User:The Rhymesmith/US Senate

The Senate is frequently described as the "world's most exclusive club" and as the "the world's greatest deliberative body", with the latter claim often evaluated and reevaluated by academics and the media. Public perceptions of the Senate in America and the world at large are often negative

a claim which many attribute originally to the Senate itself, and which has been challenged in recent years by a wide spectrum of commentators. Recent coverage of the Senate both within the United States and in the world at large focuses on

Many modern commentators point to frequent usages of the filibuster by the minority party to slow the passage of legislation or approval of presidential nominees as abusive. Criticism of unlimited debate in the Senate is not a recent phenomenon, and multiple majority leaders have threatened to emend Senate rules, an action now known as the nuclear option. Changing Senate procedure is also a frequent priority for new lawmakers. The failure of filibuster reform is usually credited to political parties' valuing the capacity for obstruction when in the minority more than passage when in the majority.

Intense criticism has also centered around the secret hold, whereby individual senators can interdict legislation and appointments without making themselves known.

Others, however, have argued that the Senate's slowness in considering and passing legislation is a function of intense deliberation, and worthy of praise.

The United States Senate is often described as the "world's greatest deliberative body", a sentiment which has recently been sardonically reevaluated by multiple commentators who perceive the senate as "broken", as a result of intense partisanship and a perceived preponderance of arcane rules. Accounts of partisan gridlock in the Senate by external political commentators, economists, and senators themselves frequently point to abuse of the filibuster and secret hold by the minority party or even individual senators to slow or stop the passage of legislation and appointment of presidential nominees as emblematic of the worst of the body. Much criticism has centered on the Senate's frequent failures to consider legislation passed by the House of Representatives, and to debate and vote on legislation in a timely fashion, although some have defended the Senate's alleged recalcitrance as part of the system of checks and balances, and as intended by the Founding Fathers. and as the "world's most exclusive club",

Multiple polls place public approval ratings of the United States Congress in aggregate around 20%, and widespread opininos

Great prestige has traditionally been attached to the office, role, and duty of a United States Senator, and the worldwide recognition

a phrase which may have originated from senators' self-perception,