Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

When the founding fathers constructed the system of checks and balances inherent to the operation of the US government in the late 18th century, their aim was to prevent tyranny. But 21st-century abuses and a campaign of extreme partisan politics in Washington have effectively stifled the operation of the US federal government, and have caused or worsened crises in immigration, transportation, and diplomacy.

Incredibly, the deterioration of US governmental practice has finally resulted in a lawsuit between the branches themselves.

With thousands of Central American children lining up at the border in hopes of seeking refuge from poverty and violence at home, simultaneous pressure from tech companies and universities lobbying for changes in the process of awarding work and student visas, and constant threats from state governors threatening to patrol the national border with state militias, the US finds itself in dire need of a comprehensive immigration policy.

Yet after Senate filibusters twice resulted in the blockage of the DREAM Act in 2010, this Congress has not acted. Until recently, bills came through the Senate and passed or failed according to majority vote, but the once rare filibuster, a purely procedural invention, has been used more by the current, highly polarized Senate than any before it, thus effectively requiring 60 votes for the passage of bills through the 100-seat body.

Meanwhile, roads and bridges continue to crumble, and domestic ports lag behind their more modern and efficient foreign competitors.

Plans for the redevelopment of highways and the establishment of high speed railways have languished, and the growth of public transportation has been retarded.

Yet until the end of June, the US House of Representatives hadn't passed a new transportation budget in five years, choosing to merely extend appropriations based on the last bill to escape Capitol Hill in 2005.

And the new bill? Well, it ignores the debate about gasoline taxes, and steals money from environmental cleanup funds while cutting mass transit expenditures. Much like Congress, the bill is extremely complex, but achieves very little.

Incredibly, one-fourth of the 169 nations in which the US maintains an embassy do not have a US ambassador.  Furthermore, 35 current presidential nominees await the action of the full Senate for confirmation, as the US loses its ability to project influence in key regions around the globe because of Congressional inaction.

So, as Congress, which effectively lowered the US credit rating, prevented appointments to the Federal Reserve Board for political reasons, allowed the sequester to take effect, partially shut down the Federal Aviation Administration, and passed fewer laws than any congress in 50 years, comes out of recess next month, one might think they'd have their work cut out for them.

Instead, the big news will continue to be the intention of the House of Representatives to sue President Barack Obama.

On the wings of attempts to generate a takeoff of public support for the impeachment of the president through the rough media cawings of an increasingly clamorous flock of conservative wingnuts, Republican Speaker John Boehner and his constituency have appointed a lawyer to sue the president for acting unilaterally in establishing certain tenets of the national healthcare system recently passed into law.

Perhaps they were just not satisfied with their 33 unsuccessful attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act during the last legislative session.

Amazingly, but in keeping with their allegiance to gamesmanship over consistency or the creation of national policy, just one day after they announced their lawsuit, House leadership issued a statement of their intent to drop plans for a vote on immigration reform that specifically asked Obama to take unilateral action on the matter, without consulting Congress.

Indeed, the dismal pattern of congressional partisanship and ineptitude descends from political gamesmanship to travesty. On Capitol Hill today, political stunts masquerade as serious acts, while time is wasted, children are jailed at the borders, budgets remain unpassed, roadways deteriorate, and citizens are left without recourse.

The new "Do Nothing Congress" has put US democracy on permanent recess.

The author is a freelance writer and political observer living in Columbus, Ohio. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn