LibGuides: Social Work: Following Your Policy

Legislative Research

Legislative Histories

A legislative history is the path a bill takes before it becomes law. You can search Congressional Universe for the legislative history of a bill. Congressional Universe is a database available through the Washburn School of Law Library.

Washburn Law Library
Look under the Web Resources heading to find a link to Congressional Universe. From the URL, remove the 0- and the lib.wuacc.edu in the web address.
Congress in the News from THOMAS (Library of Congress)
THOMAS was launched in January of 1995, at the inception of the 104th Congress. The leadership of the 104th Congress directed the Library of Congress to make federal legislative information freely available to the public. Since that time THOMAS has expanded the scope of its offerings to include the features and content listed below.

* Bills, Resolutions
* Activity in Congress
* Congressional Record
* Committee Information
* Government Resources

Congressional Research Service

Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports and Issue Briefs
The Congressional Research Service publishes research reports for Congress covering nearly every area of social/public policy.

Congressional Bills

Congressional Bills
The 111th Congress database is updated by 6 a.m. (EST) daily when bills are published and approved for release. The documents in these databases are available as ASCII text and Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files.

Congressional Record

Congressional Record
The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published daily when Congress is in session. At the back of each daily issue is the "Daily Digest," which summarizes the day's floor and committee activities.

History of Bills

History of Bills
The History of Bills lists legislative actions on bills that are reported in the Congressional Record. It is part of the print Congressional Record Index, which is published biweekly by the Joint Committee on Printing when Congress is in session.