Senate Simulation Project: Overview

PICK A PARTY – in class

You are now a senator in the U.S. Senate. In order to determine the majority party in Congress,
everyone must choose a party to represent in our class Senate: Democrat or Republican. Sign up for
the party that you most align with according to the ISideWith quiz. The teacher will also choose
majority and minority party leaders for each class.
 
WRITE A BILL – in class as Unit 2: Policy assessment
You will team up with another Senator in the class who is interested in similar issues as you and co-
author a proposed bill. Your bill can be about anything the federal government has the power to
create policy on—choose something you are interested in and think you could pass in class!
Submit the completed bill to the drop box on Canvas as a WORD document. Numbering the lines is
required, as it makes it easier to discuss and amend the bill. I will provide further instruction and a bill
template before giving you time in class to work on the bill on the block days this week.
 
PREPARATION: READ & ANNOTATE YOUR CLASSES' BILLS – homework, due before
participating in the committee work
In order to participate meaningfully in the committee work and floor debate for this project, you should
know the background of the topics on which you are passing legislation as well as your opinions on
those topics. To this end, you must read the bills written by your classmates and annotate them with
your opinions about the topic and ideas for amendment. 
 
COMMITTEE WORK – in class on 2/26 | 3/1
You will be divided randomly into committees with 5-6 members. The teacher will choose a committee
chair from the majority party for each committee. Committee members will read each bill assigned to
their committee and make recommendations on possible amendments to improve the bill, including
physically making any agreed upon changes to the bill. Discuss the bill thoroughly. Will the country be
better off if this bill passes?  Does this address an issue of national importance? If needed, the
committee can call on the bill’s authors to testify. Your grade on this portion will be based on your
participation in the discussion and committee voting.
 
DEBATE BILLS ON THE FLOOR – In class on 3/2-3/5
After the Committee meetings, the full Senate will assemble. Any bills that have passed through the
committee process will be debated and voted upon. MUST speak on the Senate floor in favor of your
bill if it comes up for a vote. Your grade will be determined, in part, by your participation in the floor
debate.
 
 
 
Grade: 

Written bill (co-written with one other Senator)  30 pts. 

Annotation of bills 20 pts.

Participation in committee discussion  10 pts. 

Participation in floor debate  10 pts. 

Reflection 10 pts.

Total:     80 pts.
Brainstorming to Write a Bill
Writing your legislation is easier than you might think. Below are some simple guidelines to follow for
writing your bill.
 
Select an area of interest:
The first step in writing your bill is to select a topic. You should write a bill on an area of national
politics that you already know a little bit about. You can look at past and current bills that have been
proposed at www.congress.gov. The next step is to pick one problem or issue from your general area
of interest on which you want your legislation to focus. Choose a problem and solution that leaves
room for debate. For example, a bill to legalize marijuana has plenty of ground both for and against
the solution.
 
Some policy topics you might choose from are:
 Environmental protection
 Environmental justice  The criminal justice system
 Climate change policy  Issues of housing (ex.: landlord & tenant
 Policing rights)
 Decriminalization or legalization of drugs  Access to voting / increasing voter turnout
 Access to abortion  Gun ownership / gun control
 College tuition / student debt  Immigration policy (ex.: path to
 Healthcare citizenship, border security, oversight of
 Cost of medicine ICE and CBP)
 Coronavirus response  Executive power
 National debt  NSA surveillance of citizens
 Issues of poverty  Data collection and usage by private
 Food insecurity companies
 Federal minimum wage  Parental rights
 Media literacy  Parental leave in the U.S.
 Media regulations  Improving the education system in the
 Fixing American democracy (whatever U.S.
that means to you)
 
Use the checklist to see if your issue qualifies.
If you can answer “yes” to at least one of the following, proceed:
 The majority of people throughout the country feel it is a problem to be solved at a national
level.
 The problem exceeds the jurisdiction of more than one state.
 The local problem is so severe, state resources cannot resolve it.
 The problem is identified as a national goal in by the U.S. Constitution (preamble)
 There is no state-level government to handle the problem.
 
Make sure that the problem really exists.
 Is there solid statistical evidence from unbiased sources?
 Can you find honest assessments of the problem?
 Are you familiar with the existing conditions of the problem?
 
Think of possible solutions to achieve your goal.
 Is the goal of the solution clearly defined?
 Does the solution deal with the cause of the problem?
  Is the solution constitutional? (!!!)
 Consider the powers of the federal government within the scope of federalism, and the powers
of the legislative branch within the scope of our system of checks and balances. 
 Does the solution seem to efficiently solve the problem?
 
Drafting Your Bill
Directions:
 One person in your group should download this document and share it with your group
members. You must follow the template in the document. This will save you time writing, and
will make it easier to amend bills during your committee work.
 Your bill is NOT to exceed two pages!
 Before submitting your bill, rename your bill with your last names & the topic (policy area) of
your bill.
 Example: Shaner & Wilson - High School Curriculum
 Submit your bill to this dropbox as a Microsoft Word document. The final draft of your bill is
due Tuesday, February 16th. 

Rubric
Policy is constitutional 1 pt

Policy is specific enough to be actionable 1 pt

Thorough description of the relevant problem being addressed 5 pts

Description of the specific action(s) that will be taken by the federal government 5 pts

Explanation of how the policy solves/addresses the chosen problem 4 pts

Key terms are defined, and important background information is included in
2 pts
subsections
A specific plan for funding is described—the bill describes specific amounts for
5 pts
funding and penalties
The federal department/agency responsible for enforcing the policy is correctly
3 pts
identified
A logical date for enactment is designated 1 pt

All group members’ names are included on the bill 1 pt

Formal language is used throughout the bill—third person is used, and
1 pt
spelling/grammar has been corrected.
All information is in the correct location according to the provided template. 1 pt

Total: 30 pts
Bill Template:
A Bill to _____________________

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in
Congress assembled, that the United States shall ___________________________________.

Section 1: [Here, describe exactly what your law will do and require. Your bill should describe the
problem you seek to solve/mitigate, the causes of that problem, and how your bill addresses those
causes.]

Subsection 1a: [Define a key term or give background relevant to understanding your law or
its enforcement.]

Subsection 1b: [Define another key term or give background relevant to understanding your
law or its enforcement. You can add more subsections below as necessary.]

Section 2: [This is the hard part! Describe the funding for your law. Every bill needs start-up funds at
the very least, and may require a more comprehensive payment plan if you are creating or expanding
government services. Criminal laws and other prohibitive bills might have consequences such as jail
or fines, which you can include as an additional funding source for the bill. Include multiple
subsections for penalties. You will need to some research on your own to figure out how much your
law is going to cost.]

Subsection 2a: [Describe which agency/department in the federal bureaucracy will be

responsible for enforcing this law and its penalties. You will need to do some research on your
own to figure out who would enforce your law.]

Subsection 2b: [Define penalties or terms relevant to the enforcement of the law. You can
add more subsections below for this as necessary. You will need to do some research on your
own to figure out what a reasonable penalty for your law would be.]

Section 3: This bill will be enacted on _________________. (Laws are often enacted on Jan. 1; at
the start of a fiscal year on July 1; and occasionally at the start of the school year on Aug. 1 or Sept.
1.)

Sponsored by: Senator [First and Last Name] and Senator [First and Last Name]
Committee Work & Floor Debate Preparation Directions:
 The bills in the document linked below will be used in your class’s Senate simulation. In order
to participate meaningfully in the committee work and the floor debate, you must come to class
on those days (1) confident in your opinion on each policy issue that will be discussed and (2)
ready to propose changes or make arguments about each bill that are in line with your
personal beliefs on the issue.
 To this end, please read each of the bills below before your class’s committee work day and
annotate each bill with the following:
 Your opinion on/reactions to the goals of the bill
 Questions you have for the authors of the bill
 Suggestions for changing the bill to make it better
 Your annotations can be in whatever format makes the most sense to you. You are welcome
to print these bills and do your annotations on paper if you prefer to do so. Please bring your
annotated bills to class on the day of the committee work so you can reference your notes
when you work with your committee to mark up the bills.
Committee Work Directions:
1. Review your class’s community agreements. Remember that 1) everyone here is a person who had the
same amount of time as you to tackle the difficult task of creating good legislation and 2) everyone gets
to have an opinion.
2. Read the first bill. Your committee chair will decide the order in which you review the bills.
3. Think about questions you have. You can upon the authors to answer your questions!!!!
4. Decide:
 Is this bill worth amending, or should you pigeonhole it (kill it) and move on to the next one?
 If the bill is worth amending, talk about changes you could make. Your changes should be
SPECIFIC, rather than general suggestions. These bills will go straight from the committee to
the floor.

5. Vote on each change before making that change directly in the linked bill you are looking at. 
6. Vote on sending the bill on to the floor as it has been amended in committee before moving on to the
next bill.
7. Let the clerk (Ms. Shaner) know when you decide to send a bill on to the floor.
8. If your bill is going on, find your bill in this shared folder and check it to see the changes that were
made. Next class, if your bill comes up for debate, you MUST argue for your bill on the floor, and field
any questions your fellow senators have about your bill.
Floor Debate Directions:

Floor debate expectations: Continue to share your ideas respectfully.  

 Everyone here is a person who has worked hard on their bill in a short amount of time!
 Everyone gets to have an opinion!
 Politics are personal, and the personal is political—what may not affect you personally could
make a world of difference to someone else
 
Floor debate procedure:
1. Review the bills up for debate today. The order of the bills is listed below, and you can view all of
the bills in order in this document.
o The majority party leader has decided the order in which we review these bills today. If we
do not get to a bill in class today, it simply does not get passed.
o Refer to your annotated bills to brainstorm 
 potential amendments you would like to propose for that bill
 questions you have about the bill
 arguments for/against the bill
 convenient places to add rider amendments, according to your personal policy
goals 
2. unmoderated caucus – informal time to meet with other senators about amendments you want to
pursue and strategies you want to employ to get this bill passed/killed
o During this time, you could:
 log roll - try to get votes for your bill/amendment idea by promising your vote on
other senators' bills/amendments that you agree with
 try to build support among other senators for a rules change you would like to see
happen using unanimous consent (one of the unique procedures of the Senate--
you can change the debate rules if you ALL agree to the rule change)
 ask the majority party leader for a hold – a senator of the majority party may request
from their party leader that a hold be placed on a bill so that a vote can be taken on
it on another legislative day. (In our case, the bill will be added to the end of our
legislative agenda. If we don't get to it, it simply does not get passed.)
 get crafty - How many votes do you need to pass or kill an amendment or bill? How
can you creatively kill a bill you don't like?
3. moderated debate –  You will decide which bills pass through your chamber today. The majority
party leader will decide the order in which bills are debated and voted on. If we do not get to a bill
in class today, then it dies. The chair (Ms. Shaner) will recognize senators to make motions for the
actions below. Majority leaders get preferential rights of recognition by the chair. 
o
 Speech (stand and speak for or against an amendment/the bill itself)
 Propose an amendment to the bill before the bill itself is voted on
 Motion for cloture to end debate and vote on the bill (and any amendments that have
been approved by a majority). Must have a 3/5 majority to end debate.