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

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1. Monthly Feature -- Teaching About Congress
2. Monthly Theme -- Best Sites for Government Teachers
3. Featured Grant-funded Project
4. News and Views from The Center
5. Trivia - The Foundation of American Society
6. Postscript Information

1. TEACHING ABOUT CONGRESS

If you teach about Congress, there must be times when the amount of information just seems overwhelming. We certainly find that to be true here at The Center. A Google search on "Congress" will yield about 99,000,000 hits! Where to begin?

Our AboutGovernment site attempts to select the best sites about Congress (and many other subjects related to understanding the federal government.) We list 40 sites about the legislative branch at http://www.aboutgovernment.org/print_usgov_legis.htm, for example. But that's still a lot to wade through.

2. BEST SITES FOR GOVERNMENT TEACHERS

Last month, we featured five of the very best sites for those of you who teach about the history of Congress. This month, we turn to sites that might appeal particularly to government teachers.

C-SPAN Online -- http://www.cspan.org

Viewers of C-SPAN's cable TV coverage of the proceedings of the House and Senate and public affairs programming know the quality and impartiality of coverage for which C-SPAN has earned a much deserved reputation. C-SPAN Online continues this fine tradition. C-SPAN Online provides online lesson plans, special features, a glossary of congressional terms frequently asked questions about the Capitol, the activities of the C-SPAN School Bus, and C-SPAN in the Classroom -- http://www.c-span.org/classroom/. This site, already among the very best on the Internet, is getting better all the time.

Congressional Pictorial Directory -- http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/105_pictorial/index.html

Do you ever struggle to put a face to a name? This online directory provides brief biographical sketches and a picture of each member of the current Congress. The Congressional Pictorial Directory requires the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to view the pictures. Conveniently, the GPO site provides an easy way to download Adobe Acrobat Reader at no charge for use with any file in the Adobe Acrobat PDF format.

Government Printing Office -- http://www.gpo.gov/

This site offers a wealth of information about Congress, including the following subparts:

Congressional Bills -- http://www.gpoaccess.gov/bills/index.html

All published versions of bills from the 108th (2003 - 2004), 107th (2001-2002), 106th (1999-2000), 105th (1997-1998), 104th (1995-1996) and 103rd (1993-1994) are available. The 109th Congress database will be updated by 6 a.m. daily when bills are published and approved for release.

Congressional Directory -- http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cdirectory/index.html

Presents short biographies of each member of the Senate and House, listed by state or district, and additional data, such as committee memberships, terms of service, administrative staff, and room and telephone numbers. It also lists officials of the courts, military establishment, and other Federal departments and agencies, including DC government officials, governors of states, and territories, foreign diplomats, and members of the media.

Congressional hearings -- http://www.gpoaccess.gov/chearings/index.html

A limited number are available, but there is a search feature.

Congressional Record --- http://www.gpoaccess.gov/crecord/index.html

The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published daily when Congress is in session. Helpful Hints provide instructions for searching the Congressional Record database, 1995-current. The index to the Congressional Record is at -- http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cri/index.html.

Congressional Reports -- http://www.gpoaccess.gov/serialset/creports/index.html

Contains House, Senate, and executive reports, 104th Congress to present.

History of Bills -- http://www.gpoaccess.gov/hob/index.html

Lists legislative actions on bills that are reported in the Congressional Record, 1983-present.

Public Laws -- http://www.gpoaccess.gov/plaws/index.html

Contains laws signed by the President, 1995-present.

The Hill -- http://www.hillnews.com

Capitol Hill is the most important small town in the world, whose 100 Senators, 435 House Members, and 40,000 aides affect the lives of individuals and businesses throughout the world. The Hill's targeted circulation includes these influential 40,535 residents plus the executive branch, cabinet departments, the news media, trade associations, public-interest groups and lobbyists. The Hill reports and analyzes the actions of Congress as it struggles to reconcile the needs of those it represents with the legitimate needs of the administration, lobbyists, and the news media. The paper explains the pressures confronting policy-makers, and the many ways -- often unpredictable -- that decisions are made. But Capitol Hill is more than the focal point of the legislative branch of government. It is also a community not unlike a small city, and The Hill reports on its culture, social life, crime, employment, traffic, education, discrimination, shopping, dining, travel, and recreation.

U.S. Congressional Bibliographies -- http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/senatebibs/

This site may be mis-named. It consists of comprehensive lists of hearings, prints, and publications printed by the Senate, 1983 to present. For the House, it lists committee meetings recorded in the Congressional Record's Daily Digest, 1985 to present. The site also has compiled productivity measures of various sorts.

You will want to visit the Senate -- http://www.senate.gov -- and House -- http://www.house.gov/ -- sites, too, of course.

If you have a favorite site for government teachers, please send the link to Cindy Koeppel at ckoeppel@dirksencenter.org.

3. FEATURED GRANT-FUNDED PROJECT

On December 3, 2004, The Dirksen Center awarded a Robert H. Michel Special Project Grant in the amount of $3,000 to Steve Frantzich, U.S. Naval Academy, for his project entitled, How a Bill Becomes Law Interactive. This project will create an interactive "bill becomes law" flow chart that can serve as a stand-alone activity or as the basis of classroom instruction. Each state of the legislative process will be accompanied by a video clip example, a textual description, a discussion of alternative methods to accomplish that step, and a statistical summary (how many bills are introduced, how many roll call votes per year, etc.) When completed, this project will be available on The Center's Web suite-we'll give you the precise URL at that time.

Learn more about the Robert H. Michel Special Projects Grants at: http://www.dirksencenter.org/print_grants_specialprojects.htm

4. NEWS AND VIEWS FROM THE CENTER

** Historical Collection Digitization **

Last Fall, we began in earnest to build a digital database of, first, some of the printed guides to The Center's archival holdings and, second, selected historical documents. What progress have we made?

We have posted the complete digitized guide to Dirksen's Remarks and Releases dated 1941-69 which occupies 6.0 linear shelf feet. This series consists of three divisions: remarks, releases, and interviews; radio-television; and model statements. It includes drafts and transcripts of speeches, selected remarks in Congress, interviews of radio and television, Republican leadership press releases, weekly constituent newsletters; transcript of Your Senator Reports; and, Dirksen's newspaper column.

The introduction to this series includes an index to a more detailed finding aid listing and linking each document individually to 41 different searchable Adobe PDF files. Find this index at: http://www.dirksencenter.org/guides_emd/RemarksReleases1930-69/intro.htm

More to come next month!

** Civil Rights Documentation Project **

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the landmark civil rights laws of 1964-65, The Center is seeking outside funding to launch the Civil Rights Documentation project with the following objectives:

• To identify the range of historical materials in all formats related to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 housed in the Everett M. Dirksen Papers at The Dirksen Congressional Center.
• To produce a thoroughly researched historical narrative of how the landmark civil rights bills of the 1960s became law.
• To provide an interactive, Web-based presentation on the subject with links to digitized historical materials and other Internet-based resources about civil rights legislation created by museums, historical societies, and government agencies.
• To provide resources teachers can use to create lesson plans and material to supplement their teaching of the legislative process, of recent American history, and of the civil rights movement, among other social studies topics.
• To demonstrate that Congress has the capacity to act on large, contentious issues of the day and explain what factors contribute to that success.
• To highlight the role of citizen engagement in the legislative process.

Please contact Frank Mackaman at fmackaman@dirksencenter.org if you are aware of any funding opportunities that this project would qualify. Thanks!

5. THE FOUNDATION OF AMERICAN SOCIETY TRIVIA

1. The United States Constitution has survived for more than 200 years primarily because…

A) Most Presidents have ignored provisions that are obsolete.
B) The United States has won most of its wars.
C) Most immigrants to the United States come from democratic countries.
D) The language of the Constitution allows for a variety of interpretations.

2. Which action would be unconstitutional?

A) The President vetoing a foreign aid bill.
B) A state levying a tax on products from another state.
C) The Senate rejecting a treaty negotiated by the President.
D) The Supreme Court declaring a state law null and void.

3. Which characteristic is most essential to a democratic society?

A) A respect for individual rights.
B) A federal structure of government.
C) A strong two-party system.
D) A written constitution.

Answers to April's issue of Fun, Facts, and Trivia: http://www.webcommunicator.org/funfactstrivia0405ans.htm.

6. NOTICE REGARDING E-MAIL ADDRESSES: Communicator's mailing list has over 18,000 names and is still growing. Please follow the instructions below to help us with list editing:

SUBSCRIBE: To join the Communicator mailing list, please visit the Web site -- http://www.webcommunicator.org -- and enter your e- mail address in the text box provided located on the bottom left of your screen. You can also send an e- mail to Cindy Koeppel with the phrase - Subscribe Communicator -- in the body of the message.

UNSUBSCRIBE: To unsubscribe from the Communicator, please follow these instructions: Send an e-mail to Cindy Koeppel with the phrase -- Unsubscribe Communicator -- in the body of the message. Your e-mail address will be deleted from our mailing list.

TO CHANGE YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS: If your old address will become inactive, unsubscribe using your old address, and follow the instructions above. Your e-mail address will be deleted from our mailing list.

If you experience any problems, send an e-mail to Cindy Koeppel.