The Congress.gov Top 17 in 2017

This has been a great year for Congress.gov. In 2016 Congress.gov page views jumped more than 20% over 2015.  The jump in 2017 was even bigger, with over 90% more page views than the previous year!  We also saw our first day with more than a million page views.  Our @Congressdotgov Twitter account is closing in on 50,000 followers.

Our longtime project manager, Tammie Nelson, left the Library of Congress for new pursuits.  The Congress.gov team continued to do a variety of user testing to better understand our Congressional and constituent users, which helps us enhance the system.  We also co-hosted a Wikipedia edit-a-thon with the National Archives that focused on congressional committees and hearings.

Enhancements

Robert and I continued to blog about updates to Congress.gov throughout the year.  The Congress.gov team started the year with a similar development cycle as in previous years.  Based on user feedback, we changed the default search operator from OR to AND.  There was also a big release in April that enabled users to download search results.

With the July release we shifted our releases from approximately every three months to every three weeks.  These new “quick sprints” allow us to address the needs of our users more quickly.  We also kicked off the Tip, Top, and New series this summer on In Custodia Legis.  This series highlights a search tip to help share features of the site, the most-viewed legislation, and the new enhancements to Congress.gov.

To get an idea of how quickly we now make enhancements to the site, here are the releases after the first one in July:

• August
• September, Part 1
• September, Part 2
• October, House Communications Are Now Available in Congress.gov!
• November, Part 1
• November, Part 2
• December

Top 17 in 2017

Are you interested in what have been the most-viewed bills this year? For previous years on Congress.gov, take a look back at 13 in 2013, 14 in 2014, 15 in 2015, and 16 in 2016.

1. H.R.861 – To terminate the Environmental Protection Agency.
2. H.R.610 – To distribute Federal funds for elementary and secondary education in the form of vouchers for eligible students and to repeal a certain rule relating to nutrition standards in schools.
3. H.R.193 – American Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2017
4. H.R.586 – Sanctity of Human Life Act
5. H.R.392 – Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2017
6. H.R.38 – Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017
7. H.R.1 – An Act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to titles II and V of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2018. (Previously referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act)
8. H.R.367 – Hearing Protection Act of 2017
9. H.R.1628 – American Health Care Act of 2017
10. H.R.899 – To terminate the Department of Education.
11. H.R.1275 – World’s Greatest Healthcare Plan of 2017
12. H.R.4585 – Save Net Neutrality Act of 2017
13. H.J.Res.69 – Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the final rule of the Department of the Interior relating to “Non-Subsistence Take of Wildlife, and Public Participation and Closure Procedures, on National Wildlife Refuges in Alaska”.
14. H.R.2810 – National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018
15. H.R.621 – Disposal of Excess Federal Lands Act of 2017
16. S.J.Res.34 – A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Federal Communications Commission relating to “Protecting the Privacy of Customers of Broadband and Other Telecommunications Services”.
17. H.R.676 – Expanded & Improved Medicare For All Act

Thank you for using Congress.gov in 2017!  If you have a feature that you would like to see on the website, take a minute to provide us with feedback.