LibGuides: Federal Legislative History: Bills

Free Resources for Bills

Bill Histories on Congress.gov This link opens in a new window
Use Advanced Search to search by keyword, limit by status/action and other filters. 1973 to present
Congressional Bills on Govinfo.gov (formerly FDSys) This link opens in a new window
1993 (103rd Congress) to present. Browse by Congressional session and then by type of document (House or Senate Bill, different types of Resolutions. View as PDFs or click on "Details" button to view "Related Documents"
History of Bills (Govinfo.gov) This link opens in a new window
Legislative actions on bills that are reported in the Congressional Record. 1983 (98th Congress) to present.

Bill Tracking

Bill Tracking This link opens in a new window
Offers summary of the bill text, list of actions taken on bill and its current status, links to the Congressional Record and to committee reports and list of sponsors and cosponsors. 1989 to present.

Congress.gov also allows you to set up legislative alerts for a particular bill, sponsor, committee, or saved search terms. See this page for more information and guidance on creating these alerts.

Paid Resources for Bills

All U.S. House & Senate Bills This link opens in a new window
103rd to present Congress. Search House, Senate or both by keyword or bill number.
Bill Text This link opens in a new window
Full text of bills from 1989 (101st Congress) to present. Links to bill tracking reports and other versions of the bill.
CRS Bill Summaries This link opens in a new window
Search for the database by name or click on the "Legislative History" link on the main browse page and look for the database under "Tools & Resources" on the right side of the page. If prompted to enter a client ID, simply enter any combination of letters or numbers (the IDs are not tracked or billed).
Federal Legislative Bill History This link opens in a new window
Despite the name, this database does not include compiled legislative histories but does offer full text committee reports, presidential messages and some bill summaries. 2006 to present.
House Bills This link opens in a new window
1993 (103rd Congress) - present. Search by keyword or date.
ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
Provides compiled histories, bills, committee hearings, congressional House & Senate reports, other committee publications and the Congressional Record. Records may not offer full-text for all statutes and not all documents are available for each statute.Primarily used for comprehensive index and abstracts - identifying documents that are part of a statute's legislative history.
Senate Bills This link opens in a new window
1993 (103rd Congress) - present. Search by keyword or date.