The first step in the legislative process occurs when a bill is introduced in the House or Senate or both.
Bill amendments can occur throughout the entire legislative process.
Bills and resolutions are not laws and do not have the force of law until enacted. There may be multiple versions of bills and resolutions.
Many bills may never become laws.
Bills and Resolutions: Examples of how each kind is used (CRS)
Complete glossary of bills (GPO) details the many different types of bills and resolutions.
Typical citation: H.R. 2001, S. 449
| With... | Using... |
| Bill number eg. H.R. 133; S.133 |
Proquest Congressional 1789-present. Select Bills by Number and type in the bill number. Congress.gov is the official website for U.S. federal legislative information. It has bill status and summary, bill text, House and Senate member profiles, and a number of other features, including effective display on mobile devices. GovInfo.gov 1993-present. GovInfo.gov is the Government Publishing Office's federal digital system for accessing free, official government publications. A Century of Lawmaking...1799-1873. GovDocs fiche 1979-2000 Y 1.4/ For bills introduced between 1873-1979, please use inter-library services if you cannot locate these with the above tools. There are film/fiche sets of historical senate and house bills and resolutions. CRL has coverage from 1789-1978. |
| Slip or session law citation eg. P.L. 107-1 89 Stat. 223 |
Proquest Congressional 1789-present. Select Bills by Number and type in the citation. Congress.gov is the official website for U.S. federal legislative information. It includes bill status and summary, bill text, House and Senate member profiles, and a number of new features, including effective display on mobile devices. It has bill status and summary, bill text, House and Senate member profiles, and a number of other features, including effective display on mobile devices. GovInfo.gov 1993-present. GovInfo.gov is the Government Publishing Office's federal digital system for accessing free, official government publications. Statutes at Large 1963-present. Organized by congressional session. Cross-reference from public law to bill. |
| Subject and other information/Keyword search |
Proquest Congressional 1789-present. GovInfo.gov 1993-present. GovInfo.gov is the Government Publishing Office's federal digital system for accessing free, official government publications. Congress.gov is the official website for U.S. federal legislative information. It includes bill status and summary, bill text, House and Senate member profiles, and a number of new features, including effective display on mobile devices. It has bill status and summary, bill text, House and Senate member profiles, and a number of other features, including effective display on mobile devices. Digest of Public General Bills GovDocs LC 14.6: 1936-1990. Organized by congressional session. Also: sponsor, co-sponsor, identical bill and short title indexes. Subject index not comprehensive. Provides bill history and status including bill summary, floor action, dates, roll call vote summary and report numbers. Index only. No full-text of bills. Congressional Record Index. Organized by congressional session. Subject and sponsor indexes to bills are part of the main subject index. Use the History of Bills and Resolutions section (organized by bill number) to find bill actions including summary, floor action, debates and references to reports. Index only. No full-text of bills. Note: The Congressional Record Index is also available online for the following periods: |