Social Policy Resources

Welcome to the Social Policy Research Guide! Within this guide, you will find information and links to Social Policy related resources that you may find useful for your classwork and research.

Finding Legislation-Federal

The links below will connect you to federal legislative resources relevant to social policy research.

U.S. Congress-Legislation

Congress.gov
Congress.gov is the official website for U.S. federal legislative information. The site provides access to accurate, timely, and complete legislative information for Members of Congress, legislative agencies, and the public.
more...less...
On the main page, the default search is for current legislation. You can change the pull-down menu on the left to "All Legislation." Enter your keywords, topic, e.g., "mental health," "child nutrition," etc. On the results page, use the facets on the left to limit your search to specific Congresses and legislation type, e.g., "Status of Legislation."
Congressional Publications
For current legislation, enter your search terms and select only Bills and Laws from the facets on the left. Also make sure you limit by Congress-the current Congress is the 116th.
For enacted legislation, select Legislative Histories and search by keyword or act name.
To search by bill number, public law, etc., go here.
GovTrack.us
To search, on the left, enter your keyword(s), select a Congressional term and current status. Alternatively, select a Congressional term, scroll down and select a subject. You can also browse by subject: From the home page (www.govtrack.us), select "Bills and Resolutions" and then select the "By Subject" tab.
Active Legislation-Current Congress

U.S. Congress-Committee Reports

Committee reports are analyses and recommendations regarding legislation, and are very useful for ascertaining the purpose or intent of a bill. When the House and Senate cannot reconcile their different versions of the bill, a committee with members from both houses works out a compromise and issues a conference committee report.

Congressional Publications
Enter your search terms and make sure you select only House and Senate Reports from the facets on the left.
Or you can go here and search by public law, statute at large, or bill number, and then narrow your results to House & Senate Reports.
Congress.gov
On the main page, change the pull-down menu on the left to "Committee Reports."
You can enter keywords from the report title,e.g., "children's safety act," or enter the report number, e.g., 109-218.
govinfo:Congressional Reports, Advanced Search
Select your collection (in this case, reports) and enter your keywords.
govinfo: Congressional Reports
You can only browse on this site, and you will need to drill down.

U.S. Congress-Hearings

Congressional Publications
Select Hearings, 1824-present, from the facets on the left, and search by keyword.
Links are provided for the fulltext of hearings up to 2003. Hearings after 2003, note the title and use the links below.
govinfo:Congressional Reports, Advanced Search
Select your collection (in this case, reports) and enter your keywords.
govinfo:Congressional Hearings
You will need to drill down in this database, and it helps if you know which committee had the hearing and the Congress.
Senate Committees
The committee websites may have links to selected hearings (both published and unpublished), and date coverage varies.
House Committees
The committee websites may have links to selected hearings (both published and unpublished), and date coverage varies.

Other Sources for Finding Legislation

CQ Researcher This link opens in a new window
Library database that covers the most important and controversial issues of the day. Contains the full text of CQ Researcher, a weekly publication. Each issue provides a comprehensive overview and background essay, data tables and graphs, chronology, pro-con starter, and list of major research and advocacy groups. Includes extensive lists of sources and hot-linked footnotes throughout.

NASW Advocacy
NASW's key federal and state issues. Select the Washington Update link.

University of Houston Libraries

Social Policy Resources

Finding Legislation-Federal

U.S. Congress-Legislation

U.S. Congress-Committee Reports

U.S. Congress-Hearings

Other Sources for Finding Legislation

Search

Two-Minute Tips for using Congress.gov

Librarian

Related Guides

Remote Access