Research & Subject Guides: Government Documents & Information: Congress

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Bills Project
1947-2008. This public resource provides information about more than 400,000 bills introduced in the U.S. Congress during the years above. Also includes extensive information about each bill's progress and sponsor. This data may be merged with ICPSR data.
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It is used by researchers to study legislative institutions and behavior; by policy experts to study issue attention in Congress; and even by citizens studying their family histories (the dataset provides the only digitized records of tens of thousands of private bills introduced between 1947 and 1972).
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-present
The 2005 publication of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-2005 provides biographical, archival, and bibliographical information for all senators, representatives, vice presidents, and members of the Continental Congress who served between 1774-2005.
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It is searchable by name, party, state, year, congress and position.
Clerks of the U.S. House of Representatives (1789-present)
Features at this website include information about elections, committees, leadership, legislative activities, lobbying, members, public disclosures, biographies of members of Congress, and House Floor Proceedings.

Congress.gov
Congress.gov is the official source for federal legislative information. It replaces the nearly 20-year-old THOMAS.gov site. The site includes materials on current and past legislation, the Daily Digest version of the Congressional Record, links to Congessional committees, their hearings and reports (1995-present) and an explanation of the Legislative Process.

Congressional Globe
A predecessor of The Congresional Record, it contains the congressional debates of the 23rd through 42nd Congresses (1833-73). It is the third of the four series of publications containing the debates of Congress
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The Globe is the third of the four series of publications containing the debates of Congress. It was preceded by the Annals of Congress and the Register of Debates and succeeded by the Congressional Record. The first five volumes of the Globe (23rd Congress, 1st Session through 25th Congress, 1st Session, 1833-37) overlap with the Register of Debates. Initially the Globe contained a "condensed report" or abstract rather than a verbatim report of the debates and proceedings. With the 32nd Congress (1851), however, the Globe began to provide something approaching verbatim transcription.

The contents of the appendix of each volume vary from Congress to Congress, but appendixes typically contain presidential messages, reports of the heads of departments and cabinet officers, texts of laws, and appropriations. Speeches not indexed or referenced on the pages reprinting the debates appear in the appendix as well.
Congressional Timeline
The Congressional Timeline, developed and maintained by The Dirksen Congressional Center, arrays more than 900 of the nation's laws on a timeline beginning with the first Congress in 1789 and continuing to the present. A second timeline "band" depicts major political events as context for Congress's law-making.

U.S. Government Documents
Dates vary from early and mid 1990's. Full text. The primary source for free, online, published, official and authenticated government information. Includes Congressional bills, budget, documents, prints, and reports, hearings, the Congressional Record, the Constitution, the Federal Register, the United States Code, Presidential Documents, Public and Private Laws, United States Code and Statutes at Large. Links to the CGP (Catalog of Government Publications), news, offices of the Inspector General, Congressional Relations, and more.

Congressional Research Service Reports
These documents were prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan shared staff to congressional committees and Members of Congress. It operates solely at the behest of and under the direction of Congress. Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other than public understanding of information that has been provided by CRS to Members of Congress in connection with CRS’s institutional role. CRS Reports, as a work of the United States Government, are not subject to copyright protection in the United States. Any CRS Report may be reproduced and distributed in its entirety without permission from CRS. However, as a CRS Report may include copyrighted images or material from a third party, you may need to obtain the permission of the copyright holder if you wish to copy or otherwise use copyrighted material.

Reference

Vital Statistics on Congress
Data on the U.S. Congress--A Joint Effort from Brookings and the American Enterprise Institute. Includes data on demographics of congressional members, elections, campaign finance, committees, staff and operating expenses, legislative productivity, federal budget action, political polarization and changing voting alignments
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Vital Statistics’ purpose has always been to collect useful data on our first branch of government – in the election and composition of its membership as well as its formal procedure, such as the use of the filibuster, informal norms, party structure and staff. This dataset also documents the increasing polarization of Congress and the demographics of those who serve in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives.

Government Documents & Information: Congress

Guide to Congressional Research and Documents

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