LibGuides: United States Government Information by Subject: Congress

Congressional Publications

Bills and Resolutions (1989- ) -- hosted on Congress.gov
Bills since 1973 (full text since 1989), amendments since 1981 (full text since 1995), full text of laws since 1981. Can see stages of legislation here, and it is easily searched. Links to the official version of the bill.

A sequential list of bills is available in the publication "Digest of Public General Bills and Resolutions"; a digitized version of the Digest is available on HathiTrust.org back to 1936.
Full text of all bills published since 1993 are found on govinfo.gov. If doing a subject search, select "Congressional Record" under the Collection category. The Library of Congress American Memory website has 19th century bills, resolutions, and Senate joint resolutions.

Congressional Committee Prints (1995- ) -- hosted on govinfo.gov
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Includes draft reports/bills, directories, statistics, investigative & historical reports, hearings, legislative analyses, committee rules, and legislative calendars. Senate has a numbering system, but House does not. (ProQuest Congressional has basic indexing for 1830-1969. HeinOnline has select full text from the 1900s on. The Libraries have a print index to prints from the earliest through 1969 at: GovDoc Ref J 74 Z999 C66x.)
Congressional Documents (1995- ) -- hosted on govinfo.gov
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Materials ordered to be printed by Congress, including reports of executive departments and agencies, treaty texts prior to ratification, occasional committee prints. Eventually incorporated into the U.S. Congressional Serial Set. (Proquest Congressional has basic indexing for Senate Executive documents & reports that are not included in the Serial Set.)
Congressional Hearings (1995- ) - hosted on govinfo.gov
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Not all transcripts are published or available online. In addition to current hearings, GovInfo.gov has select hearings from 1986-1995; some appropriation hearings are available from 1998 on. Recent hearings in either video or transcript form may also be found on the committee page on Congress.gov. (ProQuest has basic indexing for 1833-1969, as well as indexing for unpublished hearings, 1833-1983. The Libraries have a print index to published hearings for 1833-1969 at GovDoc Ref Z 1223 Z7 C65X. HeinOnline has select indexing from the early 1900s and select full text from the 1990s on. The Center for Legislative Archives at the National Archives has indexing to unpublished hearings.)
Congressional Record (Daily) (1994- ) - hosted on govinfo.gov
Proceedings and debates of Congress.The House and Senate have separate pagination. Material may be added prior to daily publication.
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Earlier issues and predecessors to the Congressional Record--The Annals, The Register of Debates, and The Globe--are available at Library of Congress' A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation. The Libraries have a run of the Record and earlier titles from 1824-2012 in microfilm and microfiche, as well as the unofficial Congressional debates in print format: Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States (1789-1824) at J 11 .A5 (42 volumes); Abridgement of the Debates of Congress (1789-1856) at J 15 .B4 (16 volumes).
Congressional Record (Bound Volume) (1873- ) -- hosted on Congress.gov
Includes the index in .pdf form back to 1873.
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The Bound edition has continuous pagination and revised text. If available, choose to cite the Bound edition. Can use text in the Daily edition to locate material in the Bound edition. (HeinOnline has a walkover between the Daily and the Bound edition going back to 1981.)
Congressional Record (Bound Volume) (1873-2001; 2003-2017) -- hosted on govinfo.gov
Index is not searchable for historical volumes.
Congressional Reports (1995- ) -- hosted on govinfo.gov
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From Congressional committees, concerning proposed legislation, investigative reports, treaties, and nominations. Eventually incorporated into the U.S. Congressional Serial Set. Also available from Congress.gov back to 1995. (Proquest Congressional has basic indexing for Senate Executive documents & reports that are not included in the Serial Set. Westlaw Campus has reports back to 1948 )
U.S. Congressional Serial Set (select issues 1833-1917) & American State Papers (1789-1838) -- hosted by Library of Congress
First published in 1817, the "Serial Set" is an official, bound collection of all numbered House and Senate reports and documents, including Senate Executive reports and treaty documents. The Serial Set has its own consecutive volume numbering. The American State Papers contain the legislative and executive documents of Congress issued prior to the Serial Set.
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ProQuest Congressional has basic indexing for 1789-1969, as well as for Senate Executive documents & reports that are not included in the Serial Set; HeinOnline has basic indexing and some full text for 1789-1977, and full text for 1978 on.
U.S. Congressional Serial Set (1817-1867; 1995- ) -- hosted on govinfo.gov
The Government Publishing Office and the Law Library of the Library of Congress are in a multi-year process of digitizing this official version of the Serial Set. Includes full text indexing as well as browsing by topic. The Libraries have the official print serial volumes 12631-14389, roughly 1966-1996.

The Libraries have those Congressional publications, including non-depository, issued by the Congressional Information Service (CIS) for 1976-1986 on microfiche in the Government Documents area. The fiche set Includes committee hearings, reports, special publications, executive reports, the Serial Set, and public laws. CIS Annual (Ref Z 1223 .A252x), held in Dewey Reference and GovDoc Storage for 1970-2005, indexes Congressional publications.

Access unofficial versions of Congressional publications through these databases:

About Congress

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (1774-present)
Calendars (1995-present) -- hosted on govinfo.gov
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HOUSE: "Calendars of the U.S. House of Representatives and History of Legislation" includes both House and Senate bills and resolutions that have been reported or considered by either house. The issue for the first legislative day of each week includes a legislative history of bills through conference, an index of short titles, an index of major subject headings, and an alphabetical index. SENATE: "Senate Calendar of Business" is updated each day and identifies bills and resolutions awaiting Senate floor actions. (The most recent calendar is on Congress.gov.)
Congressional Directory (1997/1998- )
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Includes short biographies of each member, committee memberships, officials of the courts, military establishments, and other Federal departments and agencies, including D.C. government officials, governors of states and territories, foreign diplomats, and members of the press, radio, and television galleries. The Libraries have the print volumes back to 1932 in several locations: JK 1011.
Congressional Districts - U.S. Census Bureau
Current selected statistics by Congressional District.
Congressional Districts (Maps) - U.S. Census Bureau
Congressional District maps starting with the 109th Congress.
House - Journal of the House of Representatives (1789-1875) -- hosted by Library of Congress
Summary of activities of each legislative day in the House. (Also available on HathiTrust.org.)
House - Journal of the House of Representatives (1992-current) -- hosted on govinfo.gov
The official proceedings of the House, including major actions and roll call votes. (For debate, consult the Congressional Record.) Includes corrections to the Congressional Record, when members unanimously decide to expunge remarks or extraneous matter from the permanent edition of the Congressional Record. Prior to 1953 the Journal was issued as the first part of the U.S. Congressional Serial Set for each Congress.
House - Rules
Senate - Journal of the Senate (1789-1875) -- hosted by Library of Congress
Summary of activities of each legislative day in the Senate. (Also available on HathiTrust.org.)
Senate - Journal of the Senate (2003-current) -- hosted on govinfo.gov
Prior to 1953 the Journal was issued as the first part of the U.S. Congressional Serial Set for each Congress.
Senate - Riddick's Senate Procedure
Senate - Journal of the Executive Proceedings (1789-1875) -- hosted by Library of Congress
Proceedings related to the functions of confirming presidential nominees and consenting to the making of treaties. Includes vote totals but not by member. The Libraries have 1980- in print at: J 85 Y 1.3/4: HeinOnline has the digitized version starting with 1789, excluding the most current two issues.

Votes

CQ Almanac has an unofficial record of votes for 1963-2000 (Ref JK1 .C66).

More about the Serial set

From govinfo.gov
Includes "Numerical Lists of the Documents and Reports" and "Schedule of Serial Set Volumes"
From Law Librarian's Society of Washington, D.C.
Serial Set Digitiation Project
News release from the Library of Congress Sept 28, 2021
From College of Wooster
Correlates Serial Set volumes with agency SuDoc numbers.

Archived Documentation

Digest of Public General Bills and Resolutions (1967-1990) -- hosted on HathiTrust.org
Brief summaries of bills. The Libraries have the print version in Storage GovDoc J 85 LC 14.6:

Research Guides

United States Government Information by Subject

Reference & Gov't Information Librarian

Congressional Publications

About Congress

Votes

More about the Serial set

Archived Documentation