Making laws
gridlock
A legislature that cannot pass what majorities in it want, usually because a supermajority threshold, divided chambers, or divided party control blocks it.
In full
Gridlock is generally a structural result rather than a personal failure: bicameralism, the presidential veto, the sixty-vote cloture threshold, and split control each supply a veto point. Its defenders note that the system was designed to make lawmaking hard; its critics note that the modern cloture threshold, in particular, was not part of that design.
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A plain-language explanation for civic education, not legal advice. When in doubt, the official source named above controls.