THOMAS is an online compilation of selected publications of the US Congress.  It allows you to track Federal legislation from the time a bill is introduced until it becomes law or dies in the process.

Other databases: WESTLAW (see guide) provides better coverage of Congressional hearings in its USTESTIMONY database.

Access:

• From the Ely Library Home Page (http://lib.westfield.ma.edu):
• In the Quick Links to Databases section, click on THOMAS. 
• Alternatively, go directly to the THOMAS website (http://thomas.loc.gov/).

Back to top

• On the THOMAS home page, choose the type of document you want to search under the headings of Legislation, Congressional Record, or Committee Information.
• The search defaults to the current Congress. To select an earlier Congress click on its number from the list at the top of the screen.  A Congress is a two-year period beginning with an odd-numbered year.  In some databases you also need to specify the 1st or 2nd session (one calendar year).
• Choose at least one of the seven possible search fields. In most of the databases you can search for Word/Phrase to find words or phrases in the full text of the documents.  Example:

• Click on any of the Search buttons.  Documents that match all of your criteria will be retrieved.
• To do a new search, click on New Search at the top of the screen.
• To switch databases, return to the THOMAS homepage.

Bills are proposed laws.  After being introduced by a member of Congress, a bill is referred to a Committee, which may hold hearings on it, modify it, merge it with other bills, or take no action on it.  A minority of bills reach the floor of either house of Congress for debate and vote, and may be further modified.  Congressional documents related to a bill may include bill texts, transcripts of committee hearings, committee reports, discussions in the Congressional Record, roll call votes, and presidential veto messages.

Citations to bills follow this pattern:

H.R. 1031, 104th Cong. (1995)

Each of these series begins with 1 when a new Congress convenes, and thus the number of the Congress is essential to identifying a bill. The year the bill was introduced is in parentheses.

The ouput of a search may list different versions of the same bill, as modified at different stages of the legislative process.  The versions can have different titles. Abbreviations (which are not used in citations) following the bill number indicate the stage. Examples:

1 . Dollars to the Classroom Act (Introduced in the House)[H.R.2.IH]
2 . Student Results Act of 1999 (Reported in the House)[H.R.2.RH]
3 . Student Results Act of 1999 (Engrossed in House )[H.R.2.EH]
4 . Student Results Act of 1999 (Referred in Senate)[H.R.2.RFS]

THOMAS provides summaries of bills from 1973 to date. The summaries are more readable than the full texts and are recommended as a starting point.

• The Bill Summary and Status database is listed under Legislation on the THOMAS Home Page.
• Search options:
• Word/Phrase: Any word or phrase in the bill summary.
• Subject Term: Standard terms from the Legislative Indexing Vocabulary.  To find a standard term, see below.
• Bill/Amendment No.: see About Bills, above.
• Stage in Legislative Process: select one or more from the menu.To select more than one stage, press <Ctrl> while clicking. If you select AND, only those bills that passed through all of the selected stages will be retrieved.  If you select OR, bills that passed through any of the selected stages will be retrieved.
• Date of Introduction: from the menu on left, select On, On or after, On or before, or From...Through.  Then enter a date or range of dates in the form MM/DD/YYYY. Example: July 4, 1976 is entered as 07/04/1976.
• Sponsor/Cosponsor: Select one or more names from the lists of members of the Senate and House.  To select more than one from the same chamber, press <Ctrl> while clicking.  If you select AND below the lists, only those bills sponsored by all of the selected members will be retrieved.  If you select OR, bills sponsored by any of the selected members will be retrieved. Up to 20 bills may be listed on one screen. Click on Next Page to see additional bill titles, if any.
• Committee: Committee(s) from which a bill origniates, is referred to, or is reported out of. Select one or more (up to 5) committees from each chamber (House and Senate). To select more than one from the same chamber, press <Ctrl> while clicking. If you select AND below the lists, only those bills that realting to all of the selected committees will be retrieved. If you select OR, bills relating to any of the selected members will be retrieved.
• Click on Search.
• Click on the number of a bill.
• Click on All Bill Summary & Status Info to view the history of actions taken on the bill and a summary of it, or on a specific heading (e.g. Status, Cosponsors)
• To view the full text (1989 to date only), click on Text of Legislation at the bottom of the screen, then on one of the full-text formats (see below).

Legislative Indexing Vocabulary:

Using this database you can find the standardized subject terms used in indexing bills.

• On the Bill Summary and Index Search Screen, under the Subject Term search box, click on LIV.  Alternatively, go directly to the Library of Congress Thesauri page (http://lcweb.loc.gov/pmei/lexico) and click on the LIV button.
• In the search box under Term, enter a word or phrase.
• Click on Term.
• If a term is displayed, it can be used in subject searches--unless the word USE directly below it indicates the standard term.  Cross-references to related terms may also be shown.

THOMAS provides the full text of bills from 1989 to date. You can search for any word or phrase in the text or summary of a bill. In general, you should use this type of search only for uncommon terms.

• The Bill Text database is listed under Legislation on the THOMAS Home Page.
• Search Options:
• Word/Phrase: Any word or phrase in the bill summary.
• Bill No.: see About Bills above.
• Using the other blanks, you can limit your search to one or more of thefollowing:
• Bills with Floor Action or Enrolled Bills Sent to the President
• House Bills or Senate Bills
• Date received (a date, a range of dates or a session). (Note: This option is only available beginning with 105th Congress).
• The output will be sorted by Relevance (number of times your search terms appear). For searches of the 105th Congress and later, you can choose to sort by relevance or date. Sorting by Relevance is recommended for subject searches.
• To view the text of the bill, click on one of the links:
• Full Display on the far right.
• GPO's PDF on the far left, to view the text in Adobe Acrobat.  This is an exact copy of the original print, but it loads, prints, and saves slowly and takes more disk space.
• Best Sections near the top, to view a list of the sections containing your search terms (available for longer bills only).
• One of the section headings (if any) under the bill title.  Click on Forward, Back, or Doc Contents to navigate within the text.
• Click on Bill Summary and Status File and then on All Bill Summary and Status Info to view a history of actions taken on the bill and a summary of it.

Public Laws are the texts of laws as they were passed by Congress, without any subsequent amendments.  Each is identified by a serial number indicating the number of the Congress and the number of the law.  Example: P.L. 105-18 is the 18th law passed by the 105th Congress.

THOMAS provides the full text of Public Laws from 1973 to date.  For Public Laws from 1789 to 1845 see Historical Databases, below.

BY NUMBER

• The Public Laws by Law Number database is found under Legislation on the THOMAS Home Page.
• After selecting a Congress, click on the range of numbers containing the number of the law.
• On the list of laws in that range, click on the bill number to view the full text.

• Perform a search for Bill Summary and Status (see above).
• Under 4. Stage in the Legislative Process select Public Law.
• The result will contain the Public Law Number. Follow directions above for searching by number.

The Congressional Record is a daily compilation of actions, votes, and debates on the floor of Congress.  Extensions of Remarks are additional documents submitted for publication, but not read on the floor.

THOMAS provides the full text of the Congressional Record from 1989 to date. For Congressional debates from 1774 to 1873, see Historical Databases.

SEARCHING THE TEXT

• The Text Search database is listed under Congressional Record on the THOMAS Home Page.
• Select one session of Congress.
• Search options:
• Word/Phrase: any words or phrases in the text.
• Members of Congress: select from the alphabetical lists of Representatives and Senators to find their remarks.  To select more than one, press <Ctrl> while clicking.
• Limit by: select a section of the Record or specify a date or range of dates.
• Click on Search.
• Select one article from the list
• Click on Full Display.

Searches on the Congressional Record Index are more focused than searches of the text. THOMAS provides the Congressional Record Index from 1995 to date.

• Under Congressional Record on the THOMAS Home Page, click on Index. Select one session to search.
• Search options:
• Word/Phrase: Finds any index listings that contain a word or phrase.  Output is ranked by relevance. Click
• BROWSE: Go to List of All Index Topics in the Congressional Record Index. Select a topic from the list.  This option provides more focused searches.

Listed under Congressional Record on the THOMAS Home Page:

• Most Recent Issue: Text of the Congressional Record for the current Congress.
• Roll Call Votes: The voting record, by member, for selected bills. Search the House and Senate separately beginning with the 101st Congress.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Committee Reports state the opinions of the majority and minority (if any) of a Congressional Committee when a bill is sent to the floor for a vote.  THOMAS provides the full text of Committee Reports from 1995 to date.

• The Committee Reports database is listed under Committee Information on the THOMAS Home Page.
• Search options
• Word/Phrase: any words or phrases in the text.
• Report No.: when using this option make sure to designate House Reports or Senate Reports under the word/phrase box above.
• Bill No.: see About Bills above.
• Committee: to find a bill reported out of a specific committee. Only one committee can be searched at a time.
• Dates Available Online at LOC: from the menu on left, select On, On or after, On or before, or From...Through.  Then enter a date or range of dates in the form MM/DD/YYYY. Example: July 4, 1976 is entered as 07/04/1976.

THOMAS provides links to selected House and Senate Committees. This information may include; hompages, members, schedules, transcipts of hearings, jurisdiction, oversight plans, and subcommittees.   As each committe is responsible for its own postings, dates and extent of coverage may vary.  Fuller coverage of House and Senate Committee hearings is available through WESTLAW (USTESTIMONY database).

To access committee information:

• Click on House Committees or Senate Committees under Committee Information.
• Find a committee by name and click on the appropriate link underneath.
• Information provided varies by committee.
• To find hearings on a specific bill, search by Bill Summary and Status (see above).

In the left column of the THOMAS home page is a link to Historical Documents. From this page you can:

• Search or browse Documents from the Continental Congress and Constitutional Convention (1774-1789), the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Federalist Papers.
• Access other historical collections: The Thomas Jefferson Papers and U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1873.

SAVING

• Insert an IBM-formatted 3.5" diskette into the disk drive. (Off campus, you can save to any available drive.)
• From the File menu on your browser, select Save as...
• From the Save as type menu, select HTML or Plain Text.
• Click on OK.

• From the File menu on your browser, select Print...
• Click on OK.

http://lib.westfield.ma.edu/thomas.htm
Page Created by Ralph Wagner