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Congress.gov New, Tip, and Top for January 2019

Posted by: Robert Brammer

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We are excited to bring you our Unified Congressional Committee Calendar, a place where you can quickly view all of the House and Senate committee meetings and hearings scheduled for a given week or day. If available, the detail pages for those hearings will also provide you with a list of witnesses, a link to a video of the proceedings, and links to supporting documentation.

The Unified Congressional Committee Calendar on Congress.gov.
The Unified Congressional Committee Calendar on Congress.gov.
A Committee Hearing Detail page on Congress.gov.
A Committee Hearing Detail page on Congress.gov.

You can also now use the legislative advanced search form to search for legislation sponsored or cosponsored by members from a particular state or territory.

Please find the full list of enhancements below.

Enhancements for January of 2019

Enhancement – Committee Schedule – House and Senate Hearings and Meetings

  • A unified calendar listing for House and Senate hearings and other meetings can be viewed by week or day.
  • Detail page for each event includes committee name and website, date and location of event, and if available, witness list, video of proceedings, and links to supporting documentation.

Enhancement – Legislation Advanced Search – Search by State of Sponsor or Cosponsor

  • From the Sponsor and Cosponsor selection pages, you can easily search for legislation sponsored or cosponsored by members from a particular state or territory.

Enhancement – Policy Areas – Scope Notes Added

  • Policy Area scope notes describe the subject matter of measures assigned to each policy area.

Enhancement – Homepage Search Forms – Filters Open by default

  • Filters now display by default on homepage search form results pages.

Enhancement – Homepage Search Forms – Reset Added

  • An extra Reset button has been added to the top of each homepage search form to make it easier to clear previous search parameters from the form.

Enhancement – Browse Pages – Sort Order Changes

Search Tip

The 116th Congress is under way, and the start of a new Congress is a great time to set up Congress.gov alerts to keep up with the latest congressional activity.
First, sign up for a Congress.gov account by clicking “sign in” at the top, right-hand side of the screen.

1. You can set up a member alert to receive an email each time a member of Congress sponsors or cosponsors legislation. Visit a member profile page, and select “get alerts” at the top. Next, click “confirm” on the pop-up that asks whether you want to receive alerts.

2. You can also subscribe to a particular bill to receive updates when action is taken on that legislation. Just visit a bill in the 116th Congress and click “get alerts” at the top of the bill’s summary and status page.

3. If you are interested in receiving an email whenever a particular member speaks on the floor of Congress and it is recorded in the Congressional Record, click this link to read our blog post on that process.

4. You can also set up saved search alerts and receive an email whenever your results list changes, just click this link to read our blog post on that process.

You can track bills with email alerts on Congress.gov.
You can track bills with email alerts on Congress.gov.

Most Viewed Bills

Here are the most-viewed bills for the week of January 13, 2019.

1. S.21 [116th] Pay Our Coast Guard Act
2. H.R.21 [116th] Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019
3. S.24 [116th] Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019
4. S.1 [116th] Strengthening America’s Security in the Middle East Act of 2019
5. H.R.25 [116th] FairTax Act of 2019
6. H.R.6061 [109th] Secure Fence Act of 2006
7. S.66 [116th] A bill to regulate assault weapons, to ensure that the right to keep and bear arms is not unlimited, and for other purposes.
8. H.R.1 [116th] To expand Americans’ access to the ballot box, reduce the influence of big money in politics, and strengthen ethics rules for public servants, and for other purposes.
9. 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.
10. H.Res.13 [116th] Impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors.

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