The Record contains the verbatim speeches and proceedings on the floor of the United States Senate and House of Representatives. The text was originally printed from stenographic reports compiled by official reporters to the House and Senate until more recent recording methods were adopted. All extraneous matter is excluded from the Record with its contents limited to the proceedings of Congress. The appendices contain speeches, which for reasons of personal revision or whatever, were withheld by Senators and Congressmen and not inserted in their proper place in the Record . In the more recent period, it has become customary for members of Congress to append extended remarks as well as to insert into the record numerous miscellaneous articles, reports, and other communications.
Page numbers are consecutive across volumes throughout the year.
Separate very detailed combined subjects and names index volume for each year. The index volume is the final volume of each session. For the daily edition, indexes are issued every two weeks. The daily edition is superseded by the official annual edition of the Record . Since 1947 an annual one-volume abridgment of the Record , the Daily Digest , has been published.