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U.S. Government Information: Legislative

Guide to information resources by and about the federal government.

Legislative Documents

Please be aware that ProQuest, HeinOnline and Readex resources are available remotely only to the UCSD community. Anyone may use these resources within the library, however. The UCSD Library also has print copies of many of these documents; use the library catalog to find call numbers and locations.

Note also that, while years listed indicate inclusive dates covered, they may not be comprehensive collections.

   govinfo      LoC  Congress.gov    ProQuest       HeinOnline   Readex   
Bills  1993-          

1799-1873;

1951-

1776-    
Committee Prints        1975-     1789- 1865-  
Committee Reports  1995- 1833-1917 1995- 1817- 1817- 1817-1980
Congressional Record (& predecessors)  1994-   1913- 1789- 1774-  
Congressional Record Index  1983-   1995-      
Documents  1975- 1833-1917   1817- 1817- 1817-1980  
Hearings  1957-     1824-2003* 1889-   
Private Laws  1995-   1951- 1776-    
Public Laws  1995-   1951- 1776-    
Statutes at Large  1789- 1789-1951     1789-  
U.S. Code  1994-     current 1925-  
Voting Records     1989- 1987-    

* Plus citations/abstracts and selected testimony transcripts 2004-current.


The CIS microfiche collection (1970-2010) includes Committee and Subcommittee hearings and prints, House and Senate reports, documents, and special publications, Senate executive reports and documents, and public laws.

A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation presents published congressional records from 1774-1875. It includes the Journals of the Continental Congress (1774-89); the Letters of Delegates to Congress (1774-89); the Journals of the House of Representatives (1789-1875) and the Senate (1789-1875); debates of Congress as published in the Annals of Congress (1789-1824), the Register of Debates (1824-37), Congressional Globe (1833-73), and Congressional Record (1873-75); the Statutes at Large (1789-1875); the American State Papers (1789-1838); and congressional bills and resolutions for selected sessions beginning with 1799 in the House of Representatives and 1819 in the Senate. A select number of documents and reports from the monumental U.S. Congressional Serial Set are available as well.

Political scientist Brian Libgober has constructed A Comprehensive Dataset of U.S. Federal Laws, listing legislative actions from 1789-2022. The dataset includes each action's title, date of passage, citation information, source (HeinOnline, GPO, NARA), and more.

For information about witnesses who testified in House hearings from 1971-2016, see the Congressional Witnesses Dataset (no longer available, but see Internet Archive capture).

Congress to Year Conversion

 1st  1789-1790    39th  1865-1866    77th  1941-1942    115th  2017-2019
 2nd  1791-1792    40th  1867-1868    78th  1943-1944    116th  2019-2021
 3rd  1793-1794    41st  1869-1870    79th  1945-1946    117th  2021-2023
 4th  1795-1796    42nd  1871-1872    80th  1947-1948    118th  2023-
 5th  1797-1798    43rd  1873-1874    81st  1949-1950      
 6th  1799-1800    44th  1875-1876    82nd  1951-1952      
 7th  1801-1802    45th  1877-1878    83rd  1953-1954      
 8th  1803-1804    46th  1879-1880    84th  1955-1956      
 9th  1805-1806    47th  1881-1882    85th  1957-1958      
 10th  1807-1808    48th  1883-1884    86th  1959-1960      
 11th  1809-1810    49th  1885-1886    87th  1961-1962      
 12th  1811-1812    50th  1887-1888     88th  1963-1964      
 13th  1813-1814    51st  1889-1890    89th  1965-1966      
 14th  1815-1816    52nd  1891-1892    90th  1967-1968      
 15th  1817-1818    53rd  1893-1894    91st  1969-1970      
 16th  1819-1820    54th  1895-1896    92nd  1971-1972      
 17th  1821-1822    55th  1897-1898    93rd  1973-1974      
 18th  1823-1824    56th  1899-1900    94th  1975-1976      
 19th  1825-1826    57th  1901-1902    95th  1977-1978      
 20th  1827-1828    58th  1903-1904    96th  1979-1980      
 21st  1829-1830    59th  1905-1906    97th  1981-1982      
 22nd  1831-1832    60th  1907-1908    98th  1983-1984      
 23rd  1833-1834    61st  1909-1910    99th  1985-1986      
 24th  1835-1836    62nd  1911-1912    100th  1987-1988      
 25th  1837-1838    63rd  1913-1914    101st  1989-1990      
 26th  1839-1840    64th  1915-1916    102nd  1991-1992      
 27th  1841-1842    65th  1917-1918    103rd  1993-1994      
 28th  1843-1844    66th  1919-1920    104th  1995-1996      
 29th  1845-1846    67th  1921-1922    105th  1997-1998      
 30th  1847-1848    68th  1923-1924    106th  1999-2000      
 31st  1849-1850    69th  1925-1926    107th  2001-2002      
 32nd  1851-1852    70th  1927-1928    108th  2003-2004      
 33rd  1853-1854    71st  1929-1930    109th  2005-2006      
 34th  1855-1856    72nd  1931-1932    110th  2007-2009      
 35th  1857-1858    73rd  1933-1934    111th  2009-2010      
 36th  1859-1860    74th  1935-1936    112th  2011-2013      
 37th  1861-1862    75th  1937-1938    113th  2013-2014      
 38th  1863-1864    76th  1939-1940    114th  2015-2017      

 

See Dates of Sessions of the Congress for exact dates of each Congress/session

Congressional Serial Set

U.S. Congressional Serial Set (UCSD affiliates or in-library use only)

  • Reports, documents, and journals of the Senate and House of Representatives, 1817-1980

Tables and Annotated Index to the Congressional Series of United States Public Documents

  • Contents of the Serial Set, 15th - 52nd Congresses

Index to the Reports and Documents ("Documents Index")

  • Alphabetical subject index to publications in the Serial Set, 54th - 72nd Congresses

Numerical Lists and Schedule of Volumes of the Reports and Documents ("Numeral List")

  • 73rd - 96th Congresses

United States Congressional Serial Set Catalog

  • 98th - 105th Congresses

Find/Contact Members of Congress

Tracking Current Legislation

These resources will help track current legislation by topics, bills, and/or members of Congress.

Select Resources

Research/CRS Reports

Research reports prepared for the Congress generally provide excellent background information on the topic covered. Examples of these include Congressional Budget Office reports, Government Accountability Office reports, and Congressional committee prints.

Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports are non-partisan, high-quality research on timely issues. UCSD users should start with the ProQuest Congressional collection for CRS reports, which covers 1916-present.  Additional sources are listed below.