Office of the Clerk

User Guide and Data Dictionary

House Member Data in XML

Prepared by: Legislative Computer Systems

Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives

February, 2016
i

Revision History

Revision Date Description

1.0 April, 2015 Version 1.0

1.1 February, 2016 Version 1.1, added a note about the code for the Select Investigative 

Panel of the Committee on Energy and Commerce

Table of Contents

1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 2

1.1. Scope of the Data ............................................................................................................. 2

2. Data Set................................................................................................................................... 2

3. XML Descriptions.................................................................................................................... 2

3.1. Elements and Attributes .................................................................................................. 3

3.2. Unique IDs for Committees and Subcommittees............................................................. 6
User Guide and Data Dictionary: House Member Data in XML

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1. Introduction

The Office of the Clerk makes available membership lists for the U.S. House of Representatives. 

These lists are available in PDF format, and starting with the 114th Congress, the data is 

available in XML format. The document and data are available at http://clerk.house.gov. 

The purpose of this document is to describe the XML data now available.

1.1. Scope of the Data

The XML file contains current members of the House only. It does contain committee and 

subcommittee membership and committee rankings. It contains very little historic information. 

See XML descriptions for more information. 

2. Data Set

The House Member data set is compiled by the Office of the House Clerk. In general, there are 

no restrictions on re-use of the information in the Member data set because U.S. Government 

works are not subject to copyright protections and are in the public domain. The Office of the 

House Clerk cannot vouch for the authenticity of data that is not under its control nor do we

endorse third party applications. We do not evaluate how our original content is displayed on 

other sites. Consumers should form their own conclusions as to whether the downloaded data 

can be relied upon within an application or mash-up.

3. XML Descriptions

The following conventions are used in this document: 

• XML element names are denoted with angled brackets and in courier. For example, 

<title> is an XML element. 

• XML attribute names are denoted with a “@” prefix and in courier. For example, 

@href is an XML attribute.

The XML file of members is well-formed. A simple schema has been created to help illustrate 

the parent, child and sibling relationships in the data. It can be found on http://xml.house.gov.
User Guide and Data Dictionary: House Member Data in XML

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3.1. Elements and Attributes

Element Description

<MemberData> Root element

@publish-date Attribute on the root element indicating the publication date. The date will 

change when the data has been updated. When the file is updated 

throughout the Congress, a new publish-date will be issued. It will 

correspond with the date on the printed publication.

<title-info> Elements used for publishing the printed cover page.

<congress-num> The Congress in numeric format (the two-year time period).

A Congress begins at noon, January 3 of each odd-numbered year following 

a general election, unless by law a different day is designated. A Congress 

lasts for two years, with each year normally constituting a separate session.

<congress-text> The Congress in sentence format (the two-year time period)

<session> The session in numeric format (the one-year period)

<majority> The party that is in the majority. Values are “R” for Republican and “D” for 

Democrat.

<minority> The party that is in the minority. Values are “R” for Republican and “D” for 

Democrat.

<clerk> The full name of the Clerk of the House

<weburl> The web site address for the Clerk of the House

<members> Parent container

<member> Parent container for an individual member

<statedistrict> Contains the identifier for the Congressional district using the two (2) 

character postal code plus the two (2) digit district number. In states with 

only one district, the two digit district code is “00” indicating an at-large 

seat.

<member-info> Parent container

<namelist> Name of member in the following format: Last name followed by a comma 

followed by first name. 

<bioguideID> Unique identification for each member of Congress. This is the BioGuide ID 

from the Biographical Directory of Congress: http://bioguide.congress.gov. It 

is alphanumeric and begins with the first letter of the Member's last name, 

followed by six (6) numeric digits. 

Once an individual is assigned a BioGuide ID, the ID stays with the member 

if the member resigns and returns to Congress in a non-consecutive 

Congress, changes his/her name, or is elected to the Senate or the Office of 

Vice-President

<lastname> Surname or family name. Will not be empty.

<firstname> First name or initial(s) of first name. Will not be empty.

<middlename> Middle name or middle initial. May be maiden name or another additional 

surname. May be empty. 

<suffix>

Generational family suffix. Possible values: "Jr.", "Sr." "II" "III" et.al. May be 

empty. 

Note: Suffixes (and courtesies) that indicate that the individual holds a 

position, educational degree, accreditation or the like are not used.

<courtesy> A form of address to show respect and it is placed immediately before a 

person's name. Possible values: "Mr.", "Mrs.", "Ms.", "Miss"
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<official-name>

The Member's full name. It should match the Member's frank signature. It 

will contain a first name and a last name. It may contain a middle name 

and/or suffix. It does not include the words, “The Honorable” or a 

courtesy.

<formal-name>

A Member's name as it read aloud on the House floor. This variation of a 

Member’s name appears in the Congressional Record, on bills for sponsors and 

cosponsors, and other legislative documents. If the Member's name is the 

same or similar to another Member, the state digraph will be included and if 

needed, the first name of the Member. 

Samples: Mrs. Miller of Michigan, Mr. George Miller of California, Mr. Young.

A Member’s formal name may change from Congress to Congress. The 

publication “Official List of Duplicate And Similar Names of Members” 

indicates who is on the duplicate/similar list for a particular Congress. Once 

a Member has the state diagraph for a particular Congress it stays for the 

entire Congress even if the other duplicate or similarly-named Member 

leaves office.

<prior-congress>

Indicates the last Congress (in numeric format) that the Member served 

prior to the current Congress. A value of zero (0) indicates that the 

Member has not served in a prior Congress. 

<elected-date>

The date the Member was elected to office for the current Congress. If 

there was a run-off election, the date of the run-off election is used.

Example of the format: November 6, 2014

<sworn-date>

The date the Member took the oath of office (sworn-in) for the current 

Congress.

Example of the format: November 6, 2013

@date The date in the following format: YYYYMMDD

<party> The political party of the Member. Possible values are “R”, “D”, and “I”.

<caucus> The party the Member choses to affiliate with if the Member is an 

independent or a member of a third party. Possible values are “R” and “D”.

<state> Parent container for the state of the Member.

@postal-code The two (2) character postal code for the state on the <state> element.

<state-fullname> The full name of the state of the Member.

<district>

The congressional district number with the ordinal indicator. 

Examples: 12th, 1st, 2nd

For at-large districts, the value “At Large” is used. The terms “Delegate” 

and “Resident Commissioner” are used for the territories and the District 

of Columbia.

<town> Hometown as declared by the Member

<office-building> The elements used for the Member’s Washington DC office location. 

<office-room>

<office-zip>
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<office-zip-suffix>

<office-building> contains the building abbreviations. 

RHOB = Rayburn House Office Building, 

LHOB = Longworth House Office Building, 

CHOB = Cannon House Office Building, 

FHOB = Ford House Office Building

OFOB = O’Neill Federal Office Building

<office-room> contains the room number

<office-zip> contains the zip code. For all Members, it should be 20515. 

<office-zip-suffix> contains the +4 for the zip code.

<phone>

The Member’s phone number in Washington DC. 

Format: (202) 225-XXXX

<footnote-ref> Used for footnotes.

<footnote>

<predecessor-info> Parent container for information on the predecessor of the current seat. 

Applies to the current Congress only.

@cause The reason why the predecessor vacated the seat. 

Possible values: “R” for resignation, “D” for death, “E” for expulsion.

<pred-lastname> Last name of the Member who preceded the current Member. 

<pred-firstname> First name of the Member who preceded the current Member.

<pred-party> Political party of the Member who preceded the current Member.

<pred-vacate-date> The date when the predecessor vacated the office.

<committee-assignments>

Parent container for individual member committee assignments.

Note: At the start of a Congress, there may be little or no committee 

information in the file until the committees hold their organizational 

meetings.

<committee> Element indicating current member’s committee assignment and member’s 

rank in committee

<subcommittee> Element indicating member’s subcommittee assignment and member’s rank 

in subcommittee

@leadership Title of position, if the Member has a committee or subcommittee 

leadership position.

@comcode Committee and subcommittee codes. 

@subcomcode See section about unique committee and subcommittee codes.

<committees> Parent container

<committee> Element containing information about the committee

@type The type of committee. Values include “standing” for standard committees, 

“select” for select committees, “joint” for joint committees.

@com-header-text

Text used in the printed publication. The value could change. The most 

common value is “The chairman and ranking minority member are ex officio 

members of all subcommittees.” 

@com-room

@subcom-room

The room number for the committee

The room number for the subcommittee.

@com-zip

@subcom-zip

The zip code for the committee.

The zip code for the subcommittee.

@com-zip-suffix

@subcom-zip-suffix

The +4 for the zip code for committee.

The +4 for the zip code for subcommittee.
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@com-building-code

@subcom-building-code

The building code

RHOB = Rayburn House Office Building, 

LHOB = Longworth House Office Building, 

CHOB = Cannon House Office Building, 

FHOB = Ford House Office Building

OFOB = O’Neill Federal Office Building

@com-phone

@subcom-phone

The phone number for the committee

The phone number for the subcommittee

<committee-fullname>

<subcommittee-fullname>

The full name of the committee

The full name of the subcommittee

<ratio> Parent container for the ratio of majority and minority members of the 

committee or subcommittee

<majority>

Child element of <ratio>.

Indicates the number of members the majority party could appoint to serve 

on the committee or subcommittee.

<minority>

Child element of <ratio>.

Indicates the number of members the minority party could appoint to serve 

on the committee or subcommittee.

3.2. Unique IDs for Committees and Subcommittees

The unique id for the committee is the two letter committee code plus two zeros. This unique 

id has been used internally by the House for years. For the standing1 committees listed below, 

the committee code is unique across Congresses, and it does not change if there are slight 

changes in the name from Congress to Congress. Select committees are generally temporary 

and are not included in this list. Select committees do receive codes and and will be found in 

the appropriate XML files. Codes for select committees may not be unique across Congresses.

The id for a subcommittee is unique for the current congress. It is the two letter committee 

code plus two digits. It is not unique across Congresses as subcommittees can be different 

across Congresses.

 1 Select committees are established by the House and/or the Senate usually for limited time periods and for strictly 

limited purposes. Standing committees are permanent panels with jurisdiction over measures and laws in certain 

areas of public policy. (Our American Government, House Document 108-94, Pg.33-36).
User Guide and Data Dictionary: House Member Data in XML

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Committee Name Code

Committee on Agriculture AG00

Committee on Appropriations AP00

Committee on Armed Services AS00

Committee on Financial Services BA00

Committee on the Budget BU00

Committee on Education and the Workforce ED00

Committee on Foreign Affairs FA00

Committee on Oversight and Government Reform GO00

Committee on House Administration HA00

Committee on Homeland Security HM00

Committee on Energy and Commerce IF00

Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence IG00

Committee on the Judiciary JU00

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure PW00

Committee on Rules RU00

Committee on Small Business SM00

Committee on Ethics SO00

Committee on Science, Space, and Technology SY00

Committee on Veterans’ Affairs VR00

Committee on Ways and Means WM00

Joint Economic Committee EC00

Joint Committee on Taxation IT00

Joint Committee on the LiNrary JL0

Joint Committee on Printing JP00

Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction JR00

Note: The Select Investigative Panel of the Committee on Energy and Commerce (established by 

H. Res. 461 of the 114th Congress) has two codes: IF04 that is in use on docs.house.gov and IE00 

which is included in the Member and Committee data XML file.