pos 1041

POS 1041 –INTRO TO AMERICAN GOVT.

Congressional Research Worksheet

Name: Class_________________________

1. Attach three newspaper articles that deal with national policy issues that you are interested in. Type the APA citation for each article below. (6 points)

2. Take those topics and begin your search for federal legislation dealing with two of these topics. Use http://thomas.loc.gov to find the information.

Answer the following questions about two bills of your choice. (10 points)

		Points Missed
Policy Topic #1
Name of Bill 1 point
Number of Bill 1 point
Sponsor(s) of Bill 1 point
Committee Assignments 1 point
Latest status of Bill 1 point

		Points Missed
Policy Topic #2
Name of Bill 1 point
Number of Bill 1 point
Sponsor(s) of Bill 1 point
Committee Assignments 1 point
Latest status of Bill 1 point

3. Summarize in your own words one newly signed federal law that you are interested in. Use www.whitehouse.gov or www.thomas.loc.gov to find one. (5 points)

4. Take this piece of legislation (from #3) and put it into www.thomas.loc.gov to find the legislative history (All Congressional actions). Attach print out. (5 points)

5. Find three newspaper articles on Florida state policy issues. Attach articles to worksheet and type the complete APA citation for each article below. (6 points)

6. Use the Florida Senate or House website: www.flsenate.gov and www.myfloridahouse.gov find a piece of legislation from the current session that is related to one of the topics from the newspaper articles in #5 above and fill in the table below with the answers to the following questions about the bill: (5 points)

		Points Missed
Policy Topic
Name of Bill 1 points
Number of Bill 1 points
Sponsor(s) of Bill 1 points
Committee Assignments 1 points
Latest status of Bill 1 points

7. Find two non-profit, non-governmental policy advocacy (not service) agencies or organizations that advocate on behalf of your topic. Type names of organizations below and attach a print out of their home webpage. (6 points)

8. Find a report or policy brief on the National Council of State Legislature’s (www.ncsl.org) website that is related to one of the policy topics you are interested in. Write the full citation below and attach the first page of the report to the worksheet. (4 points)

9. What did you learn from this exercise? (3 points)

NOTE: All responses must be typed in 12 point font on this form. All supporting documents must be arranged and numbered accordingly and attached to the back of this form.

DUE___________________________________________