Congress: The Game

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CongressThe Game
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Rules of the Game

• You navigate the minefield of political caucusing
  and jockeying for judge approval using
  Parliamentary Procedure
• The object of the game is to earn the highest
  score from the judges by demonstrating your
  influence over the congress.

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Role Playing

• You are a senator or a representative refer to
  yourself and others as Representative ____ or
  My esteemed colleague, Senator ____...
• You give speeches either affirming or negating
  the legislation on the docket
• You vote using your placard to either pass, fail
  or table legislation
• You vote for and run for the position of
  Presiding Officer

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How to Win

• Give great speeches that score high on the 6
  point scale.
• Answer your fellow congresspersons questions
  well by knowing your legislation inside and out.
• Use your questions to help your friends and
  hurt your enemies
• Caucus for what you want. Be a mover and shaker.
  Bend them to your will. Play to win.
• Be charismatic and charming, draw supporters to
  you. Make even your opponents wish you could
  win. Give the judges what they want.

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The Notebook

• Copy of every piece of legislation, highlighted.
• Either pre-written speeches or outlines of
  speeches on both aff and neg of every piece of
  legislation.
• Amendments for the legislation that needs this
  strategy.
• A fact, quote, statistic or concept that guts
  your oppositions opinion on every piece of
  legislation. Inconvenient truths that will make
  everyone in the room change his mind on the
  issue.
• Chart of Parliamentary Motions.
• Your Forensic Resume or application for P.O.

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Team Strategies

• Enter enough competitors so that there are
  several from our school in each Congress room.
• Divide the work and share speeches and
  information.
• Vote as a block when needed.
• Oppose each other on a key issue to get more
  speech time.
• Elect a member of our team as P.O.

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Writing Legislation

• Set font to 12 point Times New Roman
• Double space
• Set your margins to 1 inch. Word sets the left
  and right to 1.25 inches.
• The top line has your title, then leave one line
  blank, then type your legislation. It should be a
  maximum of 18 lines. On the next line, type
  "Respectfully submitted," and use the right
  justified button to move it over, not the tab or
  space key. On the line after that, type your
  school's name and use the right justified button
  to move it over, not the tab or space key.
• Number the lines last, after you complete the
  entire bill or resolution.

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Name of Legislation_____________
Affirmative Negative
Reason with analysis Statistic to support
bill Example of need/harms
Reason to reject with analysis Statistic to show
problem with bill Examples
Possible Questions