Congress.gov is the online database of
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...
legislative information. Congress.gov is a joint project of the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
, the
House
A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...
, the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
and the
Government Publishing Office
The United States Government Publishing Office (USGPO or GPO), formerly the United States Government Printing Office, is an agency of the legislative branch of the United States federal government. The office produces and distributes informatio ...
.
Congress.gov was in beta in 2012, and
beta testing
Software testing is the act of checking whether software satisfies expectations.
Software testing can provide objective, independent information about the quality of software and the risk of its failure to a user or sponsor.
Software test ...
ended in late 2013.
Congress.gov officially launched on July 5, 2016, superseding
THOMAS,
the Library of Congress's original online database of congressional material, which had been launched in 1995.
The website was created by Library of Congress employees using the
Solr
Solr (pronounced "solar") is an open-source enterprise-search platform, written in Java. Its major features include full-text search, hit highlighting, faceted search, real-time indexing, dynamic clustering, database integration, NoSQL features ...
open-source
Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...
search platform.
In
fiscal year
A fiscal year (also known as a financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. La ...
2015, the Library of Congress reported 36 million page views for Congress.gov.
Contents
The resource is a comprehensive, Internet-accessible source of information on the activities of Congress, including:
*
bills and
resolutions
**texts
**summaries and status
**voting results, including how individual members voted
*
Congressional Record
The ''Congressional Record'' is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress, published by the United States Government Publishing Office and issued when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record Ind ...
, including the daily digest
*
presidential nominations
*
treaties
A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between sovereign states and/or international organizations that is governed by international law. A treaty may also be known as an international agreement, protocol, covenant, convention ...
*
appropriations
*
Constitution of the United States
The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally includi ...
wit
interpretive annotations from Supreme Court decisions
References
External links
Congress.gov
{{USCongress
Internet properties established in 2012
Government databases in the United States
Government-owned websites of the United States
Library of Congress
Online law databases