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Political Science: Legislative Branch
The U.S. Congress
President Barack Obama addressing a joint session of Congress on September 9, 2009.
(Attributed to Lawrence Jackson; United States Congress, Wikimedia Commons)
CQ Press Congress Collection
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CQ Congress CollectionThe Congressional Quarterly Congress Collection is a research and reference tool allowing an historical analysis of members of Congress, their legislative voting behavior, interest groups, and their interactions in crafting public policy. This subscription is limited to five simultaneous users. Please logout when finished.
The Legislative Branch of the Government
Encyclopedia of the United States Congress
JK 1021 .D48 2007 (Reference)
This one-volume work, published by Facts on File, contains over 450 entries providing a wealth of information about the U.S. Congress. Topics range from the constitutional role of Congress to significant legislation to historical and current members.
Major Acts of Congress
KF 154 .M35 2004 (Reference)
A 3-volume set presenting concise information on 262 significant pieces of legislation passed by the U.S. Congress from 1789 to 2003. Includes photographs, illustrations, a select bibliography and Internet resources.
CQ's Politics in America
JK 1012 .P64 (Reference Desk Collection)
Includes profiles of all members of the U.S. Congress, along with analysis of their personalities, political styles, legislative agendas and political ambitions. Includes information about districts, campaign finance, standing committees, and partisan caucuses.
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U.S. House of Representaties Home PageProvides a House directory, along with links to members, committee, and leadership offices in the House. Also describes current legislation in the House this week, what bills are pending and under discussion, and roll call votes.
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U.S. Senate Home PageHas links to senators, committees, committee hearing schedules, what has been happening on the floor, legislative activities, and Senate history.
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Almanac of American PoliticsProvides information about each electoral district in the U.S., brief biographies of each representative and senator, voting behavior, and a statistical snapshot of each district. Also includes key votes in Congress, results from special and interim elections, important committee changes, and election forecasts and results.
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Congress.govCongress.gov is the Library of Congress's congressional information system. Information of legislation from the 103rd Congress (1993) to the present is available. Each piece of legislation has a landing page with links to a summary, major actions, titles, amendments, cosponsors, committees, and related bills. The actions, amendments and cosponsors information for a bill can be filtered by useful criteria such as major actions, votes, amendment status, and cosponsor state and party.
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Legislative Insight: Major LawsMajor Laws is a subset of ProQuest Legislative Insight, which provides resources for studying the process by which a bill becomes a law. Includes digital full text primary source documents related to major laws enacted through US history including the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, USA Patriot Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and many others.
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ProQuest Congressional PublicationsProvides access to information about the U S Congress, including: Legislative Histories (1969-Present), Bills & Laws (1789-Present), Vote Report (1987-Present), and Hearings (1824-Present).
Meet Your Librarian
Email: maria.perez-stable@wmich.edu
Telephone: 269-387-5322
OFFICE HOURS for Spring 2018:By appointment