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Coverage Dates for Legislative Information

Current congress information is usually updated the morning after House or Senate chamber sessions adjourn. The table below notes estimated availability times. About Congress.gov provides more information about the content of each collection.

Legislation

Data Set Estimated Update Time Start Year Congresses Covered
Amendment Status (metadata) 8:00 a.m. 1981 97th - present
Bill Status (metadata) 8:00 a.m. 1973 93rd - present
Bill Summaries varies 1973 93rd - present
Bill Text (full text) varies1 1993 103rd - present2
Committee and subcommittee actions 8:00 a.m. 1981 97th - present3
Cosponsors 8:00 a.m. 1981 97th - present4
Law (full text) varies 1995 104th - present
Legislative Indexing Vocabulary (LIV) not updated 1973 93rd – 110th (2008)
Legislative Subject terms varies 2009 111th - present
Policy Area terms varies 1973 93rd - present

Committee

Data Set Estimated Update Time Start Year Congresses Covered
Committee Meetings (House) varies 2007 110th - present
Committee Meetings (Senate) varies 6/2019 116th - present
Committee Hearing Transcripts varies 2001 107th - present
Committee Prints varies 1993 103rd - present
Committee Profiles 8:00 a.m. 2015 current only
Committee Reports varies 1995 104th - present

Congressional Record

Data Set Estimated Update Time5 Start Year Congresses Covered
Congressional Record Index varies 1995 104th - present
Daily edition (full text) 10:00 a.m. 19956 104th - present
Bill History in the Congressional Record varies 1995 104th - present
Member's Remarks in the Congressional Record varies 2005 109th - present
Bound Edition not updated 1957 85th - 103rd

Executive and Other Communications

Data Set Estimated Update Time Start Year Congresses Covered
Executive and Other Communications (House) 8 a.m. 2015 114th - present
Executive and Other Communications (House Requirements) 8 a.m. 2016 Not applicable
Executive and Other Communications (Senate) 8 a.m. 1979 96th - present

Members

Data Set Estimated Update Time Start Year Congresses Covered
Member profiles 8 a.m. 19737 93rd - present

Nominations

Data Set Estimated Update Time Start Year Congresses Covered
Nominations 8:00 a.m. 1981 97th - present

Treaty Documents

Data Set Estimated Update Time Start Year Congresses Covered
Treaty Document Status (metadata) 8:00 a.m. 19758 94th - present
Treaty Document (full text) varies 1995 104th - present
Treaty Document Resolution of Ratification (full text) 8:00 a.m. 1985 99th - present

Footnotes

  1. Bill Text (full text) - House bills are generally available a day or two after they are introduced. Delays can occur when there are a large number of bills to prepare or when a very large bill has to be printed. Texts not yet published by GPO may be available from Bills to Be Considered or committee web sites.

    Senate bills usually take at least 5 business days. Please note that Senate bills are not made available before GPO has completed printing them. Online copies and printed copies are usually made available at the same time. Texts not yet published by GPO may be available from committee web sites. (Return to text)

  2. Bill and resolution texts from 1989-1992 (101st-102nd congresses) that predates authenticated digital publishing are partially available. (Return to text)

  3. Committee and subcommittee actions are not available for the 93rd to 96th Congresses, except for reporting from committee. Referral to committee, reporting by committee, and discharge from committee are covered but committee hearings, markups, and other actions are not available. Referral to subcommittee is not available and subcommittee actions are not available.. (Return to text)

  4. Congress.gov displays cosponsorship dates including identification of original cosponsors since 1981 (97th Congress). Prior to 1981 (93rd to 96th Congresses) cosponsors are listed in the order in which they were added to the bill but the dates added are not available. The lack of dates means that original cosponsorship is not known. Also not available is information about when a cosponsorship was withdrawn.(Return to text)

  5. New daily issues, reporting business from the previous day if either the House or Senate or both met, are usually available by 10:00 am. Late availability, often due to a late night Congressional session, is announced on the Most Recent Issue page. (Return to text)

  6. Daily editions of the Congressional Record from 1989-1994 (101st to 103rd Congresses) can be browsed from the Congressional Record Archive. This archived set predates authenticated digital publishing. Among the documents known to be missing from the set are:

    • November 13, 1989 - entire issue
    • Conference reports from 101st Congress for: H.R.7, H.R.1465, H.R.996, H.R.2939, H.R.3072, H.R.3614, H.R.5114, H.R.5399, H.R.5769, S.580, S.1939, S.2740
    • Conference reports from 102nd Congress for: H.Con.Res.287, H.R.2038, H.R.2508, H.R.2519, H.R.2608, H.R.5006, H.R.5487
      (Return to text)

  7. Includes Members from 71st to 92nd Congresses (1929 to 1972) who were serving still in 1973. (Return to text)

  8. Includes Treaty Documents submitted since 1949 (81st Congress) that were pending in 1975. (Return to text)