You also can determine the final status of a bill introduced in a previous Congress. Bill status is available since 1973. For Congressional session dates, see Session Dates of Congress which lists session dates since 1789. GPO Gate , the University of California's gateway to federal information, provides access to the same sources for Congressional Bills and History of Bills as GPO Access but with a somewhat different interface. Most Congressional hearings are published two months to two years after they are held.
Copies are available in paper or microfiche at many large academic and public libraries.
Hearings prior to publication are, for the most part, only available from commercial services for a fee or from libraries that subscribe to those services. Home pages of House of Representatives Committees and U.S. Senate Committees Committee may be an additional source of hearing transcripts. The University of Michigan , and Law Librarians' Society of Washington D. C. link to Congressional Hearings on the Internet. Committee Reports Committee reports on public bills are significant documents generated in the legislative process. They describe the purpose and scope of a bill and the reasons for approval of the measure.