Andrew shared the news about our second release in April, which included enhancements such as the ability to edit your saved search and adding an afternoon alert. In this release, we have enhanced the ability to browse legislation using subject terms on “all information” bill detail pages, added the option to overwrite or update saved searches, and we have added help documentation that describes how to use collection-specific search forms.
You will find a detailed list of all of the updates from Congress.gov Enhancements:
New Enhancements for May 2018
Enhancement – Subject Term Links from “All Information” Bill Detail Pages
- From the “All Information” page of a bill or resolution, each Subject Term now links to a browse report of measures from the same congress that also have a relationship to that Subject Term.
- Example – From the “All Information” page for H.R. 1 (115th), selecting the “Accounting and auditing” Subject Term returns the 115th Congress bills and resolutions that are also tagged with that term.
Enhancement – Saved Search “Overwrite” from the Legislation Homepage and Advanced Search Forms
- After running and editing a saved search from the Legislation Homepage Search form or Legislation Advanced Search form, a user now has the ability to either overwrite the original saved search with updated search criteria, or to save a new search.
- Example – After running a saved search for legislation with Senate floor actions, a user decides to limit the search to Senate bills that became law. After making this change, a “Save This Search” button appears above the filters. After selecting “Save This Search,” a window appears, prompting the user to enter a title for the search. If the user enters a new title and saves, the user creates a new search, which can be accessed and run from the user’s account. If the user does not enter a new title and selects the save option with the original title in place, the system offers the user the option to overwrite the existing saved search.
Enhancement – Congress.gov Help – Using Search Forms
- The Congress.gov Introduction to Search Help page now includes guidance on using the collection-specific search forms from the homepage, including how to access the search forms, how to modify search criteria from the search results page, and how to reset the forms to start a new search.
Search Tip
Work on appropriations for FY2019 will begin soon, so we revisit Adrienne’s tip on appropriation resources on Congress.gov:
You’ll find a link to the Congress.gov Appropriations and Budget Research Guide on the homepage under Bill Searches and Lists.
The Guide includes links to current fiscal year appropriations legislation, roll call votes, and related committee prints and reports.
There are also links to prior fiscal year legislative histories per year from the present-1983, government resources on the federal budget and appropriations processes, current and archived federal budget documents, and more.
Top 10
Below are the Most-Viewed Bills for May 6, 2018.
| 1. | H.R.1865 [115th] | Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017 |
| 2. | H.R.5087 [115th] | Assault Weapons Ban of 2018 |
| 3. | H.R.1 [115th] | An Act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to titles II and V of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2018. |
| 4. | H.R.4 [115th] | FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 |
| 5. | H.R.1625 [115th] | Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 |
| 6. | H.R.5428 [115th] | Stand with UK against Russia Violations Act |
| 7. | H.R.38 [115th] | Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017 |
| 8. | H.R.2810 [115th] | National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 |
| 9. | S.2155 [115th] | Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act |
| 10. | H.R.392 [115th] | Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2017 |