Action:
Members of the House or Senate introduce bills for consideration. The bills are considered by each house separately first. The President, a member of the Cabinet, or head of a Federal agency can also propose legislation.
Sources for recent bills:
- CQ.com on Congress
- Tracks 104th (1995-1996) Congress - present.
- GPO Access Congressional Bills
- Available from the 103rd (1993-1994) Congress - present.
- Lexis Nexis Congressional
- Choose "Legislative Histories, Bills & Laws" from the left sidebar. Legislative histories of bills from 91st (1969-1970) Congress - present.; text and status of bills from 101st Congress- present.
- THOMAS: Bills, Resolutions
- Texts of bills from the 101st (1989) Congress - present, and bill summary status from 1973.
Sources for older bills:
Full text of early bills, before amendment and passage, or especially if they "died", can be difficult to find. Here are some suggested resources.
- Congressional bills
- 96th-106th Cong. (Y 1.4/1: Public Documents and Maps microfiche, 3rd floor Bostock)
- Congressional Record
- X 1.1: 1873 - 1913 Public Documents & Maps microfiche/ 1913-2004 Public Documents & Maps, U.S. Documents
- Congressional Globe
- From 1833 - 1873
- Register of Debates
- From 1824 -1837
- Annals of Congress
- From 1789 - 1824
- U.S. Congressional Serial Set
- House and Senate Reports