MODEL CONGRESS
Simulation Directions
AP US Government & Politics
OVERVIEW
During the Model Congress simulation, students will write and present bills to replicate the legislative process.
Students will first be divided into the House of Representatives or Senate. After that they decide on which
committee they would like to be a part of and that will decide what type of bill they will create. Following this,
work will be done to draft bills, present to committee members and mark up, committee vote and finally a
floor vote.
ASSESSMENT
Each student will receive a grade in two areas: 1) written bill; 2) participation during simulation. The bill and
participation grades will be averaged together and count as the project grade.
COMMITTEES FOR MODEL CONGRESS

CONGRESSIONAL LEADERSHIP
President Pro Tem (Senate)
● Job- direct discussion of passed committee bills, debate times, and in charge of floor votes.
Speaker of the House (House of Representatives)
● Job- direct discussion of passed committee bills, debate times, and in charge of floor votes.
Committee Chair
● Job- direct discussion of bills, mark up process & committee vote, then submit bills that pass to the
President Pro Tem OR Speaker of the House depending on which house of Congress you are in.
MODEL CONGRESS SCHEDULE/TASKS
Day 1: Committee Assignments & Bill Drafting
1) President Pro Tem or Speaker of the House will assign committee chairs & members.
2) Committee Chairs find a place in the classroom to meet and gather their members to start planning.
3) Committee members begin drafting an idea for a bill, each member (and chair) will come up with
one bill.
4) End of the day, each committee member will report the name of their bill to the Committee Chair.
o When each bill is reported, the Chair will assign it a number and the member should type it on
their bill.
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o Example Format for Bill Number:
● House Bill (HB) + Class Period (1) + Order Person Reports to Chair (1) + Committee Number
(17) = HB 1117
● Senate Bill (SB) + Class Period (1) + Order Person Reports to Chair (3) + Committee
Number (15) = SB 1315
Day 2: Bill Drafting
1) Committee Chairs will meet in the same place with their members from yesterday.
2) For the rest of the day, committee members will work on drafting & researching their bill.
3) Each committee member (and chair) will submit their bill to Google Classroom by 11:59pm.
o Everyone should bring a paper copy of their bill to class tomorrow
o Everyone will present their bill to their committee tomorrow
Day 3: Committee Bill Discussions (Mark Ups) & Votes
1) Committee Chairs will meet in the same place with their members from yesterday.
2) Committees will begin the bill discussion process called “MarkUp Sessions”
o Chairs will set the order in which each bill will be discussed
3) Chairs will announce the bill name and number for the bill’s sponsor to explain their bill to the
committee
4) The bill sponsor (writer) will explain their bill and answer any questions that the other committee
members have
o If during the discussion the bill sponsor wants to make changes to their bill based on comments
& questions, they can mark-up the bill with a blue or red pen.
o Once the mark-up is done OR if there are no changes to the bill, the member should tell the
chair they are ready for a vote
5) Single Bill Votes: Committee Chair will now call for a vote on the bill which was just presented
o By show of hands the chair will ask members to vote “yay” (yes) OR “nay” (no).
o The Chair will record what bills pass
6) Committee Chair: Overall Bill Votes- Once all voting has been completed on all bills, ONLY 1 bill
can be selected to represent the Committee. The final selection! It must be a bill that was already
approved.
o The Chair should guide a discussion and final vote on the best bill to represent their committee.
▪ Record what bill has been voted on
▪ A printed copy of the bill should be brought to class tomorrow with any changes
from mark-up typed in red.
Day 4: Floor Debates & Voting
1) All members of the House of Representatives should meet on one side of the room and all members
of the Senate should meet on the other side of the room.
2) Committee Chairs should give their selected bill name and number to the President Pro Tem OR
the Speaker of the House depending on which house the chairs are in.
3) The President Pro Tem and Speaker of the House will determine in what order the bills will be
introduced, control all discussion on the floor and be in charge of the session. They will also remind
all members that:
a. Bills being discussed cannot be changed or amended.
b. There is a time limit for debate/questions of each bill (15 minutes)
c. At the end of the debate time a floor vote will be taken of all members
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d. Everyone must be respectful, only one person can speak at a time, and everyone should
participate
4) President Pro Tem/Speaker of the House will announce the bills to the floor by saying:
a. The sponsor and author of (Bill Name & Bill Number) will now present their bill
5) Presenting Bills & Floor Debate/Discussions
a. The bill sponsor will explain the major aspects of their bill and then the floor is open to
questions and discussions about the bill
■ Presenters should be persuasive!!!
b. The President Pro Tem/Speaker of the House will keep time (15 minutes) and announce when
time is up and it is time to vote
6) Bill Voting
a. President Pro Tem/Speaker of the House will now call for a vote on the bill which was just
presented
■ By show of hands the chair will ask members to vote “yay” (yes) OR “nay” (no)
b. Once voting is done, the President Pro Tem/Speaker of the House will announce that the bill
has passed OR died and if it is passed, it will be sent to the Congressional Joint Committee on
Bills.
c. Bills that are sent to the Congressional Joint Committee, should be handed to Mr. Atkinson
after all voting has been done.
Bill Requirements
1. The bill must be realistic and include a relevant federal issue appropriate for Congress to address.
Each bill must be creative — you may research actual bills, but your bill should contain original ideas.
Use examples from actual bills at http://www.house.gov/ and http://www.senate.gov/ to assist you.You
will make one copy of your bill in the Bill Project template AND bring ONE hard copy of the bill to
class.
2. Critical Elements of the Bill – Each bill must contain the following:
a. SECTION 1. TITLE – Your title should convey what your bill is about. You can name it after
yourself
b. SECTION 2. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE/NEED – Provide a thorough explanation of why this
bill is necessary or important. Specific details, and supporting evidence should be included (i.e.
facts, statistics from research). Consider including information about how this would benefit the
people of your state (if Senate) or District (if House).
c. SECTION 3. PROVISIONS – BENEFITS AND ELIGIBILITY – This section of the bill identifies
and explains exactly who (i.e. individuals or demographic groups) that are eligible to receive
benefits proposed and/or who is ineligible; what is legal or illegal?
d. SECTION 4. PROVISIONS – TERMS AND BENEFITS OF SERVICE – Provide specific details
and explanation about what your bill will do and/or change. Be thorough and don’t leave
anything out!
e. SECTION 5. ADMINISTRATION – Identify and explain the role of federal government agencies
(ex: NASA, EPA, FCC), executive departments (ex: Departments of Defense, Department of
Justice, Homeland Security) charged with carrying out/enforcing the provisions in the bill. In
some bills, state and local governments will also have a role in carrying out/facilitating the
provisions in the bill
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f. SECTION 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS – If your bill requires funding (most of
them do), then you must identify the amount of money your bill requires, and justify why this bill
should go to the appropriations committee to receive money. Indicate how/why the government
can/should afford to pay for this program. To get a sense of projected federal expenditures for
this fiscal year, you can go to the website http://nationalpriorities.org.
g. SOURCES – You must do in-depth research for you bill and cite a minimum of FIVE sources in
this section (may be a academic sources, news article, expert interviews, statistic you find from
a think tank, interest group or political party on the Internet), but at more than five are strongly
recommended. More weight will be given to issue specific sources. Cite your sources at the
bottom of your bill.