About Us
CongressLink in Brief
Congress: The Context
What follows are some of the best Web sites about Congress. For links to hundreds of other sites about our nation's legislature and the federal government, please visit AboutGovernment using the navigation bar above.
Biographical
Directory of the U.S. Congress
This site gives online access to the Biographical Directory of
the U.S. Congress, with entries for all who have served in the
House or the Senate, as well as updated versions of the House
and Senate guides to research collections and bibliographies
of Senators. The House Legislative Resource Center maintains
the site and is preparing bibliographies of House members.
C-SPAN Online
Viewers of C-SPAN's cable TV coverage of the proceedings of the
House and Senate and public affairs programming know the quality
and impartiality of coverage for which C-SPAN has earned a
much deserved reputation. C-SPAN Online continues this fine
tradition. C-SPAN Online provides online lesson plans, special
features, a glossary of congressional terms, frequently asked
questions about the Capitol, the activities of the C-SPAN School
Bus, and C-SPAN
in the Classroom. C-SPAN
Lesson Plans provide teachers with interesting and useful
classroom tools. This site, already among the very best on
the Internet, is getting better all the time.
Center
for Legislative Archives, National Archives and Records Administration
The National Archives is the official repository of the records
of House and Senate committees. If you are interested in learning
how to access the records of Congress, this site is the place
to begin. Particularly valuable are the online guides to the
committee records of the House and Senate, which provide excellent
summaries of the history and purpose of each congressional committee.
This site also has links to other sites of interest to students,
historians, archivists, and political scientists.
Congressional
Mega Sites
This Library of Congress Internet Resource Page is a clearinghouse
of other sites related to Congress, including the House and Senate
Web pages; GPO Access, the U. S. Government Printing Office Home
Page with resources on Congressional publications; The
Congressional Record; and the Congressional
(Pictorial) Directory, which has photographs of all current
members of Congress. Also on this site are links to House and
Senate Web pages.
Congressional
Pictorial Directory
Provides brief biographical sketches of each member of the current
Congress and a picture of each member of the House and Senate.
The Congressional Pictorial Directory requires the use of the
Acrobat Reader in order to view the pictures. Conveniently, the
GPO site provides an easy way to download the Acrobat Reader
at no charge for use with any file in the Adobe Acrobat PDF format.
The
Congressional Record via GPO Access
The Congressional Record is a fascinating official daily record
of the floor proceedings of the House and Senate. It reports
on all floor debates, including material submitted by the members
in support of their positions on various bills and issues of
the day. The Congressional Record can be accessed from several
places on the Internet including the Library of Congress's THOMAS site.
The U. S. Government Printing Office (GPO) is the publisher of
The Congressional Record, and offers an online searchable database
of it for 1995, 1996, and 1997. You may search a topic or search
for the floor speeches of individual members of the House or
Senate. User-friendly.
Congressional
Research Service Reports hosted by the University of North
Texas Libraries
This site provides integrated, searchable access to many of the
full-text CRS reports that have been available on the Web since
1990. Because CRS works exclusively for Members of Congress,
citizens who wished to view these reports had to request them
from their Member. This project promises to help provide permanent
public access to this vital information by serving as a one-stop
gateway to the more than 6,500 reports thus far included. Users
have the ability to search the full text of the reports, as well
as by title, author, subject, and report number.
Congressional
Sources on the Internet
This site contains links to some of the best Web sites on Congress.
A notable feature of interest to researchers is its listing of
collections of congressional papers held at various archival
repositories across the country. This list features the private
and personal papers of former House and Senate members listed
alphabetically by the name of the institution holding the papers.
First
Federal Congress Project
One of the most interesting features of this site is an online
exhibit that covers fourteen topics related to the work and accomplishments
of the first Congress. The site will eventually have an online
teacher's guide but even in its present form it provides a wide
array of original sources, engravings, portraits, etc., all of
which are placed in historical context. This exhibit will help
users understand the critical role played by the First Federal
Congress in providing stability for the new government and completing
the work of the Constitutional Convention.
Government Printing
Office
This site offers a wealth of information about Congress, including
the following subparts:
Congressional Bills. All published versions of bills from the 108th (2003-2004), 107th (2001-2002), 106th (1999-2000), 105th (1997-1998), 104th (1995-1996) and 103rd (1993-1994) are available. The 109th Congress database will be updated by 6 a.m. daily when bills are published and approved for release.
Congressional Directory. Presents short biographies of each member of the Senate and House, listed by state or district, and additional data, such as committee memberships, terms of service, administrative staff, and room and telephone numbers. It also lists officials of the courts, military establishment, and other Federal departments and agencies, including DC government officials, governors of states and territories, foreign diplomats, and members of the media.
Congressional Hearings. A limited number are available, but there is a search feature.
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. Helpful Hints provide instructions for searching the Congressional Record database, 1995-current. The index to the Congressional Record is at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cri/index.html
Congressional Reports. Contains House, Senate, and executive reports, 104th Congress to present.
History of Bills. Lists legislative actions on bills that are reported in the Congressional Record, 1983-present.
Public Laws. Contains laws signed by the President, 1995-present.
The
Hill
Capitol Hill is the most important small town in the world, whose
100 Senators, 435 House Members and 40,000 aides affect the lives
of individuals and businesses throughout the world. The Hill's targeted
circulation includes these influential 40,535 residents plus
the executive branch, cabinet departments, the news media, trade
associations, public-interest groups and lobbyists. The Hill reports
and analyzes the actions of Congress as it struggles to reconcile
the needs of those it represents with the legitimate needs of
the administration, lobbyists and the news media. We explain
the pressures confronting policy-makers, and the many ways -
often unpredictable - that decisions are made. But Capitol Hill
is more than the focal point of the legislative branch of government.
It is also a community not unlike a small city, and The Hill reports
on its culture, social life, crime, employment, traffic, education,
discrimination, shopping, dining, travel and recreation.
The Library
of Congress
All students and teachers should be familiar with this site.
While the Library of Congress location does not focus on Congress
the way THOMAS (see below) does, it offers students of history
and government interesting places. The American
Memory Project is bringing online important congressional
records and publications. "A
Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation" is a web site designed
to make these records more accessible to students, scholars,
and interested citizens, and it will bring together the records
and acts of Congress from the Journals of the Continental Congress
through The Congressional Globe, which ceased publication in
1873. Documents dated 1774-1805 are currently available. Additional
materials will be added to the site every few months. Educators
also will find useful resources on The
Learning Page, including a teaching unit, The U.S. Constitution: Continuity and Change in the Governing of the United States, and information on presidents and presidential
inaugurations. The Library of Congress Home Page also provides
research tools, including the incomparable catalog of the Library
of Congress, and links to other Library of Congress Internet
resources. Special collections include material on the Continental
Congress and the Constitutional Convention; Votes for Women,
1848-1921; and African American Perspectives, 1818-1907. Photographic
collections include Civil War Photographs, Portraits of Presidents
and First Ladies, and Washington as It Was, 1923-1959.
Office
of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives
At this site, you can obtain copies of bills and other House
documents, find historical information about the House, and learn
about the services provided by the Office of the Clerk. The Clerk
maintains, for example, a brief biography of every former Member
which includes a bibliography and photographs or illustrations.
Roll
Call On Line
Roll Call covers the inside stories on events in Congress
and on Capitol Hill, ranging from the best of in-depth reporting
to rumors and gossip. The newspaper is widely read by everyone
on Capitol Hill and by those who closely follow the workings
of Congress. Roll Call Online Home Page provides some
of the features and the flavor of the newspaper and includes
late breaking news, contests and quizzes, and profiles of freshmen
members of Congress. If you want to know what Capitol Hill
is like from its own neighborhood newspaper, this site is a
good place to begin.
Speaker.gov
Hosted by the current Speaker of the House of Representatives,
this site has information about the history, duties, and selection
of the Speaker.
THOMAS
Named in honor of Thomas Jefferson, this site is the best single
source of online information about Congress. THOMAS, a service
of the U. S. Congress, is maintained by the Library of Congress.
It offers a wide range of materials, including current activities
of the House and Senate, access to major bills under consideration
or recently enacted into law, the text of the daily Congressional
Record for the past five years, information on House and Senate
committees, legislative workload statistics back to the 91st
Congress, historical documents such as the Constitution and
the Federalist Papers, information on the legislative process
in the House and Senate, and links to other government sites
related to Congress, the executive branch, the judicial branch,
and state and local government. Users of CongressLink will
find that we refer often to the resources on THOMAS.
U. S. House
of Representatives
Just as the House and Senate are different, although closely
related, institutions, the Web sites of the House and Senate
also differ. The House site focuses on current events and activities
of the House, including schedules for floor activity and for
House committees. The House site provides links to the House
leaders' offices, the Library of Congress, C-SPAN, and other
related locations. You can learn how to write to your representative,
and if you do not know who your representative is, that person
can be found by supplying your zip code. The House site also
supplies information of interest to visitors to the Capitol,
including an online tour of the Capitol building. For the precedents
that guide rulings on floor debate and procedures, consult the
online version of Hind's
Precedents of the House of Representatives of the United States.
U.
S. Legislative Branch
is another very useful service of the Library of Congress. It
provides information on each member of the current Congress,
including e-mail addresses, voting records, congressional committees,
House and Senate rules, history and facts about Congress, and
visitor information. One link,Grolier Online, provides a good
overview of what Congress does and how the legislative process
works. Other information About the U. S. Congress is derived
from the official U. S. Government Manual.
U.S. Senate
The Senate site contains many features similar to those offered
on the House site, including floor schedules and committee
information, but the focus is obviously on the Senate and its
members. In many ways the Senate site is richer and more rewarding
than its House counterpart; it contains more history and background
on the Senate, and more information of use to students and
teachers. One valuable feature of the Senate site is Learning
About the Senate, which is a marvelous brief introduction
to the Senate and its history. Included are a list of publications,
a glossary of terms, virtual tours, background on the Senate
Historical Office, and an introduction to the art and historical
collections from the Office of Senate Curator. This site is
updated regularly with the latest information and new features
about the Senate and its history.
The University of Michigan site was developed as a guide for class assignments. In addition to general information about the legislative process, it includes a section on “Choosing a Topic” and on sources, including reports from the Congressional Research Service which have not been officially released to the public.
