Stanford Invitational Tournament

Stanford Invitational Speech & Debate Tournament

Congress Information

TOPICS ARE POSTED AT THE END OF THIS PAGE

(this tab is for high school students - middle school student congress has its own separate tab)

Notes regarding topics: There will be 6 prelim topics, and 2 or more final round topics. Topics are generally selected for timeliness, although some might be considered more 'timeless' in nature. Topics or at least topic areas for the preliminary rounds shall be posted as soon after the close of the main registration period as practical. Actual preliminary round bills and resolutions and finals topic areas shall be posted on or around February 1, with actual bills and resolutions for finals to be posted shortly thereafter. We reserve the right to correct for any errors or omissions which are identified, or for late-breaking passage of bills and resolutions in the actual US congress, but the main subject of the bill will of course remain the same. In each house students will set their own order for debating the topics, and each house will get through as many topics as they choose and as their own pacing dictates. We would expect (but do not require) that most houses will get through at least four bills / resolutions, and some will get to all six, but it is not required that any particular number of topics be covered.

Please note that bills are designed where possible, although obviously in an abbreviated form, to mimic actual legislation. Resolutions are designed as statements of intent - particularly where congress does not have statutory or constitutional authority to make policy; and as a prelude to legislation, sometimes including constitutional amendment. Arguments about real world implications were the actual US congress to pass the legislation are appropriate.

DIVISIONS: Students will be in one open division.

ROUNDS: All students will be guaranteed four preliminary rounds with no more than 20 students per house. Panel assignments will be posted on Saturday morning.

QUALIFICATION FOR SUPERCONGRESS: Final round participants will be selected by both students' and judges' preference (students' preference for PO's, judges' preference for student speakers). For 2012 there will be 5 to 7 houses of no more than 20 students each, and it is expected that the top three students from each house and the top PO from each house will 'clear' to finals / supercongress, for a final round of between 15 and 24 students (although the tournament 'guarantees' only that the top 2 in each house will clear). If the PO would be among the speakers selected to clear already by judges' scores, than the next placing student in that house will qualify to the finals / supercongress.

MOTIONS TO SUSPEND THE RULES: It is permitted to make motions to 'divide the house' and then move that a ratio of speeches other than 1-1 should be established for debate on a particular topic so as to maximize the quality of speeches (2 pro for every con, or vice-versa, for example). This motion must be made during each speaking cycle.

THE RIGHT TO GIVE A SPEECH: There will be sufficient time each round, at an absolute minimum, for at least as many speeches as there are students in a given house. Please note that this does not guarantee each speaker the chance to speak each round, it merely creates opportunity such that, assuming each student took every available chance to speak, regardless of side, it would be theoretically possible for every speaker to speak at least once in every round. While it is our hope and expectation to structure the tournament and number of students per house such that at least a few speakers per round will be able to give second speeches each round, the tournament, again, does not guarantee anything more that there shall be at least as many speaking opportunities per round as there are actual participants in a given house.

Please also note that if debate is being cut off in a given house and a round adjourned before this guarantee of minimum speeches is met, any speaker who has issue with that MUST raise that issue as a point of order IN THAT ROUND before the round adjourns to the PO and to the adult judge. The PO's and judges are hereby instructed to make sure that there have been at least as many total speeches as there are speakers in the room for the round in question, EVEN IF IT MEANS THE ROUND MUST CONTINUE PAST THE ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED CLOSING TIME. It is incumbent on the students in the round to raise this objection as a point of order if there is a concern, as rounds are not rerun and speaker scores are not adjusted for this or most other procedural objections, and in almost all cases judges discretion prevails.

PRIORITY CARDS: Priority cards will be used to guarantee equal access to speech time with both amendment and authorship speeches counting as speeches used. "Authorship speech" is the first person to speak on the bill or resolution, in affirmation AND in negation, even though the speaker isn't the real author, they are considered the author for the purpose of the round, or the leader of the opposition when negating. The judge is the final arbiter of procedural questions. Additional priorities can include standing time and questions asked. Priority is continuous throughout prelims, but resets for each elimination round.

AMENDMENT SPEECHES: Amendment speeches are 3 minutes with 1 minute of cross-ex.

OPENING SPEECHES: The first speaker for and against each topic will have a 2 minute cross-ex, and each questioner will be allowed ONE follow-up question on the same line of questioning for these opening speeches (and ONLY for the opening / authorship / sponsorship speeches and the opening opposition speech, in other words, the first speech from each side).

CONGRESS JUDGING GUIDELINES: 1. Judges will be instructed that on-point clash and in-depth debate should be prioritized in ranking speakers. Thus, 'canned' speeches are probably not the best route to success, although as always, judges' preference as expressed on their ballots ultimately prevails. 2. Judges will be instructed that overall participation, including insightful questions and strong answers, as well as effective use of motions and parliamentary procedure, can be factored into their overall rankings for speakers as they see fit. 3. Real world implications were the actual US congress to pass the bill or resolution are considered in-order and appropriate, including implications for other pending legislation, possibilities of public backlash or approval, and other such considerations. 4. Many of the topics are extremely current and timely, and participants are expected to demonstrate a command of the current issues related to the topic being debated through the content of their speeches, and judges are encouraged to factor such demonstrations of subject matter command into their decisions and rankings.

2012 BILLS

PRELIMINARY ROUND BILLS (6)

1. A bill to counter online threats to intellectual property

Section 1: Infringement of intellectual property through the web is hereby prohibited. Infringement is defined as distribution of illegal copies, counterfeit goods, or anti-digital rights management technology. Infringement exists if facts or circumstances suggest the site in question is used, primarily as a means for engaging in, enabling, or facilitating the activities described. This bill provides enhanced enforcement against rogue websites operated and registered overseas and authorizes the United States Department of Justice to seek a court order in rem against websites dedicated to infringing activities, if through due diligence, an individual owner or operator cannot be located.

Section 2: Existing substantive trademark or copyright law is not altered by this bill.

Section 3: The Attorney General shall serve notice to the defendant of violations of this bill. Once the court issues an order, it can be served on financial transaction providers, Internet advertising services, Internet service providers, and information location tools to require them to stop financial transactions with the rogue site and remove links to it. The term "information location tool" is defined as the same as under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and is understood to refer to search engines but could cover other sites that link to content. Under this bill an information location tool shall take technically feasible and reasonable measures, as expeditiously as possible, to remove or disable access to the Internet site associated with the domain name set forth in the order. In addition, it must delete all hyperlinks to the offending "Internet site".

Section 4: Nonauthoritative domain name servers shall be ordered to take technically feasible and reasonable steps to prevent the domain name from resolving to the IP address of a website that had been found by the court to be dedicated to infringing activities. The website could still be reached by its IP address, but links or users that used the website’s domain name would not reach it. Search engines shall be ordered to (i) remove or disable access to the Internet site associated with the domain name set forth in the [court] order; or (ii) not serve a hypertext link to such Internet site."

Section 5: Trademark and copyright holders who have been harmed by the activities of a website dedicated to infringing activities shall be able to apply for a court injunction against the domain name to compel financial transaction providers and Internet advertising services to stop processing transactions to and placing ads on the website but would not be able to obtain the domain name remedies available to the Attorney General.

2. Next Generation Television Marketplace Act

A bill to repeal certain provisions of the Communications Act of 1934, title 17 of the United States Code, and the regulations of the Federal Communications Commission that intervened in the television marketplace, and for other purposes.

Section 1: The compulsory license, must-carry, retransmission consent and local broadcast ownership limits are hereby repealed. Specifically, this bill repeals those provisions of the Communications Act that mandate the carriage and purchase of certain broadcast signals by cable operators, satellite providers and their customers.

Section 2: This bill repeals the Communications Act’s retransmission consent provisions and the Copyright Act’s compulsory license provisions, thereby allowing negotiations for the carriage of broadcast stations to take place in the same deregulated environment as negotiations for carriage of non-broadcast channels such as Discovery, Food Network and AMC.

Section 3: This bill repeals ownership limitations imposed on local media operators, allowing businesses to evolve and adapt to today’s dynamic communications market.

Section 4: Implementation, as necessary, shall be overseen by the Federal Communications Commission, who shall cooperate and coordinate with the Justice Department to ensure that implementation is full and immediate.

3. A bill to eliminate the carried interest tax deduction and other related deductions

Section 1: The tax deduction commonly called the 'carried interest tax deduction,' is hereby changed so that carried interest from an investment services partnership - including any private equity fund, venture capital fund, or hedge fund - shall be treated and taxed by the Internal Revenue Service as ordinary income, and the individual shall be taxed on all such gains at the regular personal taxation rate for that individual.

Section 2: Implementation shall be immediate, with no phase in period provided by this statute.

Section 3: The holding time of the assets of the partnership shall not be a consideration in treatment; all carried interest shall be taxed at the personal income tax rate rather than based upon the capital gains tax rate.

Section 4: There shall be no consideration or reduction in taxation rates based upon the goodwill of the partnership.

Section 5: The "enterprise value" tax. Gains on the sale of an investment services partnership shall be taxed at ordinary rates, rather than as capital gain. For purposes of establishing legislative intent for consideration by all US courts, including taxation courts, is to prevent investment managers from circumventing the change in carried interest taxation by selling their businesses.

4. A bill to suspend and perhaps end civilian aid to Pakistan

Section 1: For Fiscal Year 2012, the $1.5 billion in civilian aid which has been earmarked for delivery to the government of Pakistan shall be suspended from delivery for 6 months pending review.

Section 2: Upon the passage of 6 months from the period of first suspension of aid to Pakistan for Fiscal Year 2012 one half (approximately $750 million), or some portion thereof, of the civilian and humanitarian US government assistance that was earmarked for Pakistan may be delivered to the government of Pakistan provided that:

Section 3: The same process of withholding of aid pending Secretary of State certification of cooperation shall be implemented during the next 6 months for the second tranche of aid funds (the remaining approximately $750 million) detailed in Sections 1 and 2 of this bill.

Section 4: If some funds have already been disbursed as of the passage of this bill, whatever remains to be disbursed shall be split into two equal portions for the purposes of implementation of this bill.

5. Act to stop insider trading by members of congress and others

Section 1: Amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Commodity Exchange Act to direct both the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to prohibit purchase or sale of either securities, security-based swaps, or commodities for future delivery or swap by a person in possession of material nonpublic information regarding pending or prospective legislative action if the information was obtained: (1) knowingly from a Member or employee of Congress, (2) by reason of being a Member or employee of Congress, or (3) from other federal employees and derived from their federal employment.

Section 2: It shall also be a prohibited activity that the Member or employee of Congress or the federal employee acted with the intent to assist another person, directly or indirectly, to use the information to buy or sell the securities of such publicly traded company based on such information.

Section 3: Amend the Standing Rules of the Senate to prohibit a Member, officer, or employee of the Senate from disclosing material nonpublic information relating to any pending or prospective legislative action relating to any publicly-traded company or to any commodity if such person acts with intent to assist another person, directly or indirectly, to use the information to buy or sell the securities of that publicly traded company based on such information.

Section 4: Amend the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 to require formal disclosure of certain securities and commodities futures transactions to either the Clerk of the House of Representatives or the Secretary of the Senate.

Section 5: Amend the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 to subject to its registration, reporting, and disclosure requirements, as well as requirements for identification of clients and covered legislative and executive officials, all political intelligence activities, contacts, firms, and consultants.

Section 6: Requires the Comptroller General to include political intelligence activities, contacts, firms, and consultants in its annual compliance audits and reports.

Section 7: All members of congress with assets of more that $100,000 shall be required to put the assets in excess of $100,000 into a blind trust for the duration of their service in the United States Congress.

Section 8: Mandatory disclosure of trading activity. The US Congress shall maintain a website showing all trading activity by members of congress, and all members of congress shall report all trades with a value of $1,000 or more within 3 days of the trade or shall be subject to SEC penalties for failure to disclose the same as are officers of publicly traded corporations.

6. Authorization to impede Iran's development of nuclear weapons with all necessary force

Whereas an objective UN report of November 2011 exhaustively demonstrates that Iran is moving steadily towards the development of nuclear weapons, and;

Whereas Iran has demonstrated time and again it is aggressive, irrational and unstable, constituting a danger to the nations of the world, and;

Whereas a nuclear armed Iran would be perhaps the greatest danger to world peace of any nation in the world, and;

Whereas sanctions and diplomacy have been given every chance to work but have thus far failed, and;

Whereas the window of opportunity to interrupt Iran's development of nuclear weapons is closing fast and once Iran obtains nuclear weapons it will be impossible to halt their possession short of all out war, therefore;

Be it resolved by the congress here assembled that the President of the United States is hereby called upon and authorized within the auspices of the War Powers Act to use all necessary force to prevent, impede and interrupt Iran's development of nuclear weapons, including and not limited to missile strikes against its development facilities, bombing raids with US aircraft against said facilities, sabotage, or other appropriate means in consultation with the Joint Chiefs and the leaders of this Congress.

Final round topics

An Act to Improve Domestic Economic Stability

Section 1: Expanded federally funded unemployment benefits shall be continued through December 31 of 2012. Coverage of up to 99 weeks from the point of unemployment shall be provided at the regularly established unemployment benefit levels. Those receiving extended coverage benefits shall be required to show regular progress, reviewed on a monthly basis, toward earning a General Educational Development (GED) certificate.

Section 2: Based upon General Accounting Office data and information Medicare payments shall be adjusted so that doctors and hospitals fees are maintained at current levels and increased modestly by 5% to 10% where the GOA determines that current fees do not cover costs.

Section 3: The payroll tax reduction that is currently in place and due to expire at the end of February, 2012, shall be extended through December 31 of 2012.

Section 4: This Act shall allocate up to $160 billion to cover the costs of Section 1 and Section 2. Total program cost shall be capped at this $160 billion amount, and if funds fall short, benefit extensions and Medicare payments supports and adjustments shall simply expire early as necessary to insure that the cap is maintained.

Section 5: The executive branch shall be instructed to implement all provisions of this Act immediately upon its adoption.

Resolution for Congressional Support of Comprehensive Energy Policy Reform

Whereas energy independence is crucial for the United States national security and economic stability and growth, and;

Whereas the United States has become increasingly dependent on imported oil, and;

Whereas we have the ability to dramatically improve our energy production and independence but have lacked the national will, therefore;

Be it resolved by this congress here assembled that we hereby endorse President Obama’s call for a new clean energy standard, one that would require utilities to get 80 percent of their power from low-carbon or zero-carbon sources by 2035; that this congress further endorses call for a continuation our current solar and windpower tax credits that give an approximate 30% subsidy, and agree to approve even a substantial increase by at least 10% more in these energy subsidies; and finally that this congress agrees to remove all legislative barriers to the domestic exploration for natural gas on any lands within the domains of the United States while at the same time removing all US government subsidies, direct or indirect, for the oil industry.

Copyright © 2010-2012 Stanford Debate / Matthew Fraser, all rights reserved. Bills and resolutions may be reprinted for use at other speech and debate tournaments without fee or further permission if and only if accompanied by aknowledgement to Stanford Debate / Matthew Fraser, and used AFTER their use at the Stanford Invitational. For permission to reprint for other purposes or inclusion in published material, contact invitational@stanforddebate.com

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