Government Information: Foreign and International

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govinfo

The govinfo site provides public access to official publications from the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the U.S. federal government. The scope is broad, but coverage is generally better the more recent the timeframe. You can get a better idea of what is available by browsing the collection by category. The govinfo site replaced FDSys in December 2018.

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Top-level access points

USA.gov

USA.gov is the official portal to U.S. Government information and services. You can browse by topic, and also access more information about:

• Branches of the U.S. Government
• U.S. Government Departments and Agencies
• State, Local, and Tribal Governments
• Contact Information for Elected Officials

Legislative Branch (makes laws)

• Congress
• Legislative Branch Agencies: Branches of the U.S. Government

Executive Branch (carries out laws)

• White House
• Executive Departments: Branches of the U.S. Government

Judicial Branch (interprets laws)

• U.S. Courts
• Judicial Agencies: Branches of the U.S. Government

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United States Government Manual

The The United States Government Manual contains descriptions for the services and programs of the various agencies of the three branches of government, including lists of individuals holding key leadership roles. It also contains a history of U.S. government agency organizational changes.

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Legislative Branch

• U.S. Congressional and Legislative Documents
  Guide to print and electronic resources - Debates, Journals, Statutes, etc.
• Congress.gov
• Public and Private Laws
• United States Code
  • govinfo (1994 - current)
  • HeinOnline (1925-1926 - current)
  • Legal Information Institute, Cornell University
  • Popular Names of Acts in the U.S. Code - search the code by names of the acts
• FindLaw
  Resources and links to both federal and state laws.
• Committee on Rules - House of Representatives
• Committee on Rules and Administration - Senate
• History of United States Statutes at Large and United States Code
• GovTrack.us
  Tracking the activities of the U.S. Congress. Included on this site are statues of U.S. federal legislation, voting records for the Senate and House of Representatives, information on Members of Congress, district maps, congressional committees and the Congressional Record.

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Executive Branch

• Regulations
• Federal Register (National Archives)
  Provides access to the official text of Federal Laws, Presidential Documents, and Administrative Regulations and Notices. It also administers the Electoral College and the Constitutional amendment Process.
• Federal Register Library
  Coverage begins in 1936 and includes the CFR (1938-current), Official U.S. Bulletin (1917-1919), United States Government Manual (1935-current), Daily and Weekly Compliation of Presidential Documents (1965-current).
• Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
• Code of Federal Regulations
  • govinfo (1996-current)
  • HeinOnline (1938-current)
• Compilation of Presidential Documents
  Complied in Title 3 of the Code of Federal Regulations
• U.S. Presidential Library (via HeinOnline)
  Includes Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Public Papers of the Presidents, CFR Title 3 (Presidents), Daily and Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, and other documents related to the U.S. Presidents.

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Judiciary Branch

• The Federal Judiciary
• The Supreme Court
• U.S. Supreme Court Library (via HeinOnline)
  Complete coverage of the official U.S. Reports bound volumes as well as preliminary prints, slip opinions, and books and periodicals related to the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Law Library of Congress - U.S. Judiciary
• Oyez
  The Oyez Project at Chicago-Kent College of Law is a multimedia archive of the Supreme Court.

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How laws are made

• How Laws Are Made and How to Research Them
• The Legislative Process
• How Our Laws Are Made (PDF)
• Schoolhouse Rock: I'm Just a Bill (Youtube)
• How Our Laws are Made poster (JPEG)

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Treaties

• Search for treaties at Congress.gov
• Senate treaty information

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Statistics

• Data.gov (U.S. Government's Open Data)
• Explore Census Data (replaces American Factfinder)
  Population, housing, economic, and geographic data from the U.S. Census Bureau
• Historical statistics

Demographic

• U.S. Census Bureau
• Census of Population and Housing (U.S. Census Bureau)
• Statistical Abstract of the United States

Economic

• Bureau of Economic Analysis
• DRI Basic Economics (formerly CITIBASE)
• National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
• NBER Working Papers
• County Business Patterns
• Department of Commerce

Justice

• Bureau of Justice Statistics

Labour

• Bureau of Labor Statistics

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Issues and policies - Congressional Research Service (CRS)

• Official source for CRS Reports
  * This is a relatively new resource. (See the announcement from September 2018)
• Federation of American Scientists' CRS report archive
• CRS reports and issue briefs related to workplace issues (from Cornell University's Industrial and Labor Relations School)
• Stanford University's Web Archive of CRS Reports
• University of North Texas CRS report archive
• CRSReports.com (a free, public collection of CRS reports)

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Copyright

• United States Copyright Office
• Copyright, Legal Information Institute, Cornell University
• Copyright and Fair Use, Stanford University

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History

• U.S. Federal Legislative History Library (via HeinOnline)
• Comprehensive federal legislative histories published by the U.S. GPO and private publishers. Includes finding aid based on Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories by Nancy Johnson.

U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Canada