U.S. Congress - Membership Information

1. Congressional Districts and Members
2. Roll Call Votes
3. Campaign Finance
4. Committee Assignments
5. Interest Groups
6. Elections
7. Background

See also the following online Penn Library bibliographies:

• American Politics
• Political Science
• U.S. Legislative Process
• U.S. Political Parties and Elections

Congressional Districts and Members

• Project Vote Smart Candidates and elected officials biographies, addresses, positions, voting, finances, special interests, performance eveluations. Status of legislation. Elections. Find congressmen by Zip code (plus Find a ZIP). Hotline: 1-800-VOTE SMART. President, congress, governors, state legislators.

• THOMAS, the Congressional Web Pages of the Library of Congress, includes: alphabetical List of Members with Committee Assignments (to current month), and House and Senate Committee Home Pages: with Member Biographies and links to Member Home Pages.

• U.S. Legislative Branch Web Pages - Library of Congress. Members, committees, votes, etc.

• Congressional Universe - Offers a range of legislative and government information in full-text. You can find recent bills, laws, selected Congressional committee reports, documents, prints, hearings, the Federal Register, the Code of Federal Regulations, and the popular news weekly National Journal.

• The Congressional District Atlas. 103d Congress. Use to identify districts from detailed maps and lists of places and county subdivisions. Library has: 89th,91st-93rd,95th-100th,103rd (Van Pelt G 1201 F7 U45; latest in Reference)

• The Congressional District Atlas 105th Congress on CD-ROM. (Van Pelt Reference Moelis Area G 1201 F7 U452) Introduction and Navigation

• Politics in America. Wash., D.C., CQ Press. Biennial. Arranged by state and district. Includes destirct demographics, biography, and brief: election results, campaign finance, voting studies, key votes, and interest group ratings. Library has: 101st Cong. (1990)-105th Cong. (1998); and 105th Cong. (1998) on CD-ROM, with additional data. (Van Pelt Library JK 1010 P642; latest at Reference Desk.)

• The Almanac of American Politics. Wash., D.C., Barone, 1972- . Biennial. Arranged by state and district. Includes state and district political and demographic descriptions, biography, committee assignments, interest group ratings, key votes, election results. Committee membership and index. Library has: 1972- . (Van Pelt JK 1012 A456 1998; latest at Reference Desk).

• Official Congressional Directory. 1997-1998. 105th Congress. By state and district. Biography, addresses, counties and ZIP codes indluced in district. Committee Assignments, Standing committees. Directory of executive departments with principal staff. Maps. Library has: 41st Congress, 1869- . (Van Pelt JK 1011 ....; latest at Reference Desk)
  Congressional Directory Online, through GPO Access. [http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/cong001.html]

• World Almanac of U.S. Politics. Bienniel. 1997-1999 edition. By state and district, brief biog., elections results, committees, interest group ratings. Address, phone, e-mail address. Maps. Library has: 1989/1991-1997/1999. (Van Pelt JK 6 W67; latest in Reference)

• Congressional Districts in the 1990s: a portrait of America, for extensive historical, social, demographic, and economic information on each district, as of 1993. (Van Pelt Reference JK 1341 C64 1993)

• United States. Bureau of the Census. 1990 Census of Population and Housing. Population and Housing Characteristics for Congressional Districts of the 103rd Congress. Gives detailed population data by state and district. Includes age, race, ancestry, citizenship, employment status, income, and educational attainment. (Van Pelt Reference HA 201 1990i; CD-ROM STF 3D in Moelis Center; online via U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census LOOKUP [http://venus.census.gov/cdrom/lookup]

• Biographical directory of the American Congress, 1774-1996 . The Continental Congress, September 5, 1774, to October 21, 1788, and the Congress of the United States, from the First through the 104th Congress, March 4, 1789, to January 3, 1997. Alexandria, Va. : CQ Staff Directories, Inc., c1997. 2108 p. (Van Pelt Library Reference JK 1010 A5 1997)

Roll Call Votes

• Voting Records of Members of Congress -- From Library of Congress. List of sites which offer Congressional roll call vote information. Includes: House votes, from 104th Congress, 1995- . Senate votes, from 97th Congress, 1981- . Also: CQ Vote Watch - Congressional Observer Publications.

• THOMAS, the Congressional Web Pages of the Library of Congress, includes: roll-call votes, alphabetical List of Members with Committee Assignments (to current month), and House and Senate Committee Home Pages: with Member Biographies and links to Member Home Pages.

• Project Vote Smart Candidates and elected officials biographies, addresses, positions, voting, finances, special interests, performance eveluations. Status of legislation. Elections. Find congressmen by Zip code (plus Find a ZIP). Hotline: 1-800-VOTE SMART. President, congress, governors, state legislators.

• Congressional Universe - Offers a range of legislative and government information in full-text. You can find recent bills, laws, selected Congressional committee reports, documents, prints, hearings, the Federal Register, the Code of Federal Regulations, and the popular news weekly National Journal.

• CQ Weekly Report. Weekly. There are sections on "Senate Votes" and "House Votes" in each issue. Library has: v.23, 1965- . (Van Pelt JK 1 C15; latest year at Reference Desk; latest 5 years in Reference)

• CQ Almanac. Annual. See separate appendices on "House Roll-Call Vote" and "Senate Roll-Call Votes." Library has: v.8- , 1952- . (Van Pelt Reference JK 1 C66; latest 10 years in Reference)

• Congressional Index. Weekly, looseleaf. See "Voting Records on Senate Bills" and "Voting Records on House Bills" sections. Onlu current 3 congresses retained. (Van Pelt Reference J 69 C6)

• Congressional Record. Library has: v.1- , 43d. Cong. 1873- . (Van Pelt J 11 R5 ; current congress in Van Pelt Reference Government Documents Area). Votes are provided in the text of the Daily Record. See "History of Bills and Resolutions" for page references. Congressional Record Online -- 1995-current day if in session; through GPO Access. On Congressional Universe, 1985- .

• Bosnich, Victor W. Congressional Voting Guide: A Ten Year Compilation. 4th ed. Bronx, NY: Wilson Co., 1992. A ten-year compilation of voting records of members of the 102nd Congress on 144 major bills. (Van Pelt Reference JK 1051 B67 1992)

• Sharp, J. Michael. The Directory of Congressional Voting Scores and Interest Group Ratings. 2d ed. 2 vols. 1542p. New York, NY: Facts on File Publications, 1987. Contains voting records of members of Congress, 1947-94. Voting scores are given for four scales: Conservative Coalition, Party Unity, Presidential Support, and Voting Participation, as are ratings by eleven interest groups. (Van Pelt Reference: JK 1051 S555 1997)

Campaign Finance

• Federal Election Commission. - Campaign finance and election results. House and Senate candidates are findable by state and district. [http://www.fec.gov]

• Best Congress Money Can Buy - Mother Jones The MoJo Wire makes available data gathered from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) by the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP). Includes donations to federal candidates from PACs during the '91-'92 and '93-'94 election cycles and donations over $200 to federal candidates from individuals during the '91-'92 election cycle. [http://www.mojones.com/coinop_congress/data_viewer/data_viewer.html]

• CRS Reports -- Selected CRS (Congressional Research Service) Reports, particularly on campaign finance, on the Senate Rules Committee web site.

• Project Vote Smart Candidates and elected officials biographies, addresses, positions, voting, finances, special interests, performance eveluations. Status of legislation. Elections. Find congressmen by Zip code (plus Find a ZIP). Hotline: 1-800-VOTE SMART. President, congress, governors, state legislators.

• Almanac of Federal PACS . Arlington, VA: Amward Publications, 1986 - . Latest edition includes information on PACs contributing $5,000 or more to candidates seeking election to the House or Senate in 1993-94. Over 2,400 profiles. 1985-1992 for PACs giving $50,000 or more. Index (Van Pelt Library JK 1991 A732; latest in Reference)

• Federal election campaign laws . Washington, D.C.: The Commission; U.S. G.P.O. Library has: 1980, 1990, 1994 (Van Pelt KF 4920 A29 U55)

• Combined federal/state disclosure directory . 1987- . Washington, D.C.: Public Disclosure Division, Federal Election Commission, 1987- . Library has: 1991-1992 (Van Pelt Reference Desk JK 1997 C652)

• Campaign finance law : National Clearinghouse on Election Administration. Library has: 1992, 1994, 1996. (Van Pelt KF 4920 Z95; latest in Reference)

• Morris, Dwight, 1952- . Handbook of campaign spending : money in the 1992 congressional races. Dwight Morris and Murielle E. Gamache. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, 1994. xiv, 592 p. Detailed analysis for each member of Congress. (Van Pelt Reference JK 1991 M78 1994 )

• Makinson, Larry. Open secrets : the encyclopedia of congressional money & politics. Larry Makinson. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, c1992. xi, 1339 p. : ill. Industry, committee, member, and PAC profiles, with detailed financial data. ( Van Pelt Reference JK 1991 M26 1992 )

• Fritz, Sara and Dwight Morris. Handbook of Campaign Spending: Money in the 1990 Congressional Races. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly, 1992. Provides expenditures for House races during the two year cycle of 1989-1990, and Senate races for the six year cycle from 1985-1990. Top spenders also listed. (Van Pelt Reference: JK 1991 F75 1992)

• Makinson, Larry. The Cash Constituents of Congress. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly, 1992. A distillation of Open Secrets (below). Profiles are abbreviated and arranged by state. (Van Pelt Reference JK 1991 M257 1992)

• In Franklin, do a subject search for the following Library of Congress Subject Headings -- Campaign Funds; Financial Disclosure Election Law; Elections United States Campaign Funds; Campaign Funds Law and Legislation; Election Law United States [Note: Several of the above subject headings include subheadings. These will display in a record with dashes separating heading ans sub-heading. They must be searched without the dashes.]

Committee Assignments

• THOMAS, the Congressional Web Pages of the Library of Congress, includes: alphabetical List of Members with Committee Assignments and Standing Committee Assignments (to current month), and House and Senate Committee Home Pages: with Member Biographies and links to Member Home Pages.

• Congressional Committee assignments for the 105th Congress are listed in the CQ Weekly Reports for Feb 1, 1997 (Van Pelt Reference Desk JK 1 C15).

• The Almanac of American Politics, for information from the previous two years. Arranged by state and district. Includes state and district political and demographic descriptions, biography, committee assignments, interest group ratings for a 3 year period, key votes, election results. Committee membership and index. (Van Pelt JK 1012 A456 1998; latest at Reference Desk).

• For historical information, see: Committtees in the U.S. Congress 1947-1992. Washington, CQ, 1993. v.1 Committee Jurisdictions and Member Rosters. v.2 Committee Histories and Member Assignments. (Van Pelt Reference JK 1029 N45 1993), and the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress (Van Pelt Reference JK 1010 A5 1997)

Interest Groups

See also: "Interest Groups" in the "American Politics" Penn Library Bibliography.
• Federal Election Commission. - Campaign finance. Includes financial data on PAC's.

• Voting Records of Members of Congress -- From Library of Congress. Includes also links to Special Interest Group Rating sites: VIS: Voter Information Service; ACU; ACLU; Christian Coalition; Concord Coalition; Public Citizen; League of Conservation Voters.
  

• opensecrets.org -- Center for Responsive Politics. Politicians, special interests, political parties, individual donors, regulations, the law, international, states, lobbyists.

• Project Vote Smart Candidates and elected officials biographies, addresses, positions, voting, finances, special interests, performance eveluations. Status of legislation. Elections. Find congressmen by Zip code (plus Find a ZIP). Hotline: 1-800-VOTE SMART. President, congress, governors, state legislators.

• Sharp, J. Michael. The Directory of Congressional Voting Scores and Interest Group Ratings. 2d ed. 2 vols. New York, NY: Facts on File Publications, 1987. Contains voting records of members of Congress, 1947-94. Scores are given for four scales, as are ratings by eleven interest groups: ADA, ACU, ACLU, ASC, CCUS, CFA, COPE,LCV, NEA, NTU. . (Van Pelt Reference: JK 1051 S555 1997)

• The Almanac of American Politics, for information from the previous two years. Arranged by state and district. Includes state and district political and demographic descriptions, biography, committee assignments, interest group ratings for a 3 year period, key votes, election results. Committee membership and index. (Van Pelt JK 1012 A456 1998; latest at Reference Desk).

• Politics in America. By state and district, demographics, biography,and brief: election results, campaign finance, voting study scores, key votes, and four interest group ratings. (Van Pelt Library JK 1010 P642; latest at Reference Desk)

• Congressional Quarterly Almanac. Annual Offers group ratings in the voting studies appendix. Library has: v. 8- , 1952- . (Van Pelt Reference JK 1 C66)

• Almanac of Federal PACS . Arlington, VA: Amward Publications, 1986 - . Latest edition includes information on PACs contributing $5,000 or more to candidates seeking election to the House or Senate in 1993-94. Over 2,400 profiles. 1985-1992 for PACs giving $50,000 or more. Index (Van Pelt Library JK 1991 A732; latest in Reference)

• Public Interest Profiles. 1992-1993. Detailed descriptions of several hundred major interest groups, including budject and effectiveness. (Van Pelt Reference JK 1118 P79)

  In FRANKLIN, search for the following Library of Congress Subject Headings: Political action committees; Campaign funds; Business and politics; Corporations United States Political activity; Electioneering; Pressure groups; Lobbying;

Elections

• Elections - Web resources.

  Campaigns and Elections - Congresional Quarterly Inc. Includes: Rate Your Rep -- find members by Zip Code

  CNN Election 98

• The Almanac of American Politics, for information from the previous two years. Arranged by state and district. Includes state and district political and demographic descriptions, biography, committees, interest group ratings for a 3 year period, key votes, election results. Committee membership and index. (Van Pelt JK 1012 A456 1998; latest at Reference Desk).

• Politics in America. By state and district, demographics, biography,and brief: election results, campaign finance, voting study scores, key votes, and four interest group ratings. (Van Pelt Library JK 1010 P642; latest at Reference Desk.)

• United States Congressional Elections 1788-1997, the Official Results. McFarland, 1998. 1005p. index. Includes notes, sources, and statistical summaries. (Van Pelt Reference JK 1967 D77 1998)

• America at the Polls: a Handbook of Presidential Election Statistics. Vol 1. Harding to Eisenhower, 1920 - 1956, Vol. 2, Kennedy to Clinton, 1960 - 1992. Compiled and edited by Alice V. McGillivray and Richard M. Scammon. Washington, DC: Elections Research Center, Congressional Quarterly, 1994. (Van Pelt Reference JK 524 A73 1994)

• America Votes . Washington, DC: Elections Research Center, Congressional Quarterly, 1956 - . Annual, see earlier volumes. Each state entry gives post-World War II state-wide votes for President, Governor and Senator, as well as Congressional district data for recent Congressional elections. County level figures for the most recent elections are provided. (Van Pelt Reference: JK 1967 A8)

Background

• Search Franklin for the "United States Congress", combined with 1-3 subjects selected from List:

  Biography Campaigns Directories Elections Ethics Executive power Handbooks History Leadership Legislators Lobbying PACs Political planning Politics and government Powers and duties President Public opinion Public policy Public relations Qualfications Rules and practice Salaries Separation of powers Speaker Sources Voting Women --- OR, with any word or phrase

• How to Research Congress. 1996. Annotated bibliography of chiefly printed resources. Particularly useful for doing historical studies. (Van Pelt Reference JK 1108 M349 1996)

• How Congress Works. 3d ed. Wash., D.C., CQ, 1998. 184p. Index. (Van Pelt Reference Stacks JK 1021 H69 1998)

• Biographical directory of the American Congress, 1774-1996 . The Continental Congress, September 5, 1774, to October 21, 1788, and the Congress of the United States, from the First through the 104th Congress, March 4, 1789, to January 3, 1997. Alexandria, Va. : CQ Staff Directories, Inc., c1997. 2108 p. (Van Pelt Library Reference JK 1010 A5 1997)

• Goehlert, R. Members of Congress; a bibliography . Wash., D.C., CQ, 1996. 505p. Bibliograpy of members of Congress, 1774-1995. (JK 1030 A2 G64 1996)

• Encyclopedia of the United States Congress. N.Y., Simon and Schuster, 1995. 4 vols. (Van Pelt Reference JK 1067 E63 1995)

• Encyclopedia of the American Legislative System. N.Y., Scribners, 1994. 4 vols. (Van Pelt Reference JF 501 E53 1994)

• Congressional Quarterly's Guide to Congress. 4th ed. Wash. D.C., Congressional Quarterly, 1991. 838, 348p. Origins, powers, procedures, pressures, pay and perquisites, congress and the electorate, qualifications and conduct, rules. Glossary; committee chairs since 1947; congressional statistics; list of members; index. (Van Pelt Reference JK 1021 C565 1991)

• Christianson, Stephen. Facts about the Congress. N.Y., H.W. Wilson, 1996. 635p. For each congress, March 1789 - 104th congress: dates, background, leadership, chronology, major legislation, nominations, key votes, bibliography. Glossary and index. (Van Pelt Reference JK 1021 C48 1996)

• The United States Congress: a bibliography. NY, Free Press, 1982. 376p. 5620 books and articles. Topical arrangement, Indexes. (Van Pelt Reference JK 1061 G63)

• Landmark Documents on the U.S. Congress. Ed. Raymond Smock. Wash., D.C., CQ, 1999. 642p. Index. Classic writings, court opinions, debates, editorials, hearings, investigations, legislation, petitions, private letters, rules, speeches. Selected and often abridged texts, with reference to sources. (Van Pelt Reference Stacks JK 1041 L46 1999)

• The United States Congress: an annotated bibliography 1980-1993. Wash., D.C., Congressional Quarterly, 1995. 640p. (Van Pelt Reference JK 1061 G632 1995)

• The Almanac of American Politics; the Senators, the Representatives and the Governors: their records and election results, their states and districts. Wash. D.C., National Journal, 1972 - . Introduction, 5-18 page discussions of situation in each state, incl. Cong. Dist. boundary map; 1 1/2 page political,economic, and demographic description of each Congressional District; brief biog. info., interest group ratings, National Journal liberal/conservatice ratings, and key votes of each senator and representative.; primary and general election results. Committee membership; campaign finance charts of top raisers and spenders. Index. Published every two years. (Latest issue at the Van Pelt Reference Desk JK 1012 A456 1972- ; Annenberg Reference)

• CQ Weekly Report, 1956- . (library has: v.23- ., 1965- . -- A ca. 50 page weekly report, summarizing the activities of Congress and including House and Senate votes and status of major legislation. Text of selected documents; topical articles; long profiles of frehsmen lawmakers. Convention iddues include delegation profiles, platforms, text of convention addresses. State by state pre-election reports and candidate profiles from selected districts, in a mid-October issue. New committee assignments appear in a late January or early February issue (1 Feb in 1997).

  The Congressional Quarterly Almanac, 1948- , summarizes information from the CQ Index , including a summary of role-call votes. (Library has: v. 8- , 1952- . Jk 1 C66; latest 10 years in Van Pelt Reference; latest 3 months at Reference Desk)

• Congressional Quarterly, inc. Congress and the Nation; a review of government and politics in the postwar years. Washington <1965-1985> v. illus. Library has: v. 1-8, 1945-1992. Summarizes 4 years of the CQ Almanac. Articles, key vote charts, members, index. Vol. 8, 1989-1992, has 1308p. (Van Pelt Reference JK 1061 C62)

  CIS Annual, 1970- . -- Catalogs, abstracts, and indexes all publications of Congress, except Bills and the Congressional Record. Covers Reports, Documents, Committee Prints, and Hearings. Includes Legislative Histories of Public Laws. Indexes by subject, name (author, witness), bill, report, and document number. Cumulates CIS Index (Van Pelt Reference JK 1001 C65)

• The Senate 1789-1989; Historical Statistics 1789-1992 . Wash. D.C., GPO, 1993. 739p. Members, elections, sessions, leadership, committees, powers, index. (Van Pelt Library JK 1158 B97 1988 v.4)

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