A Study On The Legislative System Reform Of U.S. Congress (1946——1995)

With the enactment and promulgation of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946,the U.S.congress started a half century of legislative system reform,which ultimate goal is to safeguard the constitutional system with the core principle of check and balance.The whole reform process can be divided into three stages:the era of "committee government"(1947-1964),the era of "reform"(1965-1980)and the era of "post-reform"(1981-1995).In the era of "committee government",the key word of the legislative reform of the congress is "efficiency",that is to establish a standing committee system with centralized power and clear division of labor,supplemented by a more perfect system of congressional assistants and legislative service agencies;In the era of "reform",breaking the excessive concentration of power in the committee system and realizing the democratic distribution of legislative power have became the common consensus of legislators in this period.In the "post-reform" era,congress has been unable to seek to formulate or promote comprehensive and systematic reform of the congress legislative system,and instead has tried to limit the expansion of federal executive power in specific policy areas such as budget control and deficit reduction,so as to achieve the purpose of powers of check and balance.However,with the deepening of social and political polarization in the United States at the end of the 20th century and the increasing influence of party groups in the daily work of the congress,the model of legislation system reform relying on Bipartisan consensus becomes unsustainable,such as the Legislative Reorganization Act was replaced by a majority-led regulatory and institutional adjustment.The transformation of the focus of the legislative system reform is the result of the interaction between the phased goal and the actual effect of the reform.In the process of this shift,reformers realized that it was almost impossible to re-establish check and balance between federal agencies by reforming the legislative machinery of congress.Instead of focusing on the problem,tackle the realities of budget overruns and soaring deficits.In other words,the ultimate goal of maintaining the principle of check and balance is no longer the only reason for the U.S.congress to initiate and promote the reform of the legislative system.The reasons for this phenomenon include not only the complexity of the reform process,the different abilities of the reform participants and their attitudes towards reform,but also the constraints imposed by the era of the federal constitution.In short,the lack of timely and efficient interaction between the ultimate goal of the reform and the actual needs of the reform is the main reason why the actual benefits of the reform have always been difficult to achieve the desired effect.Therefore,in order to solve the difficulties faced by the legislative reform of the U.S.congress,an effective communication channel must be established between the ultimate goal of the reform,the actual needs of the reform and the appropriate reform path.Through nearly half a century of reform,it is easy to find that the federal constitution is of great significance to the smooth progress of the reform of the legislative system of the U.S.congress.The federal constitution not only directly determines the ultimate goal of the reform,but also influences the actual results of the reform of the legislative system of the congress by influencing the attitude of congressmen and the American public towards specific reform measures.For example,the right view of negative freedom,majority principle,geographical representation and other core constitutional norms and principles in the federal constitution bear varying degrees of responsibility for the stagnation of the reform of the legislative system of congress.Thus it can be seen that a successful or "perfect" reform of the legislative system of the congress cannot do without the coordination of the theory and system adjustment at the level of the constitution text.As fundamental law of the U.S.,the federal constitution must have stability and deterministic characteristics,this is also the main reason why American politicians and the public are more willing to defend the timeliness of the federal constitution by deductive interpretation rather than direct replacement or change in the face of changing social governance needs since the middle of the 20th century.Therefore,although the theoretical and institutional innovation in the constitution plays an irreplaceable role in the smooth implementation of the reform of the legislative system of the congress;But to complete a "perfect" reform of the legislative machinery of parliament is not sufficient and necessary to amend the constitution.Admittedly,the constitution is not easy to change,which creates obstacles for the advancement and development of the reform of the legislative system of the U.S.congress,but it does not mean that there is no alternative to the reform of the legislative system.As early as in the era of "democratic reform",the U.S.congress tried to use information office technology and tools to improve its own legislative effectiveness,so as to consolidate and enhance its voice in the process of federal policy-making.However,due to the limitation of insufficient intelligence,the information office technology at that time could only serve as a tool for human legislators and congressional assistants to improve work efficiency,but could not bring substantial changes to the legislative system of the congress,so it did not have a great impact on the reform trend.However,in recent years,artificial intelligence technology in the field of practical breakthroughs,for the U.S.congress to open up a new path to reform the legislative system,that is,unmanned legislation technology.The so-called unmanned legislation technology refers to the unmanned office program that relies on the intelligence technology and has the ability to independently complete the auxiliary work of legislation and even make legislative decisions.Compared with the existing reform path,unmanned legislation technology not only could significantly improve the efficiency of the U.S.congress legislative work,and the characteristic of technology neutrality are derived from the independent work ability can significantly reduce artificial factors influence on congressional legislation system reform,to improve legislation in congress in the process of fairness,impartiality,and realize the scientific legislation,democratic legislation and in accordance with the legislation has important theoretical and realistic significance.This dissertation consists of six chapters and a conclusion.The first chapter is the introduction,mainly responsible for introducing the purpose and significance of the topic,academic review,research methods,innovations and logical structure.The second chapter is the explanation of the concept and background of "the reform of the legislative system of the U.S.congress",including the definition of the core concept,the traceability of the legislative system and the introduction of the background and basis of the reform.Chapter three to five discusses the reform of the legislative system in the three stages from the perspectives of the formation of the reform plan,the reform of the legislative system,the reform of the legislative behavior and the periodical evaluation of the reform.The sixth chapter is the reflection on the reform,its content has the reform experience,the lesson,the influence and the reform reflection law.The conclusion part is the summary of the whole paper.The author believes that the reform of the legislative system of the U.S.Congress has indeed encountered bottlenecks that are difficult to break through,including the theoretical and institutional limits of the constitutional system,and the structural defects of the existing reform path.But this does not mean that the reform of the legislative system of the United States Congress is completely dead.If artificial intelligence,as a representative of the unmanned legislative technology,can be included into the conception and plan of legislative system reform,it may find a new breakthrough for promoting the comprehensive improvement of the legislation,supervision and checks and balances of the US Congress.