USAFA Library Guides: Government Documents: Congress

Recommended Resources: Legislative Branch

ProQuest Congressional Publications
Contains Congressional Research Digital Collection [Congressional Research Service, CRS, Reports and Committee Prints]; U.S. Serial Set & Serial Set Maps; Indexing for Hearings, Reports, Documents, and Committee Prints

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Includes: Legislative Histories, Bills & Laws, Vote Report, Committee Prints & Misc. Publications, Congressional Record Daily Edition, Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports, Hearings, House & Senate Documents/Reports, Serial Set & Serial Set Maps--
Date ranges available
**If you locate only citations in this database, try searching HathiTrust & Internet Archive Digital Libraries for the full text--for 2000 to the present, try GovInfo.gov or Congress.gov
HeinOnline
Hein Online (USAFA access) includes publications from all three branches of the federal government.
Search across collections from the main page or click on a collection link to browse titles.
Comprehensive User's Guide: http://heinonline.org/HeinDocs/HOLUserGuide.pdf
Video Tutorial: https://help.heinonline.org/kb/what-is-heinonline/

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Databases include: Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS); Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law; Congressional Record; Congressional Hearings; Committee Prints; Government Accountability Office, GAO; Gun Regulation and Legislation in America; History of International Law; Law Journal Library, and more.
Congress.gov
Congress.gov is the official website for U.S. federal legislative information. Includes Bills, Resolutions, Activity in Congress, Congressional Record, Schedules, Calendars, Committee Reports & Information, Presidential Nominations, Treaties Documents, Government Resources, House & Senate Communications. Two Minute Video Tips
Congress.gov supersedes THOMAS.gov.

GovInfo
GovInfo provides free public access to digitized Congressional Documents.

HathiTrust
HathiTrust offers a collection of millions of digitized titles including many historical Congressional material, coverage varies.

Congressional Bills/Laws, Hearings, Congressional Globe & Record, Reports & Documents

Congressional Publications - Search by Number
Search by Bill Number, Public Law Number, Statutes at Large, Public Resolution, Vote Report, U.S. Code Citation
Congress.gov
Coverage -- Bill Records: 1973 to present; Bill Texts: 1989 to present. Congress.gov is the official website for U.S. federal legislative information-- Two Minute Video Tips
GovInfo.gov Congressional Bills - Browse
Browse the collection from 1993 to present date. Also, review the introduction to learn more about Congressional Bills.
GovTrack.us - advanced search for bills and resolutions
Use GovTrack.us "to find bills and resolutions in the United States Congress. [They] have complete information back to 1973, plus limited information about enacted laws from 1951-1972 and bills from 1799-1873."
Historical Bills and Resolutions
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Library of Congress' American Memory: A Century of Lawmaking collection
U.S. Statutes at Large (Library of Congress)
U.S. Statutes at Large (GovInfo)
Use GovInfo's advanced search to select and search within the U.S. Statutes at Large collection (1951-2012). U.S. Statutes at Large is a publication of slip laws which are copies of bills that have been passed by Congress.
U.S. Code / includes Title 10 - Armed Forces
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Every six years, laws get published in the U.S. Code, arranged by subject (1994-2016); Link to Popular Names of Acts in the U.S. Code

Congressional Hearings:
A hearing is a meeting or session of a Senate, House, joint, or special committee of Congress, usually open to the public, to obtain information and opinions on proposed legislation, conduct an investigation, or evaluate/oversee the activities of a government department or the implementation of a Federal law. In addition, hearings may also be purely exploratory in nature, providing testimony and data about topics of current interest. Most congressional hearings are published two months to two years after they are held.

Congressional Committee Prints:
Congressional Committee Prints are publications issued by Congressional Committees that include topics related to their legislative or research activities, as well as other matters such as memorial tributes.

www.govinfo.gov

ProQuest Congressional Publications - Hearings
A collection that includes abstracts and indexing for all Congressional publications: Hearings, Committee Prints, Reports and Documents

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**If you locate only citations in this database, copy the title & try searching it in HeinOnline (USAFA network); GovInfo.gov ; Congress.gov ; HathiTrust (good for older/historical Hearings)**
HeinOnline (Congressional Hearings)
(USAFA network) provides full text to many U.S.Congressional Hearings

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See this guide's "Key Resources" page for User's Guide and Tutorial
HeinOnline (Committee Prints)
(USAFA network) provides full text to many U.S.Congressional Committee Prints

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See this guide's "Key Resources" page for User's Guide and Tutorial

GovInfo
Congressional Hearings: 104th Congress (1995) to present; Committee Prints: 94th Congress (1975) to present -- full text

GovInfo search example

At Govinfo.gov, use "Advanced" search; select "Congressional Hearings" and/or "Congressional Committee Prints" under "Refine by Collection"; enter search terms in box(es) under "Search In"; to narrow your results, click on the various links in the "Refine Your Search" panel on the left side of the Search Results page.
Search Within Results by clicking the checkbox under the Basic Search box in the Search Widget then entering additional search criteria. This takes the results of your previous search, and further filters the results.

Search Help and Video Tutorials

USAFA Library Catalog
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The library has many print hearings located on the 4th floor. One way to narrow a library catalog search is to use the advanced search keyword and location field (set location to Gov. Documents). Another way is to search the library catalog or EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS), try using Advanced Search with terms: united states congress in the author field and your topic in the keyword field. For example, adding “missile defense” to the keyword box in an EDS search returned 103 results and 111 in the library’s catalog. Campus access is required for EDS. To locate hearings not in the catalog, use the ProQuest Congressional Publications database from the A-Z database list

HathiTrust

About the Congressional Record
The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published daily when Congress is in session. This site contains Congressional record volumes from 140 (1994) to the present. At the back of each daily issue is the "Daily Digest," which summarizes the day's floor and committee activities.

About the Congressional Record Index
The Congressional Record Index (CRI) serves as the index to the Congressional Record. When Congress is in session, the Joint Committee on Printing publishes the Congressional Record Index. In print, the Congressional Record Index contains both the index proper and the History of Bills and Resolutions. The History of Bills and Resolutions is a separate collection in govinfo. The index proper lists individuals, organizations, and topics mentioned in the Congressional Record. Each CRI entry refers to a page number in the Congressional Record and the date of the daily issue in the format "S1234 [19JA]" (page 1234 in the Senate section from the January 19 issue for that year).

About the Congressional Record (Bound Edition)
At the end of each session of Congress, all of the daily editions are collected, re-paginated, and re-indexed into a permanent, bound edition.

www.govinfo.gov

GovInfo
Congressional Record (digitized coverage: 1994 – present); Congressional Record Index (digitized coverage: 1983- present); Congressional Record (Bound Edition) (digitized coverage: 1873-2013)

GovInfo Congressional Record search example

At Govinfo.gov, use "Advanced" search; select "Congressional Record" and/or the Index/Bound collection under "Refine by Collection"; enter search terms in box(es) under "Search In"; narrow your search by clicking on the various links in the "Refine Your Search" panel on the left side of the Search Results page.
Search Within Results by clicking the checkbox under the Basic Search box in the Search Widget then entering additional search criteria. This takes the results of your previous search, and further filters the results.

Search Help and Video Tutorials

Congressional Globe (HeinOnline-Campus access)
Congressional Globe (Library of Congress,1833-73)
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Browse or Search the congressional debates of the 23rd through 42nd Congresses (1833-73). Page also provides links to the Annals of Congress and the Register of Debates which proceeded the Globe.
Browse the Congressional Record (Bound Edition) years: 1873-2013
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Follow instructions above to search the Congressional Record via GovInfo.gov
Journals of the Continental Congress
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Journals of the Continental Congress are the records of the daily proceedings of the Congress (1774-1789)

Congressional Reports and Documents become part of the U.S. Serial Set. The reports are usually from Senate & House Congressional committees dealing with proposed legislation and issues under investigation. Documents cover a wide variety of topics and may include reports of executive departments and independent organizations, reports of special investigations made for Congress, and annual reports of non-governmental organizations.

McDermott Library currently has the print Serial Set located on the 4th floor Government Documents area shelves; it is not a complete set. Use the library's catalog, Catalog of U.S. Government Publications, or print indexes to help locate material.

www.govinfo.gov

ProQuest Congressional Publications -- House & Senate Reports/Documents
Limit search to House & Senate Reports and Documents 1817-present

GovInfo
House/Senate documents (coverage: 1995- ) (some coverage: 1975-1994); House/Senate reports (coverage: 1995- ) -- Full text

GovInfo search example

At Govinfo.gov, use "Advanced" search; select "Congressional Documents" and/or “Congressional Reports” under "Refine by Collection"; enter search terms in box(es) under "Search In"; narrow your search by clicking on the various links in the "Refine Your Search" panel on the left side of the Search Results page.
Search Within Results by clicking the checkbox under the Basic Search box in the Search Widget then entering additional search criteria. This takes the results of your previous search, and further filters the results.

Search Help and Video Tutorials

American State Papers -HeinOnline (campus access)
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Books are arranged by topic: Foreign Relations, Indian Affairs, Finances, Commerce and Navigation, Military Affairs, Naval Affairs, Post Office Department, Public Lands, Claims, Miscellaneous. Open access site: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwsp.html
Browse American State Papers (Library of Congress American Memory)
U.S. Congressional Serial Set (GovInfo)
Open access resource of documents & reports from Congress, digitized by the Library of Congress Law Library

Additional Resources

ProQuest Congressional Research Service Digital Collection
Comprehensive online collection of U.S. government primary sources in the humanities, sciences, business, etc. Click "more" to learn about the contents.

Full text collection of primary source U.S. congressional committee prints and Congressional Research Service reports covering all aspects of U.S. politics and culture, including economics, business, science and technology, international relations, social issues, finance, insurance, and medicine.

Congressional Research Reports, CRS (freely available online)
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Website hosted by the Library of Congress
Congressional Research Service, CRS, Reports (through Jan 2019) - freely available online
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University of North Texas currently has 10,863 reports in their archive (as of 2/5/09), the largest collection of CRS Reports on the Internet.
CRS Reports archived by the Federation of American Scientists (freely available online)
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Topics include: General National Security, Middle East, Foreign Policy and Regional Affairs, Homeland Security, Intelligence, Terrorism, Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control
Learn About the Legislative Process
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Educational resource section provided by Congress.gov includes: How Our Laws Are Made, Enactment of a Law, and The Legislative Process (with video, audio, and transcript)
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
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Information of all current and past members of Congress, 1774 – present, includes delegates from the U.S. territories

Search GovInfo.gov

Recommended Resources: Legislative Branch

Congressional Bills/Laws, Hearings, Congressional Globe & Record, Reports & Documents

Additional Resources

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ProQuest Search Video Tutorials