policy committees - Each party policy committee provides research and other services to senators and also serves as a forum for discussion of party legislative strategy. Each policy committee holds weekly lunches for party members, and the Senate normally takes a recess to allow senators to attend.
Congressional Sessions lists all Congresses and corresponding years - from 1789, when the 1st Congress met, through the current Congress.
You can access legislative information, by bill number or key words, from the THOMAS Web site. Information from the present back to the 93rd Congress (1973) is available on THOMAS.
For information on the Senate, Congress, the legislative process and the federal government, the Virtual Reference Desk is a good place to begin.