Congressional Debate

Congressional Debate (also known as Student Congress, Legislative Debate) is a form of high school debate in the United States and Pakistan. The National Forensic League (NFL), National Catholic Forensic League (NCFL), many national debate tournaments, State Forensic Associations, and the IEEE Pakistan Student Congress (PSC) all offer Congressional Debate as an event. Though it is officially sponsored and governed by the NFL, different regions often have different styles.

In Congressional Debate, high school students emulate United States Congresspeople by debating bills and resolutions. Before the event, each school submits mock legislation to each tournament. After the legislation has been compiled, it is distributed to each participating team. Each team attempts to research as many topics as possible, with the goal of being able to speak on both sides of every legislation.

At the beginning of each session, groups of students play the roles of Congressional committees, deciding which legislation is to be debated and in what order. Legislation is debated through a series of three-minute speeches, alternating between affirmation and opposition to a given bill or resolution. The speeches are designed to capture the attention of the audience and convince them to vote a certain way on each bill. Judges rank speakers on their logic, organization, and eloquence, usually on a scale from 1 to 6. After the chamber feels that debate on a particular bill has been exhausted or the time on the bill has elapsed, participants vote on the bill.

IEEE Pakistan Student Congress PSC has emerged as an annual event to gather IEEE Student Branches from all over Pakistan. The first annual event was held in 2007 at Karachi section, the second at Lahore section in 2008, the third at Islamabad section in 2009, and the fourth at Karachi section in 2010.