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Related Resources at the Library
THOMAS provides many options for finding legislation and information about legislation. These options are described below.
Search Bill Text
Search the full text of legislation for words or phrases or search by bill number.
Coverage: The Bill Text feature covers the 101st Congress (1989) to the current Congress. Users must select the Congress that they would like to search.
Search Bill Summary & Status
Bill Summary & Status (BSS) contains information about bills and amendments. Whereas the Bill Text feature (described above) searches the full text of legislation, the BSS feature searches everything but the actual text of the legislation. The BSS information includes: sponsor(s); cosponsor(s); official, short and popular titles; floor/executive actions; detailed legislative history; Congressional Record page references; bill summary; committee information; amendment information; subjects (indexing terms assigned to each bill); a link to the full text versions of the bill; and if the bill has been enacted into law, a link to the full text of the law on the Government Printing Office Web site.
Coverage: BSS covers the 93rd Congress (1973) through the current Congress. Users must select the Congress that they would like to search
Search Multiple Congresses
The full text of legislation can be searched across multiple Congresses.
Coverage: The full text of legislation from the 101st (1989) through the current Congress can be searched at the same time. Users can select one or more Congresses to search.
Browse Bills & Resolutions
Browse legislative information including bill number, public laws, private laws, vetoes bills, and sponsor summaries. Legislation is also divided into House and Senate options.
Coverage: The full text of legislation is available to browse from the 101st (1989) through the current Congress. The Bill Summary & Status can be browsed from the 93rd (1973 - 1974) through the current Congress.