Policy Debate Topics

Policy debate uses one resolution per season — September through June. The 2026-27 topic is below. Affs run plans; Negs run DAs, CPs, K's, and T-violations. Speed is normal. Theory and framework debates routinely decide ballots.

The off-case toolkit

Negs typically read three or four off-case positions in the 1NC against most plans:

• Topicality (T). Argue the Aff plan doesn't fall under the resolution. T-substantially, T-domestic, T-investment limits — each parses one word in the res. If T wins, Aff loses on the framework.
• Disadvantage (DA). Plan causes some bad thing — China war, capitalism collapse, election DA. Standard structure: uniqueness, link, internal link, impact.
• Counterplan (CP). A non-resolutional alternative that solves the Aff better than the plan. PIC out of one part of the plan, or use states/courts/agents.
• Kritik (K). Reject the plan's epistemology — capitalism, securitization, anti-blackness, settler colonialism, biopower. Negs win on framework: the K controls the lens through which the plan is evaluated.

Aff strategy on semiconductors

• China DA is the most common — the plan triggers escalation over Taiwan. Aff answers: alt cause, no link (CHIPS Act already triggered), impact turn (US power good).
• Capitalism K hits the Aff's economic-rationality framework. Aff answers: framework (you should weigh the plan's material consequences), perm (do both), no alt solvency.
• States CP — states should fund the fabs instead. Aff answers: federal key (only feds have the resources, R&D ecosystem requires federal lab integration).
• T-substantially — argue your investment crosses the bright-line threshold (cite Tax Court precedent on what "substantially" means).

Common case areas

• CHIPS Act expansion — extend existing federal funding, target legacy nodes.
• R&D investment — DOE/NSF semiconductor research grants.
• Workforce training — community college fabrication tech programs.
• Reshoring tax credits — incentivize TSMC/Samsung/Intel domestic builds.
• Public-option fab — build a federally-owned foundry.

Recent annual topics