Students in Mr. Barr’s class are having a mock Congressional session.

Individuals are assigned a state and party to represent. Speaker and majority and minority leaders are voted for, and everyone  is sworn in with the real oaths used for the house. The Speaker is sworn in and given use of the gavel to bring the House to order.

Each student has a card that represents their state, party, and the political beliefs of their constituency (very liberal, moderate liberal, moderate conservative, very conservative). The cards also say to what extent people in their area are in favor of the bill they are voting on. 

They are divided into three committees. These committees are Judiciary, education & labor, and energy & commerce.

Judiciary is considered one of the most important because it looks at the constitutionality of certain bills that affect people’s civil rights.  The bill they will work with is the ability of reading people’s texts and electronic messages.

Education and labor is focused on labor regulations and helping with training and education of all ages. The bill they will look over is the minimum wage bill.

Energy and commerce is the committee that proposes, amends, and passes legislation that would focus on energy consumption in the country. This committee also regulates trade, utilities, and anything that helps us economically as a country. The bill that they will talk about is opening up public land, especially in the arctic and on the coast, for drilling expeditions.

After students have a chance in committee to read, debate, amend, and vote on the bill, it is sent to the full house for a vote.  The speaker will decide what bill goes first, and a member from the committee will read the bill out loud.  There will be time for debate and discussion in the full house.  Then there will be a final vote of yes or no.

This is an important lesson that teaches students about the impact congress has on our lives and how bills are created.