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Federal Legislative History: Bills

What They Are

As a bill or resolution makes its way through the legislative process, it is amended at various stages, creating different versions of that bill.  A comparison of the different bill versions may indicate legislative intent, by inference.

The various versions of a bill may include, in chronological order:

Introduced Bill Version Initially Sent to the Committee
Reported Bill Version marked up (amended) by the committee and sent to the chamber floor with a recommendation to pass the bill
Engrossed Bill Version passed by the first chamber
Conference Bill Marked up (amended) version approved by a conference committee, if one exists
Enrolled Bill Version approved by both chambers and sent to the President

Bills and Resolutions

Where to Find Bills and Resolutions

 


ProQuest Congressional: Search by bill number > Narrow results by Document > Bill Text (1989-)

 

Westlaw:

Proposed & Enacted Legislation  Historical Proposed Legislation (Bills) (104th Congress, (1995-)) and Congressional Bills (current Congress)

 

Bills, Resolutions. Full text available in HTML format back to 101st Congress (1989-1990); in PDF format only to 103rd Congress (1993-1994). Metadata available to 93rd Congress (1973-1974).

Search Bill Text (1989-) (PDF 1993-)

Search Multiple Congresses

Browse Bills &Resolutions 

Congressional Bills

Narrow results by Congress (full text back to 103rd Congress (1993)) or Legislation Type > Bills


​FDsys: Congressional Bills (1993-) (PDF)