Biographical Directory of the U. S. Congress

Find biographical information on every member of Congress from 1774 to the present.

Congressional Budget Office [CBO]

A federal agency within the legislative branch, "the role of the CBO is to provide objective, nonpartisan and timely analyses to aid in economic and budgetary decisions on the wide variety of programs covered by the federal budget and to provide information and estimates required for the Congressional budget process."

Gov Track

A private site that follows the progress federal legislation and voting records of members of Congress and the Senate. Tracking can be personalized by setting alerts to email or an RSS reader.

How a bill is actually made

"Let's face it, the Schoolhouse Rock version of how a bill becomes a law is a gross oversimplification. In reality there are lobbyists and amendments, CBO scores and committees, and the ever-present threat of a filibuster. This graphic above, which you can see full size here, shows how a bill actually becomes a law."  [from the website]

THOMAS

"THOMAS was launched in January of 1995, at the inception of the 104th Congress. The leadership of the 104th Congress directed the Library of Congress to make federal legislative information freely available to the public."

U.S Senate: Legislation & records

Senate votes  are presented for the year; if the Senate is in session the site is updated every 20 minutes.  Each vote lists the position taken by each Senator.

United States House of Representatives

History, statistics, members' websites, legislative history, committee assignments and activity,  voting records and more.

United States Senate

Each member of the Senate has a website which provides information on committee activity, legistation pending and passed and voting history.  Contact information is available for both Washington, D.C. and the home state of the Senator.