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Introduction
Introduction
Mock Congressional Debate, Student Congress, or simply Congress is one of the most widespread speech and debate events in the country. Congress is an individual activity, but you compete against multiple other people in a round, simulating a session of debate in the U.S. Congress. In a round of congress, you will debate pieces of legislation proposed by students or provided by the tournament. This legislation is usually provided days, weeks, or months in advance. In round, debate consists of alternating 3-minute speeches from either side of the bill, representing the "affirmation" (aff) and the "negation" (neg). The first speaker either authors or sponsors the bill itself, introducing it to the other debaters. Speeches are followed with periods of cross-examination, where any competitor may ask questions of the speaker. There will usually be one judge, or a panel of judges, that designate their top 8 speakers in the round, and the rest default to a bottom score of 9. Most congress tournaments operate under the rules established by the NSDA.
A congress chamber is almost completely self-governing: the debaters elect a presiding officer to run the session, nominate a docket to determine the order in which bills are debated, and introduce motions that keep the chamber running. Generally, chambers run under Robert's Rules of Order. The presiding officer is also evaluated along with the rest of the competitors, which are called either “Representatives” or “Senators.”
Congressional Debate is a very approachable event. Presentational skills and argumentation are both essential to perform well. Compared to other debate events, there's less intense prep involved, and compared to speech events, there's less memorization and focus on presentation. Unique skills will benefit you in the world of congressional debate: round presence, spontaneous argumentation, judge adaptation, and even politicking.
For a more in-depth answer to the question, 'What is Congress?' check out our resource page on it!
This resource page has an accompanying video by Equality in Forensics Executive Director Nicholas Ostheimer. Check it out!
Structuring Speeches
Structuring Speeches
Three minutes is not a lot of time. In a round of congress, you have to share the spotlight with as many as 20 other people in a round. To get a good ranking from your judges, you really need to stick out - and you have a three minute speech on each bill to accomplish that.
Debaters accomplish that in all sorts of ways, but let's set the groundwork for speech structure and argumentation. It's conventional to start the speech with a rhetorical introduction, or attention getting device ("AGD"). This ought to take under 20 seconds, and transition smoothly into the rest of your speech. It's tempting to use bland or cookie cutter AGDs to start off speeches, but this is a bad idea. When you're competing against so many people at once, it's important to have creative and incisive intros for any and all speeches. Intros and AGDs usually use pathological appeal (pathos) to draw attention, build rapport with the judges, or make a central point. We can classify intros in two categories: dramatic and humorous. At opposite ends of the spectrum, dramatic and humorous intros can really help break the monotony of congress rounds and make your speech stand out from the get-go.
After the intro, this is where congressional debaters differ most in their approaches to argumentation. The basics stay the same - no matter how you format it, you need to follow the core structure of all argumentation: Claim, Warrant, Impact (CWI). Some variations may identify this as Claim, Warrant, Data, Impact (CWDI), but data/evidence is really just part of the warrant or impact. Here's a quick summary of CWI:
Claim - the argument you're making.
Warrant - why the argument is true (including evidence).
Impact - why the argument matters (including evidence).
This seems super intuitive, and it is, but it's easy to miss one of these when you're just starting out. You don't have to dissect each part of your argument in a speech into a claim, warrant, and impact, but some judges do appreciate it. This argumentative structure lies behind any valid, well substantiated argument.
It's universally important to tailor your speech content to the point in the round where you're speaking. A common mistake that new congressional debaters make is not adapting properly to arguments that have already been made. Congress is, first and foremost, a debate event - if you don't engage with what the opposing side has said, you're not debating. From the very first time you step into a congress round and give a speech, if you're not the author/sponsor, you need to be engaging with the other side.
Regardless of the speech, it's conventional to focus on one or two arguments and spend a similar amount of time on both. Congress speeches can be broadly classified into three categories. As a congressional debater, it's important to understand how each speech works and why it's uniquely important to the round.
Constructive speeches: these are delivered in the beginning of debate on a bill. These speeches build up the main arguments on either side of a bill.
Rebuttal speeches: these are delivered in the middle of debate on a bill. These speeches start deconstructing arguments on the other side and defending arguments on your side.
Crystallization speeches: these are the last few speeches on a bill. These speeches summarize the round in favor of your side, weigh arguments against each other, perform big-picture analysis, and explain to the chamber why one particular side has "won" the debate.
Finally, you come to the conclusion. Usually, you close the speech out with some snappy rhetoric and a call to action. The best conclusions have some sort of connection to the introduction - having even a basic narrative structure tying your whole speech together makes it much, much more memorable. Once you've finished your speech, it should come out to around 3 minutes. Your speaking time is extremely limited in congress - use it to its fullest extent.
The best way to learn congress is to see how it’s done! Watch this video of the 2023 National Final Round of the House Division to see Congressional Debate in action. Pay careful attention; how do speakers structure their speeches? Are they organized? What makes their content easy to understand?
For an in-depth explanation of CWI format, take a look at our Basic Argumentation resource page. For a more intermediate look at argument structure, look at our page on Strategic Argumentation.
This resource page also has an accompanying slideshow by Equality in Forensics Operations Director C.J. Getting and 2023 camp instructor Georgia Liu. Check it out!
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