Chair: Haley Bowen
Vice Chair: Alex Morgan
Topic 1: Right to Bear Arms
Right to Bear Arms Update and Summary
Topic 2: Offshore Drilling
Offshore Drilling Update and Summary
Guide to Congress
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The Senate The Senate is one of the two committees that compose the United States Congress, and along with the House of Representatives serves as the nation’s source of federal legislation as dictated by the US Constitution. In many ways the most powerful deliberative body in the entire world, the Senate was created by the writers of the US Constitution to help represent smaller states and minority opinion fairly at the national level, of politics, which was becoming increasingly centralized and more heavily influenced by larger states at the time of writing. Today, the Senate drafts and passes legislation, votes on appointees to judicial or executive positions, and approves or denies international treaties and declarations of war. As a means of limiting the power of any one political body, anything passed in the Senate must also be passed in the house to take effect, and vice-versa. Every state, regardless of size or population, has two Senators elected to six-year terms for a total of 100 members. In contrast to members of the House, Senators generally represent the interests of an entire state rather than a district, which makes the ability to compromise and weigh all consequences effectively extremely important. Much of the Senate’s deliberations take place in the 24 sub-committees that focus on a specific aspect of the US government. It is here that current issues are discussed, bills commonly are written or modified, and strategies to get a bill passed are developed. With the ability to write legislation, the Senate in many ways has the most direct impact on the lives of American citizens of any governmental body, making it a tremendous responsibility and opportunity to serve in it.
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The Senate at HMCE The Senate is composed of two sub-committees at HMCE. Selection of the issues to be debated is the responsibility of the committee Chairs, while delegates are responsible for researching the Senator they are representing to understand his or her political leanings, voting history, constituent concerns, and anything else which may influence their decision on a given vote. During committee, delegates will be responsible for debating issues at hand, debating bills, making their state’s voice heard, and finally voting on proposed bills. Once a bill is passed, it will be debated in a full session of the Senate, in which the authors and supporters must defend it against the questions and concerns of other Senators. When a bill is passed in full session, it moves on to the House full session, where the bill’s authors must advocate for its passage, and if this occurs, the bill moves on to President Obama for a final decision on whether or not it will become law.
