Start Here: What's Online

Congress.gov

Congress.gov is the official website for U.S. federal legislative information. It is developed and maintained by the Library of Congress using data from the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, the Government Publishing Office, the Congressional Budget Office, and the Congressional Research Service.

Congress.gov offers current and historical legislative information, including:

• records for all bills and resolutions introduced since 1973 (93rd Congress), as well as every bill and joint resolution that became law from 1951 (82nd Congress)
• full texts of bills from 1993 (103rd Congress), and the full text of laws from 1951 (82nd Congress)
• the Congressional Record and predecessor publications
• the House and Senate Journals from the 1st through 43rd Congresses
• nomination records from 1981 (97th Congress) 

The Law Library of Congress holds periodic orientation webinars that provide an overview of Congress.gov. There is also a Quick Start Guide available in the Help Center to get started.  

ProQuest Congressional

ProQuest is a subscription database. The National Archives provides access to ProQuest's U.S. Serial Set Digital Collection through public access computers, but there are other modules within ProQuest Congressional that may be available to you through a local academic or law library. You can find the text of all bills introduced each session of Congress through ProQuest's Digital U.S. Bills and Resolutions, 1789-Present and you find congressional hearing transcripts through ProQuest's Congressional Hearings Digital Collection.

The ProQuest Congressional LibGuide has a variety of training resources. 

HeinOnline

The subscription database HeinOnline may be available to you through an academic or law library, or you can also access it through public access computers at National Archives research facilities.

HeinOnline’s U.S. Congressional Documents database includes the following resources:

• the Congressional Record and its predecessor publications
• the U.S. Congressional Serial Set
• the U.S. Federal Legislative History Library
• select congressional hearing transcripts
• select committee prints
• House and Senate Rules and Precedents
• publications of the Congressional Budget Office
• hundreds of miscellaneous publications related to the U.S. Congress

The HeinOnline LibGuide on the U.S. Congressional Documents database provides a more detailed overview of all the collection offers, as well as search tips.

GovInfo

GovInfo is a service of the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) and provides free public access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government. GovInfo replaced FDsys—its predecessor website—in 2016.

There are a number of congressional collections within GovInfo, including (but not limited to):

• Congressional Committee Prints
• Congressional Record (Bound Edition)
• United State Statutes at Large
• Congressional Bills

For help navigating GovInfo, tutorials and handouts are available, or you can watch a recorded webinars through FDLP Academy.

GPO also administers the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), which is a government program created to make U.S. federal government publications available to the public at no cost. You may visit and use the collections free of charge at any of the nation’s 1,150 Federal depository libraries. A resource guide to FDLP Basic Collection—Core U.S. Government Resources—is available online.

Congressional BioGuide

The Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (generally referred to as the BioGuide) is the best source for biographical information on Members of Congress. It is supported by the Office of the House Historian and the Office of the Senate Historian. 

Each Member entry includes a snapshot of time served in Congress, a short biography, a bibliography, and information on any personal paper collections. 

CRS Reports

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) publishes comprehensive reports and other research products on a wide range of topics.

By law, CRS works exclusively for Congress, providing timely, objective, and authoritative research and analysis to committees and Members of both the House and Senate. Active and archived CRS products are available online via Congress.gov.

To just search for CRS reports on Congress.gov, first select "More Options" right below the search bar at the top of the page, and then select "CRS Products" under "Library of Congress Documents" down the left menu.

Congressional Directory

You can find current and historical committee assignments for Members of Congress in the Congressional Directory. This is the official directory of the U.S. Congress, prepared by the Joint Committee on Printing. 

All of the Congressional Directory volumes are available online, and many are also available through GovInfo.

Congressional Web Harvest

The Center conducts a web harvest at the end of each Congress to capture and preserve committee websites, Members websites, and House and Senate organization websites. To access these records, beginning with the 109th Congress, visit the Congressional Web Harvest page.

Committee websites are a good source for press releases, prepared hearing statements, official letters, reports and other publications documenting the work of a specific committee. 

GovTrack

GovTrack allows you to search both historic and current votes, as well as voting trends. The website also publishes the status of federal legislation, and information and statistics about Members of Congress. You can read more about the data sources used by GovTrack, which include both official government data, as well as community data repositories.

UNT CyberCemetery

The CyberCemetery is an archive of government websites that have ceased operation (usually websites of defunct government agencies and commissions that have issued a final report). It is operated in partnership between the University of North Texas Libraries and the U.S. Government Publishing Office. A number of legislative branch and commission websites are captured here, most notably:

• Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission
• National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States

Founders Online

Founders Online was established in 2010 as part of a cooperative agreement between the National Archives, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, and the University of Virginia Press to make freely available online over 184,000 searchable documents, fully annotated, from the Founding Fathers Papers projects. This site brings together online correspondence and other writings of several major shapers of the United States: George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams (and family), Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and John Jay.

Foreign Relations of the United States

The Office of the Historian of the Department of State is responsible for the preparation and publication of the official documentary history of U.S. foreign policy in the Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series. This series presents the record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity. You can either search within the volumes or browse volume title by administration.