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Congressional Record: About

The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published daily when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record began publication in 1873, and is still published today.

NOTE: Debates for sessions prior to 1873 are recorded in The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States (1789-1824), the Register of Debates in Congress (1824-1837), and the Congressional Globe (1833-1873). These can be accessed through A Century of Lawmaking For a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates.

The public proceedings of each House of Congress, as reported by the Official Reporters thereof, are printed pursuant to directions of the Joint Committee on Printing as authorized by appropriate provisions of Title 44, United States Code, excepting very infrequent instances when two or more unusually small consecutive issues are printed one time. The Laws and Rules for Publication of the Congressional Record are published periodically. PDF | ASCII text

The Congressional Record consists of four sections:

• Daily Digest,
• House section,
• Senate section,
• Extension of Remarks.

At the back of each daily issue is the "Daily Digest," which summarizes the day's floor and committee activities and serves as a table of contents for each issue. The House and Senate sections contain proceedings for the separate chambers of Congress. Finally, the Extension of Remarks includes tributes, statements, and other information that supplements statements made on the Congressional floor.

With the exception of copyrighted articles, there are no restrictions on the republication of material from the Congressional Record.

GPO Access contains Congressional Record volumes from 140 (1994) to the present. The current year’s Congressional Record database is usually updated daily by 11 a.m., except when a late adjournment delays production of the issue. Documents are available in ASCII text and Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). The date of the publication refers to the date the proceedings were recorded, not necessarily the date of delivery.

Following each session of Congress, the daily Congressional Record is revised, printed, permanently bound and sold by the Superintendent of Documents in individual parts or by sets. The Bound Congressional Record is also available online via GPO Access.

To place an order for any of these products, visit the U.S. Government Online Bookstore. The Congressional Record paper and 24x microfiche edition will be furnished by mail to subscribers, free of postage. The semimonthly Congressional Record Index may be purchased for the same per issue prices.

A service of the U.S. Government Printing Office.

Last updated: April 9, 2007
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