Congress.

Party affiliation makes a huge impact within congress. Party affiliation determines much of the legislative behavior, and if the majority party has the cooperation of the president and executive branch, then the majority party has a lot of power. If the president is not working with the majority party then the party who has the majority in congress can make bills but they need the backing of the president and the executive branch, without this the majority does not matter as much. This is what happened in 2007, when the Democrats were regaining control but the republicans still controlled the presidency.

This year however things seem different. The Democrats have the majority of the Congress and the current president is now a Democrat. This means that once bills are passed, they will most likely gain the support of the President and more things will be able to get accomplished. Not only is this the case but there is now more of a polarization between the two parties. For quite some time there was more of a median where there would be conservative Democrats (southern Dem's) and liberal conservatives. As of late, the southern democrats are pretty non existent and there are less liberal conservatives. This can lead to stronger parties, because if the sides are polarized it is more likely for all or most of the members to back bills by other members of the party.

This brings up the question as to why the Republicans in congress even stay and work. It would seem as if they have no power to accomplish much of anything because the Democrats are bound together more than ever and the President is backing them as a majority. Republicans continue to do their job because there is reason to do so. By sticking around and bonding together they can show that there is an opposition to the things that the Democrats are passing by giving them very little support. This along with criticizing the Democrats and speaking out about what they feel is going wrong, and hope to influence voting decisions. They try to convince Democrats that some of their decisions may not be representative of their districts and try to still fight the majority. Not only do they want to fight for votes within Congress but also within the country. The House of Representatives holds elections every two years, when the senate holds elections every six. As it was stressed last year, things can change drastically in a two years time and by staying active within congress and fighting back against the opposing majority party it gives them more of a chance to try to take the control back.