Congress.gov Legislation Scraper

Overview

Track US legislation, bills, resolutions, members of Congress, and congressional committees via the official Congress. gov API. Search bills by congress, type, date range, and more.

Features

• Search by keywords to find specific results
• Filter results by category or type
• Export data in JSON, CSV, or Excel formats
• Control output volume with configurable result limits
• Built-in proxy support for reliable data collection

Use Cases

• Track - Track federal government data releases and updates
• Build - Build datasets for policy research and analysis
• Monitor - Monitor regulatory changes and compliance requirements
• Aggregate - Aggregate public government data for transparency projects

Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description	Default
apiKey	string (required)	Free API key from api.congress.gov. Sign up at https://api.congress.gov/sign-up/
endpoint	string	Which type of data to fetch.	bills
congress	integer	Congress number (e.g., 118 for 2023-2025, 119 for 2025-2027). Leave empty for...
billType	string	Filter bills by type. Only used when endpoint is 'bills' and congress is spec...
fromDate	string	Start date filter for bills (YYYY-MM-DD). Filters by update date.
toDate	string	End date filter for bills (YYYY-MM-DD). Filters by update date.
maxItems	integer	Maximum number of records to return.	100
proxyConfiguration	object	Optional proxy configuration for requests.

Output Example

Each result contains structured data like this:

{
  "billNumber": "LIC-2025-001",
  "title": "Sample Government - Federal Result",
  "sponsor": "Sample sponsor",
  "status": "Active",
  "latestAction": "Sample latestAction",
  "congress": "Sample congress"
}

Pricing

This actor uses pay-per-result pricing:

• $0.001 per result
• $1.00 per 1,000 results

No monthly fees. You only pay for what you scrape. Apify Free plan includes $5/month in platform credits.

How to Run

Apify Console

1. Go to the Congress.gov Legislation Scraper actor page
2. Configure your input parameters
3. Click Start and wait for the results
4. Download data in JSON, CSV, or Excel format

API

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/fortuitous_pirate~congress-gov-scraper/runs?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"maxItems": 10}'

Python SDK

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_API_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("fortuitous_pirate/congress-gov-scraper").call(
    run_input={"maxItems": 10}
)

for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

Integration

Connect Congress.gov Legislation Scraper with your existing tools and workflows:

• API access - Programmatic access via Apify API
• Webhooks - Get notified when scraping completes
• Scheduling - Set up recurring runs on any schedule
• Zapier / Make - Connect with 5,000+ apps via Apify integrations
• Python / Node.js SDKs - Native client libraries for easy integration