Government Sources by Subject: Bills - U.S. Congress

Provides daily updated information, including full text of bills back to 1789, hearings 1824-1979, laws starting in 1988, and more. Enter search terms, then narrow results using filters on left.

1947 – 1997 print editions available at the Suzzallo Library
1941 – 2010 print editions available at the Gallagher Law Library.

1984 – 2000: Legislative Histories of U.S. Public Laws (print only)
2001 – 2002: Title change to CIS Index Annual (print only)

Access for all on-campus; login required from off-campus. 1873 – 1989 in the “History of Bills and Resolutions” section of the Congressional Record. Also available in print (in Index volumes; indexes are last bound volume of each year) and microfiche. Indexed by Subject, Sponsor, Bill & Resolution number; leads to page of Congressional Record. Provides brief synopsis of status.

Access for all on-campus; login required from off-campus. 1995 - current, updated daily. Search by date or go to "Advanced Search" to search by keyword, congress, and more. Note: the basic search box searches all of CQ.com, but results can be filtered by source, congress, and more using the "Narrow Results" column on the left.

1936 – 1990 (incomplete): Summarizes Bills & Resolutions; searchable by Subject, Popular Name, Sponsor, or Companion Bill. (print only)

A free, interactive visualization for exploring patterns of lawmaking in Congress. Bills appear as points of light in an animation.

1973 – current. Note: the default search is for the current congress, to search other congresses, click on the desired congress number or "search multiple congresses" at the top of the search box.

1789 – 1921 (incomplete), 1st – 66th Congress. Some Congresses include index at end of reel. Index is by bill title and state. We do not have the 27th – 36th Congresses (1841-1861) but they are available on the American Memory link above.

1789 – 1921 (incomplete), 1st – 66th Congress. Some Congresses include index at end of reel. Index is by bill title and state. We do not have the 27th – 36th Congresses (1841-1861) but they are available on the American Memory link above.

1922-1978; the University Libraries do not have bills for these years. However, UW Libraries users can contact Interlibrary Loan, referring to this record, Congressional Bills, Resolutions, and Laws.

1979 – 2000, call number Y1.4/6: then session # and bill #. Find the session and bill numbers via the Final Cumulative Finding Aid which can be found in GovPub Reference.

1979 – Jan 1989, call number Y1.4/1: then session # and bill #. Find the session and bill numbers via the Final Cumulative Finding Aid which can be found in GovPub Reference.

1995 – current. Summaries and legislative outlooks of major bills with links to related bills.

1945 – 2010. Analysis of legislation by year or search for a topic. Also available in print, in 2001 title changed to CQ Almanac Plus.