A bill or resolution is introduced by a member and generally referred to a Congressional committee as part of its passage to approval. The first printing of a bill or resolution includes:
- the number and session of the Congress
- the designation
- the number of the bill
- the name of the body in which it was introduced
- date of introduction
- the name of the member who introduced it
- the Committee to which it was referred.
Library Holdings and online access
Time Period |
Format and links |
House and Senate Bills 1789 -1879 Includes the bills, resolutions, joint resolutions and concurrent resolutions of the House and Senate |
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Bills and Resolutions House: 1700-1873 Senate: 1819-1873 Senate Joint Resolutions: 1824-1873 |
Online from the Library of Congress |
Digest of Public General Bills and Resolutions 1936-1987 Provides summaries of bills only |
1936-1970 held offsite 1970-1987 in Controlled Access Collection |
House and Senate Bills 1961 -1965 |
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Bills 1982 – 2010 House Senate |
Microfiche
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House and Senate Bills 1993 to date |
Online from the US Government Printing Office |
Joint Resolutions House Joint Resolutions: 1982-2010 Senate Joint Resolutions: 1982-2010 |
Microfiche |
Concurrent Resolutions House Concurrent Resolutions: 1982-2010 Senate Concurrent Resolutions: 1982-2010 |
Microfiche |
Bills, Amendments and Resolutions 1973 to date |
All legislation since 1973; a searchable database at Congress.gov |
See also:
Congressional Information Service annual (CIS annual) (1970-2000) Held offsite
From 1970 to 1983 the CIS Annual contains two types of volumes: Index and Abstracts. A condensed 'Legislative History' section is included in the Abstracts volume. From 1984 onwards, detailed legislative histories are published in a separate volume called Legislative Histories of U.S. Public Laws. References are made to all relevant documents for every law enacted during a session of Congress.
United States code congressional and administrative news (USCCAN) (1972-2011) Controlled Access Collection
Contains a 'Table of Legislative History and Index' arranged by public law number referencing the date approved, Statutes at Large citation, bill number, House and Senate reports numbers, abbreviations for the names of the House and Senate committees reporting, dates of consideration and passage in the Congressional Record, and citations for Presidential signing documents.