U.S. Government Publishing Office cheatsheet

Cheatsheet

Download a bill

Example: Download digital assets for H.R. 2422 (Introduced in House) - Action for Dental Health Act of 2017.

• Formats: Text (7 KB) | PDF (271 KB) | XML (10 KB)

  XML URL:

  https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-115hr2422ih/xml/BILLS-115hr2422ih.xml
          ⬆️                    ⬆️    ⬆️   ⬆️ ⬆️ ⬆️  ⬆️    ⬆️     ⬆️  ⬆️
          0️⃣                    1️⃣    2️⃣   3️⃣ 4️⃣ 5️⃣  1️⃣    2️⃣     4️⃣  5️⃣
  
  0. Base URL
  1. Collection
  2. Congress Number
  3. Bill Number (H.R. 2422)
  4. Bill Version (IH - Introduced in House)
  5. Format (text|pdf|xml)
  

• Descriptive Metadata: MODS

• Authenticity Metadata: PREMIS

• All Format & Metadata Files: ZIP

Resources

• usgpo / link-service

  What it is:

  The Link Service is used to create links to content and metadata on FDsys.

Responsibilities

The Government Publishing Office (GPO) is responsible for:

• Producing and distributing information products and services for all three branches of the Federal Government, including U.S. passports for the Department of State as well as the official publications of Congress, the White House, and other Federal agencies in digital and print formats.
• Providing for permanent public access to Federal Government information at no charge through the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), the Federal Digital System (FDsys) and govinfo.
• Operating distribution centers in Laurel, MD and Pueblo, CO that fulfill orders for Government publications.

Congressional Bills

Congressional bills are legislative proposals from the House of Representatives and Senate within the United States Congress. There are eight different types of bills.

House bills (H.R.) and Senate bills (S.) require the approval of both chambers (ie House and Senate) and the signature of the President to become law.

House Joint Resolutions (H.J. Res.) and Senate Joint Resolutions (S.J. Res.) require the approval of both chambers and the signature of the President. Joint resolutions generally are used for limited matters, such as a single appropriation for a specific purpose and to propose amendments to the Constitution.

House Concurrent Resolutions (H. Con. Res.) and Senate Concurrent Resolutions (S. Con. Res.) require the approval of both chambers but do not require the signature of the President and do not have the force of law. Concurrent resolutions generally are used to make or amend rules that apply to both chambers.

House Simple Resolutions (H. Res.) and Senate Simple Resolutions (S. Res.) address matters entirely within the prerogative of one chamber or the other. They do not require the approval of the other chamber or the signature of the President, and they do not have the force of law.

There are numerous different bill versions that track a bill through the legislative process from introduction through passage by both chambers (enrolled version). All final published bill versions are available from GPO. About the Congressional Bills.

FDsys - Browse Congressional Bills . (2018). Gpo.gov. Retrieved 22 March 2018, from https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collection.action?collectionCode=BILLS