LibGuides: Research for Social Work Practice: Federal Policy Resources

Federal Legislative Information

Congress.gov
Official website for U.S. federal legislative information. Provides access to accurate, timely, and complete legislative information for Members of Congress, legislative agencies, and the public. Usually updated the morning after session adjourns.
Congress.gov: How to Find Bills by Subject and Policy Area
Quick guide to navigating Congress.gov and finding legislation by area and subject terms.
Committee Reports of the U.S. Congress
Full text of the Committee Reports that accompanied federal bills and resolutions. Can be filtered by Congress (date), Chamber of Origin, Committee, or Report Type.
Congressional Budget Office
Nonpartisan government office that produces independent budget and economic issue analyses for use in Congressional budget-making.
Congressional Record Index
Use this webpage like you would the index in a book to find remarks and actions by individuals, organizations, and other terms mentioned in the Congressional Record.
U.S. Government Publishing Office
Official, digital, and secure source for producing, protecting, preserving, and distributing the official publications and information products of the federal government. Look here for the Code of Federal Regulations, Federal Register, United States Code, United States Statutes at Large, and many other federal publications.
GovTrack
Independent website that publishes the status of federal legislation, information about your representative and senators in Congress including voting records, and original research on bills and votes. GovTrack gets its information from a variety of sources, including official government data as well as community data repositories.

ProQuest Congressional
Comprehensive online collection of primary source congressional publications and legislative research materials covering all topics, including government, current events, politics, economics, business, science and technology, international relations, social issues, finance, insurance, and medicine. Finding aid for congressional hearings, committee prints, committee reports and documents from 1970-present, and the daily Congressional Record from 1985-present. Compiled legislative histories from 1969-present. Finding aid for congressional hearings (published and unpublished), committee prints, and committee reports and documents from 1824-1969. Includes access to U.S. Serial Set, a collection of primary source U.S. government publications compiled under directive of the Congress, Congressional Record, and Hearings Digital Collection. It contains comprehensive and often detailed information on an extremely wide range of subjects, including economics, business, science and technology, international relations, social issues, finance, insurance, and medicine. Also includes access to legislative histories, bills by number, committee hearings and testimony, members of congress directory, and social media. Find more detailed information.

Federal Elections and Politics

Federal Election Commission
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is the independent regulatory agency charged with administering and enforcing the federal campaign finance law. The FEC has jurisdiction over the financing of campaigns for the U.S. House, Senate, Presidency and the Vice Presidency.
OpenSecrets
Nonpartisan, independent and nonprofit research group that tracks money in US politics and its effect on elections and public policy.
Ballotpedia
Covers local, state and federal politics. Editors strive for neutral, accurate, and verifiable information on government officials and the offices they hold, political issues and public policy, elections, candidates, and the influencers of politics.

CQ Voting and Elections Collection
A database of elections data, authoritative analyses, concise explanations, and historical materials to help researchers investigate and understand voting and elections in America from 1789-present.