Legislative Process
How a bill becomes a law (ProQuest)
Databases
- VoxGov This link opens in a new window
Provides access to nearly 100 000 new government documents in addition to a repository of over 30 million documents.
- ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
Explore Congress in action with the most comprehensive online resource available for congressional publications and legislative research.
- ProQuest legislative insight This link opens in a new window
Provides federal legislative histories related to enacted United States public laws.
- Congress Collection This link opens in a new window
- CQ Press public affairs collection This link opens in a new window
- CRS reports This link opens in a new window
Congressional Information
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Congressional RecordCongressional Record Bound Edition & Predecessors 1789-Present
Congressional Record Daily Edition 1985-Present
"The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings, debates, and activities of Congress. Although the Record contains a substantially verbatim account of the proceedings and debate, it also contains extensive inserted materials, communications from the President and executive agencies, memorials, and petitions."
H.R. House Bill
S. Senate Bill
H.J.Res. House Joint Resolution
S.J.Res. Senate Joint Resolution
H.Con.Res. House Concurrent Resolution
S.Con.Res. Senate Concurrent Resolution
H.Res. House Simple Resolution
S.Res. Senate Simple Resolution
Federal Statutes
Once a law is signed by the President, it is assigned a public law number and issued in print as a "slip law."
"Pub.L' is the abbreviation for "Public Law"
Ex: "105-276" is a public law number
Citation Example: Pub.L. 105-176
The Statutes at Large is the permanent collection of all laws and resolutions enacted during each session of Congress.
At the end of each session of Congress, slip laws are compiled into bound volumes called the Statutes at Large, and they are known as "session laws." The Statutes at Large present a chronological arrangement of the laws in the exact order that they have been enacted.
A Statutes at Large citation includes the volume number, the abbreviation "stat," and the number of that particular law as assigned in the Statutes at Large.
Citation example: 112 stat 3280
"The United States Code is the codification by subject matter of the general and permanent laws of the United States.
The U.S. Code was first published in 1926. The next main edition was published in 1934, and subsequent main editions have been published every six years since 1934. In between editions, annual cumulative supplements are published in order to present the most current information."
A U.S. Code citation includes a title number, the abbreviation "USC" or "U.S.C." and a section number.
Citation example: 31 USC 511
