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Government Publications and Law |
Find Federal Legislative Docs & Histories
Federal Legislative Histories
Find 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.
- LexisNexis Congressional
- Find histories of laws and bills by keyword, public law number, or bill number for 1969 to current. Requires UCSC or OCA access.
- Federal Legislative Histories: An Annotated Bibliography
- An index to officially published legislative histories. Available in print at McHenry library
Find the 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.
- GPO Access: 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
Find the Public Law or 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.
- GPO FDsys: Public and Private Laws
- 104th congress (1995-96) to current: PDFs of public and private laws
- THOMAS
- 93rd congress (1973-74) to current: full-text of the enrolled bills by Public Law number. See "Congressional Actions" for relevant dates, votes, and reports (linked when available)
- Early US Statutes at Large
- 1st (1789) - 68th (1925) congresses full-text; from the University of Cincinnati
- LexisNexis Congressional>Bills & Laws
- Full text of for 91st (1970) congress to current. Includes annotations to USC, Bills, Reports, Hearings, and Congressional Record. Requires UCSC or OCA access.
- Statutes at Large in print or microform at McHenry Library
- 50th (1937) congress to current
Find 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
- LexisNexis Congressional
- 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. Requires UCSC or OCA access.
- US Congressional Serial Set
- The Serial Set includes the documents and reports of Congress. 1817-1975 available through Readex. Requires UCSC or OCA access.
- 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.
Find 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
- LexisNexis: Congressional Record
- Full text for 49th (1985) congress to current. Requires UCSC or OCA access.
- 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
- Roll call votes from 98th (1983) to current. Search by bill number, topic, etc.; from CQ Weekly. Requires UCSC or OCA access.
Find 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.
- LexisNexis Congressional
- Full-text of hearings for 18th (1824) to 96th (1979) congress and 108th (2003) to current. Abstracts available for years without full-text. Requires UCSC or OCA access.
- Selected Congressional Documents Online
- Full-text of selected hearings from 1970s to 1998; from Rutgers School of Law.
- In print or microform at McHenry library
- Search for hearings by keyword or Government Document (SuDoc) number. If you cannot find the hearing in Cruzcat, we may have it at the library in microfiche. Please contact us for more information.
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.
- LexisNexis Congressional
- Citations for CRS reports published from 1970 to current. Requires UCSC or OCA access.
- 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
- Congressional Quarterly Weekly provides weekly news and analysis on Capitol Hill events and issues. Search issues back to 1983. Requires UCSC or OCA access.
- CQ Researcher
- CQ Researcher provides analysis and reports on issues in the news from a politics and policy perspective. Search topics back to 1991. Requires UCSC or OCA access.
- LexisNexis: Political News and Hot Topics
- Search articles from major Capitol Hill newspapers such as The Hill, Roll Call, and the Washington Post as far back as 1977. Requires UCSC or OCA access.
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.