You can search Congress.gov using the global search bar, a collection-specific search form, or advanced search. Advanced search gives you the option of using a form optimized for legislation, a query builder for customized searches, or a command line entry box for using SOLR query syntax.
From the search bar, current Congress items are searched by default. When a user enters keywords into the search bar, the user is presented with the option to limit the search to All Sources or Legislation in the current Congress. Legislation includes summary and status information (metadata) and full text for bills, resolutions, and amendments. To change the scope of your search by source (also known as collection), choose one from the selection list to the left of the search entry box. Options include:
Current Congress
All Congresses
Legislation
Committee Materials
Congressional Record
Members (profiles)
Nominations
About pages explain the contents of each collection. Coverage Dates for Congress.gov Collections identifies years and Congresses included in each collection and notes the usual schedule for daily updates.
Searching by Number
Bill, resolution and amendment numbers include an alphabetical prefix and a number. Committee reports include an alphabetical prefix, Congress number and report number. Public laws include an alphabetical prefix, Congress number and law number.
To search, enter the prefix and number with or without spaces and periods, and in upper or lowercase. From the search bar use the field label cite: to eliminate hits on related bills or bill numbers in summaries. For example, cite:”hr933″.
A space between two words defaults to the AND operator.
Use OR between search terms to retrieve results containing at least one of the terms.
Use AND between search terms to retrieve results containing both terms.
Use NOT before a search term to retrieve results that do not contain that term. You can substitute a minus sign (-) for NOT.
Note: Use with caution as it is easy to eliminate relevant results unintentionally.
Use the required operator (+) before a search term to retrieve results that contain that term.
Use the proximity operator (~) to find two or more words within a specified distance of each other. Enter your search terms enclosed in quotation marks, followed by ~ and a number, to indicate how near your search terms should be to each other. For example, “John Kennedy”~3
Note: The proximity operator does not specify order.
Use ? in the middle or at the end of a word to indicate a single character ‘wildcard’. Finds results that include the search term with a single character variant.
Use * in the middle or end of a word to indicate a multiple character ‘wildcard’. Finds results that include the search term with zero or more character variants.
Use a field label to control where your search term or phrase is found. For example, to retrieve legislation with the word ‘snap’ in the title, type title:snap in the search box.
Field searching is available from the search bar and the advanced search command line. Search tools lists fields by collection and includes examples.
Search forms provide selection lists for searching sponsors, cosponsors, committees and actions.
For instructions on using fields, operators, and citations, see Search Tools.
Using Filters
Filters provide a way to narrow, or reduce, your set of search results by selecting additional search criteria from among those available in your initial result set. Filters are hidden by default on search form results. Click on Show Filters to display. To learn more about specific filters available in Congress.gov, see Refining Search Results with Filters.
Using Search Forms
Collection-specific search forms can be accessed by selecting MORE OPTIONS underneath the search box. Select a collection from the list on the left. Enter words and phrases in the search box at the top of the form, where the search box appears when the form is closed. Select or enter other search criteria then click the blue Search button on the lower right.
From search results, select EDIT THIS SEARCH, not your browser’s Back function, to open the correct search form and modify your search criteria.
To start a new search, click the Reset button next to the Search button on the lower right. Reset clears selections and entries from the search form but does not remove the results of your previous search. Search results are replaced when you execute your new search.
Note: Clicking on the Congress.gov logo at the top of the page will take you to the Congress.gov homepage, but will not reset any search forms.
Navigating Search Results
Search results pages offer multiple controls for you to customize what is displayed.
Show/Hide Filters
Click on the Show Filters box at the top left of your search results to display filters, also known as facets, which allows you to choose additional criteria to expand or narrow your results. Click on Hide Filters to conceal the filter display. Hiding filters is useful when you want to print a list of your search results.
Show/Hide Tracker
Click on the Show Tracker box at the top left of your search results to display the Tracker for each bill or resolution in your results set. The Tracker provides a quick view of the progress of a measure. Click on Hide Tracker to conceal the Tracker display.
Results per page
You can change the number of search results displayed on a page by clicking on the down arrow next to the display of the number of items per page, and selecting a new option from 25, 50, 100 or 250 per page. The default is 100 results per page.
Sort
You can change the way your search results are sorted by clicking on the down arrow next to the Sort by display and choosing from among the sort options listed. Sort options will vary depending on which collection or group of collections you are searching.
Expanded/Compact View
You can change the appearance of the display of each item in your search results list by clicking on the arrow next to the View display and choosing between Compact and Expanded. The Expanded view shows more whitespace between the lines of each search result as well as a red box at the top of each item that indicates what type of item it is, such as Bill, Resolution or Nomination. The Compact view closes up the whitespace and hides the red box for each item, allowing you to see more results on your screen without scrolling.
Default views
Search bar – expanded view, sorted by relevancy, displaying filters and tracker.
Search forms – compact view, sorted by relevancy, hidden filters and tracker.
Advanced search form for legislation – expanded view, sorted by relevancy, hidden filters and tracker.
Query builder – expanded view, sorted by Latest Action – Newest to Oldest, displaying filters and tracker.
Command line search – expanded view, sorted by Date – Newest to Oldest, displaying filters and tracker.
Viewing Individual Items
To view an item from your search results list, click on the item’s number (citation). You can click on the All Actions link at the end of the Latest Action to go directly to the Actions tab for that item.
To move to the next or previous item in your search results list, use the arrows that are on the top right of the item display. If you change tabs, you will remain on the same tab when you move to the next item in the results set.
Use the BACK TO RESULTS link located on the left to return to the list view of your search results.
Using Search Within
After executing a search from the search bar, you can narrow your results by searching within your results set. Check Search Within on the right of the search bar and enter your additional search terms. All of your search terms, original and additional, will be displayed at the top of your results. You can remove any term from your search by clicking on it.
From a committee profile, check Search Within to search only legislation and committee reports associated with that committee. Senate committee profiles also include nominations, executive communications, and treaty documents (where applicable).
From a member profile, check Search Within to search only legislation (bills, resolutions, and amendments) sponsored or cosponsored by the member.
Filters and Search Within can be used together.
After executing a search from a search form, you can narrow or expand your results set by adding or deleting criteria from the search form at the top of the results page.
Word Variants and Case
When searching in the Words and Phrases box on a search form or Advanced search form, you have two controls for expanding or narrowing your search query.
Word Variants is a way to specify if you want plurals and other common forms of your word or words to be included in your search. For example, a search for ‘assist’ also returns results for ‘assists’, ‘assisted’, ‘assisting’, ‘assistance’ and ‘assistive’. Likewise, a search for ‘assistance’ also returns results for ‘assist’, ‘assists’, ‘assisted’, ‘assisting’, and ‘assistive’.
Irregular forms are not included. For example, ‘child’ will not return results for ‘children’. ‘Goose’ will not return results for ‘geese’.
Word Variants is turned on by default. Uncheck the box to turn off Word Variants and search only the word or words entered.
Case Sensitive is a way to specify that you want to search for the word or words in the exact case (upper, lower or mixed) that you have typed. This control is especially useful if you are searching for an acronym that is also a common word, such as AIDS or FAST.
Case Sensitive is turned off by default. Check the box to turn on Case Sensitive searching.
