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This tutorial will show you how to find current
federal bills.
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Through thomas.loc.gov, the Library of Congress
makes federal legislative information freely
available to the public, including information on
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bills. For a basic search, enter your search
term here.
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To search for a phrase, use quotation marks
around your terms, such as "child welfare." And
hit Search.
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Results will show the bill numbers - H.R. for
House bill and S. for Senate bill, the title of the
legislation, the sponsor, the committees that
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have seen this bill, and the latest major action.
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Click on the bill number for more information
about the bill.
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This will bring you to the bill summary and
status page, which contains basic information
again, such as the title, the sponsors, links to
the co-sponsors, the date introduced, and the
latest actions.
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It also includes links to the full text of the
legislation, and all congressional actions, also
known as the "bill history."
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It also includes a CRS summary, committees,
and so on. Click on "All Congressional
Actions."
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The All Actions page will list every action, by
date, that has been taken on this bill, such as
committee referrals, debates, testimony, votes,
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and so on.
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This has been how to search for current bills in
the federal government at the THOMAS web
site. Thanks so much for watching!
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If you have any questions or comments, contact
us by telephone, email, text, via live chat on the
library's homepage, or visit us in person.
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To replay the One-Minute Mentor tutorial, click
on the arrow once the video has stopped.