Guidance for Developers Using Congress.gov Data Offsite

Congress.gov provides multiple ways for developers to consume and use its data offsite.

Congress.gov API

Congress.gov provides a public application programming interface (API) for Congress and the public to view, retrieve, and reuse machine-readable data from collections available on Congress.gov.  Sign up for an API key here.

Congress.gov maintains a GitHub repository for the API with the following resources:

• User guides and documentation on available API endpoints
• Change log listing changes to the API, impacted endpoints, and the expected production release date
• Python and Java sample client code for users to build their code base upon
• An issue tracker where users can create an issue to give feedback, report problems or request new endpoints

While the Congress.gov API is the preferred source for use by developers, the sitemap provides another way to generate a current list of all bills and other material on Congress.gov.

Be aware that disregarding the disallow rules in https://www.congress.gov/robots.txt will cause you to be blocked from using Congress.gov.

Bill Status Bulk Data

Congress.gov Bill Status data is available from GPO’s bulk data repository and govinfo API.

Bill Status data includes all data from the existing Bill Summaries data set. Bill Status data references and compliments the Congressional Bills data set. Consult the Bill Status XML Bulk Data user guide for more in-depth information about Bill Status data.

Bill Status bulk data may be imported into spreadsheets and databases. You will find it easier to do if you have some experience working with XML data.

More information regarding Congressional bulk data from the House and Senate:

• Legislative Documents in XML at the United States House of Representatives
• XML Sources Available on Senate.gov

Availability of Bill Status data is a joint effort by the Government Publishing Office (GPO), the Library of Congress (LOC), the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, and the Office of the Secretary of the Senate. The Technology Timeline on the Legislative Branch Innovation Hub highlights similar and complementary legislative branch agency efforts.

Download Your Search Results

Learn how to download your search results from Congress.gov for any search against a single collection.

Embed the Search Box on Your Website

Copy code to websites to allow users to perform Congress.gov searches on your website.

Place a Congress.gov search box like this on your website:

<p><form method=”get” target=”_top” role=”search” action=” https://congress.gov/search” ><div id=”search-wrapper” class=”search_wrapper”><div class=”search_formats”><select id=”search-format” name=”search-source”><optgroup label=”Search by Congress”><option value=”current-congress”>Current Congress</option><option value=”all-congresses”>All Congresses</option></optgroup><optgroup label=”Search by Source”><option value=”legislation”>Legislation</option><option value=”committee-materials”>Committee Materials</option><option value=”congrecord”>Congressional Record</option><option value=”members”>Members</option><option value=”nominations”>Nominations</option></optgroup></select><input id=”search” type=”text” class=”locsuggest” name=”q” placeholder=”Examples: hr5, sres9, &quot;health care&quot;” value=””><button class=”search_submit” id=”search-submit” type=”submit”>GO</button></div></div></form> </p>