Public Policy

Top sources for tracing and researching federal legislation:

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is a non-partisan public policy research arm of the United States Congress. CRS provides reports to members of Congress on a variety of topics relevant to current political events.

You can seach by bill number or keyword using these sources:

• Thomas, 101st - Current Congress
• GPO Access 103rd - Current Congress
• OpenCongress.org, 111th Bills, 110th Bills
• ProQuest Congressional, 101st to current, search by bill number
• ProQuest Congressional, search by keyword

Bill Tracking Reports
A bill tracking report enables you to follow the status of a bill in the legislative process; bill tracking reports are arranged chronologically.  If you are researching a bill that did not pass, you can use the tracking report to find out what happened to it. Use the Thomas, OpenCongress.org and Proquest Congressional links above to find bill tracking reports

Legislative Insight (1929-2013)
federal legislative history

Legislative Histories via ProQuest Congressional
Legislative histories enable users to trace the development of a public law from its early consideration to its enactment, including development that spans more than one Congress.  Legislative information is grouped by type of publication, e.g. debate, hearings, reports, etc.

The official transcripts of House and Senate floor activity are published daily in the Congressional Record.

Online Access

• GPO Access, 1994 to current
• ProQuest Congressional, 1985 to current
• Hein Online, 1789 to current

Print copies

• 1985-88: YRL A-Level Microfiche
• 1789-1824, Annals of Congress, YRL Stacks J 11. R5
• 1825-1837, Register of Debates in Congress, YRL Stacks J 11. R5
• 1833-1873, Congressional Globe, YRL Stacks J 11. R 5
• 1873-2007, Congressional Record, YRL Stacks J 11. R5

*Note: print copies for all years may also be obtained at the UCLA Law Library.

House and Senate Reports

Congressional committees report and make recommendations to the House or Senate as a whole. These reports concern the findings of committee hearings or the outcome of committee deliberations. They can contain discussions of legislative intent, a short history of a bill, and comparisons of current and proposed law text. Not every bill ordered reported makes it to this stage. If the report isn't written and filed, the bill dies just as if it had not been ordered reported at all.  For more information see ProQuest Congressional Help.

• GPO Access, 104th (1995) to current
• Thomas, Committee Reports 104th to current
• Proquest Congressional 101st - current
• Print copies are available in the YRL stacks under J 66 (you need to know the congress number, house or senate, and report number.  Reports for the 110th and 111th Congress are located in Map Reading Room on the A-level of YRL.

House and Senate Documents

House and Senate documents are the class of publications issued by congressional committees or the full House or Senate that are numbered with the designation H. Doc. or S. Doc. This publication type can contain: Presidential messages proposing new legislation or vetoing legislation passed by Congress; special reports of executive branch agencies; congressional committee activity reports; committee-sponsored special studies and background information published as official documents rather than committee prints; annual reports of certain patriotic and veterans groups; memorial tributes; and compilations of background information related to annual intercollegiate and high school debate topics. For more information see, ProQuest Congressional Help.

• GPO Access, 104th to current
• ProQuest Congressional  98th - current
• Print copies area available in the YRL Stacks under J 66.

A committee 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. For more information, see ProQuest Congressional Help.

• GPO Access, 104th to current
• ProQuest Congressional, Indexing 1824 to current; Selected transcripts and submitted statements from 1988-present

The official committee prints publication category began when committees started to issue printed versions of their own internal working papers. Today, committee prints include a wide variety of publications approved and issued by committees or portions of committees, such as majority or minority staff. Some basic varieties of committee prints include: draft reports and bills, directories, statistical materials, investigative reports, historical reports, situational studies, confidential staff reports, hearings, and legislative analyses.  For more information see ProQuest Congressional Publication Types.

• GPO Access, 105th to current
• ProQuestCongressional, 98th to current

Voting Databases

• Thomas, 101st to Current
• CQ Press Congress Collection (Restricted to UC) Find votes by topic, session of congress (1945 to current), descriptions and tallies, roll call votes, and a map of roll call votes.
• ProQuest Congressional:  Floor Votes (101st to Current)

Members vote in three ways on the floor: (1) by shouting "aye" or "no" on voice votes; (2) by standing for or against on division votes; and (3) on recorded votes (including the yeas and nays), by answering "aye" or "no" when their names are called or, in the House, by recording their votes through the electronic voting system.

Voting. (2001). In American Congressional dictionary. Washington: CQ Press. Retrieved April 12, 2009, from CQ Press Electronic Library, CQ Congress Collection, http://library.cqpress.com/congress/amcndc-0000330810.

To find out more about Voting in Congress, read these articles from CQ:

Voting in Congress. (2008). In Congress a to z, 5th ed. American government a to z series. Washington: CQ Press. Retrieved April 12, 2009, from CQ Press Electronic Library, CQ Congress Collection, http://library.cqpress.com/congress/coaz5d_584.1

Methods of voting in the House and Senate: Putting members’ positions on the record. (2008). In Guide to Congress, 6th ed. (Vol. 1). Washington: CQ Press. Retrieved April 12, 2009, from CQ Press Electronic Library, CQ Congress Collection, http://library.cqpress.com/congress/g2c6e1-972-36472-1841832

The committee system: Proxy voting. (2008). In Guide to Congress, 6th ed. (Vol. 1). Washington: CQ Press. Retrieved April 12, 2009, from CQ Press Electronic Library, CQ Congress Collection, http://library.cqpress.com/congress/g2c6e1-972-36483-1842264

Roll Call Votes

1. Generally, any vote in which members are recorded by name for or against a measure; also called a record vote or roll-call vote. The only recorded vote in the Senate is a vote by the yeas and nays; it is commonly called troll-call vote.
2. Technically, a recorded vote is a vote demanded in the House and supported by at least one-fifth of a quorum (forty-four members) in the House sitting as the House or at least twenty-five members in Committee of the Whole. Only one demand for a recorded vote on a pending question is permitted, but a member can make the demand before or immediately after a voice or division vote.

-Recorded Vote. (2001). In American Congressional dictionary. Washington: CQ Press. Retrieved April 12, 2009, from CQ Press Electronic Library, CQ Congress Collection, http://library.cqpress.com/congress/amcndc-0000330584.

Quick search the Congressional Quarterly Congress Collection

What is a signing statement?  Answer provided by the American Presidency Project at UCSB.

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents  or Weekly Comp via GPO Access (1993 to current) Note: use the following search string: "statement on signing"

Public Papers of the President of the United States via GPO Access (1991/G. H. W. Bush - current) Note: use the following search string: "statement on signing". Print editions for Hoover - G.W. Bush available in the YRL Reference Reading Room, Call # J80 .A283.