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Alerts Help

Alerts are emails sent to you when a measure (bill or resolution), nomination, or member profile has been updated with new information, or when your saved search has new or changed results.

Updates to actions, bill text, cosponsors, or summaries will trigger a legislation alert.

Nomination alerts are sent when a new action is added.

Member alerts are sent when a member sponsors or cosponsors a bill. Note: Set up an alert on the bill, not the member, to be alerted to later changes to the bill.

The Congressional Record alert notifies you when the latest issue is available on Congress.gov.

Saved search alerts are sent whenever your saved search results change.

How to set up alerts for Legislation, Nominations and Member Profiles

  1. Sign in once each time you open your browser for the first time by selecting the red Sign In link found at the top right of the home page. (New user? Register now.) Check the Remember Me box to remain signed in between browser sessions until you sign out or clear your browser cookies.
  2. Find a bill, resolution, nomination or member profile of interest by searching or browsing.
  3. Select the Get Alerts link located under the measure title, nomination main heading or member's name above the overview.
  4. Select the Confirm link on the popover.
  5. Alert emails will be sent to you once there is new data added to Congress.gov. You will not receive an email if no new information has been added to the item you are tracking. Alert emails are generated at 8:30 AM and 1 PM (Eastern Time), although delivery time to your inbox may be impacted by your mail server.

How to set up alerts for the Congressional Record

  1. Sign in once each time you open your browser for the first time by selecting the red Sign In link found at the top right of the home page. (New user? Register now.) Check the Remember Me box to remain signed in between browser sessions until you sign out or clear your browser cookies.
  2. Go to the Congressional Record page by selecting the link to the right of the Congress.gov logo.
  3. Select the Get Alerts link located under the Congressional Record banner.
  4. Select the Confirm link on the popover.
  5. An alert email will be sent to you when the Congressional Record has been updated, usually by 10 AM (Eastern Time). The Congressional Record may be delayed due to a late night Congressional session.

How to set up alerts for a Saved Search

  1. Sign in once each time you open your browser for the first time by selecting the red Sign In link found at the top right of the home page. (New user? Register now.) Check the Remember Me box to remain signed in between browser sessions until you sign out or clear your browser cookies.
  2. Compose and run a search from any Congress.gov search page, against any collection or combination of collections.
  3. Save the search by selecting the Save this Search link at the top left of the search results page.
  4. Enter a title (i.e., name) for your search, and if desired, a description. Select the Save button. If you already have a search with the same title, you will be prompted to choose a unique title
  5. Select Get Alerts from the confirmation message that appears when your search has been successfully saved.
  6. To request alerts for previously saved searches, click on the Your Saved Searches link at the top of any search results page or click on your sign in name at the top right of the page, then select Saved Searches.
  7. Find the search you wish to receive alerts on and select the Get Alerts link at the end of the row. Click on the Confirm button in the confirmation message.

Note: When using the Query Builder to create a saved search alert for a search that includes a date field, such as Legislation Latest Action, you should not select the shortcuts 'yesterday', 'last 7 days', or 'last 30 days'. The search will be saved with the actual dates at the time you save the search. The date will not change each day like it would if you were manually executing the search.

Choosing What to Track for Legislation Saved Searches

For saved searches from the legislation homepage search form or advanced search form, you can choose which changes to items in your search results you want to track.

  1. After selecting Get Alerts from the confirmation message that appears when you save a search executed from the legislation homepage search form or advanced search form, you will see the Track Changes popover box.
  2. Click on the box to the left of each item you wish to track in your alerts. Choose from among cosponsors, actions, related bills, amendments, committees, titles, summary, subjects, new text versions, and CBO cost estimates. Use the Check All box at the bottom of the popover to track all parameters. Note that tracking amendments will alert you when a new amendment has been proposed to a bill included in your search results. It will not track changes to the amendment itself.
  3. Select Confirm Alerts at the bottom right of the popover to complete your alert set up. Click OK on the confirmation message.
  4. To choose specific parameters to track for previously saved searches, click on the Your Saved Searches link at the top of any search results page or click on your sign in name at the top right of the page, then select Saved Searches.
  5. Find the search you wish to receive alerts on and select the Get Alerts link at the end of the row. If the saved search for which you are requesting alerts was saved from the legislation homepage search form or advanced search form, you will see the Track Changes popover box. Follow steps 2-3 above to complete your alert set up.
  6. Use the Edit Alert link in the Alerts column on the Saved Searches page to change which parameters you are tracking in your alerts. You also can access your saved search alerts by clicking on your sign in name at the top right of the page and selecting Alerts. Only alerts marked Saved Legislation Search will display the Edit Alerts link.

How to cancel alerts

  1. Sign in once each time you open your browser for the first time by selecting the red Sign In link found at the top right of the home page. Check the Remember Me box to remain signed in between browser sessions until you sign out or clear your browser cookies.
  2. Select your sign in name that appears in red at the top right of the page and select Alerts.
  3. Locate the alert you wish to cancel and select the Cancel Alert link on the same line.
  4. Another way to cancel an alert is to go to the bill, resolution, nomination or member profile page on which you have set up an alert, or to the Congressional Record main page, and select the Cancel Alerts link.

RSS Notifications

Congress.gov also offers RSS feeds, which can be received via email as well as through your browser's RSS feed reader, for Most-Viewed Bills, Search Tips, Appropriations Tables, Bill Presented to the President, On the House Floor Today, On the Senate Floor Today, Congress.gov Notifications (news about the site) and In Custodia Legis: Law Librarians of Congress. See RSS and Email Alerts for details and to sign up.