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Congressional Record

After each day that Congress is in session, the proceedings are printed in the Congressional Record (CR) and available the following morning. New daily issues, reporting business from the previous day if either the House or Senate or both met, are usually available by 10:00 am. Late availability, often due to a late night Congressional session, is announced on the Most Recent Issue page.

Daily Congressional proceedings may include legislative activity by the chambers and their committees, Member remarks, communications from the president, and more. Note that official records of House and Senate actions are recorded in their respective journals.

The CR has been published by the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), since 1873. Before 1873, records of congressional proceedings were kept under various titles: Annals of Congress, Register of Debates and Congressional Globe, the latter of which provides narrative history.

Senate.gov features a digital library of Résumés of Congressional Activity dating from 1947. And, Century of Lawmaking, provides full-text access to the “permanent edition” of the CR, and its previous titles, from 1789-1875 (1st through the 43rd Congresses).

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You may also be interested in:
The Declaration of Independence
The Federalist Papers
The Constitution of the United States
The Bill of Rights