Welcome to The Dirksen Congressional Center's Communicator - a web-based e-newsletter providing educators with news and ideas to improve the understanding of Congress -- http://www.webcommunicator.org.

1. People Who Served in Congress
2. Congress Defined
3. Workshop: Congress in the Classroom® 2007
4. Funding: Michel Special Project Grants
5. LegSim: Senate
6. Joint Senate–House Republican Leadership Meetings: 1967
7. The First Amendment & Trivia
8. Notice Regarding E-mail Addresses


1. PEOPLE WHO SERVED IN CONGRESS
Sketches of famous and not-so-famous Senators and Representatives

Harry Reid. Harry Reid (D-NV) is the Democratic Leader in the U.S. Senate. Party leaders are elected by members of their respective parties in the Senate at the start of each Congress. These leaders serve as the spokespersons of their party’s beliefs and legislative priorities. They also ensure that all party members are advised of the daily program in Congress. Because the Democrats hold the majority of seats in the Senate, Reid is the Majority Leader.

Nevadans first elected him to the Senate in 1986 and have re-elected him four times, the last in 2004. Born in the small rural mining town of Searchlight, Harry Reid grew up in a cabin without indoor plumbing, and attended a two-room elementary school. As a small boy he would accompany his father, Harry Reid Sr., for long days deep underground in the mines. His father was a hardrock miner with an 8th grade education and his mother never completed high school. The Las Vegas Sun newspaper summarized Reid’s story by saying that he “has gone from underdog to Senate’s top dog.”

Senator Reid and his wife, Landra, have five children and 16 grandchildren.

Visit http://reid.senate.gov/ to view Senator Reid’s official Web site. The site for the Senate Democrats is http://democrats.senate.gov/.

The New York Times web site features news stories about the Majority Leader at http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/harry_reid/index.html.

The Washington Post Web site documents his voting record at http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/r000146/.

2. CONGRESS DEFINED
Words and phrases that describe congressional processes

Meeting Hour. The hour each chamber sets for convening its daily meetings. Each does so by agreeing to a standing order, the Senate at the beginning of each Congress and the House at the beginning of each session of Congress. Although the Senate generally sets Noon as its convening hour, the Majority Leader often changes the time from day to day by unanimous consent in order to accommodate the Senate workload. The House tends to vary its convening hour according to the day of the week and committee schedules.

Source: Congressional Quarterly’s American Congressional Dictionary, 3rd edition, ed. Walter Kravitz (Washington DC: CQ Press, 2001):149.


3. WORKSHOP: CONGRESS IN THE CLASSROOM® 2007

** Call For Participation: Congress in the Classroom® 2007**

DEADLINE: March 30, 2007

Congress in the Classroom® is a national, award-winning education program now in its 15th year. Developed and sponsored by The Dirksen Congressional Center, the workshop is dedicated to the exchange of ideas and information on teaching about Congress. This year, for the first time, The Center will join with the new Institute for Principled Leadership in Public Service in conducting the workshop.

Congress in the Classroom® is designed for high school or middle school teachers who teach U.S. history, government, civics, political science, or social studies. Forty teachers will be selected in 2007 to take part in the program.

The 2007 program will feature a broad overview of Congress with special attention to the new 110th Congress with the Democrats in charge for the first time in more than a decade.

The workshop will be held Monday, July 30 - Thursday, August 2, at the Hotel Pere Marquette, Peoria, Illinois, with workshop sessions to take place in the Peoria Civic Center's new addition.

Participants are responsible for (1) a non-refundable $135 registration fee (required to confirm acceptance after notice of selection) and (2) transportation to and from Peoria, Illinois. Many school districts will pay all or a portion of these costs. The Center pays for three nights lodging at the headquarters hotel (providing a single room for each participant), workshop materials, local transportation, all but three meals, and presenter honoraria and expenses.

Tentative session titles are listed below. (NOTE: Additional sessions will be listed as presenters are confirmed. More information about the content of each session will be posted as it becomes available.)

• Opening Remarks: A View from Capitol Hill -- The Honorable Ray LaHood, (R-IL, 18th District, U.S. House of Representatives)
• Congressional Insight: An Interactive Simulation of a Member's First Term in the House of Representatives -- Bethany Dame, National Association of Manufacturers
• Legislative Life and the Meaning of Public Service -- Grant Reeher, Associate Professor of Political Science, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University
• Rules, Rules, Rules: Congress Relies on Them -- Don Wolfensberger, Director of the Congress Project, Woodrow Wilson Center
• Electoral College Strategy 2008 -- Thomas F. Schaller, Professor of Political Science, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
• A Former Staff Member’s Perspective on Congress -- Brian D. Posler, Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs, University of Southern Indiana
• What Every New Senator Should Know about the U.S. Senate -- Richard A. Baker, Historian, U.S. Senate Historical Office
• How to Get Your Point Across to Congress Members -- Stephanie Vance, AdVanced Communications, Washington DC
• Reporting from Congress -- Seth Stern, Congressional Quarterly
• How Women in Congress have Transformed It -- Debra L. Dodson, Visiting Research Scholar, Center for American Women and Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University
• Teaching with Editorial Cartoons -- Workshop teachers
• The Dirksen Center Web Suite as a Resource for Teachers -- Cindy Koeppel, The Dirksen Congressional Center

Other Program Highlights

In addition to the hour-long sessions described above, we will offer what we call "Sound Bites," or 15-minute sessions, on topics related to the workshop themes.

Take a look at The Dirksen Center Web site - http://www.dirksencenter.org/print_programs_CongressClassroom.htm -- to see what participants say about the program and to learn more about the scheduled sessions and presenters.

Registration

If you are interested in registering for the Congress in the Classroom® 2007 workshop, you can complete an online registration form found at: http://www.dirksencenter.org/programs_CiCapplication.htm.

4. FUNDING: MICHEL SPECIAL PROJECTS GRANTS

The Dirksen Congressional Center announces the resumption of its special project funding, now named the Robert H. Michel Special Project Grants. Through these financial awards, The Center will support work to enhance understanding of the U.S. Congress. Individuals and organizations may apply for a Michel Special Project Grant by following the procedures outlined on our website.

The Michel Special Projects Grants are intended to fund work that advances the public understanding of the federal legislature through research and teaching. Examples of eligible projects include conferences that bring together congressional scholars, the collection or publication of resources useful for research, efforts by teachers to develop creative ways to teach about Congress, and publications, especially those with appeal beyond academia. IMPORTANT: The projects must have as their central focus the U.S. Congress. We particularly value innovative endeavors that have the potential to reach a broad audience.

Learn more about the Michel Special Project Grants by visiting: http://www.dirksencenter.org/print_grants_specialprojects.htm. The application process is simple and the requirements are minimal. We encourage you to apply!


5. LEGSIM: SENATE

The Dirksen Congressional Center awarded a Michel Special Project Grant in 2006 to John Wilkerson, University of Washington, for his project, LegSim: Senate. This project creates a companion curricular resource to LegSim: House of Representatives. Both permit students in classes of any size to organize and operate their own legislature. LegSim includes a host of instruction resources such as assignments, grading tools, and learning icons, and is customized by the instructor. Because LegSim is remotely hosted, students participate from any web browser at any time and the instructor has the flexibility to decide whether activities, such as committee meetings, debates, or votes, occur in the classroom or outside of it.

We welcome you to visit the LegSim website: www.legsim.org.

6. JOINT SENATE–HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP MEETINGS: 1967

What follows is a sample describing a selection from the collection of leadership-related materials recently posted on The Center’s Web suite:

“The One Hundred and Thirty-ninth Meeting of the Joint Republican Congressional Leaders Called for Wednesday, March 22, 1967, at 2:00 p.m. in the Capitol Office (H-202) of the House Minority Leader, the Honorable Gerald R. Ford”

Statements:

Ford makes a statement about agricultural distress and anger. He discusses that inflation has shot production costs sky high while the parity ratio declines to 74. He says the Republicans have introduced bills to remedy.

Dirksen makes a statement about farmers as victims of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s and Vice President Hubert Humphrey’s double–edged sword of high prices but low income with no real benefit to consumers.

Question and Answer:

Ford responds that the President does have sufficient resolution. He states his biggest problem comes from other members of his party which gives appearance of lack of resolution.

Dirksen responds to a question about agricultural imports. He states there is no excuse for destroying food surpluses as long as there are hungry people in the world.

More:

Listen to the audio, read the meeting minutes and press releases, and link to study questions at: http://www.dirksencenter.org/emd_audio/1967.htm.

7. THE FIRST AMENDMENT & TRIVIA

Look at the bold words in the text provided and match each bold word to a word or phrase in the list that has a similar meaning.

Find The First Amendment at: http://www.congressforkids.net/games/billofrights/1_matching.htm.

Trivia: What event in 1902 led to the senate adopting new rules on decorum and behavior?

A. A wild party involving senators
B. A fistfight
C. Too many senators indicted for bribery
D. Improper voting

*Find the answer in next month's issue.

Answer to January's Fun, Facts, and Trivia: http://www.webcommunicator.org/classroom%20resources/funfactstrivia_ans0107.htm.


8. NOTICE REGARDING E-MAIL ADDRESSES

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