Find Resources for Federal Legislative Histories

Pre-made Legislative Histories:

Legislative Histories of Selected U.S. Laws on the Internet
Listed by popular name or public law number for a handful of US laws; from the Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C.

ProQuest Congressional (Requires UCSC or OCA access.)
Find histories of laws and bills by keyword, public law number, or bill number for 1969 to current.

Federal Legislative Histories: An Annotated Bibliography
An index to officially published legislative histories. Available in print at McHenry library

US Code (USC):

If you are looking for the history of an enacted law, you will need the Public Law number. The US Code contains Public Law and Statutes at Large annotations.

FDSys: United States Code
Search for USC by keyword, USC citation, or browse the code; from GPO Access

LexisNexis Academic (Requires UCSC or OCA access)

Popular Names Table
Find the Public Law number by the popular name of the law or act; from the Office of the Law Revision Counsel

Public Laws and Statutes at Large:

The Public Laws are annotated with a "legislative history" that lists relevant Congressional Record dates, House and Senate reports, and Presidential Signing Statements when applicable.

v.1 (1789)- v.44 (1927)
Early US Statutes at Large; full-text from the University of Cincinnati

v.50 (1937)- most recent received:
In print or microform at McHenry library:
---Statutes at Large: v.50 (1937) - v.88 (1974)
---US Code Congressional and Administrative News: v.89 (1975) to most recent received

v.65 (1951) - v.115 (2002)
FDsys Statutes at Large collection

v.87 (1973) - current
THOMAS: full-text of the enrolled bills by Public Law number. See "Congressional Actions" for relevant dates, votes, and reports (linked when available)

v.101 (1987) - current (Requires UCSC or OCA access).
ProQuest Congressional: Full text of for 100th (1987) congress to current. Includes annotations to USC, Bills, Reports, Hearings, and Congressional Record.

v.109 (1995) - current
FDsys: Public and Private Laws collection

Congressional Reports:

Use the citations from the Public Laws or search by keyword and congress for House and Senate reports and Committee prints.

GPO FDsys
104th congress (1995-96) to present: search by number or keyword

ProQuest Congressional (Requires UCSC or OCA access.)
Find report by number or use Basic or Advanced Search to search reports by keyword. Full-text reports for 1990 to current, abstracts only for 1970-1990 and index only for 1789-1969.

US Congressional Serial Set (Requires UCSC or OCA access.)
The Serial Set includes the documents and reports of Congress. 1817-1975 available through Readex.

Early US Serial Set
Full-text of 23rd (1833) to 64th (1917) congresses; from the Library of Congress.

American State Papers
Precursor to the Serial Set. Full-text of all ten series from 1789 to 1838; from the Library of Congress

Serial Set in print or microform at McHenry library
18th (1823) to 106th (2000) congresses

US Code Congressional and Administrative News
Contains highlights of the Congressional reports issued for the Public Laws. In print at McHenry library.

Floor debates and votes:

The debates of Congress and record of votes can be found in the Congressional Record which is published daily.

THOMAS: Congressional Record
Full-text for 101st (1989) congress to current

ProQuest Congressional (Requires UCSC or OCA access.)
Full text for 49th (1985) congress to current.

In print or microform at McHenry library
1st (1789) to most currently available congress.

Roll Call Votes
List of roll call votes from 101st (1990) to current; from the Office of the Clerk of the US House of Representatives.

Floor Votes (Requires UCSC or OCA access.)
Roll call votes from 98th (1983) to current. Search by bill number, topic, etc.; from CQ Weekly.

Video footage:

C-SPAN Video Archive

Metavid (a UCSC project)

Presidential Signing Statements:

The American Presidency Project
Full-text of signing statements from 1929 to current. Signing statements are assembled from the Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents, the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, and the Public Papers of the President. From UC Santa Barbara.

GPO FDsys
Full-text of Presidential documents from 1993 to present.

Other Legislative Documents, News, and Analysis

Legislative Hearings:

GPO FDsys
Full-text hearings for 104th (1995) congress to current.

ProQuest Congressional (Requires UCSC or OCA access.)
Full-text of hearings for 18th (1824) to 96th (1979) congress and 108th (2003) to current. Abstracts available for years without full-text.

Selected Congressional Documents Online
Full-text of selected hearings from 1970s to 1998; from Rutgers School of Law.

In print at McHenry library
Search for hearings by keyword or Government Document (SuDoc) number.

CRS Reports

The Congressional Research Service provides Congress with nonpartisan research and analysis of a wide range of public policy issues. CRS reports are not immediately available to the public and they must be accessed indirectly through other sources. None of these sites offer a full collection of CRS reports. Also refer to this CRS Guide from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

OpenCRS
Full-text CRS reports from various collections; from the Center for Democracy & Technology.

CRS Reports from UNT
Full-text collection of CRS reports from various collections; from the University of North Texas.

ProQuest Congressional (Requires UCSC or OCA access.)
Citations for CRS reports published from 1970 to current.

THOMAS
Summaries of CRS reports associated with specific bills for 93rd (1973) congress to current.

Legislative Agencies

Congressional Budget Office
The CBO provides Congress with nonpartisan research and analysis of the economic and budgetary impacts of federal programs.

Government Accountability Office
The GAO reports to Congress on the performance and accountability of various government programs.

Capitol Hill News and Information

CQ Weekly (Requires UCSC or OCA access.)
Congressional Quarterly Weekly provides weekly news and analysis on Capitol Hill events and issues. Search issues back to 1983.

CQ Researcher (Requires UCSC or OCA access.)
CQ Researcher provides analysis and reports on issues in the news from a politics and policy perspective. Search topics back to 1991.

LexisNexis Academic (Requires UCSC or OCA access.)
Search articles from major Capitol Hill newspapers such as The Hill, Roll Call, and the Washington Post as far back as 1977.

Public Opinion Polls & Data

PollingReport.com
Compilation of public opinion polls from a variety of sources on politicians, elections, national security, and current issues and events.

Lobbying and Special Interests

Lobbying Disclosure Act Database
Lobbying documents and reports. From the US Senate

MAPLight.org
Tracks the connections between interest groups, campaign donations, and legislative votes. Research interest groups, legislators, or individual bills. From the Center for Responsive Politics and the Sunlight Foundation.

OpenSecrets.org
Tracks influence and lobbying and their effects on elections and public policy. Research industries, lobbying firms, individual politicians, and more. From the Center for Responsive Politics.