Follow an issue/specific bill in Congress
Inaction ≠ Inaction
Back to the Bingo Board for another action-step for civic engagement: Follow an issue in Congress.
What’s your passion? Is it immigration? Public education? Voting rights? River and dam maintenance? The Lesser Prairie Chicken? Hey, we get it!
Take your issue and search the Congressional Research Service. This is a fantastic, free, and super-helpful record of research done for Congress on millions of issues.
Conduct a basic search for your topic, select a report most closely tied to the specific area of your interest, and then kick back for a great read!
CRS reports include the most recent action on every issue, including bill numbers and status.
OPTIONAL: Visit Congress.gov to view the bill text.
In Congress, pieces of legislation are called resolutions, as in Senate Resolution 123 (SR 123) or House Resolution 1234 (HR 1234). The initial search will give you a quick-view of the bill, including the title, sponsor name, number of cosponsors, committee where it sits, the latest actions, and where it is in the legislative process:
This can be cumbersome, the actual text of bills isn’t all that helpful unless you really know what you’re reading.
Lucky for us, this site also provides links to summaries and other helpful resources on each bill:
If you’re running into roadblocks reply to this email and we will help!
Happy serving!
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