Sample Searches and URLs for Congressional Bills

The government publications in FDsys can be searched using the Simple Search Box and the Advanced Search page. Once results are displayed, you can narrow your search results by clicking on links in the Narrow Your Search panel on the left hand side of the page. The sections under Narrow Your Search correspond to the metadata available for the documents. Collection specific links to narrow your search results will be displayed after you click on one of the collection under the Collection category.

Retrieve by Citation search can be used to retrieve documents in PDF format if you know the citation of the document. The collections can also be browsed in the Browse Government Publications area.

The following sections give examples of searches that you may want to use for the Congressional Bills collection in FDsys.

Search for Bills by Congress Number, Bill Type, Bill Number and Bill Version

These examples will search for the Introduced in Senate version of Senate Joint Resolution from the 109th Congress with 12 as the Bill Number.

Using the Simple Search Box, enter one of the following

collection:bills and congress:109 and billtype:sjres and docnumber:12 and billversion:is
collection:bills congress:109 billtype:sjres docnumber:12 billversion:is

Using the Advanced Search page,

Select Congressional Bills from Available Collections in the box
Click Add to add Congressional Bills to the Selected Collections box
Select Congress Number under Search In
Enter 109 in textbox marked for
Click on Add more search criteria link
Select Bill Type under Search In
Select Senate Joint Resolution (S.J. Res.) from the drop-down menu
Click on Add more search criteria link
Select Bill Number under Search In
Enter 12 in textbox marked for
Click on Add more search criteria link
Select Bill Version under Search In
Select Introduced in Senate from the drop-down menu

Using the Retrieve by Citation page,

Select Congressional Bills from Collections
Select 109th Congress (2005-2006) from Congress
Select Senate Joint Resolution (S.J. Res) from Bill Type
Enter 12 in Bill Number text box
Select Introduced in Senate from Congress

Search for Bills by Congress Number, Chamber, and Bill Number

These examples will search for Senate bills from the 109th Congress with 12 as the Bill Number.

Using the Simple Search Box, enter one of the following

collection:bills and congress:109 and chamber:senate and docnumber:12
collection:bills congress:109 chamber:senate docnumber:12

Using the Advanced Search page,

Select Congressional Bills from Available Collections in the box
Click Add to add Congressional Bills to the Selected Collections box
Select Congress Number under Search In
Enter 109 in textbox marked for
Click on Add more search criteria link
Select Chamber of Congress under Search In
Select Senate from the drop-down menu
Click on Add more search criteria link
Select Bill Number under Search In
Enter 12 in textbox marked for

Search for Bills by Sponsor or Cosponsor

These examples will search for Senate bills sponsored or cosponsored by Senator McConnell.

Using the Simple Search Box, enter one of the following

member:mcconnell and collection:bills
member:mcconnell collection:bills

Using the Advanced Search page,

Select Congressional Bills from Available Collections in the box
Click Add to add Congressional Bills to the Selected Collections box
Select Sponsors and Co-Sponsors under Search In
Enter mcconnell in textbox marked for

Search for All Versions of a Bill

These examples will search for all versions of House Joint Resolution (H.J. Res.) 10 from the 109th Congress.

Using the Simple Search Box, enter one of the following

collection:bills and congress:109 and billtype:hjres and docnumber:10
collection:bills congress:109 billtype:hjres docnumber:10

Using the Advanced Search page,

Select Congressional Bills from Available Collections in the box
Click Add to add Congressional Bills to the Selected Collections box
Select Congress Number under Search In
Enter 109 in textbox marked for
Click on Add more search criteria link
Select Bill Type under Search In
Select House Joint Resolution (H.J. Res.) from the drop-down menu
Click on Add more search criteria link
Select Bill Number under Search In
Enter 10 in textbox marked for

Using the Browse Government Publications page,

Click Congressional Bills from the Collections tab
Click 109th Congress (2005-2006)
Click House Joint Resolution (H.J Res.)
Click 0-99
Scroll down to H.J. Res. 10 links

Search for Bills Sponsored by a Congress Member from a State

These examples will search bills sponsored by Congress members from California.

Using the Simple Search Box, enter

collection:bills
Using the Narrow Your Search links, click CA from the Sponsors and Co-sponsors State category

Using the Advanced Search page,

Select Congressional Bills from Available Collections in the box
Click Search button
Using the Narrow Your Search links, click CA from the Sponsors and Co-sponsors State category

Search for Bills by Title

These examples will search for bills with the word innovation in the full title or short title.

Using the Simple Search Box, enter one of the following

collection:bills and title:innovation
collection:bills title:innovation

Using the Advanced Search page,

Select Congressional Bills from Available Collections in the box
Click Add to add Congressional Bills to the Selected Collections box
Select Title under Search In
Enter innovation in textbox marked for

Search for Bills by Sponsor and Keyword

These examples will search for bills sponsored by Senator McConnell with the word democracy in the text of the bill.

Using the Simple Search Box, enter one of the following

democracy and collection:bills and member:mcconnell
democracy collection:bills member:mcconnell

Using the Advanced Search page,

Select Congressional Bills from Available Collections in the box
Click Add to add Congressional Bills to the Selected Collections box
Select Sponsor under Search In
Enter mcconnell in textbox marked for
Click on Add more search criteria link
Select Full-Text of Publications and Metadata under Search In
Enter democracy in textbox marked for

Using the Simple Search Box, enter

democracy
Using the Narrow Your Search links, click Congressional Bills from the Collection category
Using the Narrow Your Search links, click McConnell, Mitch from the Congress Member category

Search for Bills by Member From a State and Keyword

These examples will search for bills sponsored by Congress members from California with the word environment in the text of the bill.

Using the Simple Search Box, enter

Enter environment in the Simple Search Box
Click Search button
Using the Narrow Your Search links, click Congressional Bills from the Collection category.
Using the Narrow Your Search links, click California from the Member State category

Using the Advanced Search page,

Select Congressional Bills from Available Collections in the box
Click Add to add Congressional Bills to the Selected Collections box
Select Full-Text of Publications and Metadata under Search In
Enter environment in textbox marked for
Click Search button
Using the Narrow Your Search links, click CA from the Sponsors and Co-sponsors State category

Sample Congressional Bills URLs

FDsys uses the Package ID to construct predictable URLs to documents and the More Information pages for individual bills.

Identifier	Structure/Metadata Field	Example
Package ID	BILLS-{Congress Number}{Bill Type}{Bill Number}{Bill Version}	BILLS-111hr131ENR

Note: See Congressional Bills Metadata Fields and Values for more information on metadata values.

More Information Page for an Individual Bill

Structure: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/{Package ID}/content-detail.html

Example: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-111hr131enr/content-detail.html

PDF File for an Individual Bill

Structure: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/{Package ID}/pdf/{Package ID}.pdf

Example: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-111hr131enr/pdf/BILLS-111hr131enr.pdf

HTML File for an Individual Bill

Structure: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/{Package ID}/html/{Package ID}.htm

Example: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-111hr131enr/html/BILLS-111hr131enr.htm

XML File for an Individual Bill

Structure: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/{Package ID}/xml/{Package ID}.xml

Example: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-111hr131enr/xml/BILLS-111hr131enr.xml

G P O ' S F E D E R A L D I G I T A L S Y S T E M