U.S. Government Documents Guide

Introduction to Congressional Materials

For an excellent review of the importance and salience of different congressional documents (prints, reports, markups, hearings, etc.) please check out our Law Library's guide on legislative histories.

Proquest Congressional 
*NOTE: Proquest Congressional requires logging in with an Emory ID and password.

• Legislative Histories 1969-Present
• Bills & Laws 1789-Present 
• Vote Report 1987-Present
• Committee Prints & Misc. Publications 1817-Present
• Congressional Record Bound Edition & Predecessors 1789-1997
• Congressional Record Daily Edition 1985-Present
• Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports 1916-Present
• Hearings 1824-Present
• House & Senate Documents 1817-Present
• House & Senate Reports 1817-Present
• Serial Set 1789-2003
• Serial Set Maps 1789-Present
• Executive Branch Documents 1789-1932

NEW! ProQuest Legislative Insight

Offers thoroughly researched compilations of the full text of Congressional publications. Legislative histories may be used to discover the legislative intent behind a specific law. ProQuest legislative histories are comprised of fully searchable PDFs of full-text publications generated in the course of congressional lawmaking. These include the full text of the Public Law itself, all versions of related bills, law-specific Congressional Record excerpts, committee hearings, reports, and prints. Also included are Presidential signing statements, CRS reports, and miscellaneous congressional publications that provide background material to aid in the understanding of issues related to the making of the law.

govinfo.gov provides free public access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government.

The govinfo.gov collections include:

• Congressional hearings,1985 to present (NOTE: govinfo.gov has select House and Senate hearings for the 104th Congress (1995-96) forward. Select hearings for previous congresses are also available)
• Congressional reports, 1995 to present
• Congressional Record (Daily), 1994 to present
• Congressional Record (Bound), 1873-2001, 2005-2008
• Congressional bills, 1993 to present
• Congressional documents (House documents, Senate documents, Senate Treaty Documents), 1995 to present

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Library of Congress American Memory Project -- Earlier editions of the Congressional Record from (Annals of Congress, Register of Debates, Congressional Globe)

• Annals of Congress 1789-1824
• Register of Debates 1824-1837
• Congressional Globe 1833-1873

The Congressional Research Service is the public policy research arm of the U.S. Congress

Congressional Research Service (CRS)  staff members analyze current policies and provide reports on major policy issues to congressional committees and members of Congress.

Congressional Research Service Reports

• Proquest Congressional -- CRS Reports 1916 to present (Emory log in required)
• University of North Texas Digital Library -- CRS Reports 1971 to present

The Government Accountability Office (formerly General Accounting Office)

• "the investigative arm of Congress" -- audits the performance of agencies and offices in carrying out their duties (including their various programs) to ensure their effectiveness and efficiency.
• GAO maintains archives of its published reports, testimonies, correspondence, and special publications, as well as legal decisions and opinions on this website. Most written products published after 1971 are available, as are some products issued as far back as 1922.
• Products that are restricted or classified are not included.

• Reports and other Documents (GAO) 1922 - present
• GAO Reports and Comptroller General Decisions (govinfo.gov) 1989 - present

Congressional Budget Office

• CBO produces analyses of budgetary and economic issues to support the Congressional budget process.

GovTrack.us: Tracking the U.S. Congress

• Free tracking of federal legislation for the general public
• Voting records, bill status, speeches on the floor
• Daily or weekly updates by email