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GovTrack.us - General User Guide
<!doctype html> <html lang="en"> <head> <meta charset="utf-8"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <title>GovTrack.us - General User Guide</title> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="/favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon" /> <link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="180x180" href="/static/favicon/apple-touch-icon.png"> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="32x32" href="/static/favicon/favicon-32x32.png"> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="16x16" href="/static/favicon/favicon-16x16.png"> <link rel="manifest" href="/static/favicon/site.webmanifest"> <meta name="msapplication-TileColor" content="#9B2347"> <meta name="theme-color" content="#9B2347"> <link href="/static/vendor/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet"> <link href="/static/vendor/fontawesome/css/fontawesome.css" rel="stylesheet"> <link href="/static/vendor/fontawesome/css/solid.css" rel="stylesheet"> <link href="/static/vendor/fontawesome/css/brands.css" rel="stylesheet"> <link media="all" rel="stylesheet" href="/static/css/all-min.css?20241114" /> <meta name="description" content="" /> <meta name="keywords" content="" /> <meta name="robots" content="noai, noimageai"> <meta name="fediverse:creator" content="@govtrack@mastodon.social" /> <meta property="fb:app_id" content="119329904748946" /> <meta property="og:site_name" content="GovTrack.us" /> <meta property="og:image" content="https://www.govtrack.us/static/images/media_icon.png?20230729" /> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-GD8FT6MB9V"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; 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line-height: 1em; font-size: 11.75px; letter-spacing: -.25px;">Tracking Congress & the White House</div> </div> <button class="navbar-toggler" type="button" data-bs-toggle="collapse" data-bs-target="#navbarSupportedContent" aria-controls="navbarSupportedContent" aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Toggle navigation"> <span class="navbar-toggler-icon"></span> </button> <div class="collapse navbar-collapse" id="navbarSupportedContent"> <ul class="navbar-nav me-auto mb-2 mb-lg-0"> <li class="nav-item dropdown"> <a class="nav-link dropdown-toggle" href="#" role="button" data-bs-toggle="dropdown" aria-expanded="false"> Congress </a> <ul class="dropdown-menu"> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/congress/bills">Bills in Congress</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/congress/votes">Congressional Votes</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/posts">Coming Up, Recap, and Analysis</a></li> <li><hr class="dropdown-divider"></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/congress/members">Representatives & Senators</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/congress/members/map">Congressional Districts Map</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/congress/committees">Committees</a></li> <li><hr class="dropdown-divider"></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/misconduct">Misconduct Database</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/congress/members/missing">Missing Legislators</a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="nav-item dropdown"> <a class="nav-link dropdown-toggle" href="#" role="button" data-bs-toggle="dropdown" aria-expanded="false"> White House </a> <ul class="dropdown-menu"> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="https://substack.govtrack.us">White House Tracker Newsletter</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/congress/other-people/presidents">List of Presidents</a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="nav-item dropdown"> <a class="nav-link dropdown-toggle" href="#" role="button" data-bs-toggle="dropdown" aria-expanded="false"> Help </a> <ul class="dropdown-menu"> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/how-to-use">How To Use GovTrack</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/for-educators">For Educators</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/for-advocates">For Advocates</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/for-hill-staff">For Congressional Staff</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/for-journalists">For Journalists</a></li> <li><hr class="dropdown-divider"></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/how-a-bill-becomes-a-law">How does a bill become a law?</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/what-is-the-law">What is the law?</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/congressional-procedures">Congressional Procedures</a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="nav-item dropdown"> <a class="nav-link dropdown-toggle" href="#" role="button" data-bs-toggle="dropdown" aria-expanded="false"> About Us </a> <ul class="dropdown-menu"> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/about">About GovTrack.us</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/about-our-data">About Our Data</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/posts/news">Site News</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/press">Press Clips</a></li> <li><hr class="dropdown-divider"></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/reading-list">Books and Games We Recommend</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/congress/committees/game">Guess the Committee<i>!</i></a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> <form class="d-flex" role="search" name="header_search" action="/search"> <label for="master_search_q" class="sr-only">Search GovTrack for</label> <input class="form-control me-2" type="search" placeholder="bill, legislator, or keyword" aria-label="Search" id="master_search_q" name="q"> <button class="btn btn-outline-success" type="submit"><span class="fas fa-search"></span> <span class="sr-only">Search</span></button> </form> </div> </div> </nav> <div id="sitenewscontainer" class="navbar-default" > <div id="sitenews"> <a href="/posts/492/2025-04-04_house-stops-senate-goes">Legislative Recap April 4, 2025: <b>House Stops; Senate Goes</b> »</a> </div> <!-- /sitenews --> </div> <!-- /sitenewscontainer --> </div> <!-- /masthead --> <div id="breadcrumbs"> <div class="container"> </div> </div> <div id="maincontent" class="container"> <div id="content"> <h1>How To Use GovTrack</h1> <p>GovTrack.us tracks the United States Congress and helps Americans participate in their national legislature.</p> <p>We publish the status of federal legislation, information about your representative and senators in Congress including voting records, and original research on legislation. We’re one of the oldest government transparency websites in the world.</p> <h2><span>Who are my representatives?</span></h2> <p>Find out who represents you using our <a href="https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/map">Congressional Districts Map</a>, or by searching your address on our <a href="https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members">Members of Congress page</a>. Learn more about your representatives by viewing their GovTrack pages, as well as <a href="https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/report-cards/2019">legislative report cards</a> that compare the records of legislators every two years.<p> <h2><span>Find current and historical congressional activity</span></h2> <p>GovTrack includes bills and votes from as early as 1789. You can find any current bill in Congress on the <a href="https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/#find">Bill and Resolutions page</a>, or use <a href="https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/browse">GovTrack’s advanced search</a> to narrow down a list of bills to your exact interest. Learn about recent or historical votes on the <a href="https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes">Voting Records page</a>. Read more about <a href="https://www.govtrack.us/about-our-data">the data available on GovTrack here</a>.</p> <h2><span>Get and share automatic updates on Congress</span></h2> <p>Use <a href="https://www.govtrack.us/accounts/lists">tracker lists</a> to tailor your own email updates (and RSS feeds) to track updates on specific bills or bills in a subject area you choose, committee activities, or individual Members of Congress.</p> <p>Leave your own notes on legislative activity and share your lists to keep others in the loop about your legislative interests. Anyone with the right share link will be able to see your lists.</p> <p>To create a new list visit your tracker lists page. To add a new tracker to a list simply click on the green track button at the top of most any GovTrack page. You can make as many tracking lists as you like.</p> <h2><span>GovTrack’s original reporting on Congress</span></h2> <p>Explore unique data on Congress, like the <a href="https://www.govtrack.us/misconduct">Legislator Misconduct Database</a> and database of <a href="https://www.govtrack.us/congressional-procedures">Congressional Procedures, Rules, and Norms</a>. We also tracked <a href="https://www.govtrack.us/covid-19">COVID-19 cases in Congress</a>.</p> </div><!-- /content --> </div> <!-- /container --> </div> <!-- /#bodybody --> <footer id="footer"> <div class="container"> <div class="row"> <nav class="col-6 col-md-2"> <ul> <li><a href="/">Home</a></li> <li><a href="/about">About GovTrack</a></li> <li><a href="/about-our-data">About the Data</a></li> <li><a href="/contact">Contact Us</a></li> <li><a href="/legal">Privacy & Legal</a></li> </ul> </nav> <nav class="col-6 col-md-2"> <ul> <li><a href="/posts/news"><i class="fas fa-list fa-fw"></i>Site News</a></li> <li><a rel="me" href="https://mastodon.social/@GovTrack"><i class="fab fa-mastodon fa-fw"></i>Mastodon</a></li> <li><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/govtrack.us"><i class="fab fa-bluesky fa-fw"></i>Bluesky</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.patreon.com/govtrack"><i class="fas fa-dollar-sign fa-fw"></i><span>Patreon</span></a></li> <li><a href="https://github.com/govtrack"><i class="fab fa-github fa-fw"></i><span>GitHub</span></a></li> </ul> </nav> <section class="col-12 col-md-8"> <p>GovTrack helps everyone learn about and track the activities of the United States Congress and the White House. Launched more than 20 years ago, we’re one of the oldest government transparency and accountability websites on the Internet.</p> <p>This is a project of <a href="http://www.civicimpulse.com">Civic Impulse, LLC</a>. 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