LibGuides: Government Documents and Information: Basic Federal Government Information

General Online Sources for Government Information

Below is a list of useful online sources for government information:

U.S. Catalog of Government Publications
Locates historical and current federal publications and provides direct links to those available online.
FDSys (Government Printing Office)
Provides text of legislation, hearings, the Code of Federal Regulations, etc.
Federal Register
Provides access to federal regulations, public laws, and presidential documents.
Publications.USA.gov
Provides free U.S. government publications to order or download.
Data.gov
Provides datasets generated by the federal government.
American FactFinder
Uses U.S. census data to provide information about population, housing, income, etc.
FedStats
Compendium of statistics for over 100 agencies in the Federal Government.
National Historical GIS
The National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS) provides population, housing, agricultural, and economic data, along with GIS-compatible boundary files, for geographic units in the United States from 1790 to the present.
CIA World Factbook
Provides historical, geographic, economic and other information about more than 260 countries across the globe.
CapitolHearings.org
Distributes audio coverage of U.S. Senate Committee hearings (streamed by C-SPAN).
U.S. Code
Search for information about U.S. laws (through the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives).

The United States Congress website provides current bill and resolution text, access to the Congressional Record and more.

A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation (through the Library of Congress) provides access to records and acts of Congress from 1774 through 1873 (1st through 43rd Congresses), including Congressional journals, debates, bills, resolutions and more.

Legislation and Votes provided by the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives.

FDsys provides full-text Congressional hearings, bills, votes and more from the 105th Congress (1997) to the present.

The American Presidency Project (created by the University of California at Santa Barbara) provides access to Presidential papers, including public papers, news conferences, executive orders, economic reports, speeches and more.

WhiteHouse.gov provides Presidential statements, briefings, executive orders and more.

A Compilation of Presidential Documents is available through FDsys, including official publications released by the White House Press Secretary from 1993 to the present.

USCourts.gov provides information about the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. District Courts, the U.S. Court of Appeals and Federal Judges.

Visit SupremeCourt.gov for information on U.S. Supreme Court briefs, oral arguments, opinions and more.

The Federal Judicial Center, the research and aducation agency of the federal judicial system, makes many of its research publications available on its website.