Government Information (United States): Congressional Publications

The official record of the activities of Congress in the House and Senate, the Record is published in daily issues, which are later cumulated into annual bound volumes. There is a biweekly index to the daily issues; pagination changes when the annual index is created.

Predecessors of the Congressional Record:

• The Congressional Globe (1833–1873)
• The Register of Debates (1824–1837)
• The Annals of Congress (1789–1824)

UCSB Library provides access to the entire Congressional Record and its predecessors through its subscription to ProQuest Congressional.  Beginning with 1994, the Congressional Record is available online through Congress.gov.

Executive Reports contain committee recommendations concerning the ratification of a proposed treaty or recommendations on a nomination. Executive Documents contain the text of a treaty as it is submitted to the U.S. Senate for ratification by the President. Beginning 1981, they became known as Treaty Documents.

Senate executive documents and reports were not printed in the Serial Set until 1979. They can be identified through ProQuest Congressional and requested from UCLA for the years 1817-1969 via InterLibrary Loan. Include the title, CIS number, and under Other Information: “U.S. Senate Executive Documents and Reports on Microfiche, UCLA MicroServ KF 40 C55”.

Committee Prints can contain draft legislation, situation reports, statistical information, historical information, or legislative analyses. They are often prepared by experts who make studies on aspects of a subject under committee investigation.

UCSB Library owns many committee prints from the 1970s until present. Older prints are available from UC Irvine.  Identify prints through ProQuest Congressional; then search the UCSB Library catalog for our holdings. If they are not at UCSB, request via InterLibrary Loan. Include title, CIS number, and under Other Information: “U.S. Congressional Committee Prints on Microfiche, UC Irvine Government Publications”.

Hearings are the official record of a committee's proceedings on pending legislation or regarding national and international issues. They provide an opportunity for expert witnesses to present testimony and other information to members of Congress.

Selected print hearings are located in the Government Information collection. To identify, check UC Library Search.

When bills are signed by the President and become law, they are compiled into:

• U. S. Statutes at Large: Reference KF50 A3.

They are then included by subject in:

• United States Code: Reference KF62 1972 .L38
• Available online via GovInfo.

UCSB Library keeps bills in microfiche from the 97th Congress. We also subscribe to Digital Bills & Resolutions 1789–  in ProQuest Congressional.

For earlier bills, identify through ProQuest Congressional or another source. For laws, locate the Statutes at Large citation and use the volumes in print or online to view the enrolled version. Older Congressional bills may be available in libraries with the CIS Microfiche Service (1933-2002), or from the Law Library of Congress which has bills going back to the 1800s. Early Congressional bills (1799-1873) can also be found in American Memory. The U.S. Senate Library is another potential source.

See our Congressional Serial Set page for information about this publication.