Historic health-care legislation was enacted this spring, but the slow crawl of the law through the Senate suggests to many observers that Washington is in a state of gridlock -- nearly unable to make new policy. Some political scientists blame the increasingly fierce competition for power between the ideologically rigid Democratic and Republican parties, which has risen to levels not seen since the Civil War. Other analysts blame the Senate's cloture rule, which requires a 60-vote supermajority to end a filibuster and proceed to voting. The rule gives undue, perhaps even unconstitutional, power to the minority, its critics argue. But other scholars maintain that the eventual passage of the health-care law is proof that Washington is not paralyzed. Indeed, they say a more serious problem is widespread voter misunderstanding of the importance the U.S. Constitution places on lengthy deliberation of issues before new laws are made.

Marcia Clemmitt is a veteran social-policy reporter who joined CQ Researcher after serving as editor in chief of Medicine and Health, a Washington-based industry newsletter, and staff writer for The Scientist. She has also been a high school math and physics teacher. She holds a bachelor's degree in arts and sciences from St. Johns College, Annapolis, and a masters degree in English from Georgetown University.