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Government Resources

A guide designed to provide valuable federal and state-level resources to students of Political Science, Criminal Justice, and other related academic disciplines. Here you will find both federally sponsored databases and third-party resources relevant to

Source - National Legal Foundation

Federally-Sponsored Resources

  • Website of Congress
    • The home site for all congressional and legislative affairs. Harbors information about the Members of Congress, legislation passed, and serves as a portal to other congressional databases.
  • Library of Congress
    • Official research library of the US Congress, and official library of the United States. The site allows you to explore their extensive library catalog, as well as their numerous digital historical collections.

  • Congressional Budget Office

    • Advisory and budgeting agency for Congress. Cost estimates, economic data, budget lists, etc. are available on this site.

  • ​​​​​​​Congressional Research Service

    • ​​​​​​​Provides the public with access to research products derived from the CRS; often these products are designed to support legislative matters for Congress. This is an extension of the Library of Congress.

  • A Century of Lawmaking

    • This is a web page established by the Library of Congress, providing users with links to the Journals of Congress, Debates of Congress, Statutes and Documents, the Continental Congress, the Constitutional Convention and special presentations.

Supplementary Resources

  • GovTrack
    • GovTrack is an online congressional tracker, allowing users to trace the legislative path and status of bills, in addition to providing users.

  • OpenCongress

    • The site gathers and disseminates government data, news public comments and blogs to provide a contextual backdrop to congressional affairs. Strives to be a transparent resource for congressional tracking, in addition to providing users with accounts the ability to vote on bills and provide approval ratings to Congress Members.

  • Congressional Digest

    • Provides users with independent perspectives on congressional affairs, claiming to be impartial and non-partisan. Aims to provide pros and cons of controversial contemporary issues.

  • Congressional Quarterly

    • CQ allows users to interact with and track legislative material, in addition to providing them with news and related analyses of legislation.

  • CQ Almanac

    • The CQ Almanac is a collection of records detailing congressional hearings. Users can browse by topic, series appendix, or search using the advanced search tool.

  • Legislative Explorer

    • Allows users to follow the lawmaking process in an easily digestible manner. Can filter by topic, legislation type, party, etc. and can view the legislation total of the year while also tracking legislative processes of bills.