Research guides: Public policy: key government resources: United States

Policy

PolicyFile (US) This link opens in a new window
- Policy File Index
- 1990 - current
- U.S. foreign and domestic policy papers and gray literature

Congress.gov
- replacement of THOMAS (retired on July 5, 2016)
- official website for U.S. federal legislative information
  - Legislation (Bills and Resolutions)
  - Congressional Record
  - Committees (Hearings and Reports)
  - CRS Reports
  - Congressional Members
  - Treaty Documents
  - Policy areas
  - Congressional Record Index
ProQuest Congressional
- content goes back to 1789, check content coverage chart
- Bill text
- Congressional Record
- Congressional Print, Hearings
- Congressional Research Service (CRS) report
- Serial Set
U.S. Congressional Serial Set, 1817 - 1994
- contains the congressional reports and documents.
- Social issues
- see 1995+
Congressional Research Service Reports website
- public policy research section of the United States congress
- also called "the nation's think tank"
- produces hundreds of in-depth reports for congress

GAO Reports and Comptroller General Decisions
- 1991 - 2008
- current
- by topic
- by agency
- is frequently referred to as a "watchdog" or auditing agency for the entire federal government
- contains reports ("blue books") on audits, surveys, investigations, and evaluations of Federal programs conducted by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)
- includes all published reports, testimonies, correspondence, and special publications
- restricted or classified products are not included
Cost Estimates for bills (Congressional Budget Office)
- nonpartisan assessments for proposed new law for economic consequences
U.S. Government Information: Accountability offices (Libguide, UC San Diego)

iPOLL Databank (Roper Center)
- Question-level database of US public opinion
- Restricted to University of Toronto IP addresses; individual user registration required

FDsys: Federal Digital System
- 1994+. Some older documents
- US Government Printing Office's official website for online government information
- Congress (bills, hearings, laws, etc.).
- Presidential documents
- Federal Register
- GAO reports
- Supreme Court decisions
- Education Reports from ERIC (1995-2004)
USA.gov
- first stop to find any government information on the Internet
- portal for the U.S. federal government
- Indexes individual reports and bills
Metalib
- "Simultaneously searches more than 50 federal government publication catalogs, federal library catalogs, and specialized indexes."
- "Pulls in non-government publications, such as the medical literature indexed in the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed and the millions of items described in the Library of Congress Catalog."
Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (GPO)
- covers from July 1976
- primary index to both electronic and print government publications
- links to full text if available
Google Custom Search
- Search for government information from the United States of America
- searches sites including: *.gov, *.mil

Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
- U.S. and World news
- U.S. federal and state cases
- World company information

Presidential Directives & Executive Orders
- from Truman to current
- some Review Directives included

Foreign relations
- Declassified documents, Department of State documents and more

Foreign government information
by Nicholas Worby Last Updated Mar 18, 2024 385 views this year