- THOMAS Home
- About THOMAS
- Bills, Resolutions
- Congressional Record
- Presidential Nominations
- Treaties
- Committee Reports
- Government Resources
- For Teachers
- Help
Related Resources at the Library
The Bill Summary and Status (BSS) page provides a gateway to extensive information about a bill. From this page you can navigate to the bill text, sponsors of a bill, a summary of the bill, the status of the bill, and much more.
How a Bill Becomes a Law - When performing legislative research, it is important to understand the legislative process. The numerous steps that result in a bill becoming a law are described in the 24th edition of How Our Laws Are Made.
Find out places to watch Congress from the In Custodia Legis blog post "Where to Watch Congress Online."
For more information about "vehicle bills," see the In Custodia Legis blog post "A Bill By Any Other Name."
To search for a phrase in bill text, the Bill Text Search page must be used. Searching Bill Summary and Status does not search the text of legislation.
The original text of the Federalist Papers (also known as The Federalist) is contained within THOMAS.
The global footer available on most Library of Congress websites now appears throughout THOMAS and includes an "All ways to connect" link.
Find links to state legislature websites in THOMAS.
Daily issues of the Congressional Record can be browsed by date. Options for House, Senate, Extensions of Remarks, and the Daily Digest are available.
From the THOMAS home page, it is possible to search for bill numbers as well as Public Laws in the current Congress. Simply choose the "bill number" option above the search box and enter "hr 3590" or "pl 111-148."
Just in time for the return of Congress from August recess, THOMAS has undergone its third major enhancement of 2010. Building upon the enhancements made in January and June, the latest enhancements add a mobile-friendly homepage, integrate features from the Library of Congress and Law Library of Congress websites into THOMAS, and add a new portal to state legislature websites.
The sharing toolbar allows users to share a permanent link via social networking sites such as Twitter or Facebook. This toolbar can now also be found on the Congressional Record, Committee Reports, Nominations, and Treaties pages as well as detail-level Bill Summary and Status (BSS) pages.
RSS Feeds and GovDelivery email alerts have been enabled for the Tip of the Week.
The THOMAS home page, in the Search Bill Summary and Status area, now includes the More Search Options link, which displays a list of all searchable THOMAS databases and available years.
THOMAS now provides a link to the years of each Congress. Clicking Congress-to-Year Conversion displays a help page with a Congress-to-year conversion table.
The sharing toolbar allows users to share a permanent link via email. This toolbar can now also be found on the Congressional Record, Committee Reports, and Nominations and Treaties pages as well as detail-level Bill Summary and Status (BSS) pages.
RSS Feeds and GovDelivery email alerts have been enabled for the Top Bills feature.
The sharing toolbar allows users to subscribe to THOMAS content. Click on Subscribe in the toolbar to see the available feeds.
The THOMAS home page, in the Search Bill Summary & Status area, now includes a More Browse Options link leading to a list of additional legislative data browsing options.
THOMAS now displays the years of each Congress. For example, the page heading for a bill from the 108th Congress includes the text (2003-2004). Also, hovering over a Congress number on a search or browse screen results in pop-up text of the corresponding years.
The sharing toolbar allows users to save a permanent link via bookmarks. This toolbar can now also be found on the Congressional Record, Committee Reports, and Nominations and Treaties pages as well as detail-level Bill Summary and Status (BSS) pages.
What's new in THOMAS for June 2010? The June 2010 update to THOMAS includes many new features designed to improve the user’s experience.
Committee Reports are available in THOMAS for the 104th (1995) Congress through the current Congress. Committee reports reveal the "legislative intent" of the committee in recommending a measure. To begin a search of these reports, click "Committee Reports" in the left hand navigation.
About the Congressional Record - A full record of Congressional proceedings is kept in the Congressional Record, which has been published by the Government Printing Office since 1873. To search these proceedings, click "Congressional Record" in the left hand navigation.
The Bill Text feature provides access to the entire text of all versions of all bills and resolutions introduced in Congress since 1989. You can search by bill number or word/phrase and can limit the search results by date or Congressional session.
The 111th Congress is in session from January 2009 through December 2010. The THOMAS FAQ provides a handy guide outlining which years are associated with each Congress.
How often is THOMAS updated? Legislative data is loaded into THOMAS as quickly as possible, subject to preprocessing by various sources.
Time Periods for Legislative Information on THOMAS - The Congressional Record and full text of legislation are available from 1989 (101st Congress) to the present. In addition, THOMAS has summaries (not full text) of legislation from 1973 (93rd Congress).
Trying to figure out the difference between a Motion to Recommit, to Reconsider, or for the Previous Question? The Congressional Glossary in THOMAS can help with those and more.
What's new in THOMAS? A new web sharing toolbar makes bookmarking and sharing legislation easy. The five top-viewed bills from prior week are listed on the home page. Other changes have also been made based on user feedback.