Sample Searches and URLs for Congressional Record

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 Record collection in FDsys. Additional sample searches for each collection can be found in the collection specific sections of this manual. This is intended to be used with the FDsys Public Search User Manual, which gives step-by-step instructions on how to perform searches and also contains additional sample searches.

Search Congressional Record by Congress Member Speaking

These examples will search for Congressional Record documents from congress member McConnell.

Using the Simple Search Box, enter

collection:crec and member:mcconnell
collection:crec member:mcconnell

Using the Advanced Search page,

Select Congressional Record from Available Collections in the box
Click Add to add Congressional Record to the Selected Collections box
Select Congress Member Speaking under Search In
Enter mcconnell in textbox marked for

These examples will search for Congressional Record documents from congress member mcconnell with the word defense in the full text or metadata.

Using the Simple Search Box,

Enter defense and click Search button
Using the Narrow Your Search links, click Congressional Record from the Collection category
Using the Narrow Your Search links, click McConnell, Mitch from the Congress Member category

Using the Advanced Search page,

Select Congressional Record from Available Collections in the box
Click Add to add Congressional Record to the Selected Collections box
Select Full-Text of Publications and Metadata under Search In
Enter defense in textbox marked for
Click Search button
Using the Narrow Your Search links, click McConnell, Mitch from the Congress Member category

Search Congressional Record Where a Congress Member Voted “Yes”

These examples will search for Congressional Record documents where congress member McConnell voted yes.

Using the Simple Search Box, enter

collection:crec and memberyes:mcconnell
collection:crec memberyes:mcconnell

Using the Advanced Search page,

Select Congressional Record from Available Collections in the box
Click Add to add Congressional Record to the Selected Collections box
Select Congress Member Voted Yes under Search In
Enter mcconnell in the textbox marked for

Search Congressional Record Where a Congress Member Voted “No”

These examples will search for Congressional Record documents where congress member McConnell voted no.

Using the Simple Search Box, enter

collection:crec and memberno:mcconnell
collection:crec memberno:mcconnell

Using the Advanced Search page,

Select Congressional Record from Available Collections in the box
Click Add to add Congressional Record to the Selected Collections box
Select Congress Member Voted No under Search In
Enter mcconnell in the textbox marked for

Search Congressional Record Where a Congress Member Did Not Vote

These examples will search for Congressional Record documents where congress member Clinton did not vote.

Using the Simple Search Box, enter

collection:crec and membernv:clinton
collection:crec membernv:clinton

Using the Advanced Search page,

Select Congressional Record from Available Collections in the box
Click Add to add Congressional Record to the Selected Collections box
Select Congress Member Not Voting under Search In
Enter clinton in the textbox marked for

Search Congressional Record by Vote Number

These examples will search for Congressional Record documents for vote number 150.

Using the Simple Search Box, enter

collection:crec and votenumber:150
collection:crec votenumber:150

Using the Advanced Search page,

Select Congressional Record from Available Collections in the box
Click Add to add Congressional Record to the Selected Collections box
Select Congressional Vote Number under Search In
Enter 150 in the textbox marked for

Search Congressional Record by Date

These examples will search for Congressional Record documents from May 1, 2008.

Using the Simple Search Box, enter one of the following

collection:crec and publishdate:2008-05-01
collection:crec publishdate:2008-05-01

Using the Advanced Search page,

Select Date is under Publication Date
Select May in Month pulldown
Select 1 in the Day pulldown
Select 2008 in the Year pulldown
Select Congressional Record from Available Collections in the box
Click Add to add Record to the Selected Collections box

Using the Browse Government Publications page,

Click Congressional Record from the Collections tab
Click 2008
Click May
Click May 1, Thursday
Click on the of the sections from that issue
Click on documents from May 1, 2008

Search Congressional Record by Page Number

This example will search for Congressional Record documents starting on page H 1234.

Using the Simple Search Box, enter one of the following

collection:crec and pageprefix:h and firstpage:1234
collection:crec pageprefix:h firstpage:1234

This example will search for Congressional Record documents starting on page H 1234 from Volume 153.

Using the Retrieve by Citation page,

Select Congressional Record from Collections
Select 153 from Volume
Select House of Representatives from Page
Enter 1234 in Page text box

Search Congressional Record Where a Congress Member Voted “Yes” and a Keyword

These examples will search for Congressional Record documents with the word defense where congress member McConnell voted yes.

Using the Simple Search Box, enter one of the following

defense and collection:crec and memberyes:mcconnell
defense collection:crec memberyes:mcconnell

Using the Advanced Search page,

Select Congressional Record from Available Collections in the box
Click Add to add Congressional Record to the Selected Collections box
Select Congress Member Voted Yes under Search In
Enter mcconnell in the textbox marked for
Click on Add more search criteria
Select Full-Text of Publications and Metadata under Search In
Enter defense in textbox marked for

Search Congressional Record Where a Congress Member Voted “Yes” and a Date Range

These examples will search for Congressional Record documents where congress member McConnell voted yes between May 1, 2008 and August 31, 2008.

Using the Simple Search Box, enter one of the following

collection:crec and memberyes:mcconnell and publishdate:range(2007-05-01, 2007-08-31)
collection:crec memberyes:mcconnell publishdate:range(2007-05-01, 2007-08-31)

Using the Advanced Search page,

Select Date is under Publication Date
Select May in Month pulldown
Select 1 in the Day pulldown
Select 2007 in the Year pulldown
Select August in Month pulldown
Select 31 in the Day pulldown
Select 2007 in the Year pulldown
Select Congressional Record from Available Collections in the box
Click Add to add Congressional Record to the Selected Collections box
Select Congress Member Voted Yes under Search In
Enter mcconnell in the textbox marked for

Sample Congressional Record URLs

FDsys uses two key pieces of information to construct predictable URLs to documents and the More Information pages. The Granule ID for the Congressional Record is used to identify the specific document within an issue of the publication and the Package ID is used to identify an individual issue of the publication.

Identifier

Structure/Metadata Field

Example

Package ID

CREC-{Publication Date} (in YYYY-MM-DD format)

CREC-2010-09-28

Granule ID

Individual Documents:

{Package ID)-pt{Part Number}-Pg{Page Prefix}{Page Number}{Sequence Number}

Notes:

1. Page Prefix is "S" for Senate, "H" for House, "E" for Extensions of Remarks, and "D" for Daily Digest.

2. Page Number is the first page number for the document. Sequence Number is used when there are more than 1 document that start on the same page. Sequence Number is not used for the first document on a page.

Section Frontmatter Documents:

{Package ID}-pt{Part Number}-Pg{Page Prefix}-FrontMatter

Complete Sections:

Entire Book:

{Package ID}

House:

{Package ID}-house

Senate:

{Package ID}-senate

Daily Digest:

{Package ID}-dailydigest

Extensions of Remarks:

{Package ID}-extensions

Note: If there are sections that fall in multiple books of a single issue of the Congressional Record, the sections for the following books (starting with the 2nd book) will be followed by -bk{Book Number}. Daily Digest is the only exception to this rule and will have -bk1 for the first section as well when the Daily Digest is published in more than one book.

Individual Documents:

CREC-2010-09-28-pt1-PgH7019

CREC-2010-09-28-pt1-PgH7019-2

CREC-2004-09-23-pt2-PgS9606

CREC-2004-09-23-pt2-PgS9606-2

CREC-2011-01-07-pt1-PgD15-5

CREC-2011-01-07-pt1-PgE41

Section Frontmatter Documents:

CREC-2010-09-28-pt1-PgH-FrontMatter

CREC-2010-09-28-pt1-PgS-FrontMatter

Complete Sections:

CREC-2010-09-28

CREC-2010-09-28-senate

CREC-2010-09-28-house

CREC-2010-09-28-extensions

CREC-2010-09-28-dailydigest-bk1

CREC-2010-09-28-bk2

CREC-2010-09-28-house-bk2

CREC-2010-09-28-dailydigest-bk2

More Information Page for an Entire Issue

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

Example: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2010-09-28/content-detail.html

PDF File for an Entire Issue

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

Example: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2010-09-28/pdf/CREC-2010-09-28.pdf

More Information Page for an Individual Document

Structure: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/granule/{packageId}/{granuleId}/content-detail.html

Example: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/granule/CREC-2010-09-28/CREC-2010-09-28-pt1-PgS7609-2/content-detail.html

PDF File for an Individual Document

Structure: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/{packageId}/pdf/{granuleId}.pdf

Example: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2010-09-28/pdf/CREC-2010-09-28-pt1-PgS7609-2.pdf

HTML File for an Individual Document

Structure: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/{packageId}/html/{granuleId}.htm

Example: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2010-09-28/html/CREC-2010-09-28-pt1-PgS7609-2.htm

PDF File for a Complete Section

Structure: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/{packageId}/pdf/{granuleId}.pdf

Example: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2010-09-28/pdf/CREC-2010-09-28-house.pdf

Sample Congressional Record Citation URLs

Additionally, the Volume Number, Page Prefix and Page Number can be used to construct URLs using the citation of the document.

PDF File for a Congressional Record Citation

Structure: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/search/citation.result.CREC.action?congressionalRecord.volume={Volume Number}&congressionalRecord.pagePrefix={Page Prefix}&congressionalRecord.pageNumber={Page Number}&publication=CREC

Example: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/search/citation.result.CREC.action?congressionalRecord.volume=157&congressionalRecord.pagePrefix=H&congressionalRecord.pageNumber=7&publication=CREC

Additional Congressional Record Searches and URLs

Resume of Congressional Activity

Today's Daily Digest

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