Guides: COMM 180 (Hook): Government Sources

Congressional Resources (including bill tracking)

U.S Congressional, Federal, National resources including Bill Trackers.

CQ Researcher This link opens in a new window
Provides access to the most current and controversial issues of the day with complete summaries, insight into all sides of the issues, bibliographies and more, published weekly. Each single-themed, 12,000-word report is researched and written by a seasoned journalist, professionally fact-checked, and footnoted to facilitate further research. A feature called Hot Topics provides shorter reports on 20 of the most popular subjects. CQ Researcher's Archive goes back to 1923 and includes reports from its predecessor publication, Editorial Research Reports.

THOMAS
In the spirit of Thomas Jefferson, legislative information from the Library of Congress

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The leadership of the 104th Congress directed the Library of Congress to make federal legislative information freely available to the public. Since that time THOMAS has expanded the scope of its offerings to include the features and content listed below
Congress.gov
Read bill summary, learn who sponsored the bill, the cost of the program, amendments and more.
Gov. Track
Gov. Track provides information about federal legislature including bill text, representative's yea & nay votes, path to ratification, statistical analyses, bill summaries, and other tools to put information in context.

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Gov.Track tracks the United States Congress and helps Americans understand what is going on in their national legislature. We publish the status of federal legislation and information about your representative and senators in Congress.
GPO.gov
Created by Congress in June 1860, the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) began operation on March 4, 1861 with 350 employees. Occupying the corner of North Capitol and H Streets from its inception, GPO continues to adopt the most efficient and cost-effective production methods of delivering authentic and secure government documents and products to the American public.
govinfo
govinfo is a service of the United States Government Publishing Office (GPO), which is a Federal agency in the legislative branch.
govinfo provides free public access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government.

Jurisdiction

Is your Law Federal, State, Local? Is there a (government) organization that may be responsible for enforcing, administering or fund/report on your policy?

For example:

If your law was passed by a state you will not found the bill in a US Congressional bill tracking databases. You'll need to find state legislature bill tracking.
If your topic is national then the National Archives may be helpful.
If you're researching a bill passed to serve a group (like veterans) than find an official organization serving that group (such as the US Department of Veterans Affairs.) Furthermore, conceder searching communication platforms developed to help the user understand or navigate the process (like the US Dept. of VA's official blog that provides a forum for answer questions)
Who in the government works with the group the Law effects? For example, the ...Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation works with people in the prison system.

Who are Non-profit/ civil organization interest in (research & lobbying groups) or working with people affected by your law (aids, volunteers, workers, boots on the ground people...)?

Think Tanks

"Think Tanks are policy-oriented research organizations that provide expertise to government."

--- Critchlow, Donald T. "Think Tanks." Dictionary of American History, edited by Stanley I. Kutler, 3rd ed., vol. 8, Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003, pp. 117-118. Gale Virtual Reference Library,

50 Most Influential Think Tanks

"Think tank: The term denotes a group of people who are paid to do nothing but read, discuss, think, and write, usually to address and redress a matter of vital importance to humanity...

The institutions on this list make up the 50 most influential think tanks in the United States. What makes a think tank influential? ...Our approach in ranking think tanks takes a different tack..." --The Best Schools

COMM 180 (Hook): Government Sources

Congressional Resources (including bill tracking)

Jurisdiction

Is your Law Federal, State, Local? Is there a (government) organization that may be responsible for enforcing, administering or fund/report on your policy?

Think Tanks

Political sampling from the above list: