Congressional Resources

Congressional Universe is a Web-based subscription service for United States Congressional information. It contains a range of legislative and public policy resources, including:

• Indexing and abstracting of Congressional publications from 1789 to present.
• Congressional member voting records.
• The full-text of several publications including the Congressional Record.

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) writes non-partisan in-depth reports on various subjects for Members and Committees of Congress. These reports are not distributed widely to the public.

1. An indirect link to current CRS Reports is provided on the Internet by Representative Mark Green
2. The Federation of American Scientists posted the following subject specific CRS Reports on the Internet:
   • Civil Space and Science
   • Intelligence
   • Military and National Security
   • Special Weapons
3. CRS Reports is a link to selected full-text CRS Reports concerning the environment and related topics and placed on the Internet by the National Library for the Environment.
4. Selected CRS Reports is a link to selected full-text CRS Reports placed on the Internet by Congress.
5. Penny Hill Press provides an index to selected CRS Reports. For a fee, the full-text of these reports can be purchased from Pennyhill Press. NOTE: The libraries do not subscribe to the Pennyhill Press subscription service.
6. Dartmouth subscribes to a microtext collection of selected full-text CRS Reports from 1916 to date:
   1. Index = Baker/Berry Ref JK 1108.M257
   2. Microfilm = Jones Media Center 3631R

1. The Big Three:
   • Campaign Finance Reports and Data
     Federal Election Commission (FEC). 1996 to date. "In 1975, Congress created the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to administer and enforce the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) - the statute that governs the financing of federal elections. The duties of the FEC, which is an independent regulatory agency, are to disclose campaign finance information, to enforce the provisions of the law such as the limits and prohibitions on contributions, and to oversee the public funding of Presidential elections."
   • opensecrets.org
     Center for Responsive Politics. 1996 to date. Based on FEC data, but gives the user more options for viewing and analyzing the data.
   • Political Money Line
     Formerly FECInfo. 1980 to date. "The grandaddy of all independent campaign finance web sites." Based on FEC data, but gives the user more options for viewing and analyzing the data. Part of the database is free, part of the database requires a subscription. NOTE: Dartmouth College Library does NOT subscribe to the subscription portion of the Political Money Line database.
2. Campaign Finance Database
   C-SPAN. 1994 to date.
3. Campaign Finance Information Center
   
4. Soft Money Laundromat
   Common Cause. 1995 to date.

The Library of Congress has published a site on How Our Laws Are Made. This work explains the complex legislative process.

The following World Wide Web links may also be of assistance in your study of the U.S. Congress:

GPO Access

The Government Printing Office maintains a number of databases that preserve Congressional publications, such as bills and the Congressional Record.

The U.S. House of Representatives

The House's online presence for the 107th Congress of the United States.

The U.S. Senate

The Senate's online presence for the 107th Congress of the United States.

THOMAS

The library of Congress maintains this site (named after Thomas Jefferson) which contains a wealth of current and historical legislative information.