Assignment Descriptor

You will research and take a position on a bill currently under consideration or awaiting action by the U.S. Legislative or Executive branch. Elected officials are servants of the people. As such, they need to know how you feel so they know how to vote—theoretically.

Step 1. Go to Govtrack.us and select Bills and Resolutions. There, you can select from bills currently At the President, meaning they have been passed by Congress and await his signature to become law, Active Legislation or Inactive Legislation.

Step 2. Select a bill that interests you. There is no shortage of bills and resolutions awaiting action in Congress.

Step 3. Once you have selected a bill, click the Take a Position button.

Your job is to be an Information Leader and form an informed opinion about the bill. The website has several suggestions about how to become an Informed Leader such as:

• Call up the office of the sponsor of the bill and ask about the latest status of the bill, including what committees are considering the bill and if there are any hearings or “markup” meetings scheduled. Ask if any third parties support the bill and contact them. They may help you understand the relevance of the bill.

• Check out who is cosponsoring the bill. Does it have cosponsors on the committees it is assigned to? Does it have cosponsors in the majority party?

• Read the bill. You will probably have questions about it. Find experts such as academic researchers or lobbyists at nonprofits who can help you wade through the language of the bill.

You do not have to contact anyone—although emails are easy to send and often are met with great responses by political offices—but you should research the bill to find out who or what it will affect. Find the facts. Who, what, when, where, how?

Once you understand the bill and have enough information to form an opinion, your job is to write a letter to an elected official beginning with the phrase: I support (or oppose) bill #: the ____ act because…

There should be a minimum of two paragraphs with three supporting points. Write for clarity. Your reasoning should be sound and indicate a well-informed perspective on the matter at hand. Use a descending order of importance to organize supporting points or arguments. Elected officials are busy people. If you bore them with insignificant or poorly selected details, they may disregard your letter or consider you uninformed. Put your best foot forward. Start with your best argument first.

This assignment will be graded using the checklist and rubric included.