Is Washington broken? It's gridlock in the nation's capital. Not on the streets, but in congress. Is this any way to run a government?

• Author: Smith, Patricia
• Position: NATIONAL

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Lee Storrow, a junior at the University of North Carolina, had high hopes after the 2008 election: President Obama had won a decisive victory and there were Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress.

"It's been pretty discouraging to see how the big reform bills we were hoping to get through--like health care and climate change--have been just blockaded," Storrow says.

He's not alone in his frustration. A recent poll found that 75 percent of Americans disapprove of how Congress is doing.

Gridlock has overtaken Washington these days, with Democrats and Republicans in Congress seemingly incapable of working with each other or with the President. A number of major legislative issues--from health care and climate change to Wall Street reform--have stalled in Congress, or taken much longer than anyone expected to get through.

At the same time the tone of debate in the Capitol seems to be getting more hostile, making compromise and progress on many issues even less likely.

It's all left Americans feeling that Washington is broken, and that no one seems to know how to fix it, at a time when there's broad agreement that the nation faces enormous long-term challenges. The federal deficit has soared above $1.5 trillion this year, and the costs of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are growing so fast that they threaten to bankrupt the Treasury. Tackling problems of this magnitude will require difficult compromises, and painful choices, on all sides.

"I used to think it would take a global financial crisis to get both parties to the table, but we just had one," says William Hoagland, a former adviser to Senate Republicans. "These days I wonder if this country is even governable."

Many see no way out, at least in the near future. George W Bush limped to the end of his presidency under fierce assault from Democrats, defeated in his efforts to overhaul the Social Security system and immigration policy. A year and a half later, President Obama is dealing with re-energized Republicans, not to mention unhappy Democrats--some who think he's too liberal and others who think he's too conservative--and an angry public that's taking out its frustrations on incumbents in both parties. Democrats could face significant losses in the November midterm elections, and possibly lose control of one or both houses of Congress, which could slow down Washington even more.

FILIBUSTERS: TALK, AND MORE TALK

"I've never been as pessimistic as I am right now," says Robert Reischauer, former director of the Congressional Budget Office. "I don't see how we get out of this."

A key reason for the gridlock, experts say, is the increased use of filibusters in the Senate. A filibuster lets a Senator or group of Senators delay or block a vote by speaking indefinitely--to tie up the Senate so that no other business can get done (see box, facing page).

Senate rules require not just a majority of 51 votes, but a supermajority of 60 votes to end debate on legislation so that a vote can be taken or the Senate can move on to other business.

During the 1960s, the filibuster was used an average of seven times a year, and usually only on the most critical, game-changing legislation, like civil rights bills; in 2009, it was used 137 times, says...