How to Find How a Congressman Voted on a Bill
In the U.S. Congress, lawmakers vote on draft legislation known as bills. A congressman can vote "yea" to approve passage of a bill, "nay" to reject passage or "present" to withhold his vote. Most votes on bills in the House of Representatives are voice votes, meaning that each representative yells out his vote. The bill will be approved or rejected when there's a clear vocal consensus. Bills involving close voice votes or controversial issues have recorded votes. A computerized voting system tallies votes made electronically by representatives and produces a record of their votes. You can find the voting record for a bill in several resources.
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Instructions
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Getting Started
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Compile key information on the bill to speed up your research.
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Find the bill's title and number by conducting a keyword search of the Library of Congress bill database at thomas.loc.gov/home/c111query.html. Limit the search by selecting "Bills with Floor Action" under Which Bills. Each bill introduced into the House of Representatives has a title and receives a bill number with the initials "HR" followed by four numbers.
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Determine the Congress and session in which the vote took place. Conduct a web search to find out the exact or approximate date of the vote. Navigate to www.gpoaccess.gov/help/congress_table.html to find the Congress and session of the vote. Those records, however, date back only to 1981.
The House of Representatives Database
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Navigate to the House of Representatives roll call database page at clerk.house.gov/legislative/legvotes.html. It provides voting records dating back to 1990.
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Click on the current session of Congress in the right column for roll calls of recent bills. For bills voted on in previous sessions, click on "Roll Call Votes for Previous Congresses," select the appropriate session in the menu and click "Submit."
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Find the bill by scanning the Issues column for the bill number or scanning the Title/Description column for the bill's title.
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Click on the bill's Roll number. Determine how the congressman voted by scanning through the alphabetical lists of yea, nay and present or absent votes, and locating the representative's name.
The Library of Congress Database
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Navigate to the Library of Congress House of Representatives voting database page. It provides records dating back to 1989.
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Click on the appropriate session of Congress in which the bill came to the floor for a vote.
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Search through the lists of roll calls to find the bill. Click on the bill's roll call number.
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Determine how the congressman voted by scanning through the alphabetical lists of yea, nay and present or absent votes, and locating the representative's name.
The Washington Post Database
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Navigate to the Washington Post's congressional vote database at projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/. It has records dating back to 1991.
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Enter the representative's name, zip code or state in the appropriate search box and click "Go." Click on the name of the appropriate representative from the results list.
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Scroll down to "Latest Votes" for the representative's voting record. Click on "Full list of votes" if necessary. The votes are organized by date, with the most recent at the top. Determine how the congressman voted by finding the bill through the vote date or by scanning the bill numbers and titles. Find the vote under "Position."
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Click on the link under "Key Votes" as a shortcut, if you're researching a vote on a major bill. Follow Step 3's procedures.
The Congressional Record
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Call your local library to confirm that they have the Congressional Record in their collection. As the official record of the U.S. Congress, it's the best source for researching votes held in sessions not available in the online databases--those before 1989.
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Use the Congressional Record to find the record of the vote on the bill. Its volumes are organized by session of Congress, so you'll need to know in which session the vote was held.
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Ask a reference librarian for guidance on how to search the Congressional Record efficiently. It's cumbersome to use.
Other Methods
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Contact the representative's office by phone or e-mail. Members of Congress maintain offices in Washington, D.C, and their local district. Have the bill title and number ready. Expect that a staff member will have to research the vote and get back to you. This approach may be the best way to find out how the representative voted in a voice vote. Check his official website; it may provide information on votes.
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Go to your local library to research the archives of local and national newspapers. Local newspapers will often report the votes of local members of Congress. For high-profile or controversial bills, national newspapers will often report the results of the roll call. Ask the reference librarian for advice on how to search the archives. Also use the newspaper archives to research articles reporting your representative's position on the bill. Using this method, you may be able to find out how she voted in a voice vote.
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Search newspaper archives online. Although some newspapers open their archives only to subscribers, you may be able to access news articles on the bill by searching relevant newspaper archives or conducting a general internet search on the bill.
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Tips & Warnings
Use the same methods to find out how a senator voted on a bill. Keep in mind that the Senate bill will have a different number than the house bill. Start by going to www.senate.gov/ and clicking on "Votes" in the right-hand column.
