UNDERSTANDING CONGRESS
Now that you have studied the constitution, you have the backround knowledge
of who makes up Congress and an understanding that their main responsibility
is to make laws. In this activity, you will have the opportunity to learn
who your representative is in the House and what issues they support. You
will also learn more about the legislative process by researching current
bills being discussed currently by the Congress. When you visit the topic
page you are to select two that interest you and research the history of
the bill. You will also write a biography on your representative.
Make sure to visit the assignment page to
find out what is due with this component.
An important piece of information that you need to know to complete these
activitites is who is your representatives in Congress. A quick and easy
way to find out who they are is to search a
website called the Zipper
Now that you know who your rep is, the next step is to research information
on your House
of Representatives. As you visit this first site, take notes on your
representative's political party, committees served on and their e-mail
address.
Next, research your representative's Biographical
Data to find out their educational background, political experience,
the number of years they have held this position, the length of their term
and when they will be up for reelection.
All elected officials are asked to take the National Political Awareness
Test (NPAT) wh ich gives their opinion on many issues facing this country
today. Choose at least two issues that interest you and read your representative's
NPAT
responses to them and take notes on what you find.
The last component to complete is to review the Voting
Record of your representative. You will be able to choose from many
topics, pick at least two that interest you and take notes on how the representative
voted.
Once you have gathered all of this information, you will be ready to compose
a letter to your representative. Look back at your notes, you may want to
include your opinion on their response to their NPAT test or their past
voting record.
The second step in understanding Congress is to look at current
legislation being considered by Congress. As you visit this sight you
will choose at least two topics that interest you and research the following
information: who sponsored the bill, the date it was introduced, the house
of Congress it was introduced in (Representative or Senate), and the current
status of the bill.
The final activity in understanding Congress is to write a persuasive letter
to your Congressman expressing your opinions on the topics that you researched.
Politics and You Introduction