Congress - links to aid your A2 studies

The Capitol 

The place to start studying Congress through the internet would be the websites of the two houses of Congress - the House of Representatives (www.house.gov) and the Senate (www.senate.gov). These sites have information on such things as members, the leadership, committees, legislation and votes. It is possible to find out about, for example, specific members of Congress, the work currently going on in committee or how members vote.

There is also the Library of Congress THOMAS website - (http://thomas.loc.gov) - which provides legislative information.

You might be interested to watch the House or Senate in session and this can be done online at www.c-span.org. There is live coverage of the House on C-SPAN and live coverage of the Senate on C-SPAN2. C-SPAN3 covers committee hearings as well as other programming.

Another extraordinarily good resource on Congress is http://congress.indiana.edu/ which is sponsored by Indiana University and hosted by former Representative Lee Hamilton. One of its most innovative feature is its interactive learning modules on such topics as how a member decides to vote, public criticisms of Congress, and the legislative process.

Finally, the highly respected Washington-based journal Congressional Quarterly has a free website called Roll Call at www.rollcall.com/politics/