Congressional Extemp Instructions & Topics

Congressional Extemp Topics

A Bill to Mandate Driver’s Education Classes in Public High Schools

Whereas, driver’s education and practice should be included as a requirement for high school graduation.  

Whereas, many families cannot afford the cost of driver’s education classes, let alone the practice needed to pass a driver’s exam.  

Whereas, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), motor vehicle crashes are the second leading cause of death for U.S. teens. 

    A. In addition, the CDC states that “teens are more likely than older drivers     to underestimate or not be able to recognize dangerous situations.”   

    B. Also, the CDC states that “teens are also more likely than adults to make     critical decision errors that can lead to serious crashes.”

Therefore, the Congress assembled here shall implement a law that all federally funded high schools require two semester driver’s education classes and driving practice as a requirement for high school graduation with The Department of Education overseeing its regulation.   

A Bill to Temporarily Grant Free Access to Internet Access

Whereas, cable and satellite companies charge exorbitant fees for access. 

Whereas, many people cannot afford the fees charged to access the Internet. 

Whereas, the Internet has become more a staple in most households – especially during a pandemic situation. 

And has have become a source of much needed entertainment as well as a source for up-to-date information. 

Therefore, the Congress assembled here shall implement a law to grant temporary free access to basic Internet to households with income below the poverty level through the end of the pandemic period. 

    A. Regulation will be controlled by the Federal Communications Commission.

    B. Funding for aforementioned bill will be done from lottery revenues. 

    C. This legislation will take effect on July 1st 2021 and end on December 31,     2022, after which all previous fees will return to their original state. 

    D. All laws in conflict with this legislation are hereby declared null and void.

A BILL TO REDUCE SPEED LIMITS

BE IT ENACTED BY THE CONGRESS HERE ASSEMBLED THAT:

Section 1    The Federal Government will implement new speed limits due to the 

    increase in vehicles deaths in 2020. 

Section 2    The National Safety Council stated that there were 40,060 deaths in     2020 due to vehicle accidents.

Section 3    The Governors Highway Safety Association has stated that “though     speed management has been a problem for decades, speeding became     even more acute during the COVID-19 pandemic, as less traffic has     prompted some motorists to drive at high speeds on highways and city     streets across the nation.”

Section 4    The Department of Transportation will oversee the enforcement of this bill. 

    A. The Department of Transportation will phase in the new speed limits as     defined below.

    B. At the start of the third quarter, all street speed limits shall be     decreased by 5 miles per hours and all highway street limits shall be     decreased by 10 miles per hour. 

Section 5    This bill will take effect on July 1st, 2021.

Section 6    All laws in conflict with this legislation are hereby declared null and void.

A Resolution to Require the Passing of a Capstone English Exam for Graduation for All Government Funded Colleges

Whereas the number of students graduating from colleges and universities continues to increase. 

And students are graduating into the real world without the necessary skills to navigate analytical and well-groomed writing. 

Whereas according to the Washington Post, “Good writing takes practice, and it seems that many college students, especially outside of writing-intensive liberal arts majors, are just not being asked to write often enough.” 

Whereas according to an analysis by Burning Glass Technologies, which studies job trends in real time by mining data from employment ads, found that writing and communications are the most requested job requirements across nearly every industry, even fields such as information technology and engineering.

Whereas The Conference Board has found in its surveys of corporate hiring leaders that writing skill is one of the biggest gaps in workplace readiness.

Therefore, be it enacted by the Congress here assembled that in order to prepare students better for real-world writing, students will be required to pass a Capstone English Exam as a requirement for college graduation. 

Congressional Extemp Event Description 

8 people in a room-- paneled just like other events

Each round has a different topic which will be posted on the league website the week of the tournament

Round 1:  EXAMPLE TOPIC: The SAT should be abolished

Room 106

1.    1801 (AFF)    1^st speaker will ALWAYS be AFF, 2^nd always NEG, 3rd always AFF...etc.

2.    1806 (NEG) 

3.    1809 (AFF)

4.    1804 (NEG)

5.    1803 (AFF)

·       Speaker #1 gives an AFF speech (4 minutes) and is then questioned by the last speaker (2 min Cross-X)

·       Speaker #2 gives a NEG speech and is then questioned by the first speaker

·       CX is set up just like final round of Extemps at State Quals, State, Nat Quals, Nationals