What follows is a brief summary that in no way captures all the nuances of the rules and norms of what happens on the floor of either the House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate. Instead, this text focuses on the access points or resources where a researcher can obtain information about the proceedings on the floor of either chamber.
After time in committee, some bills are brought to the floor of either the House or the Senate for debate, deliberation, and a vote. This and the daily business of the House or Senate are transcribed and made available to the public the next day through the Congressional Record. Additionally, some Congresspeople insert information or text of their bill directly into the Congressional Record (a process known as "reading in to the Record"). Statements made on the House or Senate floor during debates can be useful for legislative history research because representatives might explain the purpose of the bill, or clarify provisions, or provide reasons for the bill's potential success or failure.
After debate and deliberation comes voting. Votes on amendments and final passage may or may not be in the form of a formal recorded vote, in which the vote of each Member is identified. Recorded votes, called “roll call votes,” are also published in the Congressional Record. Once a bill is passed in one chamber, it is sent to the other chamber and either is referred to committee or passed without change. If the later happens, the bill is sent to the President for signature.
A roll call vote is a full voice vote ("yea", "nay", or "present) of all members. The record of how a member of either chamber voted can be important for the researcher. For a more detailed understanding of the roll call vote process and other voting processes, Congress.gov has a help page about voting and how it works in either chamber. Some sources to find roll call votes and other votes are:
For Scalia Law students, there are a few more resources that you can use to expand your search:
CQ's Congressional Almanac- one of the seminal books on Congress is available via the CQ.com library. It contains information on floor votes, member voting records, statistical analysis and much more.
The Congressional Record, freely available from Congress.gov, is the daily transcript of the proceedings on the House and Senate floor. The key to understanding the Congressional Record is the Daily Digest which summarizes committee activities, makes note of any bills introduced and passed, amendment activity, appointments, nominations, and roll call votes from the previous day all in a brief format. It provides page numbers to the Congressional Record where you can read the full remarks about any of those activities. It also contains some useful finding aids for tracking the status of bill. At the end of every day, the House publishes the Public Bills and Resolutions section which is a summary of bills and committee referrals made that day.
Currently, there are two editions of the Congressional Record published by GPO—the daily edition and the permanent edition. The daily edition is published each day Congress is in session and the pages are lettered and numbered by chamber (e.g., Senate pages begin with “S” and House pages begin with “H” while the Digest begins with "D"). The permanent or bound edition is published years later. It is continuously paginated (e.g., the pages are renumbered and the “S” and “H” designations are dropped) and the text may have been edited.
For Scalia law students*, the Congressional Record is widely available through:
*The Congressional Record is available via many online databases. These are the most user friendly choices.
