First, consider current events in Congress.  Major legislation, like the Covid 19 relief bill, passed with votes along party lines.  This means there continues to be great polarization and not bipartisan work to reach compromise on laws.  The party in control with a majority of members in each of the chambers can pass items that need only a majority vote. 

Is this an effective method to make law or policy?  Why or why not?

Do you believe that we will continue to see polarization or move toward bipartisanship?

You may wish to consider this reading on Congress (Links to an external site.) and perform additional research to form your answers.

2.  Next, consider that there will be elections that impact Congress next year.  These are referred to as midterm elections and the president will not face election as he will be in the middle of his 4 year term.  However, control of Congress can and has changed in the midterm elections which can impact what laws or policies are possible.  Currently, the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate are controlled by Democrats (technically the Senate has some independents, but they tend to vote with Democrats creating a 50-50 split in voting).  Remember that the U.S. House has 435 members and the U.S. Senate has 100.  All House seats are up for re-election but only one-third of the U.S, Senate seats will be elected.  Note that many U.S. Senators are retiring and not running for re-election.

For this part of the discussion, give your midterm election Congress outcomes predictions – you should include your number of Democrats and Republicans in both the House and the Senate.  I have included some tools and a news clip from last November below to remind you of the last election races.  You can use the tools below to help with your thoughts before posting to this discussion and perform your own research.  You must have numbers that add up to 435 for House seats and 100 for Senate seats and provide explanation