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Name ___________________________________

Interest Group Activity

In this activity, there are approximately 10 different interest groups (20

students- 2 per group) and approximately 8 Congressional politicians (8 total
students). Special interest groups will be lobbying politicians for their support in
changing legislation. Each group will have no more than 5 minutes to lobby a
Representative. The politicians’ handout (to take notes on the special interest
meetings) is will be given to each politician by the instructor.

Politicians:

- The politicians are to take notes on the proposals from the interest groups
-You must choose the top 4 lobbyist’s proposals (out of 6), which you will
then put on your political agenda (to do list) for the upcoming year.
- The politicians will need to develop a simple scoring method based on how
convinced they were after meeting with each individual group (i.e. +/- system,
scale of 1-10 system, etc.).
- Make these decisions by the end of the class period
- Be prepared to defend your decisions/deals made with lobbyists.

Interest groups/lobbyists:

-Each interest group will be given an explanation of their group, as well as one
proposal for legislation. Your interest group will be given to you by your
instructor at random.
-Pick a politician(s) to lobby with and ultimately gain their support for the law
change that best suits their group’s need. You will need to be passionate and
persuasive about your cause and about your proposal.
-You may be a little creative with your bill proposal that is on your sheet.
-The goal is to make agreements with as many politicians as possible

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 Politician’s Handout

Politician’s Name __________________________________

1. Interest Group’s Name:

2. Their proposal for legislation:

1. Interest Group’s Name:

2. Their proposal for legislation:

1. Interest Group’s Name:

2. Their proposal for legislation:

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1. Interest Group’s Name:
2. Their proposal for legislation:

1. Interest Group’s Name:

2. Their proposal for legislation:

1. Interest Group’s Name:

2. Their proposal for legislation:

© nperskine 2013
 Special Interest Group #1: American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

The ACLU is our nation's guardian of liberty, working daily in courts, legislatures
and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that
the Constitution and laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this
country.

These rights include:

 Your First Amendment rights - freedom of speech, association and

assembly; freedom of the press, and freedom of religion.
 Your right to equal protection under the law - protection against unlawful
discrimination.
 Your right to due process - fair treatment by the government whenever
the loss of your liberty or property is at stake.
 Your right to privacy - freedom from unwarranted government intrusion
into your personal and private affairs.

The ACLU also works to extend rights to segments of our population that have
traditionally been denied their rights, including people of color; women; lesbians,
gay men, bisexuals and transgender people; prisoners; and people with disabilities.

*Proposed Legislation: You want your local Representative (politician)

to propose a bill before Congress that would ensure more gender
equity in the workplace. Statistics state that women make
considerably less pay (on average) than a man for the same position.
More specifically, your local and statewide paper company is accused
of not giving their female employees a fair shot at an upper
management promotion. You want your Rep to fight for women’s
rights to “break through the glass ceiling”, so to speak, and propose
legislation that would allow females the equal opportunity to
promotions and pay in the workplace.

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 Special Interest Group #2: AFL/CIO - American Federation of Labor/Congress of Industrial
Organizations

The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is

a voluntary federation of 56 national and international labor unions.

*Proposed Legislation: You are working hard to re-establish collective

bargaining (negotiations) between your labor union and management
in the state you reside in. Wisconsin recently voted to ban/halt
these negotiations between Unions, and your state is following in its
footsteps. You are a lobbying steel worker represented by the
seemingly powerless unions, and now want your Representative to
fight for your rights to negotiate/bargain. Within the past four
years, steel workers have not seen an increase in pay (which is
important to keep up with Cost of Living and inflation). Your health
care costs have also gone up 20% since that point in time, so in
essence you’ve kind of received a pay decrease. When the Unions
were allowed to negotiate, you were adequately able to take care of
your family- but now you struggle to put food on the table on a
consistent basis.

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 Special Interest Group #3: AARP - American Association for Retired Persons

"a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization for people age 50 and over ...
dedicated to enhancing quality of life for all as we age," which "provides a wide range of
unique benefits, special products, and services for our members."

*Proposed Legislation: You are an elderly member of AARP, and

would like your local Representative to propose a driver safety course
for those who are age 60 and over. This would cost a hefty sum for
the local and state governments to implement, but in your mind
would be well worth it because of the delayed reactions and response
time on the roads by most senior citizens. Being able to drive is a
freedom and privilege not held by all because of their
apprehensiveness to drive on those “crazy roads”. This course, which
could be initiated in cities across your state at an Adult Education
class, etc., could help to save lives (while also giving society’s most
neglected citizens an opportunity to get out of the house and have
more freedoms).

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Special Interest Group #4: Amnesty International USA

We work to protect human rights worldwide. Our vision is of a world in which every
person - regardless of race, religion, gender, or ethnicity - enjoys all of the human
rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international
human rights standards.
*Proposed Legislation: You are a local high school student who
recently got back from a community service trip to Africa. You are
heartbroken by the poverty in the Darfur region of the Sudan, and
want to initiate a huge citywide fundraiser to make money for the
orphans in the country. You are also lobbying your local City Council
and Mayor to propose legislation that would allow for two charity
fundraisers to be embedded within the school year at every school
across your city. This would essentially shut down the school for two
school days, but would in turn teach students how to give back to
those who are less fortunate.

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Special Interest Group #5: The Christian Coalition
“We work continuously to identify, educate and mobilize Christians for effective political
action. The Christian Coalition is committed to representing the pro-family agenda and
educating Americans on the critical issues facing our society. Whether it is the fight to
end Partial Birth Abortion or efforts to improve education or lower the family's tax
burden, the Christian Coalition stands ready and able to work for you.”
*Proposed Legislation: You want your local Representative to propose
a bill that would end Partial Birth Abortions in your state. Right
now physicians are getting away with aborting fetuses that are older
than one trimester (3 months). You feel that this is inhumane and
murder, and these rogue physicians must be stopped immediately!

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 Special Interest Group #6: Families USA

Families USA is a national nonprofit, non-partisan organization dedicated to the

achievement of high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans. Working at
the national, state, and community levels, we have earned a national reputation
as an effective voice for health care consumers for 25 years. We:

 Manage a grassroots advocates' network of organizations and individuals

working for the consumer perspective in national and state health policy
debates. Membership in the Health Action Network is free. Click here to
subscribe to our Health Action Network. The network distributes timely
information and mobilizes people for action when appropriate.
 Act as a watchdog over government actions affecting health care, alerting
consumers to changes and helping them have a say in the development of
policy.
 Produce highly respected health policy reports describing the problems
facing health care consumers and outlining steps to solve them. (See our
Publications List).
 Conduct public information campaigns about the concerns of health care
consumers using sophisticated media techniques that reach many millions of
Americans through television, radio, newspaper, and other print outlets.

*Proposed Legislation: You are not satisfied with Obama’s health care reform
law because many of its stipulations will not take place for another few
years. Many of your organization’s members have dependents that are still
not being covered by their parent’s health care coverage. On a personal level,
your son has unfortunately just received news that he has stage II cancer
(age 26). Your state still has not changed the child dependents of parents
who can receive health care from age 24 to 26. Therefore, your son still
does not technically have health care coverage because he is unemployed due
to his chemo treatments. You want your local Representative to put the
pressure on your local and state legislators (including the Governor) to change
the dependent age to 26.

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 Special Interest Group #7: Greenpeace USA

Greenpeace is the leading independent campaigning organization that

uses peaceful direct action and creative communication to expose global
environmental problems and to promote solutions that are essential to
a green and peaceful future.

*Proposed Legislation: You want your local Representative to help

enact citywide legislation that would mandate an extra 1,000
recycling bins to be placed throughout each city within your state.
You are tired of seeing plastic, paper, etc being discarded in the
normal trash can, and would like to see some more consistent efforts
to recycle (considering your state is in the top 5 for Least
Environmentally Friendly States in the country).

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 Special Interest Group #8: NAACP - National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People

The vision of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is to
ensure a society in which all individuals have equal rights without discrimination based on
race.

*Proposed Legislation: You would like your local Representative to

help fight against the Arizona Immigration law. You want him/her to
go to the Governor and State Legislature and fight to repeal the
recent law. This Arizona law has allowed the police to pull over
people without probable cause (potentially leading to racial profiling
against Hispanics in particular). It is a threat to every American and
non-American’s civil liberties within the state, and political action
must be taken right away!

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Special Interest Group #9: National Rifle Association

While widely recognized today as a major political force and as America's foremost defender of
Second Amendment rights, the NRA has, since its inception, been the premier firearms education
organization in the world.

*Proposed Legislation: You are upset that Congress recently proposed

a bill that would make it illegal for citizens to carry a firearm on
them in public. You feel that this strongly infringes on everyone’s
2nd amendment “right to bear arms”, and you would like to see your
Representative take your opinions to Congress and fight this bill. You
argue that it is just as important to protect oneself outside of the
home as it is to protect oneself inside the home (therefore you feel
that citizens should be able to carry guns on them in public, so long
as they pass the rigorous backgrounds checks and go through all of
the necessary procedures to have said rights).

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Special Interest Group #10: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

“Is an American animal rights organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid
Newkirk, its international president. A non-profit corporation with 300 employees and
two million members and supporters, it says it is the largest animal rights group in the
world. Its slogan is "animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, or use for
entertainment."
*Proposed Legislation: There was recently a big department store
chain that opened its stores throughout your city and county. This
particular chain sells fur and mink coats, as well as snake-skin boots,
etc. You also found out that the killing process for these animals is
extremely “inhumane”, cruel, and unnecessary toward the animals.
You want to lobby your local Representative to propose a bill that
would stop the cruel murdering of innocent animals, as well as help
to boycott the department store until their treatment of animals is
dramatically improved.

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Special Interest Groups’ Traditional Political Party Affiliation

D American Civil Liberties Union

D AFL/CIO - American Federation of Labor/Congress of Industrial
Organizatons
D AARP - American Association for Retired Persons
Both Amnesty International USA
R The Christian Coalition
Both Families USA
D Greenpeace USA
D Human Rights Campaign
R The John Birch Society
D National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League
D NAACP - National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People
R National Republican Congressional Committee
R National Rifle Association
R National Right to Life Committee
Both People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
R National Organization for Marriage
Both Veterans of Foreign Wars
D U.S. Chamber of Commerce

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 Name _______________________
Interest Groups Assignment
Instructions: You are to research five (5) specific/different interest groups in your
textbook. List the acronym and the complete name of the group in the left column,
the overall purpose of the group, and the types of legislation they are trying to
impact.

Name of Group Purpose/Goals of Group Impact on Legislation

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