Entry 4

Deal on a Farm Bill Appears Unlikely

New York Times, September 12, 2012

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/13/us/congressional-deal-on-a-farm-bill-appears-unlikely.html?ref=us

Summary

The Congress finally passed the Farm Bill that has been stuck in argument for several months. The House and the Senate constantly failed to meet the common point they were looking for. While Senate promotes 5 year long farm bill, the House aspires short term farm bill contrasting to the Senate's position. However, since it is necessary to carry out the actions about farming as soon as possible, the congress decided to pass the law even though it is unsatisfiable for both. Still, some Congress members are skeptical about the decision that did not fully satisfied all the factions of the Congress.

My thought

Farm Bill struggle exactly shows the gridlock happens due to the division of Congress into the House and the Senate. Even though bicameral Congress is needed in order to provide equal and fair representation of people, it is undeniable that the efficacy of the Congress passing bills gets much lower due to the division and clashes between the houses. It is important to create factions for various representations of people's opinions; however, it is also imperative to find the common point between the two houses and compromise to formulate the decision that satisfies all people in certain degree (but no always perfect). Therefore, for some critical issues like farm bill, the Congress must meet the common demand of each house and pass the bill in short amount of time not to cause disturbances to people due to unnecessary delay.