Congressional Debate (also known as Student Congress, Legislative Debate) is a competitive interscholastic high school debate event in the United States. The National Speech & Debate Association (NSDA), National Catholic Forensic League (NCFL) and many state associations and national invitational tournaments offer Congressional Debate as an event. Each organization and tournament offers its own rules, although the NSDA has championed standardization since 2007, when it began to ask its districts to use one of a number of procedures for qualification to its National Tournament.
In Congressional Debate, high school students emulate members of the United States Congress by debating pieces of legislation, including bills and resolutions. Before the event, each school submits mock legislation to each tournament. After the legislation has been compiled, it is distributed to each participating team. Each team attempts to research as many topics as possible, with each participant choosing to stand in affirmation or negation of the legislation being debated.
Legislation Unlike other debate events, students drive the topics for discussion by drafting their own legislation for submission to tournaments. The bills and resolutions must be national in scope, and must either fall within jurisdiction for lawmaking by the United States Congress as a bill, or express a specific position and/or recommendation for further action outside of Congress' jurisdiction as a resolution. There are three main legislative types: bills, resolutions, and constitutional amendments.
Tournaments may review legislation submitted before sharing the overall docket with all participating schools. Contestants from each school research and prepare arguments both in favor and against each legislation in the docket before arriving at the tournament. It is important that this happens.
Chambers and sessions Students attending each tournament are divided up into sections of 10-30 (usually 15–20, the NSDA recommendation is 18). These individual rooms are called chambers, and sometimes labeled as a "House", or "Senate," depending on the region and the tournament.
During each phase of a tournament (preliminary and elimination), there is at least one round, often referred to as a "session." The National Speech & Debate Association defines a session as having: Ten minutes of time allocated for each student (average is three hours for 18-20 contestants) Election of a presiding officer New seating chart (necessary accommodations for students with special needs may be made) Resetting of precedence/recency New legislation that has not been debated in a previous session at that tournament The same contestants stay in one chamber, until the tournament advances to the next level of elimination.
While larger tournaments may have preliminary rounds that precede elimination rounds (semifinals, finals, etc.), smaller tournaments may not have elimination rounds and may recognize and award students in individual chambers.
Setting the agenda Rounds usually begin with a method for determining which bills will be debated and in which order, referred to as the docket. This most commonly happens with a nominated docket at the tournament, although some areas have a system of informal caucusing or highly organized committees, which convene to review legislation that has been subdivided by the tournament to address a specific topic area, such as is done in the National Catholic Forensic League.National Catholic Forensic League Student Congress Manual , 1996 Edition, pg 6 A common committee structure includes: "Public Welfare," "Economics," and "Foreign Affairs."
Speeches Congressional Debate speeches last up to three minutes and 10 seconds. From 3:00 - 3:10, the Presiding Officer will gavel the speaker down, getting louder before cutting the speaker off at 3 minutes and 10 seconds. The first speech on each legislation, known as the "authorship", goes to the person who wrote the legislation, or from the same school of the author. (However, many tournaments use legislation from the NSDA, in which case anyone can give the authorship.) If nobody from the author's school is present, another debater gives a sponsorship speech (sometimes called the first affirmative), which is functionally identical to an authorship. This first speech is followed by a two-minute questioning period. One three-minute speech in opposition (negation) follows it, with another mandatory two minutes of questioning. After these initial speeches, debate alternates in favor and opposition to the legislation with three-minute speeches and one minute of questioning. Within each speech, contestants develop two or three organized, logical arguments supported by credible evidence for why the chamber should vote for or against the given legislation. The general format of a speech is as follows: Introduction: Usually, speeches begin with some sort of attention-getting device, such as a quotation (which could be humorous, shocking, or sad) or statistic. The introduction is tied to the central thesis of the speech, as the speaker urges the chamber to vote in support or opposition. Sometimes, the two or three main lines of argument are previewed to give the audience an idea of where the speech is leading; however, some criticize this practice as a waste of limited time. Contentions: Two or three arguments for or against the legislation. Each contention is explained in the speaker's own words and supported by evidence from reputable and relevant sources. Conclusion: The speaker often restates their 2 or 3 contentions and returns to the attention-getting device from the introduction to give the speech thematic unity. Alternatively, conclusions can consist of merely 1 or 2 sentences, such as "For these reasons you must pass/defeat this bill/resolution/legislation."
Questioning Questioning, traditionally, has been the standard set by the debate rules. After a speaker has given a speech, they are subjected to a minute of questioning (typically two, thirty second blocks, or during the first aff/neg speech, two minutes with four blocks), where the speaker and a questioner engage in back and forth dialogue with minimal moderation from the chair. This is used to sometimes build arguments that the questioner uses in a later speech, similar to cross-examination in other competitive debate events. At tournaments where this is practiced, the presiding officer is either required or strongly advised to keep a separate questioning priority, to ensure equal opportunity for questioners. Several tournaments have piloted this method since the National Speech & Debate Association suggested this as a result of discussions with its Congressional Debate Rules and Recommendations Committee in 2009.
Rules typically do not allow for "prefacing," where students formulate a statement or argument as part of their question; rather, they must simply ask a question, and only a question. However this rule may not be present at some tournaments, or there may be some exceptions allowed.
Some leagues and tournaments still use a protocol where the balanced of unused speaking time is reserved for questioning, rather than having a specific period.
While some student questioners feel the need to ask if the speaker yields, this is unnecessary under procedure, because the standing rules of the organizations and tournaments provide specific parameters for questioning periods that already establish when questioning begins.
Procedure and presiding officers While all Congressional Debate competition rely upon parliamentary procedure as practiced in Congress (i.e. the Standing Rules of the United States Senate or the Procedures of the United States House of Representatives) as the underpinning for how sessions are conducted, there may be slight variations in how the competition itself is run. Each chamber has a presiding officer (PO) or chair. At the beginning of each session, contestants in the chamber nominate candidates. Usually, each nominee gives a brief candidacy speech introducing themselves and stating their qualifications. Contestants then elect a presiding officer by majority via individual, secret balloting.
The presiding officer's job is to facilitate fair, balanced, and efficient debate during the session in which they have been elected through recognition of speakers, questioners, and motions. At the end of many tournaments students in the chamber vote on which presiding officer was the best, and some tournaments have a separate means for judge recognition of presiding officers.
Speaker recognition The presiding officer always calls for an author or sponsor for the first legislation in order, and the author always gets first right of refusal. When a session starts, there usually are not predetermined methods for selecting contestants for their first speech. Once speakers have been recognized, the universal rule in all leagues and tournaments is to first recognize those who have not spoken, or those who have spoken least (referred to as "precedence"). Beyond that, the National Speech & Debate Association and common practice have dictated that students also consider who spoke earlier (referred to as "recency"). Before precedence and recency are established, the presiding officer must recognize speakers fairly and equitably. The National Speech & Debate Tournament and many tournaments have (as of 2012) ruled the use of methods that tie the number of questions asked or motions made to speaker recognition, as well as how many times a student has stood, out of order, because they result in competitors simply "playing the game".
Often, coaches will instruct students who preside to call on contestants for early speeches that they do not know, and/or who are less experienced. Additionally, since debate becomes more complex after more arguments have been introduced, later speakers bear a higher burden for clash and refutation.
Motions
The National Speech & Debate Association's Table of Parliamentary Motions is in use by almost every organization that conducts Congressional Debate competition, including the National Catholic Forensic League. The motions are similar, if not usually identical to those used in Congress with a few exceptions, including the one-thirds second required to amend a motion or legislation, to prevent abuse of that protocol.
The presiding officer never should call for motions; rather, contestants should rise and say "motion," and then that they move a specific motion.
Frequently used motions
The following motions are used at almost all Congressional Debate tournaments:
Motion Notes Second Required Fraction of Chamber RequiredTo open the floor for debate* Also called the "main motion" Yes MajorityTo take a bill from the table Re-opens debate on tabled legislation, which may or may not have already been debated Yes MajorityTo lay a bill on the table Pauses debate on a bill. Some states typically return to vote on all tabled items before the conclusion of a tournament, but there is no rule requiring this. Yes MajorityTo call the previous question To call the "previous question" ends debate on a bill and states the main motion to vote on it Yes 2/3To recess The time of the recess (e.g. "for ten minutes" or "until 11:30") must be specified Yes MajorityTo rise to a point of personal privilege To make a personal request No Decision of chairTo rise to a point of order/parliamentary procedure To correct a parliamentary error, ask a question, or clarify a procedure No Decision of chairTo amend Modifies a pending motion or the pending bill/resolution; filled-out slip must be passed to P.O. in advance 1/3 second triggers debate on the amendment 2/3 majority to call the previous question to end debate, then majority to pass.To adjourn Made at the end of a tournament Yes Majority