Notes on resources
Almost all of the resources described in this guide are freely available. The few that are limited to use by the St. Mary's community are labeled with this graphic: 
Some resources are located at the Sarita Kenedy East Law Library on campus.
On this page
Back to Basics
- US Government ManualUnder the "Legislative" section, you'll find all kinds of detailed information about Congress, including organization charts
- Dirksen Centernon-partisan research/education center that offers a wealth of information about Congress and the legislative process
Of course, the Constitution is the blueprint for all of our government's actions:
- CONAN: Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis & Interpretationcomprehensive and authoritative history, analysis, and interpretation of the Constitution
- Constitution Annotatednew version of the annotated Constitution from Congress.gov
Congress.gov
Congress.gov is the go-to site for Congressional information past and present. Generally speaking, it is set up for efficient browsing if you don't have the exact information (a bill number, for example) that you need. Just limit using their wide variety of facets to whittle your search results down.
- Congress.govOfficial website for U.S. federal legislative branch. Includes information on bills, committees, the recent Congressional Record, nominations, and current treaties.
- Congress.gov: Glossaryhelpful definitions of concepts concerning Congress and legislation
- Congress.gov: EnhancementsList of changes to Congress.gov website
- Congress.gov: Dates of CoverageCurrent congress information is usually updated the morning after House or Senate chamber sessions adjourn. Page gives estimated availability times.
Congress.gov also offers a set a nice videos explaining the legislative process.
Sunlight Foundation
The Sunlight Foundation is a non-profit and non-partisan organization that works for greater transparency and openness in government. They "massage" freely available government information to make very useful and interesting tools for keeping track of what the government is doing.
Other guides
Other Blume Library guides cover these aspects of government information:
- Government Information: general description of the Federal Documents collection of the St. Mary's University Blume Library, including its organization, locations and basic methods of access, descriptions and links to major government websites
- Census Research: describes the major online services and collections of the Census Bureau and related institutions, as well as the Library's collection of Census material in print, microfiche and CD/DVD
- Government Information in the Study of Science and Technology: description of major government internet resources in scientific and technical fields as well as indications of the Library's holdings in the area
- Government Information in the Study of History: identifies historically significant materials in the Library's documents collection and provides convenient access to government (and related) web sites of interest to the historian and history students
Within specific sections of this Congress guide, there are links to other guides dealing with particular types of information that have been developed by agencies and other libraries.
More guides:
- Constitution Projecta non-partisan research and education organization concerned with Constitutional issues; they produce resources dealing with Constitutional questions such as war powers, defendant rights, amendments, etc.
- Congressional Information Finding Guidedetailed explanations of types of publications and Congressional actions
- Congressional Information Guidegood explanations and collections of links; especially detailed Legislative Histories and Congressional Record information
Useful auxiliary organizations
There are some institutions associated with Congress that produce very useful material for researchers at all levels:
- Congressional Budget Officereports, cost estimates, and other studies, back to 1975
- Congressional Research Servicereports on subjects of interest to lawmakers deliberating proposed legislation
- Law Library of Congressresources and guides