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Congress produces a variety of publications as a bill moves through the legislative process on its way to becoming a law. A compilation of these full text primary source publications produces a legislative history that is valuable to a wide variety of researchers. Legislative histories enable users to trace the development of a public law from its early consideration to its enactment, including development that spans more than one Congress.

Full-text publication types associated with a legislative history include the Public Law text, all versions of enacted and related bills, Congressional Record excerpts, and committee hearings, reports, and documents. All of these publication types can be used in court to determine the intent of Congress in enacting legislation in cases where the statutory language is ambiguous. Other full-text publication types are included in our legislative histories to provide users with background material are committee prints, CRS reports, and miscellaneous congressional publications. Presidential signing statements are also included.

The key thing to take note of is that the complexity of the history is directly related to the information in the source documents.

When our researchers begin to compile a history, they search for everything on the enacted bill and companion bill for any mention of related bills and activities. So if the report (for example) said something like "A similar bill H.R. XX was introduced in the 110th Congress," then the researcher would look at everything related to that bill. In the course of their research, if they find something that says H.R. XX is similar to H.R. YY introduced in the 109th Congress, then they would research H.R. YY. If they find a reference that says H.R. YY is similar to H.R. ZZ, then they would go further back. If the trail leading back in time skips a Congress or two, the researcher will go back five Congresses to pick up the trail. If the trail leads back continuously from Congress to Congress they will continue to research until the trail does not go back further.

In the case of a reauthorization, they go back to the date of last enactment. By the date of last enactment, I mean that the history for a farm bill, for example, would go back 4 or 5 years to the previous farm bill.

Rules our researchers follow for selecting Congressional Record excerpts:

• Include excerpts related to enacted, companion or clean bill with significant content such as Considered and passed in House, Considered and Passed in Senate, House submission of conference report, Senate adoption of Conference report, Conference agreed to in House.
• Include entries for companion or other directly related bill(s), not just the enacted bill
• Include Conference Report filing if it has the text attached
• Include excerpts from previous Congress if debate is on bills identical or very similar to enacted bill
• Exclude excerpts where bill is just, introduced, listed or mentioned
• Exclude content from Extension of Remarks

Legislative History Research Page: Each history Research Page covers one law. It provides basic bibliographic information and citations for all publications associated with the law. The page offers a search within option that allows the user to search the full text of all publications associated with the law

The Quick form default searches for and retrieves Legislative History results. Since everything in this database is included in a legislative history, this default searches the entire database. To narrow your search for a specific publication type, select the specific publication types that interest you and de-select the Legislative Histories search.

For each public law that we cover, Legislative Insight offers a legislative history Research Page that not only links to the full text of the associated primary source publications, but allows the user to do a Search Within from that very page that searches the full text of all the associated publications with one-click.

Options at the top of the Legislative History Research Page allow the user to jump to a specific publication type or reorder the citations on the page in chronology or reverse chronology order.

Another option towards the top of the page allows the user to search the full text of publications cited on the Research Page. Entries that contain the full text search term will display within an orange box. A check-box is provided to allow the user to display only those items identified by an orange box as belonging to the results set.

An Idea...
The legislative process begins with an idea as awareness of an issue develops within Congress. Constituents may write letters to their Senators or Representatives. The President may send a message. Committees may request information from CRS, staff, or others, and may hold hearings on the topic in general. Ideas can come from any person or any group, but before they can become law, the ideas must become a bill.

A Bill is Drafted and Introduced

Legislation can be written by anyone, but only a Member of Congress can introduce a bill (or "measure") for consideration. The actual text of proposed bills frequently is drafted by legislative aides working either for members of Congress or for congressional committees.

The President can propose a bill, and even send Congress a Presidential Message urging its enactment into law, but he cannot introduce it. The President usually sends draft legislation to Congress with a letter or other explanatory material discussing his reasons for submitting the legislation. A Member of Congress can submit a bill for introduction at any time during a Chamber's daily session. The Chamber's Bill Clerk assigns the legislation a bill number, and the leadership, influenced by the majority party's political agenda, decides whether to do one of these things:

• refer a bill to one or more committees
• placed on the calendar
• hold the bill at the desk

Holding a bill "at the desk" or ordering it "placed on the calendar" keeps it available for consideration by either the full House or Senate at any time. Both actions are good indications that the leadership expects to bring the bill up for debate quickly. Placing the bill on the calendar makes it slightly more available, since only a simple legislative motion is required to take a bill from the desk. Each day's Congressional Record, published the day after the session, includes a sequential list of bills introduced in each Chamber that day, including information about their disposition. The Record may also contain introductory statements by the bills' sponsors explaining their proposals and, sometimes, including the legislative language. Further explanation of the bill may also be found in a "Dear Colleague" letter. If the leadership elects to refer the newly introduced bill to a congressional committees or committees for consideration, it does so with the advice of the parliamentarian. The final decision to send to a specific committee is based both on the laws the bill would create or amend and on the jurisdictions of the committees, which are set by the Chamber's rules.

A Bill Is Referred to Committee
Once a bill is referred to a Committee, a number of things can happen. The committee chair decides where the bill goes next, if he of she feels it requires further action. The political agenda of the majority party and the committee chair, as well as the committee's rules, all come into play at this point. The committee chair can refer the bill to one or more subcommittees based on their jurisdictions as listed in the committee rules, or the chair can hold the bill at the full committee level and not refer it to a subcommittee. Holding the bill at full committee level means one of two things: either the bill will be acted on quickly or it is being suppressed and will die from neglect.

This is one of the stages where things can get tricky. A committee isn't required to act on measures referred to it; neither is a subcommittee. It only takes one subcommittee or committee to trip up a bill's progress, and it can happen without any visible activity. For example, if the leadership decides the bill does not fit within its overall agenda, a decision not to act will "kill" the bill just as effectively as a vote against it. The only way for a member to get the bill out of the committee should this happen is to use a discharge petition.

One of the standard activities that committees undertake with legislation is to hold a hearing on the proposed legislation. If the chair decides to schedule a hearing on a bill, it can be held by either the subcommittee or the full committee. If a subcommittee holds a hearing on a bill, the full committee generally does not repeat the process. If the leadership of a subcommittee or the full committee decides to ignore the bill by not holding hearings, the bill is effectively killed. (Note that committees sometimes hold hearings on a topic prior to the introduction of a bill).

When a hearing is held, the committee chair invites witnesses to appear to testify on the subject, but only at investigative hearings do witnesses testify under oath. Testimony at a legislative hearing or at an oversight hearing is not sworn testimony and sometimes consists of political posturing. The Administration almost always is invited to send witnesses. These are often high-ranking officials from the agency that would be responsible for implementing the bill. The bill's sponsor or most important co-sponsor(s) are expected to appear to defend their proposed legislation. Other invited witnesses can include lobbyists from industry, public interest groups, or local governments that might be affected by the proposal. Private citizens interested in or knowledgeable about an issue also may be invited to appear at the hearing. Those not asked to appear before the committee can submit written statements that will be included in the hearing record.

Material submitted for the hearing record is often included in the published hearing printed by GPO, along with the official transcript. Although it may not be specifically discussed during the hearing itself, submitted material often contains useful information that helps elucidate the issues considered.

A Committee Votes To Report a Bill
When a full committee orders a bill reported, a few steps must be taken that will result in another version of the bill, as well as a committee report, being printed. One step is the writing of the report, which can take weeks or even months, and the filing of the report with the clerk of the full Chamber (House or Senate). Until it is officially filed, neither the bill text nor the committee report can be printed by the GPO. Not every bill ordered reported makes it to this stage. If the report isn't written and filed, the bill dies just as if it had not been ordered reported at all.

A reported bill generally is printed only after all the committees to which it was referred have ordered it reported. The printed version may contain text that has been struck through, indicating language that has been removed by the committee. More than one committee can have jurisdiction over a bill. If the bill has been referred to more than one committee, they all go through the same process, with each committee issuing its own report. However, the various committee versions are bundled into only one bill print.

The report can contain a discussion of the committee's recommendations, a history of legislative actions on the bill up to the time it was reported, and minority or dissenting views on the reported bill from committee members. It can also contain bill language in two forms: text of the bill as amended and reported (appears at the beginning of the report), and text of the law as it would appear if the bill is enacted as reported (appears at the end of the printed report). Once the report has been filed, the bill is available for consideration by the full Chamber. The majority party leadership decides when, or even if, to bring it before the full Chamber for debate, based on their political agenda and estimates about the bill's likely success. They are not required to schedule debate on any bill that has been reported.

The Bill Goes To the Floor
At this point, the path a bill takes depends on whether it is in the House or the Senate. In both Chambers of Congress, the bill will come up for debate, amendments, including riders, can be offered, and a final vote taken. Floor debate in either Chamber is reported in the Congressional Record. In the 100-Member Senate, the reported bill is placed on the calendar and made available for debate. The ground rules for debate in this smaller Chamber are not restrictive and the smaller size of the Senate makes debate more manageable than in the larger House. One form of restriction on debate is reached when the leadership negotiates a unanimous consent agreement that sets specific time limits on the debate. Another restriction occurs when a Senator offers a motion to table (which is not debatable and stops debate on whatever was being discussed).

Unless a Senator objects, any Senator can speak as long as he or she wants. A Senator speaking for a long time in order to block consideration of a motion or a piece of legislation is filibustering. The Senate must vote to invoke cloture to stop a filibuster. The mere threat of a filibuster often is enough to block Senate action on a bill.

The much larger House needs to take additional steps before it can consider the reported legislation. Without stringent limitations, debate in the 435-Member House of Representatives would be chaotic. One such limitation involves sending the bill to the House Committee on Rules. The committee "reports out" a separate resolution (H.Res.) setting time limits for debate on the bill. This resolution, known as the bill's rule for consideration, can limit the number of amendments offered to the bill, or even specify which amendments may be offered.

Another limitation is the use of the House's Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union (also known as the Committee of the Whole). Although every Member of the House is a member of this committee, its rules are less restrictive, and designed to speed up operations. For example, while 218 Members constitute a quorum in the House itself, only 100 Members (an easier number to gather on short notice) are required for a quorum in the Committee of the Whole. Certain obstructive motions that are permitted in the House are not permitted in the Committee of the Whole.

Other alternatives to the use of a "rule" are the motion to suspend the rules and pass a bill, which limits debate on the bill to 40 minutes and does not allow for amendments, or a unanimous consent request. The latter is a motion requesting unanimous agreement for the bill to pass. This means the bill will pass only if there is no objection; there is no opportunity for debate or amendment. The danger with using this approach is that it only takes one Member to object and stop the bill.

Finally, the House requires that amendments offered must be germane o the bill. A single Member of the House can object to an amendment being considered if it isn't germane to the bill.

The Bill Goes To Conference
Once a Chamber has passed its version of a bill, the measure is referred to the other Chamber. At this point, the bill is officially an Act. The second Chamber can either:

• Accept the first Chamber's bill without changes and send it to the President, or
• Amend the bill, perhaps with text of its own bill should there be a companion or similar bill in process, and return the bill to the first Chamber.

The first Chamber must then decide whether to:

• Accept the second Chamber's amendment and send the bill to the President
• Amend the second Chamber's amendment and return the bill to the first Chamber for approval of the amendment or for further amending; or
• Insist on its original language and request a conference to resolve the differences between the two versions of the bill.

Most differences are resolved through the first two methods and can be tracked using the Congressional Record. Less than one-eighth of measures considered in any given Congress require a conference.

Should a conference be requested and agreed to, the leadership in both Chambers appoints conferees to meet in conference. Conferees usually come from the Chamber's committee with jurisdiction over the original bill, although someone who successfully offered a major amendment to the bill also might be appointed a conferee. The conferees negotiate a resolution of the differences in the two versions of the bill, producing a compromise version that must be accepted without change by both Chambers before it can be sent to the President.

The conference report is the product of successful negotiations in the conference committee. The report is printed both as a House Report and also in the Congressional Record (the only type of report that can be found in the Record) for the date the report was filed. Both Chambers must vote to accept the conference report as submitted (that is, without amendment) before the bill can be sent to the President. A conference report usually contains the bill text compromise and a statement of the managers discussing the two versions and the agreements reached.

The Bill Goes to the President
After receiving a bill passed by Congress, the President has 10 days, excluding Sundays and holidays, to decide the measure's fate. The President can:

• Sign it into public laws
• Veto the bill
• Choose not to take any action

If the President vetoes the legislation, it is returned to Congress. Congress then either accepts the veto or tries to override it. Any successful challenge to the veto requires two-thirds of both Chambers present and voting to override. If one Chamber sustains the veto, the bill is dead. If the President does not act on the bill while Congress is still in session, the bill becomes law without his signature. If he ignores it and the Congress has adjourned sine die (final adjournment), the bill has been pocket vetoed.

If the President makes a statement when he signs or vetoes a bill, the text appears in the Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents. The message he sends to Congress when he vetoes a bill is printed in the Congressional Record, and occasionally is printed as a House Document.

The Law Is Printed and Codified
The text of the law is printed by the GPO first in pamphlet form; this is known as a slip law. The GPO organizes each year's slip laws chronologically and prints them in the Statutes at Large.

The United States Code is the official (GPO-published) subject-organized "consolidation and compilation of all the general and permanent laws of the United States" in effect at the time of printing. The phrase "general and permanent laws" explains why, for example, you won't find an appropriation law in the Code it is neither general nor permanent. The two differences between the Statutes at Large and the United States Code are their organization (chronological versus subject) and their coverage (all laws enacted versus only "general and permanent" law

Bills can be searched by number from the Home or Quick page, but users may find it easier to use the Search by Number form. Since the search from Home or Quick is a metadata-only search, non-numeric searches for bills are best conducted from the Legislative History Research Pages or from the Guided Search form "includes full text" option.

The Legislative Insight bills category includes both bills and resolutions.

Legislative Insight provides Congressional Record excerpt PDFs compiled by our researchers associated with a law. Each PDF covers House or Senate action for a single day. Unlike the other publication types, Congressional Record excerpts cannot be searched separately from the Quick form. While fully searchable, they are best suited to research focused on the particular legislative history with which they are associated. The default Legislative Insight search from Home or Quick is a metadata-only search; the Congressional Record full text excerpts can be searched from the Legislative History Research Pages or from the Guided Search form includes full text option.

To search for votes, search Congressional Record full text for:

• "List of votes"
• "Yeas and Nays"
• Name of the person they are looking for

Although CRS reports and miscellaneous congressional publications are not components of the actual legislative process, Legislative Insight histories include content in this category identified by our researchers as providing useful background material for legislative history researchers. Note that the publication date on these reports may be subsequent to the enactment of the law. CRS reports and miscellaneous publications are not included on the Legislative Process form because they are tangential to the process rather than a part of it.

All House and Senate documents are numbered and can be searched by number from the Home or Quick page, but users may find it easier to use the Search by Number form. The search from Home or Quick is the best place to start searching for documents by title or subject. Full-text searches can be conducted from the Legislative History Research Pages or from the Guided Search form "includes full text" option.

Legislative Insight includes metadata records and full text for published and unpublished committee hearings associated with each Public Law for which we have created a history. The Hearings category includes both published and unpublished hearings. To retrieve only unpublished hearings, narrow your search by adding the words AND unpublished.

Search for numbered Senate hearings (available from 1983 forward) from the Search by Number form. Note that House hearings have never been numbered

Presidential signing statements may be searched directly by date or name of President from Home or Quick. Full-text searches can be conducted from the Legislative History Research Pages or from the Guided Search form "includes full text" option.

Senate committee prints have been numbered since 1983 and may be searched by number from the Home, Quick or Search by Number forms. House committee prints do not have an official numbering system. The search from Home or Quick is the best place to start searching for prints by title or subject. Full-text searches can be conducted from the Legislative History Research Pages or from the Guided Search form "includes full text" option.

The public law full text from recent years is the slip law. Full text for older laws is from Statutes at Large. For brand-new laws the full text of the law will be the enrolled bill text, which will be replaced by the slip law as soon as it becomes available

All House and Senate reports are numbered and can be searched by number from the Home or Quick page, but users may find it easier to use the Search by Number form. The search from Home or Quick is the best place to start searching for reports by title or subject. Full-text searches can be conducted from the Legislative History Research Pages or from the Guided Search form "includes full text" option.

Searching Bills

Bills and Resolutions Overview
The Legislative Insight bills category includes bills and resolutions.

Bills

Bills introduced in the House are assigned sequential numbers in the order in which they are introduced and are preceded by "H.R.". Bills introduced in the Senate are assigned sequential numbers preceded by "S.".

The House adopted a sequential numbering system in which bills were numbered consecutively for an entire Congress in the 15th Congress (1817), and the Senate began using the same numbering system in the 30th Congress (1847). Prior to that time, the Senate numbering system provided that sequential numbering started anew at the beginning of each congressional session.

Joint Resolutions

A joint resolution, H.J. Res. or S.J. Res., is a legislative proposal that requires the approval of both Chambers and the signature of the President, just as a bill does, in order to have the force of law.

Joint resolutions from each House are assigned a number in the order in which they are introduced. Joint resolutions may be introduced in either Chamber and generally are used for limited matters such as continuing or emergency appropriations or the designation of a commemorative holiday.

There is little practical difference between bills and joint resolutions, although only a joint resolution may be used to propose amendments to the Constitution. In the case of a Constitutional amendment, the signature of the President is not required, but three-quarters of the states must ratify the proposed amendment before it can become part of the Constitution.

Prior to the 77th Congress (1941), laws enacted by joint resolutions were numbered separately from bills in the Statutes at Large, but since that time there has been no distinction made between laws that were introduced as bills and laws that were introduced as joint resolutions.

Concurrent Resolutions

A concurrent resolution, H. Con. Res. or S. Con. Res., is a proposal that requires the approval of both Chambers, but does not have the force of law and does not require the signature of the President. Concurrent resolutions may be introduced in either the House or the Senate and, upon approval by both, are signed by the Clerk of the House and the Secretary of the Senate. Generally, concurrent resolutions are introduced to make or amend rules that affect the operations of both Chambers or to express the sentiment of both Chambers. For example, a concurrent resolution may be introduced to set the time of Congress' adjournment or to convey the congratulations of Congress to another country on the anniversary of its independence.

Note:Beginning in the 55th Congress (1897), the concurrent resolutions passed by both Chambers have been printed as separate lists within the Statutes at Large

Simple Resolutions

A simple resolution, H. Res. or S. Res., is a proposal that addresses matters entirely within the prerogative of one Chamber or the other. It requires neither the approval of the other Chamber nor the signature of the President, and it does not have the force of law. Simple resolutions concern the rules of one Chamber or express the sentiments of a single Chamber.

For example, a simple resolution may offer condolences to the family of a deceased Member of Congress, or it may express the opinion of one Chamber or the other on foreign policy or other executive business

Bill Versions Each time a bill goes through a stage in the legislative process, it is printed by the GPO as a new version. Possible bill versions include:

• Introduced bill print (note that each bill print will have line numbering)
• Reported version in first Chamber
• Engrossed version after passage in first Chamber (this is the official text of the bill as passed, reflecting any changes made by amendment. Prepared by the Enrolling Clerk, it is signed by the presiding officials of the Chamber who attest to the accuracy of the version)
• Act version (so called because at this stage the heading is changed from "A BILL" to "AN ACT" when the second Chamber officially receives the bill from the first Chamber.
• Reported version from second Chamber
• Engrossed version after passage in the second Chamber (depending on the action taken by the second Chamber, this may be the text of the entire bill as passed by the second Chamber or only the text of the amendments adopted by the second Chamber)
• Enrolled bill (prepared by the Enrolling Clerk to accurately reflect the bill as approved and signed by officials of both Chambers, this version is printed on parchment by the GPO before it is sent to the President. It will be available on ProQuest Congressional, unless Congress passed a concurrent resolution waiving the statutory requirement that the enrolled bill be printed on parchment.

Searching Congressional Record

The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings, debates, and activities of Congress.

There are two editions of the Record, a daily one and a bound, permanent one. The daily edition reports each day's proceedings in Congress and is published on the succeeding day. Periodically, throughout a session, an index to the daily Record is published. At the end of each session of Congress, all of the daily editions are collected, re-paginated, and re-indexed into a permanent, bound edition. The bound edition usually takes several years to be published after a Congressional session ends.

Legislative Insight Congressional Record excerpts are compiled from the bound version for data prior to 1995 and from the daily version for 1995-forward

Searching CRS Reports and Miscellaneous Publications

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) was established within the Library of Congress to provide members, committees, and congressional staff with nonpartisan and objective research and analysis on all public policy issues. Originally established in 1914 as the Legislative Reference Division, CRS was originally organized as a typical library reference service. Under the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, it was officially named the Legislative Reference Service, given permanent status as a separate department within the Library, and directed to employ senior specialists in various program areas. The Legislative Reference Service was renamed Congressional Research Service under the Legislative Reference Act of 1970.

Miscellaneous publications are issued by sources such as the House and Senate Republican and Democratic Policy Committees

Searching Documents

House and Senate documents are the class of publications issued by congressional committees or the full House or Senate that are numbered with the designation H. Doc. or S. Doc. This publication type can contain Presidential messages proposing new legislation or vetoing legislation passed by Congress.

Documents are included in the Serial Set

Searching Hearings

Published hearings are the official record of committee hearings proceedings. Hearings, which are usually open to the public, are held to enable committees to gather opinions and information to help Members make decisions regarding proposed legislation or to help them fulfill their oversight and investigation responsibilities.

Official hearings publications, which are printed by the Government Printing Office, usually include:

• Written and oral statements of witnesses
• Transcripts of the verbal question-and-answer session between the committee and witnesses
• Reports, exhibits, and other materials submitted for the record by witnesses
• Correspondence and other materials submitted by interested parties

Most hearings are published from six months to a year after the hearing is held, but some hearings are published following a gap of two or more years, and some are never published. The timing of the publication, as well as the decision on whether or not to publish, depends solely on the individual committees. Transcripts of hearings that are not published are deposited at the National Archives. Senate unpublished hearings can be released after 20 years and House unpublished hearings can be released after 30 years, but all hearings can be held 50 years or more for national security or privacy reasons.

In 1983 (98th Congress) the Senate adopted a numbering system for hearings that is still used today, but the House does not have a numbering system for hearings.

Testimony is usually arranged within the publication in the chronological order in which the witnesses appeared. Witnesses' written statements are sometimes located throughout the hearing following the spoken testimony transcript, and are sometimes located within the supplementary material at the end of the volume.

Tip: Users searching for testimony should concentrate primarily on hearings, although testimony transcripts, excerpts, and written statements are occasionally included within other publication types.

Not all congressional hearings are published. Each committee makes its own decision regarding which hearings are to be published. A committee may decide not to publish a hearing because it contains classified or sensitive information, or because it pertains to private or other legislation deemed to be not of great interest to the public at large, or simply because committee budget or workload considerations preclude the publication. The committee does not have to justify its decision not to publish.

The transcripts of unpublished hearings are transferred to the National Archives. Senate hearings generally remain closed for 20 years, and House hearings remain closed for 30 years. Hearings that contain classified or sensitive material generally remain closed for 50 years.

Searching Prints

The official committee prints publication category began when committees started to issue printed versions of their own internal working papers. Today, committee prints include a wide variety of publications approved and issued by committees or portions of committees, such as majority or minority staff. Prints issued by only a portion of the committee are normally identified as such on the cover.

A committee print can contain anything relevant to the legislative and oversight functions of Congress. The print content varies widely from committee to committee, and over the course of time the function and format have been inconsistent. Examples of committee print content include:

• Research papers by committee staff, Congressional Research Service experts, or outside consultants


• Transcripts of markup sessions or other proceedings
• Legislative descriptions and analyses

Many committee prints may best be described as reports, but these reports should not be confused with reports that are numbered as official House or Senate reports.

In 1983 (98th Congress), the Senate adopted a numbering system for official committee prints that is still used today. The House does not have an official numbering system for committee prints.

Some prints may be a direct part of the legislative process, but many of the prints included in our legislative histories are included because they provide background information. They may be issued subsequent to enactment of the law. Because of this, the prints category is not represented on the Legislative Process form

Searching Presidential Signing Statements

Searching Public Laws

Public laws result from the passage of public bills or joint resolutions that affect the general public or classes of citizens. A legislative proposal agreed to in identical form by both Chambers becomes a law if it: receives Presidential approval, is not returned with objections to the House in which it originated within 10 days while Congress is in session, or, in the case of a proposal that has been vetoed by the President, receives a two-thirds vote overriding the veto in each Chamber.

Prior to the 57th Congress (1901), public laws were identified by assigned Statutes at Large chapter numbers.

In 1901, a separate public law numbering system was introduced which assigned public law numbers sequentially, with the sequence beginning anew with each session of Congress. In the 60th Congress (1907), a system of sequential numbering of public laws was adopted which began anew at the beginning of each Congress rather than each congressional session.

In the 85th Congress (1957), the chapter numbering was discontinued and the current system was adopted in which public laws are cited with the sequentially assigned public law number prefixed by the Congress in which the law was enacted.

The United States Statutes at Large (Statutes at Large) is the official compilation of all public and private laws and resolutions passed by Congress, listed in order by date of enactment. Statutes at Large was published by Little, Brown and Co., a private firm, from 1845-1873, and has been published by the GPO since 1874.

Currently, new volumes of Statutes at Large are issued approximately a year or so after the end of each Congress. Each bound volume republishes the public and private slip laws enacted during the Congress, as well as concurrent resolutions passed by the Congress, Presidential proclamations, and various lists and indexes.

Prior to 1949, all treaties and international agreements approved by the Senate were also included in Statutes at Large. In general, the Statutes at Large law citation contains the volume and page number. Numbering of the Statutes at Large volumes is consecutive, but has no relationship to numbers of Congress.

The volumes of Statutes at Large published from 1789 through March 3, 1903, contain no references to bill numbers. Beginning with laws enacted in the 58th Congress (Public, No. 1, Chapter 1, 33 Statutes at Large page 3, of Dec. 17, 1903), the Statutes at Large marginalia cite the relevant bill or resolution number.

Legislative Insight does not cover private laws, which result from the passage of private bills or joint resolutions providing relief or related actions with limited applicability, affecting, for example, a specific individual, a specific corporation or other organization, or a specified locality in a specified circumstance.

Note that prior to the 57th Congress (1901), private laws were numbered in a sequential list that included both public and private laws, but since that time they have been numbered in separate sequences. Since the 85th Congress (1957), the private law numbering system has included the sequentially assigned private law number prefixed with the number of the Congress in which the law was enacted (e.g., P.L. 85-1).

Searching Reports

House and Senate reports are the designated class of publications by which congressional committees report and make recommendations to the House or Senate as a whole. These reports concern the findings of committee hearings or the outcome of committee deliberations. They can contain discussions of legislative intent, a short history of a bill, and comparisons of current and proposed law text. Reports are assigned separate sequential numbers within each Chamber (e.g., H. Rpt. 99-1, S. Rpt. 99-1). Since 1969 (91st Congress) the assigned number has included the Congress number as an intrinsic part of the report number. The House began its numbered report series in 1819, and the Senate began its numbered report series in 1847. House and Senate reports are included in the Serial Set.

Most reports make recommendations for passage of a specific piece of legislation that the committee has considered in hearings and in private session. The legislation reported may be in the same form as introduced and considered in the hearing, it may have been amended, or it may have been extensively rewritten by the committee and reported as an amendment in the nature of a substitute or as a "clean" bill with a new number. If a bill is simple and non-controversial, the report may be very brief, containing only the committee recommendation for passage. Often, however, the report includes a lengthy and detailed analysis of each section of the legislation. Sometimes reports contain a summary of issues brought out in the hearings or a history of the problem the legislation is intended to address. Frequently, reports contain additional, minority, or supplemental views of individual committee members.

A separate type of legislative report results when the House and Senate pass versions of a bill that have substantial or controversial differences, and a decision is made to go to conference. In that case, differences between the House and Senate versions are reconciled by a conference committee made up of delegates or "managers" representing both political parties. When the conferees reach agreement, they issue their recommendations in a conference report that explains provision-by-provision how the differences were resolved or, in some cases, which provisions remain in disagreement.