Tracking Federal Legislation in Congress

Summaries of the Legislative Process

The Legislative Process (How a Bill Becomes Law) (UNT Libraries)

A tutorial on the steps in the legislative process and resources for researching each step.

Enactment of a Law (THOMAS)

A detailed account of the legislative process by the Parliamentarian of the U.S. Senate.

How a Bill Becomes Law (Project Vote Smart)

Brief outline of steps in the legislative process, with key terms linked to a glossary.

Tracking and Influencing Current Legislation

The UNT Libraries have full-text paper or microform copies of all bills for selected years. For other years, we may have full-text copies only of bills that passed, with abstracts of bills that did not pass. Ask at the Government Documents Service Desk for help with finding texts of bills.

GovTrack.us: Track Federal Legislation (Joshua Tauberer)

Use this free subscription service to perform customized tracking of Congressional legislative activities by issues, bills, and members of Congress.

THOMAS: Legislative Information on the Internet (Library of Congress)

The most extensive online collection of information on current and recent U.S. federal legislation. Includes current activities in Congress, bills and public laws, committee reports and selected committee hearings, a directory of current members of Congress, and an explanation of how a bill becomes law.

United States Legislative Branch (Library of Congress)

Includes information about Congress with links to Congressional committees and publications.

CIS Index to Publications of the U.S. Congress (Congressional Information Service)
Available in Government Documents Abstracts & Indexes Section

Includes comprehensive legislative history for every act passed by Congress since 1970.

THOMAS provides an online history of bills passed from 1973 to the present.
GPO Access provides a history of bills passed from 1983 through the present.

Congressional Record (U.S. Government Printing Office)
Ask at Government Documents Service Desk for assistance—recent copies are in microfiche.

The Congressional Record has been mandated to be "substantially a verbatim" account of the activities of Congress. In fact, however, members of Congress are allowed to change, omit, or add remarks as they wish, even to the point of changing the meaning of what they actually said on the floor, thus compromising this publication's value as a historical document. The Congressional Record and its predecessors—the Annals of Congress, Register of Debates, and Congressional Globe—have been published since 1789.

The Congressional Record for recent years is available online through GPO Access or THOMAS.

Congressional Record Index and Daily Digest (U.S. Government Printing Office)
Ask at Government Documents Service Desk for assistance—recent copies are in microfiche.

This is useful for locating the pages in the Congressional Record that refer to a particular subject or bill.

The Congressional Record Index for recent years is also available online through GPO Access or THOMAS.

Specific Aspects of the Legislative Process

CRS Reports on the Legislative Process (Congressional Research Service)

Essays, outlines, and other information on various details of the legislative process, designed to clarify certain issues and procedures for members of Congress.

The Committee System in the U.S. Congress (Information USA)

Brief description of how Congress uses committees to accomplish its work.

Conference Committee and Related Procedures: An Introduction (Law Librarian’s Society of Washington, D.C.)

A brief summary of House and Senate procedures for reaching agreement on legislation.

House and Senate Rules of Procedure: A Comparison (UNT Libraries)

This Congressional Research Report compares selected House and Senate rules of procedure for various stages of the legislative process: referral of legislation to committees; scheduling and calling up measures; and floor consideration. No attempt is made to present a comprehensive discussion of how both chambers operate. The appendices provide sources of additional information about House and Senate rules of procedure. 

"Tying It All Together" (U.S. House of Representatives)

A brief overview of the legislative process in the House, with cross-links to appropriate sections of How Our Laws Are Made.

How Measures are Brought to the House Floor: A Brief Introduction (UNT Libraries)

This Congressional Research Service report provides a brief description of the methods used to bring proposed legislation to the House floor for consideration. These methods allow for consideration as a privileged matter, under the limited privilege of a special calendar or day, under suspension of the rules, under the terms of a special rule, or by unanimous consent.

Legislative Process: How a Senate Bill Becomes a Law (U.S. Senate)

Flowchart outlining the bill status, the people involved , and where the action takes place at each stage of the legislative process in the Senate. Some steps in the chart are linked to more thorough explanations.

Senate Legislative Process (U.S. Senate)

A rather extensive explanation of the legislative process in the Senate, reproduced from a Congressional Research Service report.

Definitions of Legislative Terms

C-SPAN Congressional Glossary (C-SPAN)

Definitions of terms commonly used during the legislative process.

CongressLink Glossary (Fountain Communications, Inc.)

Definitions and brief explanations of terms related to Congress and to the United States Constitution.

[Glossary of Senate Terms] (U.S. Senate)

Definitions of terms commonly used in Senate proceedings.