In January, the Congress.gov homepage received a new look and a new search form for the House Communications Collection. This month, we are bringing you the latest search tip, site enhancements, and most-viewed bills.
A recent update to the Congress.gov homepage introduced a guided search form for House Communications, a data collection added to Congress.gov in October 2017. You can access the form in the menu to the left of the homepage search interface.
The form features data elements from Reports to be Made to Congress (H.Doc.115-4). The House Communications collection is like an interactive accumulation of Reports to be Made to Congress data dating from January 6, 2015. Requirement records, active since August 1, 2016, are also searchable within the House Communications collection. Requirements are maintained by the House Clerk and represent the legal authorities that require reports submitted by executive agencies.
To experience the benefits of the House Communications search form, try this searchfor Executive Communications regarding final rules transmitted by the Department of Agriculture’s Farm Credit Administration to the House Committee on Agriculture. In the search results, note the matching requirements linked to the communications. To see the search terms in the form, select the Edit This Search toggle above the search results.
See Congress.gov Help to learn more about the House Communications collection.
Searching the House Communications Collection on Congress.gov.
New Enhancements for February 2018
Downloading search results to a spreadsheet was a very popular feature when it was introduced in April of 2017. We are happy to expand the ability with this release.
Enhancement – Increased number of downloadable search results.
Export up to 1000 search results items to a spreadsheet or CSV file, increased from the previous limit of 500 items.
Enhancement – Treaty status steps link to related Senate chamber amendments
For treaty documents for which Senate chamber amendments were proposed, considered, or agreed to, related status steps link to the amendment’s object page for ease of reference.
This release also includes backend work addressing enhancements to Congress.gov saved search alerts.
Top 10
Take a look at this week’s Most-Viewed Bills, which you can subscribe to and receive each week via RSS or email. Here is the list for the week of February 18, 2018. All of these bills were introduced in the 115th Congress.
Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Social Security Administration relating to Implementation of the NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007.
