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So, you're a noob Congressman, eh? You've followed the Department of Education's guide on how to get elected to Congress and now you've made it. Great, now you maybe thinking, "Department of Education, you got me elected, but how do I legislate?" Well, we at the DoE have a few tips and tricks of the trade to make you an effective Congressman or Congresswimmiz.

This is Tiacha writing this article. I feel this article is important because I made a lot of mistakes when I was a Congresswoman in November. Looking back, I could have taken a different approach which would have made my term more productive. I want to make sure new Congressmen and women don't make the same mistakes as I did.

Tip 1: Know the lingo. Make sure you become familiar with common terms such as MPP, DS, or special programs connected to your term such as the Emergency Tax Package.
A Mutual Protection Pact, or MPP, is essentially an alliance with another country. If they are attacked, we are allowed to participate in a war they are involved in without moving. So, if Iran attacked Spain and we had a MPP with them, we'd be able to send out troops to attack from Florida.
A Defense System, or DS for short (not to be confused with the video game system), is a product purchased by the government to increase the defense of a region. The higher quality ones are usually purchased for border regions. The higher the quality of a defense system, the bigger the wall a region has when its attacked.
The Emergency Tax Package is a series of reforms Congress is trying to pass in response to Franco stealing all the money from the Federal Reserve Org account. This will raise taxes on all goods significantly until enough money is raised to make up for the money stolen. Whether you agree with this measure or not, as a Congressman, it is your responsibility to know the rationale behind the measure in order to give good reasons as to whether you will vote for the package or not.

Tip 2: Know not only the needs of your region, but the needs of the entire country. Sure, you were elected to represent Kansas, but, as I said in the Guide on getting elected to Congress, there is really no such thing as regional politics in eRepublik. You need to think with your head, not your heart. Sure, you can respond to constituent needs, but, you just are not going to get that Q5 DS in Kansas. There's a list to where each hospital and defense system is going next and you're going to have a really rough time trying to get Congress to deviate from this list.

Tip 3: Register for the eUS forums and if possible, get involved with #usa-chat and #congress. Being active on the eUS forums is essential to being a successful Congressman. The forums are where proposals are debated before they are proposed on eRepublik. To get a proposal passed, you need to make a topic stating your proposal and the rationale behind it. Once it gathers 5 approvals, you can go ahead and propose it on the eRepublik site. Your proposal will get voted down on principle if it is not debated on the forums first even if its a good proposal. Remember, you only have 2 proposals per term. Follow procedure or you will lose them needlessly when your silly proposal that wasn't debated is voted down.

As for #Congress, it is not essential for you to be active on IRC, but it helps. There have been many successful Congressman, such as Scrabman from WV, who are not active on IRC. But, sometimes in the case of an emergency, such as when the forums were taken down by Franco, certain proposals are discussed on IRC. Be aware of this when you choose to participate or not participate. Link to the Forums
Guide to IRC

Tip 4: Know about taxes and the rules behind taxes. There are three different types of taxes.

The first is an import tax. This is a tax on all goods coming into the nation from other countries.

The second is an income tax. This is a tax where money is deducted from when a GM collects money from a company's account. This is also a tax deducted from each worker's wage. So, for example, if a worker earns 10 dollars a day working at a Food company and the income tax on the food industry is 10%, he'll only take home 9 dollars that day after he works.

The third is a Value Added Tax. A VAT increases the price of a product on the market by a certain percent. That money goes directly to a country's account. For example, if the price of a Q1 food is 1 dollar at the VAT is 5%, the price of the product on the market will be a 1.05 to the consumer. When sold, the GM takes home 1 dollar and the government taxes home .05 cents.

Understanding these different taxes is essential to being an effective Congressperson.

Tip 5: Do not propose to increase Minimum Wage. Every term we have a newbie populist Congressman who thinks its a smart idea to raise minimum wage. It isn't. Minimum wage is the way it is for a reason. With the new citizen fee, new players will have enough money to buy food until they reach skill level 1 after 2 days and be able to afford more goods. Raising minimum wage only puts more dollars into the economy which will not be used as most new players quit after a day or two. This only raises inflation which is not helpful for the economy. So, don't waste your proposal on raising minimum wage. There's only a very slim chance it'll pass.

Tip 6: Treat impeachment as you would in the Real Life United States. Impeachment is for high crimes. Impeachment is not a way to show your disapproval for the President. So, the President has ruined the economy or brought us into a unjustified war. You don't agree with him. Impeachment is not the way to show your anger. If you disapprove of him, he's only in office for one month, which is honestly a really short amount of time. If you don't like him, he's probably not going to get elected next term so just wait it out. If he's stolen money from the Federal Reserve or becomes inactive, that's another story. Those cases justify impeachment. Don't waste your proposal unless the President steals, is a multi, or does something truly out there. Remember, it takes 2/3 of Congress to impeach a President. Keep that in mind.

Tip 7: Get involved with a committee. The new Speaker of the House, ProggyPop, has been trying to create committees you can get involved with. This has not reached final approval, but should be passed sometime in the near future. If you're interested in Defense System and Hospital placement, ask to get involved with the Infrastructure committee. If you have a policy area which you are particularly interested in, this a great way to make an impact in Congress.

Tip 8: Subscribe to the Congressional Newspaper. Speaker ProggyPop has created a Congressional Org account as well as Congressional newspaper. Subscribe to the newspaper and add the Org as a friend. This newspaper will keep you informed on many major events happening in Congress. A link to the newspaper can be found here.

Tip 9: Keep your constituents informed- Make your voting record public. It is important to keep your constituents informed of your voting record. As such, it would be helpful to publish your voting record on your newspaper. As a Congresswoman, I published my record on my newspaper once a week. In addition to publishing your record on your newspaper, it is also important that you inform Congress of your vote. Do this by reporting it on the threads on the eUS forums. Also, Speaker ProggyPop has recently implemented a new way of reporting voting records via a Google Documents system. For more information on this system, contact Speaker ProggyPop

Tip 10: Don't be an ass. Decorum is important to a successful Congressional session. Remember the Golden Rule in all Congressional debates- treat others the way you'd like to be treated. We all have feelings and we sometimes feel extremely passionate about a certain issue. Even if you completely disagree with someone's proposal, be nice when disagreeing with them. Remember, this is just a game.

Tip 11: Multipartisanship. Multipartisanship goes a long way when getting things done that are productive for our country. Sure, you maybe vehemently against higher taxes, but, look at it in the long term rather then the short term. Sometimes, you need to make sacrifices in order to make a difference. This goes along with tip #10. Sometimes, compromise is the way to go. Think wisely over each proposal and don't be a hard liner unless absolutely necessary.

Tip 12: Get involved with the National Guard. As a Congressman, you cannot go overseas to fight or you'll need to resign your position in Congress. As such, you cannot be a part of the Marines as that requires overseas travel. As such, there is a special division of the National Guard just for Congressman. This is the first division. For more information on how to get involved, PM Boss_Khamzi.

Follow these tips and you should have a successful term!