U.S. Federal Documents

Congressional Information

Guide to Government Publications Series

Government Internet Sites

Congressional Support Agencies

In order to carry out its responsibilities, the congress has over the years created several agencies which assist its members in their work. These include the Congressional Budget Office, the Congressional Research Service in the Library of Congress, the General Accounting Office, and the Technology Assessment Office. Each agency has specific responsibilities to the Congress, its committees, and staff. Most of the publications are available to the general public and are issued in print, microform, cdrom, and via the Internet.

Congressional Budget Office The CBO was created by the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (Public Law 93-344) and began operations in 1975. It was created to provide the Congress and its committees with economic and budgetary information as does the Office of Management and Budget to the executive agencies. The CBO homepage includes the full text of the current studies and reports. Earlier reports are available in print and microfiche and are listed in Socrates, LexisNexis congressional universe, and separate print indexes.

Congressional Research Service The CRS (formerly the Legislative Reference Service established in 1913) is a unit within the Library of Congress and responsible for the research and reference needs of the Congress, its committees, and staff. Access to the services is available through a congress member only. The full text documents on microfilm (mfilm n.s. 153 Media-Mtxt) and microfiche (mfiche 1655 SSRC-fiche) are indexed in Major studies and issue briefs available in print (Z733.U63C652 SSRC-reading room) and cdrom (Z733 .U63 C6533 IC). The reports are also available from 1990 to date http://digital.library.unt.edu/govdocs/crs/

General Accountability (formerly Accounting) Office The GAO was created by the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 (31 U.S.C. 702) to independently conduct audits, surveys, investigations, and evaluations of federal programs as requested by the congressional committees or members of congress or as a result of mandated legislation. These findings and recommendations are published as reports to members of congress or as part of committee testimony. GAO Reports application contains reports (“blue books”) on audits, surveys, investigations, and evaluations of Federal programs conducted by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). All published reports, testimonies, correspondence, and special publications are included unless restricted or classified. The Office is managed by the Comptroller General of the United States. The GAO maintains a page providing full text for its reports. The library collection includes print and microfiche formats of these reports (GA 1.13: ). They are indexed in Socrates. The full text reports are also available via GPO Acess1993 to date.

Technology Assessment Office OTA was established by the Technology Assessment Act of 1972 (Public Law 92-484 and was "closed" in September 1995. The OTA provided studies and in depth analysis of complex scientific and technical issues for the Congress. OTA publications are available full text online as OTA legacy 1972-1995 on cdrom (Y3.T22/2:2L52/ v.1-5 Green SSRC-desk), and in print shelved in the Green Fed-docs stacks. The print titles are listed in Socrates.

 

Last modified: June 17, 2008