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.
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 359" or "pl 113-14."
What RSS feeds exist for THOMAS? THOMAS includes multiple RSS feeds with optional email subscription to keep users up-to-date on Congress' activity.
The THOMAS home page, in the Search Bill Summary and Status area, includes the More Search Options link, which displays a list of all searchable THOMAS databases and available years.
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 U.S. Code link on the left hand toolbar of THOMAS will soon go to a redesigned website.
THOMAS 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.
Have you visited HouseLive? It has video feeds of House Floor Proceedings from the 111th Congress to the present. You can watch videos and link to the legislation discussed in THOMAS.
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.
Find links to state legislature websites in THOMAS.
Are you a teacher? Check out the great resources on our Legislative Resources For Teachers page.
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 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.
Confused about how to spot the different types of legislation? THOMAS has a guide to the designations for bills, joint resolutions, concurrent resolutions, and simple resolutions.
RSS Feeds and GovDelivery email alerts are available for the Top Bills feature.
How often is THOMAS updated? Legislative data is loaded into THOMAS as quickly as possible, subject to preprocessing by various sources.
The sharing toolbar allows users to subscribe to THOMAS content. Click on Subscribe in the toolbar to see the available feeds.
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).
Use the Congressional Schedules and Calendars page to find out what Congress has scheduled for this week. This page is located under Current Activity on the THOMAS homepage.
January 3, 2013, is the start of the 113th Congress. The default search on THOMAS is this current Congress. To search previous Congresses, including the 112th, use the Advanced Search.
Research Orientation to THOMAS - The Law Library of Congress offers a half-day class designed to give a basic introduction to legal sources and research techniques. This class is open to the public.
The sharing toolbar allows users to save a permanent link via bookmarks. This toolbar can be found on the Congressional Record, Committee Reports, and Nominations and Treaties pages as well as detail-level Bill Summary and Status (BSS) pages.
Learn about smartphone apps available for getting in touch or keeping up with Congress.
Want to tweet about legislation? Do it the @THOMASdotgov way. Simply put #HR or #S in front of the bill number. An example is #HR1351.
See a picture of just how complicated the legislative status steps can be.
The 112th Congress is in session from January 2011 through December 2012. The THOMAS FAQ provides a handy guide outlining which years are associated with each Congress.
Use beta.congress.gov's facets to find 112th Congress laws sponsored by Republicans and Democrats.
Need a quick overview and links to more information about the legislative process? Read the In Custodia Legis post "I'm Just a Bill."
Our Constitution Day Resources page was recently updated. We hope you can use the new materials in your lesson plans!
Easily see the sponsored and cosponsored legislation of each Representative or Senator on THOMAS.
Find recorded vote information in Roll Call Votes, available from the "More Legislative Information" section of the THOMAS homepage.
Want to search more than one Congress for legislation? Select the "Search Multiple Congresses" page in Bills, Resolutions.
Curious about what occurred yesterday in Congress? Select the Latest Daily Digest from the Congressional Record page or the link in the "Current Activity" section of the THOMAS homepage.
THOMAS is on Twitter. Follow us @THOMASdotgov for updates about THOMAS.gov and Congress.
The THOMAS home page, in the Search Bill Summary and Status area, includes a More Browse Options link leading to a list of additional legislative data browsing options.
The global footer available on most Library of Congress websites appears throughout THOMAS and includes an "All ways to connect" link.
Use the Advanced Search to search the Bill Summary and Status of legislation for previous Congresses.
Browse Public Laws for the current Congress, as well as previous Congresses. Full texts of the laws are available from the 101st Congress forward.
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.
Links to Constitutional Authority Statements may be found on Bill Summary and Status pages for HR and HJRes.
Status of Appropriations Legislation is provided in an easy-to-navigate chart for fiscal years 1998-2013.
Daily issues of the Congressional Record can be browsed by date. Options for House, Senate, Extensions of Remarks, and the Daily Digest are available.
For more information about "vehicle bills," see the In Custodia Legis blog post "A Bill By Any Other Name."
RSS Feeds and GovDelivery email alerts are available for the Tip of the Week.
If you need to research federal statutes, read this In Custodia Legis blog post to find out how.
If you're a teacher, here are some ideas and suggestions for incorporating legal primary sources into your lessons.
Read about the history of the 2011 debt ceiling legislation on an In Custodia Legis post.
There's a new way to browse legislation: by subject terms. See how many items have been tagged with each subject during this Congress.
Do you love THOMAS as much as us? Take the code and put its search box directly on your website.
Notice something different about the homepage? Our @THOMASdotgov Twitter feed is now on THOMAS. Read more on our In Custodia Legis post "Twitter on Thomas."
If you ever need to construct a permanent link to a THOMAS document, instructions can be found in the help section.
Tweaking THOMAS: Read about the recent homepage enhancements.
Have questions about the new Congress? Read the Q&A; from the In Custodia Legis blog post "Tip of the Congressional Iceberg."
Looking for information on the new Congress? THOMAS has now switched over to the 112th legislative session.
What's new in THOMAS for December 2010? In this release, THOMAS links to GPO Access were converted to FDsys, search was enhanced, more detail was added to the Bill Summary and Status display, and additional metadata was added.
Find out places to watch Congress from the In Custodia Legis blog post "Where to Watch Congress Online."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.