History of Bills

The History of Bills is a section of the Congressional Record Index that lists legislative actions on bills and resolutions with the pages of the Congressional Record where each action appears. Congress.gov links to it from a measure’s Actions tab (“Bill History — Congressional Record References”) for measures dating from 1995. It is a research tool for tracing what Congress did and where the record of it is printed.

Example: A researcher tracking a 1995-or-later bill on congress.gov can open its Actions tab and follow the “Bill History — Congressional Record References” link to the History of Bills entries showing when the measure was introduced, debated, and passed, with the Record page numbers (congress.gov help page).

Common misconception: The History of Bills is not a bill’s full legislative history. Committee reports, hearings, and other classic history sources are separate documents; the History of Bills covers only actions recorded in the Congressional Record.

Sources: About the Congressional Record Index | Congress.gov; Congressional Record Index | U.S. Senate