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US midterm elections: What is divided government and what's the impact? What Washington's divided government means for Biden
(1 day later)
The Democrats currently control all three branches of government - but that could change after the US midterms The United States Congress is officially a house divided. After the final results from last week's midterm elections, the two chambers will be controlled by rival parties.
With both parties vying for control of the House of Representatives and the Senate, a "divided government" remains a distinct possibility in the US. Come January, the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, will be held by Republicans, while the 100-seat Senate will be run by Democrats.
The term refers to a situation where one or both chambers of Congress are controlled by a party that stands in opposition to the incumbent president. The split will significantly affect either party's ability to pass significant legislation through Congress, but particularly Democrats, who also hold the presidency.
Divided governments have been fairly common since the 1970s. The result could be two years of partisan deadlock that may remain unresolved until the next election cycle in 2024.
What would such a situation mean when it comes to passing legislation and getting things done? Here's what you need to know about a divided US Congress and what it means for American governance.
In the US, each chamber can initiate legislation. A version of the draft bill has to be passed by both, before being sent to the president to sign into law. How will the divided Congress work?
A bill can die at any stage if one chamber of Congress votes against it, or if the president vetoes the law. In the House, the Republican party will get to set the legislative agenda and chair all the committees, which deal with issues like oversight, the economy and labour.
Some people support a divided government because it means each political party can police the other, for instance controlling unwanted spending measures or blocking certain bills from become law. In the Senate, Democrats will call the shots on bills and significantly control which legislation comes to the floor for a vote.
Recently, Elon Musk advised his millions of Twitter followers to vote Republican in the midterms, given that President Joe Biden is a Democrat. Because the House and Senate will be controlled by different parties, this will drastically reduce the major initiatives either party will get to accomplish.
His rationale, he said, was that "shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties". It's also likely to turn necessary functions of Congress, like funding the government or re-authorising certain types of spending, into massive battles as factions within each party use these crucial deadlines for leverage.
Divided governments can force lawmakers to draft laws that have a broader base of support, making them harder to undo when power power changes hands. In this situation, co-operation brings about political stability. Democrats, including Senator Chuck Schumer and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, will see their agendas stymied
But when parties are polarised in their positions, a divided government can make it impossible for one party to pass legislation, leading to gridlock - effectively making it difficult to move forward on policy. What will the narrow majorities mean for this Congress?
Big sweeping policy changes, however, have often happened under single-party government, such as President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal and President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, colloquially known as Obamacare. Each party controls their chamber by the thinnest of margins. That means individual members will have more power to influence or block legislation they don't like, especially if they band together with like-minded politicians.
Divided governments can also lead to more government shutdowns - where parties cannot agree a budget to continue government funding. Expect a lot of intra-party squabbles for the next two years.
House Republicans have also said they would use their control of committees to investigate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a right-wing conservative congresswoman from Georgia, has called for the House Republicans to impeach Mr Biden, as the Democrats twice did to Donald Trump.
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What about the investigations into Donald Trump?
Republican control of the House will spell the end of the House committee that is investigating Mr Trump's role in the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol, when a horde of his supporters stormed Congress after Mr Trump made baseless claims of election fraud.
Shortly before the midterm elections, the committee issued a subpoena to Mr Trump with which he's not expected to comply.
The current House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy has called the Capitol riot committee "the most political and least legitimate committee in American history", and all but two Republicans refused to participate.
What does this mean for Joe Biden?
President Joe Biden will now face the herculean task of passing any initiatives through a House of Representatives controlled by the opposing party with an influential bloc of right-wing members.
For the first two years of his presidency, Mr Biden's party had control of both chambers of Congress. His path to passing major priorities like climate change legislation was often rocky, but ultimately, Democrats were able to marshal votes and succeed with big-ticket items.
But now, Mr Biden has lost one chamber to the opposition party, which will not be inclined to give him major victories heading into a presidential election cycle.
It will make it all the more difficult for Mr Biden to check off big priorities for the next two years.
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