U.S Model Senate
During the senior humanities Model Senate, each student was assigned a senator, and was respectively assigned to that senator's committee, the Judiciary Committee, the Energy & Natural Resource committee, or the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. Through extensive research on immigration reform, college debt and climate change, each student learned about each issue, the Democratic and Republican stance on the issue, and their specific senator's view. With careful thought and effort, senators drafted bills according to their committee. The best bill proposed in each committee was then determined to be used during the model senate. These bills were debated, amended, and voted on in committees during the exhibition. The bills that passed in the committees were then voted on by the senate as a whole on the final night of exhibition.
My role during this project was to be the committee chair on immigration, representing the Republicans. In the weeks leading up to model senate, it was my job to become well informed on the demands and needs of my party, as well as the democratic party, to ensure that the proposed bill would pass or fail depending on if it met our requirements and policy or not. The most important part of my role was demonstrated during the actual model senate, when it was my job to ensure the effectiveness, timeliness and the success of the committee meetings doing so of course with a gavel in hand. I also kept the subcommittee meetings on track, reminding senators of the republican's perspectives and demands while writing and proposing amendments, as well as making sure each senator was aware of the democratic demands.
My role during this project was to be the committee chair on immigration, representing the Republicans. In the weeks leading up to model senate, it was my job to become well informed on the demands and needs of my party, as well as the democratic party, to ensure that the proposed bill would pass or fail depending on if it met our requirements and policy or not. The most important part of my role was demonstrated during the actual model senate, when it was my job to ensure the effectiveness, timeliness and the success of the committee meetings doing so of course with a gavel in hand. I also kept the subcommittee meetings on track, reminding senators of the republican's perspectives and demands while writing and proposing amendments, as well as making sure each senator was aware of the democratic demands.
My role in Model Senate was to serve as the committee chair on the judiciary committee. This entailed ensuring the committee functioned well by understanding and apply Parly-Pro guidelines, and making sure the proposed bill was debated, amended, and that it ultimately passed out of committee. By representing the republicans in this committee, it was very important that the bill included the Republican Party Platform. Lengthy research of the GOP’s perspective on immigration, determining deal breakers, and recognizing the demands and potential issues that the Democratic Party will present, were all important tasks I fulfilled during this project.
I think that the final bill that passed out of our committee was very bipartisan and that the ideals of each party were executed. Although some Republicans did not fully support this bill, I think that it was due to either their personal or their senator’s resistance on immigration reform. As the Chair, I tried my best to persuade their vote, however I also recognize the fact that a bill can not align with everyone’s ideals. I think that all of the proposed amendments were very well thought out, and the Republican Party had a great deal of success in passing all of their proposed amendments as well as not allowing the democratic amendments that conflicted with our ideals to pass. During the actual exhibition, I was very engaged. This is because it was my job to run the committee sessions, and without my full attention and engagement, the committee meeting would have been unsuccessful. By calling out dilatory actions, following the schedule, and acting as a leader, my full engagement in the process lead to a successful committee meeting. Specifically in the Judiciary Committee meetings, I think that our Model Senate reflected what would have actually happened in the U.S Senate. There were heated debates, passionate senators, and everyone was well educated on the issue of immigration. However, I do think that it was challenging for students, myself included, to vote according to their senator. This is because extensive research time was used for facts about immigration, and for understanding the GOP’s, as a whole, perspective on immigration, and not so much on everyone’s specific senator’s perspective. I think that there could have been more controversial opinions between senator’s within their party and with the opposing party, better reflecting the U.S Senate, if more research was done on the senators. |
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