Government Resources

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your father which is in heaven." Matthew 5: 13 – 16

Required WebQuest #1 Sources

Official List of Members of the House of Representatives of the United States - 
http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/olm110.html 
http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_State.shtml 

Kids in the House: Learn about Congress -
http://clerkkids.house.gov/congress/members/index.html

Search for information on members of the US Congress from 1774 to the present day by entering a name, position or state - http://bioguide.congress.gov/biosearch/biosearch.asp

Legislative Branch: The Center for Legislative Archives -
http://www.archives.gov/legislative/ 

Required Web Quest #2 Sources

http://www.house.gov/Welcome.shtml 

http://www.house.gov/house/orgs_pub_hse_ldr_www.shtml 

http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/index.html

Required Web Quest #3 Sources

http://www.house.gov/Welcome.shtml 

http://clerk.house.gov/committee_info/index.html

http://www.house.gov/house/CommitteeWWW.shtml

Required Web Quest #4 Sources

http://www.senate.gov

http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/committees/d_three_sections_with_teasers/committees_home.htm 

I’m just a Bill Video

http://www.school-house-rock.com/Bill.html

http://warrensburg.k12.mo.us/IADVENTURE/Fall03/ShowersE/beginiad.html

Required WebQuest # 5 Sources

http://www.house.gov/Welcome.shtml 

http://clerk.house.gov/committee_info/index.html

http://www.house.gov/house/CommitteeWWW.shtml

http://www.senate.gov

http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/committees/d_three_sections_with_teasers/committees_home.htm 

Required WebQuest #6 Sources

Choose one major bill being considered by Congress, discuss the proposed bill and what the result will be if the bill becomes a law.

INSTRUCTIONS: 

Step 1: 

http://capwiz.com/sicminc/issues/bills/

http://capwiz.com/sicminc/issues/basics/?style=comm

http://capwiz.com/sicminc/dbq/media/

http://www.rightmarch.com/

There are several ways to learn about current bills in the legislature. One of the best ways is to read the newspaper or read online news sources. Here is a recommended list of news sources to read online:

San Antonio Express News - http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/politics/

Fox News - http://www.foxnews.com/politics/index.html

MSNBC - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032553/

C-SPAN - http://www.c-span.org/homepage.asp

Human Events - http://www.humanevents.com/

Bills in the News - http://thomas.loc.gov/home/textonly.html 

Step 2:

Once you have located a bill that interests you, try to locate the bill in Thomas. 

How to find bills at Thomas - http://thomas.loc.gov/ 

The THOMAS home page contains a search box that searches bill text (the full text of legislation) for the current Congress. Users can search by keywords or a bill number (e.g., HR 212).

If you know the bill number of the bill you are searching for, type it in the box, select "bill number" and click on the search button. You will be linked directly to the text of the bill, or if there is more than one version of the bill, to a list of those versions.

If you want a list of bills related to a particular word or phrase, type that word or phrase in the input box, select "word/phrase" and click on the search button. A search engine searches the full text of all the bills in the given Congress for the given word/phrase.

Additional options for searching bill text and bill summary & status information is available from the "Bills and Resolutions" section. These options include searching previous Congresses, multiple Congresses and advanced searching.

Step 3:

Read the bill at Thomas. Next go back and read analysis of the bill from online news sources above. This should give you enough information to write a short discussion. In your discussion make certain that you include the following information: (1) what the bill is about, (2) who sponsored the bill, and (3) what will happen if the bill becomes a law. Your paper should be about one page long.

Required WebQuest # 7 Sources

Write your Representative - This web site will assist you by identifying your Congressperson in the U.S. House of Representatives and provide contact information.

http://www.house.gov/writerep/

Write your Senator - This web site will assist you by identifying your Senators in the Senate and provide contact information.

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Learn to Write Your Elected Representative .pdf file

Sample Letter to Member of Congress .pdf file 

http://capwiz.com/cl/home/ Has many resources that will help you write your elected representative.