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Archive for the Congress Category (217 posts)

Congress.gov New, Tip, and Top for September 2019, Part 2

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Andrew brought us the last Congress.gov update at the beginning of September. That update included the ability to search the Committee Schedule from the global “All Sources” search option, a new look for the appropriations table, and the addition of Law Library of Congress reports to the homepage.

With this release, we are bringing you more updates to the Congressional Committee Schedule. Legislation pages will now link an associated committee meeting pages from the overview box. In response to user requests, the weekly Committee Schedule now has a compact/expanded view option. Chamber of Origin, House, Senate, and Joint Committee filters are now available to limit results on Committee Schedule pages.

A link from the overview box on a legislation page to a committee meeting.

A link from the overview box on a legislation page to a committee meeting.

Enhancements for September 2019, Part 2

Enhancement – Legislation – Committee Meeting Links

  • Bill detail pages link to associated committee meetings on the Committee Schedule.

Enhancement – Committee Schedule – Display Options

  • Weekly view of the Committee Schedule allows you to toggle between a compact or expanded view.

Enhancement – Committee Schedule – Filters

  • Weekly and daily views of the Committee Schedule have filters to limit meetings by chamber or committee.

Search Tip

If you are researching U.S. constitutional law, you will want to start with the Constitution Annotated, a document written by the Congressional Research Service that summarizes Constitution provisions and the leading United States Supreme Court decisions that interpret them. A new Constitution Annotated site was launched this month that significantly enhances the user experience by making the site easier to search and browse.

The Constitution Annotated.

The Constitution Annotated.

Most-Viewed Bills

Below are the most-viewed bills for the week of September 22, 2019. All are from the 116th Congress.

1. H.R.1044 Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019
2. S.386 Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019
3. H.R.3289 Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019
4. S.Amdt.939 S.Amdt.939 to H.R.1044
5. H.R.8 Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019
6. S.1838 Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019
7. S.1790 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020
8. H.R.2500 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020
9. H.R.5 Equality Act
10. H.R.1423 FAIR Act

The Constitution Annotated Is Now Easier to Search and Browse

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Constitution Day is tomorrow, but it’s already off to a great start with the release of the Congressional Research Service’s new version of The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation, better known as the Constitution Annotated. The Constitution Annotated allows you to “read about the Constitution in plain English…providing a comprehensive overview […]

Searching the Committee Schedule: Congress.gov New, Tip, and Top for September 2019

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One of the new features to Congress.gov that we have been refining this year is the Committee Schedule, which “combines announcements about future House and Senate committee meetings and hearings for the selected week.” Robert announced its launch in January.  Since then, we have added indicators for rescheduled and postponed meetings, upcoming meetings to the […]

Congress.gov New, Tip, and Top for July, Part 2

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Earlier this month, Margaret highlighted the new addition to the Committee Schedule, which shows, under Supporting Documentation, any related metadata, links to legislation, treaties, or nominations. Today’s release continues to refine the Committee Schedule. Enhancements for July 2019, Part 1 Enhancement – Committee Schedule – Weekly View Committee Schedule weekly view includes a calendar-based date picker […]

Congress.gov New, Tip and Top for July, Part 1

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Last month Robert provided information about the June update to Congress.gov, which provided an enhancement for the display of errata associated with committee reports. This month’s first release includes an enhancement to the Committee Schedule detail pages display, providing supporting documentation when available. Enhancements for July 2019, Part 1 This release also includes page navigation, which […]

Congress.gov New, Tip and Top for June 2019

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Earlier this month, Margaret shared the news that Congress.gov now has enhanced navigation for member profile pages. With this month’s release, the display for errata associated with committee reports has been enhanced. The Congress.gov glossary defines errata as “lists of errors in congressional publications. The corrections are printed on sheets, or pages. The errata sheets […]

Congress.gov New, Tip and Top for May 2019, Part 2

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Earlier this month, Andrew shared the update to our committee schedule page, which launched in January 2019. With this month’s second release, we have enhanced the navigation of member profile pages.  When viewing a bill or resolution on a member profile page, you can use the navigation arrows to move from the next or previous […]

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

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In April, Robert shared that the new “LIVE” icon was added to the homepage when a House committee hearing is streaming. With this month’s release, we have updated our committee profile pages so that when you click on legislation or other items in the list you will then have arrows to take you to the next and previous items […]

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

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At the end of March, Andrew shared the update that included a new subcommittee filter that is available when you limit your research or results to a single Congress on a committee profile. This month, we’re adding a “LIVE” icon to the homepage to indicate when a House committee hearing is available for you to […]

Congress.gov New, Tip, and Top for March 2019, Part 2

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Earlier this month, Robert shared the update that included the addition of a link to Bills to be Considered on the House Floor to the House of Representatives section of Current Legislative Activities on the Congress.gov homepage. With the release we also added a subcommittee filter on the committee profile pages when you select a Congress.  What are […]