Then on May 24, Republican Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont left the Republican Party to caucus with the Democrats as an independent, resulting in another shift of control.