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How to Pick a Search Page

You can search Congress.gov in many different ways. This overview describes the wide variety of places to begin your search. Consult Coverage Dates for Legislative Information for the specific update schedules and start date for each collection.

Jump to specialized search forms for:

Homepage Global Search

What can you search?

From the homepage search bar you can select: All Sources, All Legislation, or any single document collection (Legislation, Committee Reports, Congressional Record, Nominations, Treaty Documents, House Communications, or Senate Communications). Use the collection menu to the left of the search box to change from the default "Current Legislation."

Why choose global search?

Caveats

Search system presumes an AND between words when no Search Operators are present.

Query Builder

What can you search?

From the Query Builder you can search any combination of collections.

Why choose Query Builder?

  • To build precise, complex searches, row-by-row. Use the plus (+) and minus (-) controls to add or remove rows. Combine rows with Boolean AND, OR, or AND NOT. Nest searches using inner plus (+) and minus (-) controls.
  • More fields are available than on the specialized search forms.
  • Calendar picker makes date searching easy.
  • Value lists facilitate selecting multiple Legislative Actions, committees, etc.

Caveats

Don't use Search Operators. Use the provided lists (in the 3rd box on each row) to select operators: is, is near, contains, does not contain.

Command Line

What can you search?

From the Command Line box you can search any combination of collections.

Why choose Command Line?

  • To build precise, complex searches using fields. Combine search fields using Boolean AND, OR, or AND NOT.
  • The large search box can expand, if necessary.
  • Supports all Search Tools.

Legislation Search Form

What can you search?

Search the legislation collection dating from 1973 (93rd Congress) from the Legislation Search Form.

Why choose the Legislation search form?

  • The guided form facilitates limiting your search with these criteria: include or exclude bill text; search only (any combination of): titles, summaries, actions; Congress; Legislation Number; a single item from the Legislative Actions picklist; a single sponsor and/or cosponsor; a single House or Senate committee.
  • Use "EDIT THIS SEARCH" to easily make adjustments to your selections within the form.

Legislation Advanced

What can you search?

From the Legislation Advanced form you can search the legislation collection, including records for every bill and resolution introduced in the U.S. Congress since 1973 (93rd Congress).

Why choose Legislation Advanced?

  • The guided form supports precise, complex searches.
  • Use "EDIT THIS SEARCH" to easily make adjustments to your selections within the form.

Legislation Text

What can you search?

From the Legislation Text form your search is limited to Legislation Text.

Why choose Legislation Text?

  • To exclusively search bill and law text language in different versions.
  • To search for language exclusively within specific bill text versions.
  • Unique to results lists from the Legislation Text form, results lists are categorized into 4 relevancy ranked sets of texts containing: Phrase exactly as entered, Terms near each other in any order, All terms, Any terms.

Caveats

Don't use Search Operators. Due to relevancy ranked results, "Words and Phrases" box does not support proximity nor does it support Boolean search operators.

Results list returns a maximum of 500 items.

Search by Number (Citation)

What can you search?

From the Search by Number form you can retrieve legislation and committee reports, by number.

Why choose Search by Number?

To build a cross-congress results list using legislation or committee report citations.

Committee Reports - Specialized Search Form

What can you search?

From the Committee Reports form you can search the Committee Reports collection dating from 1995.

Why choose Committee Reports?

The guided form facilitates search using these criteria: Report Title; Congress; Report Number; Report Type; Legislation Number; or Committee.

Congressional Record - Specialized Search Form

What can you search?

From the Congressional Record search form you can search the Congressional Record collection dating from 1995.

Why choose to use the Congressional Record search form?

The guided form facilitates search using these criteria: Congress; Date of Issue; Section of the Congressional Record, or Member Remarks.

Caveats

Daily issues of the Congressional Record from 1989-1994 are not currently searchable within Congress.gov. Access those issues by date from the Congressional Record Archive.

Congressional Record - Find by Date

What can you search?

From the Find an issue of the Record feature, click on the small calendar icon to see dates for which daily issues of the Record are available. Use calendar toggles to select the day, month, and year.

Why choose the Find an issue of the Record search form?

To retrieve a single issue of the Congressional Record by date.

Congressional Record - Find by Page Number

What can you search?

From the Find by Page Number feature, use the value lists to select the year (volume) and type the page number into the seach box.

Why choose the Find by Page Number search form?

To retrieve a specific Congressional Record article by page number.

Nominations - Specialized Search Form

What can you search?

From the Nominations form you can search the Nominations collection dating from 1981.

Why choose to use the Nominations search form?

The guided form facilitates search using these criteria: search only in Actions; Congress; Nomination Type; Presidential Nomination (PN) Number; Name; Positions; Organizations; Committee; State or Territory; any single item from the Nominations Actions picklist; Date of Action.

House Communications - Specialized Search Form

What can you search?

The House Communications form facilitates search of the Communications to the House collection.

Why choose to use the Executive Communications search form?

The guided form facilitates search using these criteria: House Document Number; Congress; Record and Communication types; Submitting Entity; limit to Federal Rulemaking items; Communication Numbers; Legal Authority; Committee; States and Territories; Congressional Record Date.

Senate Communications - Specialized Search Form

What can you search?

From the Senate Communications form you can search the Senate Executive and Other Communications collection.

Why choose to use the Executive Communications search form?

The guided form facilitates search using these criteria: Congress; Communication Type; Communication Number; Committee; Congressional Record Date.

Treaty Documents - Specialized Search Form

What can you search?

From the Treaty Documents form you can search the Treaty Documents collection.

Why choose to use the Treaty Documents search form?

The guided form facilitates search using these criteria: Congress, Treaty Document Number, Executive Report Number, and Treaty Topic.