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How to find committee reports and conference reports from the U.S. Congress

Reports are published very quickly after they are written. The easiest way to access a committee or conference report is by its number. You can find out if a committee report or conference report has been issued by looking in the "Bill Status and Summary" section of THOMAS.

You can read the full text of recent committee and conference reports on the Web, or you may be able to order them from the Senate or House Document Rooms, find copies of them in a library, or purchase them from the Government Printing Office. In addition, you can read the full text of a conference report in the Congressional Record.

Web Access

The full text of more recent reports are on the GPO Access and THOMAS Web sites:

GPO Access provides the full text of committee and conference reports from the 104th Congress (1995-1996) to the current Congress. You can find reports by doing a fielded search on the subject or bill number. You can also pull up a list of all congressional reports currently available on GPO Access by doing any fielded search and then clicking on the first hit in the results list.

THOMAS provides the full text of committee and conference reports from the 104th Congress (1995-96) to the current Congress. Click on the "Committee Reports" link on the main THOMAS page. Although you will be linking to the full text of the report on GPO Access, the THOMAS page is easier to search than the GPO Access page.

Document Rooms

The Senate and House Document Rooms may be able to provide you with a copy of a committee or conference report. Check with them for availability.

Libraries

Committee and conference reports may be available in a federal depository library.  The federal depository library program is made up of over 1,300 libraries that collect government documents and make them available to the public for borrowing or reading. A list of depository libraries is available on GPO's Web site. Most depository libraries are within a university or state library, so sometimes borrowing privileges are restricted.

Purchasing from GPO

Congressional reports may be available for sale from GPO; you will need to check  GPO's Catalog of U.S. Government Publications.  More information is available from GPO by calling 202-512-1800 or writing to the Superintendent of Documents, P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7954.

Congressional Record

All conference reports are printed in the Congressional Record three calendar days before floor consideration, unless this requirement is waived by unanimous consent or by a special rule.

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