Congressional Record

Congressional Record
A page from the February 12, 1999 edition of the Congressional Record, published during the impeachment trial of former President Bill Clinton. Formal citation: 1999 Congressional Record, Vol. 145, Page S1457 .
A page from the June 14 to June 28, 1935 Congressional Record.

The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published by the United States Government Printing Office, and is issued daily when the United States Congress is in session. Indexes are issued approximately every two weeks. At the end of a session of Congress, the daily editions are compiled in bound volumes constituting the permanent edition. The Congressional Record is similar to the Hansards that report parliamentary debates in the Westminster system of government.

Contents

Overview

The Congressional Record consists of four sections: the House section, the Senate section, the Extensions of Remarks, and (since the 1940s) the Daily Digest. At the back of each daily issue is the Daily Digest, which summarizes the day's floor and committee activities and serves as a table of contents for each issue. The House and Senate sections contain proceedings for the separate chambers of Congress.

A section of the Congressional Record titled Extensions of Remarks contains speeches, tributes and other extraneous words that were not actually uttered during open proceedings of the full Senate or of the full House of Representatives. In years past, this particular section of the Congressional Record was called the "Appendix." While members of either body may insert material into Extensions of Remarks, Senators rarely do so. The overwhelming majority of what is found there is entered at the request of Members of the House of Representatives. From a legal standpoint, most materials in the Congressional Record are classified as secondary authority.

By custom and rules of each house, members also frequently "revise and extend" the remarks they actually made on the floor before the debates are published in the Congressional Record. Therefore, for many years, speeches that were not actually delivered in Congress appeared in the Congressional Record, including in the sections purporting to be verbatim reports of debates.[1] In recent years, however, these revised remarks have been preceded by a "bullet" symbol or, more recently and currently, printed in a typeface discernibly different from that used to report words actually spoken by members.

History

The Constitution, in Article 1, Section 5, requires Congress to keep a journal of its proceedings, although the House and Senate Journals are separate publications from the Congressional Record, and include only a record of actions and votes, rather than verbatim texts of the debates.

The Congressional Record was first published in 1873. Prior to this, proceedings, roll calls, debates, and other records were recorded in The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States (1789–1824), the Register of Debates in Congress (1824–1837), or the Congressional Globe (1833–1873). A digital collection[2] of these historical volumes is now available online via the Library of Congress.

See also

References

External links


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • congressional record — n: the published record of the daily proceedings in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam Webster. 1996. congressional record …   Law dictionary

  • Congressional Record — ☆ Congressional Record n. a daily publication of the proceedings of Congress, including a complete stenographic report of all remarks and debate …   English World dictionary

  • Congressional Record — Proceedings of Congress are published in the Congressional Record, which is issued daily when Congress is in session. Publication of the Record began March 4, 1873; it was the first series officially reported, printed, and published directly by… …   Black's law dictionary

  • Congressional Record — Proceedings of Congress are published in the Congressional Record, which is issued daily when Congress is in session. Publication of the Record began March 4, 1873; it was the first series officially reported, printed, and published directly by… …   Black's law dictionary

  • Congressional Record — noun a published written account of the speeches and debates and votes of the United States Congress • Hypernyms: ↑minutes, ↑proceedings, ↑transactions * * * the record of the proceedings of the U.S. Congress, with a transcript of the discussion …   Useful english dictionary

  • Congressional Record — Congressional Rec|ord, the a printed report of what is said and done in the US Congress, including all the official discussions, votes, and decisions →↑Hansard …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • Congressional Record — the record of the proceedings of the U.S. Congress, with a transcript of the discussion, published daily by the government while Congress is in session. [1825 35, Amer.] * * * …   Universalium

  • Congressional Record — The printed record of the proceedings of the Congress of the United States …   Ballentine's law dictionary

  • (the) Congressional Record — the Congressional Record [the Congressional Record] a printed record, published every day, of all the speeches and votes in the US ↑Congress. It has been published since 1873 by the Government Printing Office. Members of Congress can add extra… …   Useful english dictionary

  • Congressional Research Service — Agency overview Formed 1914 Headquarters Washington, DC Agency executives …   Wikipedia

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