Introducing the congress.gov API

September 8, 2022 9:40 AM

The law librarians of Congress:

Congress.gov is a fantastic source of legislative information, and a marvelous source for investigating specific legislation and exploring the legislative history of a bill.
[T]oday we are introducing the beta Congress.gov API which will provide access to accurate and structured congressional data… As with all Congress.gov products, we have worked to provide documentation about the API as well. In this case there is documentation, user guides, a change log that details changes to the API, and opportunities for feedback. To use the API you must first get an API key.

posted by Going To Maine (8 comments total)

YESSSSSSSSSS
posted by brainwane at 10:06 AM on September 8, 2022 [4 favorites]

I was half imagining that last link would just lead to a page saying: first collect 600 signatures and submit a petition to your local congress-person.
posted by piyushnz at 10:10 AM on September 8, 2022 [1 favorite]

I use Congress.gov a lot. Not sure if I have a use case for the API, but good to know it's there. Really interested in seeing how people will use it.
posted by gemmy at 10:17 AM on September 8, 2022 [1 favorite]

Related: Since 2018, the work of the Congressional Research Service, "known as Congress' think tank," has been available to the public. (Making the reports publicly available took only 40 years.)
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 10:25 AM on September 8, 2022 [7 favorites]

GO LIBRARIANS!
posted by winesong at 10:30 AM on September 8, 2022 [7 favorites]

I do a fair amount of research on 19th century law pertaining to distilled spirits (whiskey) and that occasions many forays into congressional records and tax legislation. Thank god for the LOC (and the assistance of some of the librarians by on-line request when I get really stumped) but these records often prove to be a huge pile of shifting sands. A bill introduced in the senate and house using different numbers and even names, then revised using another set of numbers and then finally, after resolution between the house and senate, being passed using yet one more. Also how docs containing legal code were named during the 19th changed whenever a new version came out---no one seemed to care, I guess until after the repeal of Prohibition when the CFR was finally created. I'll hold out hope things get better.
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 4:50 PM on September 8, 2022 [1 favorite]

If you like this, do let the Library know – a lot of people worked for years making it happen.
posted by adamsc at 8:14 PM on September 8, 2022 [4 favorites]

This is really great - I get email alerts from Congress.gov when my congressfolk sponsor or co-sponsor bills, and I would love to play with this API to see what I could learn.

(Better still, I'm sure smarter, better coders than I will be coming up with lots of cool uses for this in the very near future, and sharing that with the rest of us.)

This is a fantastic thing, and I am very glad to know about it. (And Mr.Know-it-some, that link to reports from the Congressional Research Service is also FANTASTIC.) Thank you, Going To Maine, for posting this!
posted by kristi at 8:29 AM on September 9, 2022 [1 favorite]