Congressional Record

Congressional Record (Daily), 1994 to Present

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About the Congressional Record

What is the Congressional Record?

The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published daily when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record began publication in 1873, and is still published today.

Note: Debates for sessions prior to 1873 are recorded in The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States (1789-1824), the Register of Debates in Congress (1824-1837), and the Congressional Globe (1833-1873). These can be accessed through A Century of Lawmaking For a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates.

The public proceedings of each House of Congress, as reported by the Official Reporters thereof, are printed pursuant to directions of the Joint Committee on Printing as authorized by appropriate provisions of Title 44, United States Code, excepting very infrequent instances when two or more unusually small consecutive issues are printed one time.

What is available?

• Govinfo currently contains Congressional Record volumes from 140 (1994) to the present.
• The current year's Congressional Record database is usually updated daily by 11 a.m., except when a late adjournment delays production of the issue.
• Documents are available in ASCII text and Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). The date of the publication refers to the date the proceedings were recorded, not necessarily the date of delivery.
• The Bound Congressional Record and the Congressional Record Index are available as separate collections on govinfo, and Congressional Record Index Corrections are also available.
• Resume of Congressional Activity
• Daily Digest from the most recent issue of the Congressional Record
• The Laws and Rules for Publication of the Congressional Record are published periodically and available in PDF and Text.
• Some Congressional Record products are available for sale from the U.S. Government Online Bookstore.

How is it organized?

The Congressional Record consists of four sections:

• Daily Digest
• House section
• Senate section
• Extension of Remarks 

At the back of each daily issue is the "Daily Digest," which summarizes the day's floor and committee activities and serves as a table of contents for each issue. The House and Senate sections contain proceedings for the separate chambers of Congress. Finally, the Extension of Remarks includes tributes, statements, and other information that supplements statements made on the Congressional floor.

Daily Digest Section of the Congressional Record

This section of the Congressional Record serves as a table of contents for the House and Senate actions reported in the issue and statements published in the Extensions of Remarks.

The Daily Digest begins with highlights of the day's action, followed by a summary for the Senate and a summary for the House. Each summary includes such items as measures introduced, reported or passed, as well measures under consideration. Each entry references the Senate or House page number where the item is reported.

The Daily Digest also includes a list of Committee meetings held that day and scheduled for the following day; the schedule for the next meeting of each chamber, and a list of Extensions of Remarks inserted in that issue.

Pages are number sequentially throughout the session of Congress. Each Digest page begins with the letter D and appears in the format D1234.

House Section of the Congressional Record

This section of the Congressional Record contains the public proceedings and debates of the U.S. House of Representatives. It includes both words spoken on the floor of the House and words inserted or appended by Members of Congress. The list of registered lobbyists is published quarterly in the House section.

Pages are number sequentially throughout the session of Congress. Each House page begins with the letter H and appears in the format H1234.

Senate Section of the Congressional Record

This section of the Congressional Record contains the public proceedings and debates of the U.S. Senate. It includes both words spoken and the floor of the Senate and words inserted or appended by Senators.

Pages are number sequentially throughout the session of Congress. Each Senate page begins with the letter S and appears in the format S1234.

Extensions of Remarks Section of the Congressional Record

This section of the Congressional Record contains tributes, statements, and other information that supplements statements made by Members on the floor of the House or Senate.

Pages are number sequentially throughout the session of Congress. Each Extensions page begins with the letter E and appears in the format E1234.

With the exception of copyrighted articles, there are no restrictions on the republication of material from the Congressional Record.

Searching the Congressional Record

You can locate and search issues of the Congressional Record by:

• Using basic search for keyword and metadata fielded searches (see Metadata Fields and Values section),
• Using advanced search; fields specific to the Congressional Record will display after you select Congressional Record in the Refine by Collection column,
• Refining search results by clicking on links in the Refine Your Search panel on the left hand side of the page (the sections under Refine Your Search correspond to the metadata available for the documents),
• Using the citation search to retrieve a single Congressional Record document in PDF format if you know the Volume (year), page type (House, Daily Digest, etc.), and Page Number of the document, and
• Browsing on the Congressional Record browse page.

General govinfo Search Tips

Search Examples

Search Congressional Record by Congress Member Speaking - These examples will search for Congressional Record documents from congress member McConnell.

• Using Basic Search, enter: collection:crec member:mcconnell
• Using Advanced Search, select Congressional Record under Refine by Collection, then under Search In select Congress Member Speaking in the first box and enter mcconnell in the second box 

These examples will search for Congressional Record documents from congress member mcconnell with the word defense in the full text or metadata.

• Using Basic Search:
  • Enter defense and search
  • Under Refine Your Search, select Congressional Record from the Collection category and select McConnell, Mitch from the Congress Member category
  • Using Advanced Search:
    • Select Congressional Record under Refine by Collection, then enter defense in the second box under Search In
    • Search then under Refine Your Search, select McConnell, Mitch from the Congress Member category

Search Congressional Record Where a Congress Member Voted “Yes” - These examples will search for Congressional Record documents where congress member McConnell voted yes.

• Using Basic Search, enter: collection:crec memberyes:mcconnell
• Using Advanced Search, Select Congressional Record under Refine by Collection then under Search In, select Congress Member Voted Yes in the first box and enter mcconnell in the second box

Search Congressional Record Where a Congress Member Voted “No” - These examples will search for Congressional Record documents where congress member McConnell voted no.

• Using Basic Search, enter: collection:crec memberno:mcconnell
• Using Advanced Search, Select Congressional Record under Refine by Collection then under Search In, select Congress Member Voted No in the first box and enter mcconnell in the second box

Search Congressional Record Where a Congress Member Did Not Vote - These examples will search for Congressional Record documents where congress member Clinton did not vote.

• Using Basic Search, enter: collection:crec membernv:clinton
• Using Advanced Search, select Congressional Record under Refine by Collection then under Search In, select Congress Member Not Voting in the first box and enter Clinton in the second box

Search Congressional Record by Vote Number - These examples will search for Congressional Record documents for vote number 150.

• Using Basic Search, enter: collection:crec votenumber:150
• Using Advanced Search, select Congressional Record under Refine by Collection then under Search In, select Congressional Vote Number in the first box and enter 150 in the second box

Search Congressional Record by Date - These examples will search for Congressional Record documents from May 1, 2008.

• Using Basic Search, enter: collection:crec publishdate:2008-05-01
• Using Advanced Search, under Date Range select Date is from the first box and enter 05-01-2008 in the second box, then select Congressional Record under Refine by Collection
• Using the Congressional Record Browse page, navigate to 2008 and expand sections for May and May 1, Thursday

Search Congressional Record by Page Number - This example will search for Congressional Record documents starting on page H 1234.

• Using Basic Search, enter: collection:crec pageprefix:h firstpage:1234

This example will search for Congressional Record documents starting on page H 1234 from Volume 153.

• Using Citation Search, select Congressional Record from Select Collections box, then select 153 from Volume, select House of Representatives from Page Type, and enter 1234 in the Numerical Page Number box

Search Congressional Record Where a Congress Member Voted “Yes” and a Keyword - These examples will search for Congressional Record documents with the word defense where congress member McConnell voted yes.

• Using Basic Search, enter: defense collection:crec memberyes:mcconnell
• Using Advanced Search, select Congressional Record under Refine by Collection then under Search In, select Congress Member Voted Yes, enter mcconnell in the second box, click + Additional Criteria and enter defense in the next blank box

Search Congressional Record Where a Congress Member Voted “Yes” and a Date Range - These examples will search for Congressional Record documents where congress member McConnell voted yes between May 1, 2008 and August 31, 2008.

• Using Basic Search, enter: collection:crec memberyes:mcconnell publishdate:range(2007-05-01, 2007-08-31)
• Using Advanced Search:
  • Under Date Range select Date is between from the first box and enter 05-01-2007 in the second box, and enter 08-31-2007 in the next box
  • Select Congressional Record under Refine by Collection then under Search In, select Congress Member Voted Yes in the first box and enter mcconnell in the second box 

Sample Congressional Record URLs

Govinfo uses two key pieces of information to construct predictable URLs to documents and Details pages.

• The Package ID is used to identify an individual issue of the publication.
• The Granule ID for the Congressional Record is used to identify the specific document within an issue of the publication.

Details Page for an Entire Issue
Structure: https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/{packageId}
Example: https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CREC-2010-09-28 

PDF File for an Entire Issue
Structure: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/{packageId}/pdf/{packageId}.pdf
Example: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CREC-2010-09-28/pdf/CREC-2010-09-28.pdf

Details Page for an Individual Document
Structure: https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/{packageId}/{granuleId}
Example: https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CREC-2010-09-28/CREC-2010-09-28-pt1-PgS7609-2 

PDF File for an Individual Document
Structure: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/{packageId}/pdf/{granuleId}.pdf
Example: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CREC-2010-09-28/pdf/CREC-2010-09-28-pt1-PgS7609-2.pdf

HTML File for an Individual Document
Structure: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/{packageId}/html/{granuleId}.htm
Example: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CREC-2010-09-28/html/CREC-2010-09-28-pt1-PgS7609-2.htm

PDF File for a Complete Section
Structure: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/{packageId}/pdf/{granuleId}.pdf
Example: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CREC-2010-09-28/pdf/CREC-2010-09-28-house.pdf

Congressional Record Metadata Fields and Values

Metadata fields and values can be used to increase the relevancy of your searches. The metadata fields available for Congressional Record are listed in the table below. Metadata fields and values are used throughout govinfo for:

• Refining Your Search,
• Browsing Government Publications,
• Field Operators,
• Advanced Search, and
• Display on Details Pages.

Metadata fields and values can be entered into the Search Box using field operators. The field operators available for Congressional Record are listed in the table below, along with examples for each metadata field. Using Field Operators

Some of these metadata fields are made available for use on the Advanced Search page. The metadata values can be entered in the same format for the fields available on the Advanced Search Page. Using Advanced Search

Congressional Record Metadata Value Lists

Section Metadata Values

The table below lists the metadata values which can be used when limiting your search using the Section advanced search field or the section: field operator.

Type Metadata Values

The tables below lists the metadata values which can be used when limiting your search using the Type advanced search field or the crtype: field operator.

Daily Digest Type Metadata Values

House, Senate, and Extensions of Remarks Type Metadata Values

House Type Metadata Values

Senate Type Metadata Values

Extensions of Remarks Type Metadata Values

Congressional Record Related Resources

• Browse the Congressional Record (Bound Edition) - Daily editions that have been collected, re-paginated, and re-indexed into a permanent, bound edition.
• Congressional Record Index - Lists individuals, organizations, and topics mentioned in the Congressional Record
• History of Bills - Lists legislative actions on bills that are reported in the Congressional Record
• Contact your local Federal Depository Library  - To access a physical copy of issues of the Congressional Record (including prior to 1994, Volume 140)
• Purchase individual issues or a subscription  - From GPO's Online Bookstore