Congress
in a Nutshell
Understanding Congress
A
crash course in Congress
(Our
public
course)
Do your
staff or members need a basic overview of what Congress is about?
Do they need a basic understanding of how a bill becomes a law, the
important work of committees, or who the current leaders are?
This popular introductory course is for staff who need to know:
What
powers Congress has
under the Constitution
Understanding the (sometimes baffling)
structure of the legislative branch
Learn about formal and informal leadership in the House
and Senate
Review
how a bill becomes law
from introduction and referral of legislation through
presidential action
Nature of and differences between the House and
Senate
Why Congress behaves the way it does
The many responsibilities of members
A look at the current Congress
The Path of Legislation
Introduction and referral
Committee action, hearings, and reports
Scheduling; amending; and floor action
Conference committees--reconciling differences
between the houses
Final passage and presidential action
Politics and Leadership in Congress
The current political environment
Types of leadership in Congress
Majority and minority leadership structure in the
House and Senate
Committee assignments, the seniority system, party
organizational meetings
Leadership in the Congress
We can add other topics, including the budget process,
finding and using bills and hearing transcripts, and working
with congressional staff.
Breaks scheduled as appropriate
All custom training is tailored for each organization and
audience. Topics from this program are frequently
combined with topics from our other programs and can
also be combined with topics from your existing
training programs.
Sample Agendas
Sample agendas of different versions of this program tailored for
previous custom clients are available in
PDF.
Outstanding overview of Congress and its leadership.
Audience Size
This program is effective for between 20 and 500
attendees.
Don't have enough people for a custom, on-site
program? You can still train your staff at our
public course.
Previous Clients
Variations of this program have been presented for
various federal agencies, military departments,
foreign delegations, law enforcement agencies, labor
unions, associations, and corporations.
Our
selected client list includes clients who have
purchased custom training, sent staff to our public
programs and who have purchased our publications.
Course materials can include personal copy of the
Training Edition of the
Congressional Deskbook for each attendee.
Length and Location
Usually requires 30 minutes to 1/2 day. Topics from this
course are frequently mixed with other topics for programs
ranging from 1 to 2 days in length.
This program is usually held in Washington, DC. It can be
presented anywhere in the United States and in many foreign
countries.
The fee for this program depends on the location,
number of attendees, length, and training materials.
Call us for details, or complete our
custom program information request for more
information.
If you don't have enough people for a custom,
on-site program, you can still train your staff at
our
public course.
The
program
fee includes pre-program development and design,
materials for your internal marketing and promotion,
all course materials, and
faculty chosen for your topic and your audience
at the time and location you choose.
Our custom program clients provide the
classroom/meeting space, all audio visual equipment,
any food and beverages, all registration functions,
and travel arrangements for attendees. When the
program is held outside the Washington, DC metro
area, travel arrangements for faculty can be made by
the client or by us.
We can also provide meeting space, audio visual
equipment, food and beverage, registration, and
travel arrangements, though this affects program
cost.
TheCapitol.Net, Inc., is a non-partisan small
business, and a Virginia corporation. We are
registered with CCR. See our
Capability Statement and our
About Us page for more details.
TheCapitol.Net is a non-partisan firm, and the
opinions of its faculty, authors, clients and the
owners and operators of its vendors are their own
and do not represent those of TheCapitol.Net.
All custom training from TheCapitol.Net is tailored for each organization and
audience. Topics from this program can be combined with
topics from our other programs and with topics from your
existing training programs.
Public Course
If you don't have enough staff for a custom, on-site
training program, you can still train your staff at our
public
course.
Rave Reviews
"Excellent overview
of the government and the legislative process."
--
Workshop Attendee, Sandia National Laboratories
"I encourage people with the same work experience
[5 years] to attend this program. It has
enhanced my understanding, cleared confusion, and dusted
off previous knowledge."
-- Manager, Food Distributors International
"Great basic course for newcomers to legislative
process. Also a good refresher course for those
who have been around awhile."
-- Deputy Director, National Guard Association
"Excellent overview of the government and the
legislative process."
-- Staff member, Sandia
National Laboratories
"Recommend to someone with little or no previous
congressional experience."
-- Program Analyst, DEA
"A good, thorough introduction. Materials are
helpful reference."
"Program provides attendee a broad understanding of all
facets of Congress. Excellent!"
-- Captain,
Air Combat Command, Financial Analysis
"Very useful program.... The speakers brought
out points that aren't usually discussed."
--
Paralegal
"Good general info for foreign diplomat."
-- Attache,
foreign embassy
Our faculty, Hill veterans all, bring Congress to life with colorful
examples of Congress in action.
Internal Marketing
To help you publicize and market a custom program to
your organization's audience, we can provide printed
materials and language for your own internal
promotion and publicity.