In policy debate, fiat is the magic wand that allows everyone involved to pretend that the affirmative plan is actually going to pass. Traditionally, the affirmative can fiat one action for the United States federal government, such as the passage of a single bill. Whether fiat should exist within debate or not has been a recent argument seen in many debate rounds, particularly ones involving kritiks. Since there are no official rules governing policy debate other than the speech times and the resolution, this is an argument that happens in actual rounds. The affirmative’s conception of fiat is usually assumed to be allowable unless the negative specifically challenges it. Many traditional judges are comfortable only in a round where fiat exists, so, as always in debate, it is important to argue for the judge and not yourself if you want to win.