Finding Government Information

Introduction

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The process of studying Legislation is sometimes referred to as tracing or compiling a legislative history. Reading the primary documents created during the legislative process will help to determine the problem or issue Congress was addressing and the intent of Congress when it passed the bill or created the program. This guide provides a list of resources for finding legislative documents, agency regulations and secondary source materials that are basic to tracing the legislative history of public laws.

Legislative Process

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• How Our Laws Are Made - A U.S. House of Representatives step-by-step guide to federal lawmaking.


• Tying It All Together - Brief overview of information excerpted from How Our Laws Are Made.


• Enactment Of A Law - An overview of the process of enactment of legislation from the U.S. Senate.


• LexisNexis Congressional - Select "Help" for a review of the legislative process and a glossary of terms.


• The Legislative Process - A brief guide from CongressLink.

Legislative Summaries

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• CQ Weekly. Online full text (1983-)
  print JK1.C15 1956-2004.

This timely and informative publication summarizes important congressional and political activities for the previous week. Voting records and excerpts of testimony in hearings are given for major pieces of legislation. Provides nonpartisan legislative news and analysis on the activities of the U.S. Congress.

• Congressional Quarterly Almanac.
  Location: Hodges Reference JK1.C66 vol.10-61 (1954-2005).
  Closed Stacks microfilm (1948-1955).

Annual review and cumulative summary of the major legislative activities in Congress from CQ Weekly. Material arranged by subject categories, Education, National Security, Health & Welfare, etc. Includes congressional action and voting information on individual measures.

• Congressional Quarterly's Guide to Current American Government. Semiannual.
  Print JK1.C14 Location: Stacks.
  Latest edition Periodicals/DocMic, Spring 2007.

A collection of articles taken from CQ Weekly. Arranged topically. The politics and public policy section profiles the major policy issues before the Congress.

• Congress and the Nation: A Review of Government and Politics.
  Print JK1061.C63 (1945-2004). Location: Reference.

Provides four-year chronological summaries of major legislative programs and political developments during each presidential administration. Includes biographical information, major votes, key judicial decisions and election issues. Topically arranged.

Background Study

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• CQ Researcher Online (1991-); full text (1996-);
  print H35.E352 (1991-2005); Location: Reference.

Provides in-depth analyses on current and controversial issues with complete summaries, pro and con discussions, bibliographies and more.

• Congressional Digest. 1922- present.
  Location: Periodicals/DocMic & Stacks JK1.C65.

Monthly magazine that features debate on policy issues. Fulltext online in Academic Search Premier.

• National Journal Group's Policy Central (online database).

A comprehensive resource on politics and policy. Includes access to the National Journal (weekly magazine, Periodicals/DocMic & Stacks JK1.N28,1972-), CongressDaily, and congressional Markup Reports.

• Roll Call

A semi-weekly newspaper that covers the United States Congress with a unique close-up perspective. Includes congressional news and extensive policy briefings on a current topic. Search current news and backfiles on LexisNexis Congressional. Select "Inside Washington."

• Political Think Tanks

A selected list.

• Public Policy Web Sites

A selected list.

• DiscoverET.org - (formerly KORRnet)

For local and regional information.

• Select from the library's list of databases to find relevant articles.


• Select news articles from the library's list of newspapers.


• Search the library's online catalog for book resources.

Congressional Publications

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• Bills/Resolutions are proposed legislation as introduced by a member of Congress in either the House or Senate. Bills are frequently modified and amended as they proceed through the various stages of the legislative process. Bills are numbered sequentially for each legislative session.


• Hearings - contain the official transcripts of proceedings with oral and written statements submitted to committees of Congress in public sessions. Supplementary materials such as reports, statistical analyses, correspondence and articles presented by witnesses are often included. Hearings provide the information on the pros and cons of pending bills as well as the main players on the issue. Main types of hearings are:
  Legislative - "Teenage pregnancy : the economic and social costs"
  Oversight - "Asleep at the switch : FERC’s oversight of the Enron Corporation"
  Investigative - "Hurricane Katrina : why did the levees fail?"
  Confirmation (Nomination) - "Nomination of Judge Clarence Thomas to be Associate Justice of the Supreme Court"
  Reauthorization - "USA PATRIOT Act : a review for the purpose of reauthorization "


• Reports - explain the scope and purpose of the bill, and the Committee's recommendations for passage. They may also provide cost estimates for implementation, and a review of existing legislation.


• Committee Prints - are special studies requested by committees that contain background history or comparisons of pending bills. Committee prints are useful to examine for situation reports, historical information, and legislative analyses.


• Documents - are communications to the Congress and may include agency annual reports, Presidential messages and vetoes, special studies and background information compilations.


• Public Laws - are enactments by the Congress signed into law by the President. They are numbered sequentially for each Congress, e.g. P.L. 107-110.

Legislative Databases

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• LexisNexis Congressional - 1789-present.

A comprehensive current and historical online resource to information from and about the United States Congress. The database also includes: profiles, voting records, campaign finance, and financial disclosure data for members of Congress, federal regulations, the U.S. Code, and commentary from the Washington Post. All congressional publications may be searched in the database.

Legislative Histories of Public Laws - Select "Legislative Histories" from the left margin. These provide complete bill histories with a chronological listing of all legislative activity for the bill. All legislative histories from 1970 forward contain hypertext links to congressional publications where available. Search by keyword, title, number or citation.

• Bills

Full text with complete legislative histories from 1989, 101st Congress.

Select "Legislative Histories, Bills & Laws " to find the text for bills not yet enacted. The Political News/Hot Topics section may also be used to find bills under consideration or enacted.

Hearings and Reports may be retrieved from legislative histories. To find a specific hearing or report, search under "congressional publications."

• Thomas. Coverage varies. Some access back to 1973.

Provides full text of legislation, bills, reports and the Congressional Record. Search by keyword, phrase, subject, number, sponsor or committee.

• Bill Text

Full text of bills begins with 101st Congress (1989/1990). Bill summary and status available from 1973-74 (93rd Congress). Use the "Bills and Resolutions" files to locate detailed listings of dates and actions taken.

• Committee reports

From 1995, 104th Cong.- present. Provides full-text of reports and a link to the "official" GPO .PDF version.

• Committee Hearings

Provides links to the home pages of House and Senate standing committees where texts for hearings and reports may be available.

• GPO Access (U.S. Government Printing Office)
  Coverage varies. Provides free access to the official, published versions of legislative documents and other materials produced by the Federal Government. Included are:
  History of Bills and Resolutions from 1983 forward
  Bill texts from 1993 forward
  the Congressional Record from 1994 forward
  Committee reports, and House and Senate documents from 1995 forward
  Selected committee prints from 1997 forward
  Congressional committee hearings from recent congresses

Search using Boolean operators or phrase search with quotation marks. Documents are available in text and PDF formats.

Laws/Statutes

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• LexisNexis Congressional. (1988, 100th Cong.)-ongoing.

Begin by selecting "Legislative Histories, Bills & Laws." Locate a CIS Legislative History by a specific law, statute, or bill number. The CIS Legislative Histories list congressional publications associated with each public law. Search for the fulltext of a public law or search the U.S. Code compilation of laws.

• Public Laws via Thomas

Full text from 1995 (104th Congress). Browse a numerically arranged list of laws by the Public Laws. The U.S. Code from the House of Representatives is also available.

• Public Laws via GPO Access. (1995, 104th Cong.)-ongoing.

This is the official electronic version of public laws.

• United States Statutes at Large. Print. 1789-ongoing.
  Location: Reference KF50.

Fulltext in Hein Online. Chronological listing of the text of public laws by Congress and session. There is a subject/title listing in the back of each volume.

• United States Code via GPO Access. Current edition.
  Location: Reference KF62.(yr).A2 print edition.

Contains the general and permanent laws arranged by subject.

• Hein Online. Search the U.S Statutes at Large, 1789-2004.

Debates/Votes

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• Congressional Record. Microform Storage. 1873-ongoing.
  Location: Print Reference J11.R5

A substantially verbatim transcript of the proceedings of the Congress. Also includes the text of comments submitted in writing rather than spoken. Submitted text is marked by a black bullet. Roll call votes are recorded and printed daily in the text of floor proceedings.

• LexisNexis Congressional. 1985-present.

Begin by selecting "Congressional Record & Rules." Search by keyword, page citation or date. You can find the final vote using the bill history information. Select "Bill" from the main menu, then search by keyword, sponsor or number from the "Track proposed legislation by bill number form". In the answer set look at the history/actions section for roll call votes.

• Congressional Record via Thomas, 1989 to present, or view the latest Daily Digest.


• Thomas

Select "Roll Call Votes" to link to roll call votes in the House and Senate.
U.S House Roll Call pages - provides records back to 1990 (the 101st Congress) and arranges information in tables with pertinent dates, bill numbers, outcomes (passed, failed, or agreed to), and title/description. Each vote is also linked to its corresponding summary in Thomas.
U.S Senate Roll Call pages - roll call votes date back to 1981 (97th Congress). Includes a convenient subject index.

• Congressional Record Index Online via GPO Access. 1983-present.

Indexes to the daily issues of the Congressional Record.

• Congressional Record Online via GPO Access. 1994-present.

This is the "official" electronic version.

• Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report

Search for floor votes back to 1991.

If you're not sure who your Rep or Senator is, there are several online directories and search services. For starters, try Congress.Org, Contacting the Congress, or Capweb.

Presidential Statements

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• Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents. 1965-2000.
  Location: J80.A8 Hodges Stacks.

Provides the full text of speeches, press conferences, etc.

• Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents. Online via GPO Access. 1993-ongoing.


• Hein Online

Search Weekly Compilation and the Public Papers in the U.S. Presidential Library.

• Public Papers of the Presidents (Stacks J80.A283, 1965-present).

Online via GPO Access. A compilation of the weekly papers.

• White House Web site

provides text of the President's speeches, executive orders, and proclamations.

Government Research Studies

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• Major Studies and Issue Briefs of the Congressional Research Service. 1916-2006.
  Per/DocMic JK1108.M25 (full-text microfilm 1916-1991; full-text microfiche 1992-2006)

"in-depth policy analyses and research on every subject of interest to Congress, including background analyses; pro and con arguments; scientific, economic and legal analyses; legal research; and legislative histories." A printed subject index is available for searching the historical reports.

• LexisNexis Congressional/CRS Reports - full-text reports from 1916 - present.

To search just the CRS Reports, select "Advanced Search," then "search within" to select CRS Reports.

• CRS Reports/Penny Hill Press

Browse a subject list of selected reports. Includes abstracts. Microform copies are available in Periodicals/Documents and Microforms.

• Open CRS: Congressional Research Reports for the People

"A project of the Center for Democracy & Technology, Open CRS provides citizens access to CRS Reports that are already in the public domain and encourages Congress to provide public access to all CRS Reports."

• Government Accountability Office (online 1994- )

GAO Reports are requested by agencies to investigate solutions to problems of national interest. Texts of reports also available at GPO Access (1993- ). Earlier reports are on microfiche in Periodicals/Documents & Microforms.

• Congressional Budget Office

CBO prepares cost estimates of pending bills at the request of Congressional Committees. Some studies available full text. Earlier reports available in print in the government documents storage colleciton.

• Catalog of U.S. Government Publications Marcive WebDocs (1976- )

Online index of federal agency publications. Most publications are available in print or microfiche.

Agency Regulations

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Obtain copies of regulations resulting from the Public Law or relating to your topic. Regulations for existing government programs:

• Federal Register (FR) . Daily announcement of proposed and new regulations.
  Per/DocMic. J1.A2 Microfilm (1936-1983). Microfiche (1984-Sept. 14, 2006)
  FR Online.
  GPO Access, 1994- .
  LexisNexis Congressional. Select "Regulations" to access the Federal Register,July 1980-
  Hein Online. Search the Federal Register Library, 1936-


• Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Current year only in print.
  Location: Reference KF70.A3
  Annual compilation of existing agency regulations.
  CFR Online.
  LexisNexis Congressional. Select "Regulations" from left tool bar. 1981-current.
  Hein Online - Search the Code of Federal Regulations Library, 1938-1985.
  GPO Access. 1997-Current.


• Regulations.Gov. Current.

Find, review, and submit comments on proposed legislation.

Program Information

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• Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance. Current only.
  Location: Reference HC106.5.A573 print copy.

Describes federal programs, projects, services and activities which provide assistance or benefits to the public. Read the program description for Public Law information. Then use LexisNexis Congressional, begin by selecting "Legislative Histories, Bills & Laws " to locate a legislative history.

• Overview of Entitlement Programs: (year) Green Book. 1996-ongoing.

Includes background material and statistical data on major entitlement programs.

• Child Care & Early Education Research Connections

Offers resources from many disciplines related to child care and early education. Includes Policy Links to major federal policies and programs and State Data Tools for state policies and statistics.

Statistics

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• Statistical Abstract of the United States. Online.
  Also in print: HA201(year). 1878-ongoing.
  Location: Reference latest; Stacks for older years.

A compendium of social, economic and political statistics about the U.S.

• LexisNexis Statistical. 1973-ongoing.

The service allows users to search summaries of statistical publications from federal, state, private, and international sources.

• See also Government Statistics.