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.
Bill Summary & Status contains information about bills and amendments. The summary and status information includes: sponsor(s); cosponsor(s); official, short and popular titles; floor/executive actions; detailed legislative history; Congressional Record page references; bill summary; committees of referral; reporting and origin; subcommittees of referral; links to other committee information provided by the House of Representatives; amendment descriptions (and text, when available); subjects (indexing terms assigned to each bill); a link to the full text versions 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 (in both text and .PDF formats).
For laws having received the line-item veto in the 105th Congress, links to the text of cancellation notices and links to any disapproval bills are given. NOTE: Not all information is available in the earlier Congresses.
Bill Summary & Status information is searchable by word/phrase, subject (index) term, bill/amendment number, stage in the legislative process, dates of introduction, sponsor/cosponsor and committee. Lists of all legislation, public laws, private laws, vetoed bills and bills/amendments sponsored/cosponsored by each member during each Congress are also available
* Coverage: 93rd (1973) through current Congress
* Source: Library of Congress
* Access Now: Search Bill Summary & Status
The full text of bills can be searched across multiple Congresses.
* Coverage: 101st (1989) through current Congress
* Access Now: Search Multiple Congresses
This feature contains Bill Summary & Status records for each bill that became public law. Laws are listed both by law number order and in bill number sequence (House Joint Resolutions, House Bills, Senate Joint Resolutions, Senate Bills).
* Coverage: 93rd (1973) through current Congress. The text of Public Laws is available from the 104th Congress to the present; the text of Enrolled (final) versions of legislation is available from the 101st Congress to the present.
* Source: Library of Congress (bill texts), GPO (Public Law texts)
* Access Now: Public Laws
Roll call votes are recorded votes, in this case, from the House of Representatives. Votes are listed in reverse chronological order by roll call vote number. The vote summary page lists roll call vote number, vote date, the "issue" (bill/amendment number being voted on, quorum call or Journal approval), the "question" (description of the vote), the result (Passed, Failed, or Agreed to) and the title/description of the legislation. Detailed vote pages show individual member votes and vote totals by party.
* Coverage: 101st Congress, 2nd session (1990) through current Congress
* Source: House of Representatives
* Access Now: House Roll Call Votes
Roll call votes are recorded votes, in this case, from the Senate. Votes are listed in reverse chronological order by roll call vote number. Votes are divided into three groups: Senate Roll Call Votes Taken Today; Senate Roll Call Votes Taken This Week and Senate Roll Call Vote Tables, Current and Prior Congresses. For Senate Roll Call Votes Taken Today, the results of roll call votes are generally posted approximately one hour after they are announced by the presiding officer of the Senate. The vote summary page lists roll call vote number, vote date, bill number (when applicable), vote result and title/description of vote. Vote detail pages show individual member votes ordered alphabetically by member, ordered by vote category (yeas, nays, not voting and "presents") and votes summaries (total for each of these vote categories). In addition to votes on legislative business -- bills/amendments, procedural matters (motions, etc.) -- Senate votes on nominations and treaties are shown (executive business).
* Coverage: 101st Congress, 1st session through current Congress (1989 - present)
* Source: Senate
* Access Now: Senate Roll Call Votes
