Mock Congress

We've recently been conducting a mock congress in class, and so far, it's going pretty well. We have the two sides of the room split. One side for Democrats, and one side for Republicans. Before we actually assembled for congress, we also picked who was in what committee. Like the Department Of Homeland Security, and Department Of Labor and Education. After we figured out where the jurisdiction for the committee we joined was, we all had to come up with our own bills.


They had to be typed in an outline format, and we had to have a speech prepared. Before you could present however, the bill had to be passed by the committee you were in. This allows the person to know where the problems lies in the bill, and where amendments can be made. Then the person would present the bill before class, by themselves, and if multiple people wanted to speak for the bill, from the same committee, then the people from the committee go up one-by-one to present the reasoning. After that's done, people are allowed to question the sponsor, and then may present their reasoning as to why they might be for or against it. After that, a motion to vote must be made, then seconded, and then a role-call vote is done to see if it passes on to the house.

While I've liked the majority of bills thus far, I thought the one allowing gays to express their sexuality, but not in sexual ways, in the military was the best so far. It allows some more equal rights for gays, which I'm for. And it allows for more people to go in to war if need be. I respect anyone who actually wants to go serve for their country, and cutting out a group of people for their sexuality alone is just wrong. The bill was actually passed unanimously by the House, and will move on to Senate soon.