Research Guides: Federal Legislative History Research: Bill Text & Status Info

Bill Tracking & Status Information

Use these sources to track the path, status and text of pending and prior legislation:

Congress.gov
Congress.gov is the official website for U.S. Federal legislative information. Full-text legislation is available from the 1951 (82nd Cong.) to now.
Govtrack.us
Govtrack is a free site allowing you to track bills as well as the activities of specific members of Congress or Congressional Committees.

Lexis This link opens in a new window
Bill tracking reports for the current congress and earlier congresses (back to the 101st, 1989/1990). Each bill tracking document provides introduction and last action dates, a summary of the bill, a complete legislative history with Congressional Record cites,committee referrals, sponsor and cosponsors, Congressional Research Service bill digest and a summary of the final status of the bill.
ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
The ProQuest Congressional offers bill profiles that contain: bill sponsor and co-sponsor information, related publication citations, bill summaries and action, and links to all bill versions. Coverage extends back to 1789.
Westlaw This link opens in a new window
The WestlawNext Federal Bill Tracking features provides summaries and status information concerning legislation introduced in the current congressional session and a historical archive of bill tracking information back to 2005.

How to Locate the Bills and Amendments a Member of Congress has Sponsored or Cosponsored in Congress.gov
This blog post hosted by the Library of Congress shows how to find bills and amendments sponsored or cosponored by members of Congress.

1st Congress - Current Congress

ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
The only comprehensive source containing the full-text of all versions of all public and private bills and resolutions from the 1st Congress (1789) to the current Congress.

6th Congress - Current Congress (1799 - Present)

Congress.gov
Congress.gov is the official website for U.S. Federal legislative information. Full-text legislation is available from the 1951 (82nd Cong.) to now.

73rd Congress (1934-1935) - 106th Congress (2001-2002)

CIS & GPO Congressional Bills, Resolutions & Laws Microfiche Collections:
Location: Wilson Library Government Publications, CIS Microfiche Y1.4

101st Congress (1988-1989) - Current Congress

Lexis This link opens in a new window
Contains the full text of all versions of legislation introduced in the 101st Congress (1989-1990) to the current Congress.

103rd Congress (1993-1994) - Current Congress

govinfo Congressional Bills Collection
Offers PDF & text version of bills starting with the 103rd Congress (1993-1994).

104th Congress (1995-1996) - Current Congress

Westlaw This link opens in a new window
The "Historical Proposed Legislation (Bills)" collection contains bills starting with the 104th Congress (1995-1996). The "Congressional Bills" collection contains bills from the current and two previous Congressional sessions.

Additional Sources for Bill Text

Sources for the Text of Congressional Bills and Resolutions
Consult this web page (part of the Legislative Source Book by the Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C. to locate additional sources for the text of Congressional legislation.