Current Congress

Almanac of American Politics
Lockwood Ref JK1012 .A44 (current edition)
http://library.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/Policy-Central.html
Profiles the district and the sitting members of Congress. For each member, the summarized ratings by public interest groups, committees served, key votes in congress, and election standings are provided. The presidential election standings for the district are also given.

CIS Congressional Universe
http://library.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/cis.html
From the main page, select "Members" to search for current members of Congress either by name ("Individual") or by selection of personal characteristics ("Profile").

Congressional Directory
Lockwood Reference Desk / UGL-SEL Reference JK 1011 (current edition)
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cdirectory/index.html
Covers phone numbers, addresses, and brief profiles of Senators and Representatives, committee memberships and committee staff, and maps of Congressional districts.

CQ's Politics in America
Lockwood Reference JK 1010 .P64 (current edition)
Profiles each congressperson's public life. For each, summarized ratings by public interest groups, committees served, key votes in congress, and election standings are provided. The presidential election standings for the district are also given.

Project VoteSmart: Current Candidates and Elected Officials
http://www.vote-smart.org/
Locate biograpies, voting records, issue positions and performance evaluations.

U.S. House of Representatives: Member Information
http://clerk.house.gov/members/index.html
This site provides contact information for U.S. Representatives, which can be generated by providing a name or a state.

U.S. Senate: Senators
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Retrieve U.S. Senators' contact information by name, state, or political party.

Previous Congresses

Almanac of American Politics
Lockwood Book Collection JK 1012 .A44 (1972-previous edition; current edition in Reference)
Profiles the district and the sitting members of Congress. For each member, the summarized ratings by public interest groups, committees served, key votes in congress, and election standings are provided. The presidential election standings for the district are also given.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress
Lockwood Reference JK 1010 .A5 1997 (1774-1996)
http://bioguide.congress.gov/biosearch/biosearch.asp (1774-present)
Provides a one-paragraph profile for every member of Congress. The print edition also lists, by Congress number, the names of the members in each Congress.

Black Americans in Congress, 1870-1989
Lockwood Book Collection E185.96 .R25 1990
Lockwood Documents US Y 1.1/ 7: 101-117
Gives a brief biographical profile.

Congressional Directory
Lockwood Documents US Y4.P93:1 (1883-present)
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cdirectory/index.html (1995-present)
Contact information and brief profiles of Senators and Representatives, committee memberships and committee staff, and maps of Congressional districts. Current edition kept in Lockwood/UGL-SEL Reference.

Congressional Quarterly's Politics in America
Lockwood Book Collection JK1010 .P64 (1990-present)
Profiles each congressperson's public life. For each, summarized ratings by public interest groups, committees served, key votes in congress, and election standings are provided. The presidential election standings for the district are also given. Current edition kept in Lockwood Reference.

House Leadership & Officers, 1789-present
http://clerk.house.gov/histHigh/Congressional_History/index.html
Links to lists of Speakers of the House, Clerks of the House, party whips, conference chairs, and house chaplains.

Women of Congress: A Twentieth-Century Odyssey
Lockwood Reference E747 .K37 1996
Gives profiles for 15 congress members plus overviews for others.

Women in Congress
Lockwood Book Collection JK1030.A2 W6 1991 (1917-1990)
Lockwood Documents US Y 1.1/ 7: 101-238 (1917-1990)
http://bioguide.congress.gov/congresswomen/index.asp (1917-present)
Gives a brief profile of each female member of Congress.

Return to Top

All general sources for biographical information can be useful when researching members of Congress. See the Arts & Sciences Libraries Subject Guide Biographical Information: Selected Resources ( http://library.buffalo.edu/libraries/asl/guides/biographical.html ). Also note the following:

CQ Electronic Library
http://library.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/cq.html
Comprised of two premier commercial publications dealing with Congress: CQ Weekly, which focuses primarily on legislative news and analysis; and CQ Researcher , which provides in-depth articles on major policy issues.

LexisNexis Academic
http://library.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/lexisnexis.html
The "News" search feature includes the full text of the Washington Post and New York Times (both excellent sources for legislative news), as well as many regional newspapers which may provide background information on their local congresspersons.

Politics & Elections: Selected Resources
http://library.buffalo.edu/libraries/asl/guides/busdoc/elections.html
Includes links to sites with information about current members of Congress as well as other candidates.

Return to Top

Congressional Record
Lockwood Documents US X 1.1: (1873-present)
Lockwood Documents US X/a: (current edition)
http://library.buffalo.edu/libraries/asl/guides/busdoc/congress.html#cong (online access and print editions pre-1873)
Locate references to legislation sponsored by a particular member through the index. Page references are listed under the members' names within sub-headings "Bills and resolutions introduced by" or "...co-sponsored by" . Note that, for the current edition, the index is a separate publication with the call number Lockwood Documents US X/congress #/1:.

Congressional Universe
http://library.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/cis.html
101st Congress (1989) - present
From the main page, select "Members", then "Bills Sponsored" to search for legislation sponsored by a particular congressperson.

History of Bills and Resolutions via GPO Access
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/hob/index.html (1983-present)
All bills introduced in the Congress are listed in this section of the Congressional Record ; each entry contains the sponsor's name. Include the phrase AND "public law" in a search for a member's name in order to limit results to bills that became public law.

THOMAS: Bill Summary & Status
http://thomas.loc.gov/bss/d109query.html
93rd Congress (1973) - present
Search by sponsor/cosponsor, with options to limit by subject keyword/phrase and/or stage in the legislative process.

Return to Top

Congressional Record
Lockwood Documents US X 1.1: (1873-previous edition)
Lockwood Documents US X/a: (current edition)
http://library.buffalo.edu/libraries/asl/guides/busdoc/congress.html#cong (online access and print editions pre-1873)
Page references to roll calls are indexed under "Votes in the House" or "Votes in the Senate". Under these headings, recorded votes are listed by the title of the legislation. Note that, for the current edition, the index is a separate publication with the call number Lockwood Documents US X/congress #/1:.

Congressional Universe
http://library.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/cis.html
100th Congress (1987) - present
From the main search screen, select "Members". Voting records can be retrieved here either by member name ("Key Votes"), or by bill number/subject keyword ("Votes").

House of Representatives Roll Call Votes
http://clerk.house.gov/legisAct/votes.html
101st Congress (1990) - present
The Office of the Clerk of the House maintains this list of roll call votes, presented in reverse chronological order for a particular Congress. If you do not know the date of the vote, use the search feature for Summary and Status Information about Bills and Resolutions ( http://thomas.loc.gov/home/search.html ); where available, roll call votes are linked to the bill summary under "All Congressional Actions".

Voting Records of Members of Congress
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/legbranch/otherleg.html#vote
This Library of Congress page links to selected non-governmental Web sites which report on voting records.

Return to Top

Congressional Record
Lockwood Documents US X 1.1: (1873-previous edition)
Lockwood Documents US X/a: (current edition)
http://library.buffalo.edu/libraries/asl/guides/busdoc/congress.html#cong (public online access and print editions pre-1873)
Page references to floor statements are indexed under the members' names within the sub-heading "Statements". Other subheadings cover actions like; "Amendments", "Articles", "Editorials", and "Bills and resolutions introduced by", etc. Note that, for the current edition, the index is a separate publication with the call number Lockwood Documents US X/Congress #/1:.

Congressional Record via Congressional Universe
http://library.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/cis.html
99th Congress (1985) - present
To retrieve the full text of statements made in Congress by a particular senator or representative, select "Members", then "Floor Statements". Limit the list of results by keywords with the "Focus" feature at the top of the screen.

Return to Top

Campaign Finance Reports and Data (Federal Election Commission)
http://www.fec.gov/
1999/2000 election cycle - present (Disclosure database search)
1997 - present (electronic filings available for download)
1993 - present (image scans of paper filings)
The Federal Election Commission maintains the official site for information about campaign contributions. Its Disclosure Data Search ( http://www.fec.gov/finance/disclosure/disclosure_data_search.shtml ) allows users to search for contributions received by a specific candidate or committee, as well as amounts donated by private individuals. In addition, the Candidate and PAC/Party Summaries option ( http://www.fec.gov/finance/disclosure/srssea.shtml ) allows several advanced search features, including the ability to retrieve summary finance data for multiple candidates (for example, all the members of a certain political party within one or more specified states).

Congressional Universe
http://library.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/cis.html
1989/90 election cycle - present
From the main menu, select "Members", then "Campaign Contributions" to search for information about the monetary contributions that a particular senator or representative has received from Political Action Committees (PACs) and individual donors. In addition, the "Campaign Finance" feature retrieves an individual member's filing with the Federal Election Committee.

Political MoneyLine (formerly FECInfo)
http://www.tray.com/FECInfo/
1979/80 election cycle - present
This private, independent site allows users to search for campaign finance information by a particular candidate ("US House Sen and Pres Campaigns"). The database also features quick links to "Opponent Summary Information".

Open Secrets: U.S. Congress Profiles
http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/index.asp
1995/96 election cycle - present
Member results may be retrieved by name or state. The Congressional Profile for each member links to summary information about campaign finance. This site is maintained by the private, non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics.

Return to Top

Each year, members of Congress are required to provide information regarding their earned income, honoraria income, assets, gifts, travel costs paid for by outside interests, liabilities, transactions, and positions or partnerships with outside organizations. These annual personal financial disclosure reports (PFDs) are published as congressional documents, but are not made publicly available through either GPO Access ( http://www.gpoaccess.gov ) or THOMAS ( http://thomas.loc.gov ). Individuals may request copies of PFDs from the public records offices of both the House of Representatives ( http://clerk.house.gov/pd/financial.html ) and the U.S. Senate ( http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/one_item_and_teasers/opr.htm ).

The University Libraries have selected financial disclosure reports from the House of Representatives on microfiche (1978-95); conduct a title search in BISON: The UB Libraries Catalog for "financial disclosure reports" and consult the volume holdings (call numbers vary).

More recent reports may be found through private entities which obtain copies of PFDs and make them available to users:

Congressional Universe
http://library.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/cis.html (current UB username/password required for off-campus access)
In the "Members" section, use the "Financial Disclosures" feature to retrieve, by member name, information from the PFDs. Coverage is from 1990-present.

Open Secrets : Personal Financial Disclosure Reports
http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/
The private, non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics provides image scans of incumbents' PFDs from 1995-present.

Return to Top