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Congressional Record

February 15, 2024

The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress, published by the United States Government Publishing Office and issued when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record Index is updated daily online and published monthly. At the end of a session of Congress, the daily editions are compiled in bound volumes constituting the permanent edition. Chapter 9 of Title 44 of the United States Code authorizes publication of the Congressional Record.

A page from the February 12, 1999, edition of the Congressional Record, published during the impeachment trial of former President Bill Clinton. Formal citation: 1999 Congressional Record, Vol. 145, Page S1457 .
A page from the June 14 to 28, 1935, Congressional Record

The Congressional Record consists of four sections: the House section, the Senate section, the Extensions of Remarks, and, since the 1940s, the Daily Digest.[citation needed] At the back of each daily issue is the Daily Digest, which summarizes the day's floor and committee activities and serves as a table of contents for each issue. The House and Senate sections contain proceedings for the separate chambers of Congress.

A section of the Congressional Record titled Extensions of Remarks contains speeches, tributes and other extraneous words that were not uttered during open proceedings of the full Senate or of the full House of Representatives. Witnesses in committee hearings are often asked to submit their complete testimony "for the record" and only deliver a summary of it in person. The full statement will then appear in a printed volume of the hearing identified as "Statements for the Record". In years past, this particular section of the Congressional Record was called the "Appendix".[1] While members of either body may insert material into Extensions of Remarks, Senators rarely do so.[citation needed] The overwhelming majority of what is found there is entered at the request of Members of the House of Representatives. From a legal standpoint, most materials in the Congressional Record are classified as secondary authority, as part of a statute's legislative history.[citation needed]

By custom and rules of each house, members also frequently "revise and extend" their remarks made on the floor before the debates are published in the Congressional Record. Therefore, for many years, speeches that were not delivered in Congress appeared in the Congressional Record, including in the sections purporting to be verbatim reports of debates.[2] In recent years, however, these revised remarks have been preceded by a "bullet" symbol or, more recently and currently, printed in a typeface discernibly different from that used to report words spoken by members.

The Congressional Record is publicly available for records before 1875 via the Library of Congress' American Memory Century of Lawmaking website,[3] and since 1989 via Congress.gov (which replaced the THOMAS database in 2016).[4] Thanks to a partnership between GPO and the Library of Congress, digital versions of the bound editions are available on govinfo.gov for 1873 to 2001 (Volumes 1-147) and 2005 to 2015 (Volumes 151-161).[5] Govinfo.gov also provides access to digital versions of the daily edition from 1994 (Volume 140) to the present.[6]

History edit

In early United States history, there was no record of Congressional debates. The contemporary British Parliament from which Congress drew its tradition was a highly secretive body, and publishing parliamentary proceedings in Britain did not become legal until 1771.[7] The Constitution, in Article I, Section 5, requires Congress to keep a journal of its proceedings, but both the United States Senate Journal and the Senate Journal include only a bare record of actions and votes rather than records of debates.[8] In the first twenty years, Congress made frequent use of secret sessions. Beginning with the War of 1812, public sessions became commonplace.[7]

In the early 1800s, political reporting was dominated by National Intelligencer, the first newspaper of Washington, D.C. Newspapers with reporters in the chamber regularly published floor statements in their reports. Joseph Gales and William Seaton, the editors of the Intelligencer, became regular fixtures in the House and Senate Chambers.[9]

In 1824, Gales and Seaton began publishing the Register of Debates, the first series of publications containing congressional debates. The Register of Debates contains summaries of "leading debates and incidents" of the period rather than a verbatim debate transcript.[10] From 1834 to 1856, Gale and Seaton retroactively compiled the Annals of Congress, covering congressional debates from 1789 to 1824 using primarily newspaper accounts.[11]

When Andrew Jackson's Democrats came into power in congress around 1830, Gales and Seaton's popularity declined due to their differing views with the administration. The new printing partnership of Francis Preston Blair and John Cook Rives founded the Congressional Globe in 1833 with President Jackson's support. In 1837, Register of Debates ceased publication.[9]

In 1851, the Congressional Globe began publishing near-verbatim reports of debates thanks to the publication's heavy use of stenographers.[12][9]

The Congressional Record was first published in 1873.[3]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ . The Center on Congress Indiana University Bloomington. Archived from the original on July 19, 2015. Retrieved July 17, 2015.
  2. ^ Jenks, Paul; Hall, Will; Peake, Dan (December 16, 2005). . CongressLine. GalleryWatch. Archived from the original on July 21, 2015. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
  3. ^ a b "A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation". Library of Congress. May 1, 2003. Retrieved July 17, 2015.
  4. ^ "About the Congressional Record". Library of Congress. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
  5. ^ "About the Congressional Record (Bound Edition)". U.S. Government Information. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
  6. ^ "About the Congressional Record". U.S. Government Information. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
  7. ^ a b Forte, David; Spalding, Matthew; Meese, Edwin (2014). The Heritage Guide to the Constitution: Fully Revised Second Edition (2nd ed.). Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781621573524.
  8. ^ Handler, Nicholas (May 2019). "Rediscovering the Journal Clause: The Lost History of Legislative Constitutional Interpretation". University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law. 21: 1255–1294.
  9. ^ a b c "U.S. Senate: Reporters of Debate and the Congressional Record". www.senate.gov. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
  10. ^ "Register of Debates | Debates of Congress | Articles and Essays | A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates 1774-1875 | Digital Collections | Library of Congress". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
  11. ^ "Annals of Congress | Debates of Congress | Articles and Essays | A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates 1774-1875 | Digital Collections | Library of Congress". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
  12. ^ "Congressional Globe | Debates of Congress | Articles and Essays | A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates 1774-1875 | Digital Collections | Library of Congress". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved November 16, 2023.

External links edit

 
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Congressional Record
  • Search Congressional Record (starting from 1927) via congress.gov
  • Congressional Record Bound Edition (from 1873) via govinfo.gov
  • Congressional Record Daily Edition (from 1994) via govinfo.gov
  • Congressional Record Index (from 1983) via govinfo.gov
  • Overview of the Congressional Record and Its Predecessor Publications: A Research Guide
  • Sessions of Congress and Corresponding Debate Record Volume Numbers
  • Find Congressional Record in a Depository Library
  • Sources for the Congressional Record: Free and Commercial for people with access to libraries
  • U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875, containing the Annals of Congress, Register of Debates, Congressional Globe, and Congressional Record, hosted by the Library of Congress

February 15, 2024
congressional, record, official, record, proceedings, debates, united, states, congress, published, united, states, government, publishing, office, issued, when, congress, session, index, updated, daily, online, published, monthly, session, congress, daily, ed. The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress published by the United States Government Publishing Office and issued when Congress is in session The Congressional Record Index is updated daily online and published monthly At the end of a session of Congress the daily editions are compiled in bound volumes constituting the permanent edition Chapter 9 of Title 44 of the United States Code authorizes publication of the Congressional Record A page from the February 12 1999 edition of the Congressional Record published during the impeachment trial of former President Bill Clinton Formal citation 1999 Congressional Record Vol 145 Page S1457 A page from the June 14 to 28 1935 Congressional RecordThe Congressional Record consists of four sections the House section the Senate section the Extensions of Remarks and since the 1940s the Daily Digest citation needed At the back of each daily issue is the Daily Digest which summarizes the day s floor and committee activities and serves as a table of contents for each issue The House and Senate sections contain proceedings for the separate chambers of Congress A section of the Congressional Record titled Extensions of Remarks contains speeches tributes and other extraneous words that were not uttered during open proceedings of the full Senate or of the full House of Representatives Witnesses in committee hearings are often asked to submit their complete testimony for the record and only deliver a summary of it in person The full statement will then appear in a printed volume of the hearing identified as Statements for the Record In years past this particular section of the Congressional Record was called the Appendix 1 While members of either body may insert material into Extensions of Remarks Senators rarely do so citation needed The overwhelming majority of what is found there is entered at the request of Members of the House of Representatives From a legal standpoint most materials in the Congressional Record are classified as secondary authority as part of a statute s legislative history citation needed By custom and rules of each house members also frequently revise and extend their remarks made on the floor before the debates are published in the Congressional Record Therefore for many years speeches that were not delivered in Congress appeared in the Congressional Record including in the sections purporting to be verbatim reports of debates 2 In recent years however these revised remarks have been preceded by a bullet symbol or more recently and currently printed in a typeface discernibly different from that used to report words spoken by members The Congressional Record is publicly available for records before 1875 via the Library of Congress American Memory Century of Lawmaking website 3 and since 1989 via Congress gov which replaced the THOMAS database in 2016 4 Thanks to a partnership between GPO and the Library of Congress digital versions of the bound editions are available on govinfo gov for 1873 to 2001 Volumes 1 147 and 2005 to 2015 Volumes 151 161 5 Govinfo gov also provides access to digital versions of the daily edition from 1994 Volume 140 to the present 6 Contents 1 History 2 See also 3 References 4 External linksHistory editIn early United States history there was no record of Congressional debates The contemporary British Parliament from which Congress drew its tradition was a highly secretive body and publishing parliamentary proceedings in Britain did not become legal until 1771 7 The Constitution in Article I Section 5 requires Congress to keep a journal of its proceedings but both the United States Senate Journal and the Senate Journal include only a bare record of actions and votes rather than records of debates 8 In the first twenty years Congress made frequent use of secret sessions Beginning with the War of 1812 public sessions became commonplace 7 In the early 1800s political reporting was dominated by National Intelligencer the first newspaper of Washington D C Newspapers with reporters in the chamber regularly published floor statements in their reports Joseph Gales and William Seaton the editors of the Intelligencer became regular fixtures in the House and Senate Chambers 9 In 1824 Gales and Seaton began publishing the Register of Debates the first series of publications containing congressional debates The Register of Debates contains summaries of leading debates and incidents of the period rather than a verbatim debate transcript 10 From 1834 to 1856 Gale and Seaton retroactively compiled the Annals of Congress covering congressional debates from 1789 to 1824 using primarily newspaper accounts 11 When Andrew Jackson s Democrats came into power in congress around 1830 Gales and Seaton s popularity declined due to their differing views with the administration The new printing partnership of Francis Preston Blair and John Cook Rives founded the Congressional Globe in 1833 with President Jackson s support In 1837 Register of Debates ceased publication 9 In 1851 the Congressional Globe began publishing near verbatim reports of debates thanks to the publication s heavy use of stenographers 12 9 The Congressional Record was first published in 1873 3 See also editFederal Register the official daily publication for rules proposed rules and notices of US federal agencies and organizations Hansard British and Commonwealth parliamentary record United States House Journal United States Senate JournalReferences edit Congressional Glossary The Center on Congress Indiana University Bloomington Archived from the original on July 19 2015 Retrieved July 17 2015 Jenks Paul Hall Will Peake Dan December 16 2005 On the Floor In Congress CongressLine GalleryWatch Archived from the original on July 21 2015 Retrieved October 14 2020 a b A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation Library of Congress May 1 2003 Retrieved July 17 2015 About the Congressional Record Library of Congress Retrieved October 14 2020 About the Congressional Record Bound Edition U S Government Information Retrieved October 14 2020 About the Congressional Record U S Government Information Retrieved October 14 2020 a b Forte David Spalding Matthew Meese Edwin 2014 The Heritage Guide to the Constitution Fully Revised Second Edition 2nd ed Simon and Schuster ISBN 9781621573524 Handler Nicholas May 2019 Rediscovering the Journal Clause The Lost History of Legislative Constitutional Interpretation University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law 21 1255 1294 a b c U S Senate Reporters of Debate and the Congressional Record www senate gov Retrieved November 16 2023 Register of Debates Debates of Congress Articles and Essays A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation U S Congressional Documents and Debates 1774 1875 Digital Collections Library of Congress Library of Congress Washington D C 20540 USA Retrieved November 16 2023 Annals of Congress Debates of Congress Articles and Essays A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation U S Congressional Documents and Debates 1774 1875 Digital Collections Library of Congress Library of Congress Washington D C 20540 USA Retrieved November 16 2023 Congressional Globe Debates of Congress Articles and Essays A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation U S Congressional Documents and Debates 1774 1875 Digital Collections Library of Congress Library of Congress Washington D C 20540 USA Retrieved November 16 2023 External links edit nbsp Wikisource has original text related to this article Congressional Record Search Congressional Record starting from 1927 via congress gov Congressional Record Bound Edition from 1873 via govinfo gov Congressional Record Daily Edition from 1994 via govinfo gov Congressional Record Index from 1983 via govinfo govOverview of the Congressional Record and Its Predecessor Publications A Research Guide Sessions of Congress and Corresponding Debate Record Volume Numbers Find Congressional Record in a Depository Library Sources for the Congressional Record Free and Commercial for people with access to libraries U S Congressional Documents and Debates 1774 1875 containing the Annals of Congress Register of Debates Congressional Globe and Congressional Record hosted by the Library of Congress Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Congressional Record amp oldid 1199229023, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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