About Us
Congress: The Context
SUBJECTS
U.S. Government, Civics, U.S. History
GRADE LEVEL
9-12
OBJECTIVES
This classroom simulation of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce allows students to understand the procedures and political process of committee action on a bill. Students play the roles of Republican and Democratic committee members with four different views on raising the minimum wage. After hearing arguments of opposing interest groups in a committee hearing, committee members attempt to forge a bipartisan majority through political bargaining and compromise on a bill to increase the minimum wage.
NOTE: This lesson was prepared in April 2008 when the minimum wage was $5.85 and set to increase to $6.55 on July 24. Congress has already passed legislation that will increase the minimum wage further on July 24, 2009, to $7.25. Teachers may want to introduce this lesson by saying that Congress often begins to deal with legislative issues well in advance—in other words, committees could begin taking testimony now on what the wage should be after 2009.
This activity should follow and reinforce instruction on congressional committees in the lawmaking process, and the role of parties and interest groups in this process. Some background would also need to be given on minimum wage laws, the cost of living, and indexing.
LESSON PLAN
One week before the simulation: Choose two students to assume the roles of witnesses for the committee hearing. One is to represent the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the other the AFL-CIO. (These two need not be members of the class. AP Government students from other classes can be offered extra credit as an inducement to participate.) Each student should research in depth his or her interest group’s position on raising the minimum wage and prepare a five-minute statement to advocate this position.
One day before the simulation:
1. Assign each student a role and give him a printed role description (found in the Appendix). Students with leadership abilities should be assigned the following roles:
RC-1, Republican co-sponsor of the bill
RA-1, committee vice chairman (leader of the Republicans on the committee)
DD-1, ranking minority members (leader of the Democrats on the committee
DC-1, Democratic co-sponsor of the bill
For practical reasons, explain that you as the teacher will assume the role of committee chairman but will exercise this role in a non-partisan way and will refrain from voting.
2. Have each student create a place card by folding a piece of heavy paper in half and with a heavy marker write his or her party and state by abbreviation (e.g., D, OH = Democrat from Ohio).
3. Pass out and review copies of HR 666 and data about the minimum wage on the other.
4. Review the four positions on minimum wage laws found in the role descriptions. Explain that since about a fourth of the committee members support each position, bargaining and compromise will need to occur to achieve a majority vote. Suggest some strategies.
5. Explain that Day 1 of the simulation will be a committee hearing where committee members will listen to the testimony of representatives from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO. Days 2 and 3 will be a mark-up session where the committee will have the chance to modify HR 666 by offering amendments. Assign each student the task of preparing either a question to ask one of the witnesses during the hearing or an amendment to offer during the mark-up session. There is a place on the handout for writing these. You may want to announce that you plan to assign a grade for this activity based on the students’ participation and accurate role-playing, and that you will keep track of how often and how effectively they speak.
Day 1: Hearing:
Democrats should sit on one side of the room and Republicans on the other, facing each other, with the chairman (teacher), vice-chairman, and ranking minority member sitting between them. Place cards should be on their desks. Witnesses should face the chairman (teacher).
Follow the script for the chairman.
Day 3 - 4: Markup:
The room should be set up the same as the day before. Create transparencies ahead of time using the forms - H.R. 666 - In the House of Representatives: A Bill and Amendment; fill in dollar amounts and effective dates as each amendment is offered, and display the transparency on an overhead projector. Before the session begins, encourage the ranking minority member to offer an amendment that indexes the minimum wage to inflation. The wording for such an amendment is given in the attached Amendment.
Again follow the script for the chairman (teacher). To facilitate bargaining and compromise, call for occasional recesses to allow informal discussion if you sense that these would be useful. Encourage the committee leaders and bill co-sponsors to be actively involved in this political process, especially during recesses. Hopefully the committee will be able to achieve majority support for some amended version of HR 666. Even if this result does not occur, the experience is still a valuable reflection of the reality of committee action in Congress.
Debriefing:
Spend part of the next class debriefing students on their experience. Ask students what they learned from the simulation and what it reveals about the lawmaking process. Add your own observations and reflections.
RESOURCES
Handouts
CREDIT:
James L. Jurgens
St. Xavier High School
Cincinnati, OH* A special thanks to Brandi Cook, Marion High School, Marion, SC, for the following adaptations to this lesson plan:
