CONGRESS: A Role Plav in Four Bills
STEP ONE
The instructorwill divide the classinto the Houseof Representatives
andthe Senate.The
Housewill be larger,asit is in real life.
STEPTWO
Partyassignments:pick the partyyou selecteda few daysagowhenwe polledthe class
aboutpolitical partypreference.All thosewho selectedthe Green,PeaceandFreedom,
or NaturalLaw partieswill be left-wingDemocratsfor this role play. All thosewho
selectedthe AmericanIndependent
or Libertarianpartieswill be right-wingRepublicans
for this role play. For eachbill, askyourself: How would a memberof my partybe
likely to vote? Also: for this role play,imaginethat you area memberof Congressfrom
the first stateyou lived in, evenif that is not California. Representyour state.
STEP THREE
We'll go overprocedures.In brief, theseare:
1. Shortdebatetime will be allowedfor eachitem. You mustbeginyour
commentsby sayingeither"I riseto supportthe bill . . ." or "I riseto oppose
the bill . . ." with reasonsandarguments.Be creative,thoughyou should
rememberthatthis is basedon the realworld.
2. For the purposesof this role play, no further amendmentswill be permitted
dueto time constraints.We will imaginethat amendments
havealreadybeen
consideredandvotedup or down.
a
J.
Whenthe chair(me)callsthe question,you will voteby raisingyour handand
keepingit in the air until the secretarycancounteveryone.The secretarywill
then handa slip of paperto the chair with the result and it will be announced.
4. If a bill passes,
membersof the otherhousewill havethe opportunityto
sponsorit. If at leastonememberdoes,the otherhouseof Congresswill
debatethe bill very briefly andwill thenvote on it.
5 . If both housespassa bill, the instructorwill announcethe final outcomebased
on what happensafter the bill leavesCapitol Hill.
6. Membersmust addresseachotherpolitely, for instancesaying"my
distinguished
colleague"or "the representative
from Texas"or the like.
procedures
questions
Rulings
7.
of the chairon
andother
arefinal. Don't gettoo
upsetaboutanything-this is a role play. Enjoy the disasters.
STEP FOUR
Herearethe bills we will consider:
H.R. 138,TIIE PENALVEPOLLUTERS ACT. Summary:this act would increasethe
penaltiesfor industrialandothercorporatepollutersby200Yo,raising(for example)the
top fine for a singleinstanceof seriouspollutionasdefinedin the 2002CleanAir, Water,
andLandAct to $10billion, with multiplefinespossiblefor multiplecounts.This bill
would offsetcostsfor enforcement
by generatingfinesandwould alsoaddprobablyup to
but not more than $10 billion to U.S. revenues.This bill was reportedfavoiably from the
Energy and CommerceCommitteeby a vote of 12 to 10.
S. 339, THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS ENHANCEMENT ACT. Summary: this act
would restrict waiting periods for gun purchasesto not more than 24 hours; it would ban
stateprohibitions on categoriesof guns such as automaticweapons;it would changethe
law to permit licensed gun dealersto establishbusinesswhere they choosewithout
interferencefrom local zoning laws. This bill would have a negligible fiscal impact. It
was reported favorably out of the Commerce,Science,and TransportationCommittee by
a vote of 9 to 8.
H.R. 786, THE AMERICAN RICE FARMERS SUPPORT ACT. Summary: this act
would increasesubsidiesfor rice farmersby l0% over ratesin the 1998 Grain Farmers
AssistanceAct. It would also establishthirty half-ride scholarshipsto accreditedfouryear colleges and universities with agriculture programs for studentsplanning to
specializein rice farming in America, renewableannually through a bachelor's degree.
this portion of the bill would cost $125 million for the upcomingfiscal year. The bill has
been amendedby a vote of 220 to 205 to include one-time grants of $2 billion eachto the
American auto makers Ford and GeneralMotors for relief of financial pressuresin a
challengedindustry. The original bill (before amendment)was reported favorably out of
the Agriculture Committee by a vote of 22 to 5.
S.J.RES. 1, THE MARRIAGE PROTECTION AMENDMENT. Text:
o Section One: This article may be cited as the "Marriage Protection Amendment."
o Section Two: Marriage in the United Statesshall consist only of the union of a
man and a woman. Neither this Constitution, nor the constitution of any State,
shall be construedto require that marriage or the legal incidents thereof shall be
conferred upon any union other than the union of a man and a woman.
o Section Three: This amendmentshall expire if not ratified within sevenyears of
the date of its submissionto the states.
This constitutional amendmentwas reported favorably out of the Judiciary Committee by
a vote of 11 to 10. It would have a very minor initial fiscal impact as Congressionalstaff
would be addedto track the stateratification process. Reminder: constitutional
amendmentsmust be passedby a twothirds vote of both housesof Congressbefore
being submitted to the states.
STEP FIVE
We'll debrief by discussingwhat hasjust happenedand how it comparesto the work that
Congressactuallydoes.
NOTE
All bill numbers above, and nearly all the details about them, exist only for this role play.
The exception is the text of the last item, a version of which has actually been introduced.