Overview--What are Committee Reports?

Many researchers believe that committee reports are the most important parts of a legislative history. They are essentially the recommendations of the committee which considered the legislation. Typically they provide a history of the legislative issue, a detailed analysis of a pending bill, and a study of the economic impact of the proposed law. In order to locate the congressional reports that you need, you may have to check in some of the publications already mentioned, including the Congressional Record, the House Calendar, the main CIS Index, and Congressional Index. There is an excellent collection of committee reports kept in Government Documents on Level 1 of the library. The Su Doc stems for Senate Reports, Y 1.1/5:, Senate Executive Reports, Y 1.1/6: and House Reports, Y 1.1/8: are then followed by the Congress number and a sequential report number for each Congress.

Congressional Documents are issued with the designation H.Doc. or S.Doc.. Documents can contain Presidential messages on new legislation or vetoes, special reports of executive branch agencies, or biannual reports on committee activities. Examples of published House Documents are the President's State of the Union address and the Report of the Clerk of the House. Documents are found in many of the same sources as reports. Su Doc stems for Senate Documents, Y 1.1/3:, Senate Treaty Documents, Y 1.1/4:, and House Documents, Y 1.1/7:. The Serial Set is a serially numbered collection of House and Senate Reports and House and Senate Documents. This collection dates back to 1789 is one of the most heavily used resources in depository libraries nationwide. All reports and documents are issued individaully. The later, are collected and bound together in Serial Set volumes for posterity. Thus, the numbering system has to be converted from individual numbers to volume numbers.

Where are Committee Reports?

Titles of individual reports and documents are in EUCLID. From the 103rd Congress to date, all reports and documents are kept in paper format and are in su doc and report number order. Selected reports and documents from the 96th Congress to the 102nd Congress are located here also. For material from the 1st to the 95th Congress (including the American State Papers), you will need to consult the U.S. Serial Set on level 1 of the Woodruff Library. We have MANY, but not all, of the Serial Set volumes in print. Volumes are in numerical order. We also have the Serial Set from 1789 to 1934 (which includes the American State Papers -- 1st through 14th Congresses) on Microfiche 1475. And we have electronic access to the Serial Set. For an index, go to

• U.S. Serial Set Index, 1789-1969, Reference KF40 .C59, 1st to 91st Congress, including the American State Papers. Online index in LexisNexis Congressional (Emory only)

Other Places for Committee Reports

• U.S. Senate Executive Documents and Reports, 1817-1969, Reference KF40 .C57, online in LexisNexis Congressional (Emory only).
• LexisNexis Congressional (Emory only)
  This database carries the full text of committee reports from 1989 to date. It indexes both the paper and microfiche copies of reports since 1970 (but not Executive Reports). You must search under "Congressional Publications". Also search under the Historical Indices for reports and documents that are held in the Serial Set.
• THOMAS
  Full text of committee reports since 1995 and is searchable by keyword, bill number, report number and committee. There are links to the full text of the legislation in question and legislative status.
• GPO Access has documents, including Treaty Documents, from 1995 to date.