LibGuides: Federal Government Resources: A Guide to Library Research: Congress

Congressional Activities and Legislation

CQ Press Library This link opens in a new window
Collection of directories, encyclopedias, guides, articles, and more on U.S. politics, law, and policy.
Includes these collections:
- Congress Collection: A data-rich research and reference tool that provides historical analysis of members of Congress, their legislative voting behavior, interest groups, and their interactions in crafting public policy.
- CQ Almanac: Authoritative analysis on the major legislation and actions of congress for each year since 1945. Unique data on the voting patterns of Congress members provide insight into the legislative process and history of the institution. Users can follow the history of a policy issue with the Policy Tracker tool which links reports on the same issue for almost 70 years.
- CQ Researcher Plus Archive: A database of in-depth, authoritative reports on a full range of political and social-policy issues extending back to 1923. Each report is footnoted and includes an overview, background section, chronology, bibliography and debate-style pro-con feature, plus tools to study the evolution of the topic over time.
- CQ Magazine: A news magazine featuring in-depth reporting on public policy, politics, congressional legislation, and elections extending back to 1983, including: a complete wrap-up of news on Congress, the status of bills in play, behind-the-scenes maneuvering, committee and floor activity, debates, and all roll-call votes.
- Politics in America: The ultimate insider's guide to politics with authoritative information on each member of Congress and the district he or she represents.
- Supreme Court Collection: A blend of historical analysis, timely updates and expert commentary of Supreme Court decisions, biographies of justices, institutional history, and the U.S. Constitution. This database also contains extensive data on Court opinions and justice voting behavior that allows for easy quantitative analysis of the Court.
- Supreme Court Yearbook: A collection of annual reporting on the actions and opinions of the U.S. Supreme Court with clear, in-depth analysis of every decision made by the nation's highest court since the 1989-1990 term and the justices who ruled on them.
- Voting and Elections Collection: A database of elections data, authoritative analyses, concise explanations, and historical materials to help researchers investigate and understand voting and elections in America from 1789-present.
Congress.gov This link opens in a new window
Contains legislation, Congressional Record, and Committee activities, historical and in the present.
More info on dates of coverage
Legislative Insight This link opens in a new window
Federal legislative history service that makes available thoroughly researched compilations of digital full-text publications created by Congress during the process leading up to the enactment of U.S. Public Laws.
ProQuest legislative histories are comprised of fully searchable PDFs of full-text publications generated in the course of congressional lawmaking. Each history includes the full text of the public law itself, all versions of related bills, law-specific Congressional Record excerpts, committee hearings, reports, and prints. Also included are presidential signing statements, CRS reports, and miscellaneous congressional publications that provide background material to aid in the understanding of issues related to the making of the law.

Legislative histories may be used to discover the legislative intent behind a specific law and to aid in the teaching of legislative process to law school and main campus students. The histories also offer insight into laws of general interest to political science, government, and U.S. history researchers, as well as to students preparing for careers in public health, education, business, or any other discipline subject to federal regulation.

Official Publications

Statutes at Large, 1951-2016 This link opens in a new window
The official compilation of all public and private laws and resolutions passed by Congress from 1951 through 2013.
The laws and resolutions are listed in chronological order of enactment and arranged by public law number. The Statutes at Large is issued approximately a year after the end of each Congress.
U.S. Code This link opens in a new window
Compilation of all general and permanent laws currently in effect. Every six years public laws are incorporated in the US Code. The US Code is arranged by subject and displays the current status of a law.
Print version available in Reference Collection: KF 62 1927 .W45

Reference and Additional Resources

GovTrack This link opens in a new window
Government transparency website. The site helps ordinary citizens find and track bills in the U.S. Congress and understand their representatives legislative record. Set up account and track committees, motions, and bills on topics of interest.
LLSDC Legislative Source Book This link opens in a new window
Research guides, informational tables, and other resources about the U.S. Congress, law making, and legislative histories. Compiled by the Law Librarians' Society of Washington D.C.
Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports This link opens in a new window
Documents prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS), which serves as nonpartisan shared staff to congressional committees and Members of Congress.

C-SPAN
Find video coverage of congressional proceedings since 1987.

Current Members of Congress

U.S. Senate
The homepage of the United States Senate. Find current information about members and activities of the Senate.
U.S. House of Representative
The homepage of the United States House of Representatives. Find current information about members and activities of the House.

CQ Press Library This link opens in a new window
Collection of directories, encyclopedias, guides, articles, and more on U.S. politics, law, and policy.
Includes these collections:
- Congress Collection: A data-rich research and reference tool that provides historical analysis of members of Congress, their legislative voting behavior, interest groups, and their interactions in crafting public policy.
- CQ Almanac: Authoritative analysis on the major legislation and actions of congress for each year since 1945. Unique data on the voting patterns of Congress members provide insight into the legislative process and history of the institution. Users can follow the history of a policy issue with the Policy Tracker tool which links reports on the same issue for almost 70 years.
- CQ Researcher Plus Archive: A database of in-depth, authoritative reports on a full range of political and social-policy issues extending back to 1923. Each report is footnoted and includes an overview, background section, chronology, bibliography and debate-style pro-con feature, plus tools to study the evolution of the topic over time.
- CQ Magazine: A news magazine featuring in-depth reporting on public policy, politics, congressional legislation, and elections extending back to 1983, including: a complete wrap-up of news on Congress, the status of bills in play, behind-the-scenes maneuvering, committee and floor activity, debates, and all roll-call votes.
- Politics in America: The ultimate insider's guide to politics with authoritative information on each member of Congress and the district he or she represents.
- Supreme Court Collection: A blend of historical analysis, timely updates and expert commentary of Supreme Court decisions, biographies of justices, institutional history, and the U.S. Constitution. This database also contains extensive data on Court opinions and justice voting behavior that allows for easy quantitative analysis of the Court.
- Supreme Court Yearbook: A collection of annual reporting on the actions and opinions of the U.S. Supreme Court with clear, in-depth analysis of every decision made by the nation's highest court since the 1989-1990 term and the justices who ruled on them.
- Voting and Elections Collection: A database of elections data, authoritative analyses, concise explanations, and historical materials to help researchers investigate and understand voting and elections in America from 1789-present.