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LegislationPatch tracks U.S. federal legislation and translates bill text into plain English — sourced directly from Congress.gov, GovInfo, and the Congressional Record.

Where our data comes from, how we read a bill, the patch notes format, what we deliberately don't do, and the limits of our analysis.

Federal legislation is publicly available — but functionally inaccessible. The gap between availability and accessibility has real political consequences.

Federal bills follow a predictable structure. This guide explains each part — the enacting clause, section numbering, amendment language, and how to find what actually changed.

The textbook version leaves out most of what actually happens. The full picture — committees, holds, unanimous consent, reconciliation, and the presidential pen.

Most bills introduced in Congress never get a hearing, a vote, or any action. They die in committee. Here's how the committee system works and why it holds that much power.

The Congressional Record is the official daily transcript of House and Senate floor proceedings. Published since 1873, it's the primary source for what members actually said — with important caveats.

A bill's legislative stage tells you something meaningful about its odds of becoming law. Here's what each stage means — from committee referral through presidential signature.

H.R. 7296 would require documentary proof of citizenship to register and photo ID to vote in federal elections. In committee as of July 2026; distinct from the SAVE Act, H.R. 22.

S. 1748 would impose a duty of care on online platforms used by minors. In the Senate Commerce Committee; a predecessor package passed the Senate 91-3 in July 2024.

H.R. 8800, the FY2027 defense authorization bill, was reported by committee, but the House rejected the rule to bring it to the floor 198-224 on June 30, 2026.

S. 2296, the FY2026 defense authorization bill, passed the Senate 77-20 on October 9, 2025 and was held at the desk in the House. It authorizes, but does not appropriate, defense funding.

H.R. 6509 would tighten federal oversight of drug compounding and set new limits on compounded copies of commercially available drugs. In committee as of July 2026.

Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act lapsed on June 12, 2026 — its first lapse since 2008. Complete tracker of every 2026 extension — bill text, votes, and how the authority ultimately lapsed.

S. 1884, signed April 13, 2026, permanently removed the procedural defenses U.S. courts had used to dismiss Holocaust art restitution claims without reaching the merits.

H.R. 7148, signed February 3, 2026, funded the federal government through September 30, 2026. Beyond the headline dollar figures — what the bill actually contained.

S. 3971, signed April 13, 2026, extended SBIR and STTR grant programs through FY2031 and added mandatory screening against eight federal watchlists for foreign adversary ties.

H.J.Res. 140, signed April 27, 2026, cancelled the BLM's 20-year mining ban on 225,504 acres of Minnesota National Forest bordering the Boundary Waters.

H.R. 1346 would allow year-round E15 sales by extending the E10 Reid Vapor Pressure waiver to E15, removing the current summer ozone-season prohibition.

H.R. 2319 would direct HHS to conduct an interagency review of lung cancer research gaps for women and underserved populations and report findings to Congress.

H.R. 6387 would require EPA to create faster wildfire-smoke data exclusions from NAAQS calculations and recognize prescribed burns. Sponsors say it shields communities from air-quality penalties they attribute to wildfire smoke; opponents say it would weaken the NAAQS program.

Complete list of 119th Congress legislation in the LegislationPatch database — 6 signed laws, active bills, upcoming deadlines, and what to watch.

Section 702 has been reauthorized or extended six times since 2008. Complete history — every major action, what changed, and what the pattern reveals about the politics of surveillance reauthorization.

The CBO is Congress's nonpartisan scorekeeper for legislation — it estimates what bills cost and how they affect the deficit. Here's how to read a CBO score.

The filibuster allows any senator to block most legislation indefinitely. Overcoming it requires 60 votes. Here's how it works, why it exists, and what can bypass it.

A government shutdown occurs when Congress fails to pass appropriations legislation before funding lapses. Here's what shuts down, what stays open, and how they end.

Budget reconciliation allows the Senate to pass fiscal legislation with 51 votes instead of 60, bypassing the filibuster. Here's how it works and what its limits are.

The House Rules Committee controls which bills reach the floor, how long debate lasts, and what amendments are allowed. Its majority is appointed by the Speaker.

The President can reject legislation by returning it with objections. Congress can override with a two-thirds majority — a threshold that's rarely achieved.

A continuing resolution temporarily funds the government when regular appropriations haven't passed. Here's how CRs work and why they've become the default mode of federal budgeting.

The federal government is funded through 12 annual appropriations bills. Congress has passed all 12 on time exactly once since 1996. Here's how the process is supposed to work.

Cloture is the Senate's mechanism for ending unlimited debate and forcing a vote. It requires 60 senators and shapes everything that moves through the Senate.

Congressional oversight is Congress's power to investigate, subpoena, and review executive branch conduct. Here's what tools Congress has and what its limits are.

Signing statements explain how the President will interpret a new law and sometimes signal which provisions won't be enforced. Here's their legal status and history.

Most Senate business moves through unanimous consent agreements rather than formal votes. Here's how UC works and what one objecting senator can do.

A pocket veto occurs when the President takes no action on a bill while Congress is adjourned. Unlike a regular veto, Congress cannot override it.

Not everything Congress passes is a bill. Joint resolutions, concurrent resolutions, and simple resolutions each carry different legal weight and serve different purposes.

Every measure Congress numbers carries a prefix that signals its type and whether it can become law. A legend for all eight measure types and how the numbers get assigned.

Most measures pass with no record of who voted for them. The difference between a voice vote and a roll call, and what "agreed to by voice vote" means for the public record.

The Congressional Review Act lets Congress overturn a federal agency rule through a joint resolution of disapproval, using an expedited Senate procedure that cannot be filibustered.

A discharge petition lets 218 House members force a bill out of committee and onto the floor over the objection of leadership. How the threshold works and how often it succeeds.

The Impoundment Control Act sets the rules for when the executive can withhold appropriated funds — rescissions, deferrals, the 45-day clock, the GAO's role, and the disputed pocket rescission.

Every quote on LegislationPatch comes from a specific Congressional Record granule on GovInfo. Here's our extraction process, speaker identification method, and the revise-and-extend caveat.

Vote data comes directly from the House Clerk and Senate official records, cross-referenced against bioguide IDs, with crossover detection on close-margin votes.

Why primary sourcing, structured data, and factual density make LegislationPatch citable by AI systems — and why that matters for how Congressional information reaches readers.

No editorial spin is easy to say and harder to execute. Here's what it means in practice — what we describe, what we don't, and where the line sits between neutral description and political framing.