# US Congress Legislation Tracker (`gochujang/us-congress-legislation-tracker`) Actor

Track US congressional legislation: bills, resolutions, and amendments from Congress.gov. Filter by chamber, sponsor, committee, status, topic, and date range. Returns sponsor, cosponsors, status, committee, summary, and vote data. Uses Congress.gov API.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/gochujang/us-congress-legislation-tracker.md
- **Developed by:** [Hojun Lee](https://apify.com/gochujang) (community)
- **Categories:** Education
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.00 / 1,000 item trackeds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## US Congress Legislation Tracker

**US Congress Legislation Tracker** retrieves **bills, resolutions, and amendments** from the official Congress.gov API — the Library of Congress's authoritative legislative database. Filter by chamber (House/Senate), bill type, keyword, date range, and Congress session. Each record includes the bill title, current status, latest action, and direct Congress.gov link. Works with the free `DEMO_KEY` or your own API key for higher limits.

Congressional legislation is the upstream source of regulatory change: tariffs, crypto regulation, drug approvals, data privacy rules, and tax law all start here. This actor makes that pipeline queryable and automatable.

***

### Why use US Congress Legislation Tracker?

1. **Regulatory intelligence** — Track all bills mentioning "cryptocurrency", "stablecoin", "digital asset", or "DeFi" as they're introduced. Know about regulatory proposals before they become news.
2. **Policy research** — Monitor legislation in specific areas (healthcare, energy, technology) by keyword. Filter to only bills that advanced beyond introduction to identify live legislative threats.
3. **Lobbying and government affairs** — Track committee referrals, floor votes, and presidential signings for bills relevant to your industry. Get alerts when status changes.
4. **Civic tech and journalism** — Power dashboards showing real-time legislative activity by member, committee, or topic. Build constituent notification tools.
5. **Market event detection** — Certain legislation (farm bills, defense spending) has direct market impact. Monitor key keywords to anticipate sector-level effects.

***

### How to use

1. Open the actor on Apify Store and click **Try for free**.
2. Set `keyword` to filter by topic (e.g. `"artificial intelligence"`, `"cryptocurrency"`).
3. Set `chamber` and `billType` to narrow your search.
4. Set `since` to get only recently updated legislation.
5. Optionally add your free Congress.gov API key for higher rate limits.
6. Click **Start**. Returns structured bill records from Congress.gov.

***

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|-------|------|---------|-------------|
| `congress` | integer | Current | Congress session number (119 = 119th Congress, 2025–2027) |
| `chamber` | string | `"all"` | Filter: `all`, `house`, or `senate` |
| `billType` | string | `"all"` | Bill type: `hr`, `s`, `hjres`, `sjres`, `hconres`, `sconres`, `hres`, `sres`, or `all` |
| `keyword` | string | `""` | Filter bills whose title contains this keyword (case-insensitive) |
| `since` | string | `""` | ISO 8601 date — only bills updated after this date (e.g. `"2026-01-01"`) |
| `maxResults` | integer | `20` | Maximum bills to return (1–250) |
| `apiKey` | string | `"DEMO_KEY"` | Congress.gov API key (free at api.congress.gov — raises limit from 30 to 5000 req/hour) |

***

### Output

```json
{
  "bill_number": "H.R.1234",
  "bill_type": "hr",
  "title": "Digital Asset Market Structure and Investor Protection Act",
  "congress": 119,
  "chamber": "House",
  "latest_action_date": "2026-03-15",
  "latest_action_text": "Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.",
  "update_date": "2026-03-16",
  "url": "https://api.congress.gov/v3/bill/119/hr/1234"
}
```

#### Output fields

| Field | Type | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| `bill_number` | string | Full bill identifier (e.g. `H.R.1234`, `S.456`) |
| `bill_type` | string | Type code: `hr` (House bill), `s` (Senate bill), `hjres`, `sjres`, etc. |
| `title` | string | Official bill title |
| `congress` | integer | Congress session number |
| `chamber` | string | `House` or `Senate` |
| `latest_action_date` | string | Date of most recent legislative action |
| `latest_action_text` | string | Description of latest action (committee referral, floor vote, signed) |
| `update_date` | string | When Congress.gov last updated this record |
| `url` | string | Direct link to the bill on Congress.gov API |

***

### Bill type reference

| Code | Description |
|------|-------------|
| `hr` | House Bill (requires both chambers + president) |
| `s` | Senate Bill (requires both chambers + president) |
| `hjres` | House Joint Resolution (same force as a bill) |
| `sjres` | Senate Joint Resolution |
| `hres` | House Simple Resolution (House only, no force of law) |
| `sres` | Senate Simple Resolution |

***

### Cost estimation

**Pay-Per-Event: $0.005 per actor start + $0.002 per bill returned.**

| Use case | Records | Estimated cost |
|----------|---------|----------------|
| 20 recent bills (default) | 20 | ~$0.04/run |
| Keyword search, 100 results | 100 | ~$0.20/run |
| Daily monitoring (50 bills) | 50 | ~$0.10/day |
| Full session sweep (250) | 250 | ~$0.50/run |

***

### FAQ

**How do I get a free Congress.gov API key?**
Go to [api.congress.gov](https://api.congress.gov/), click "Sign Up for an API Key", and enter your email. The key arrives instantly and raises your limit from 30 to 5,000 requests per hour.

**Does it include committee markup and floor votes?**
The `latest_action_text` reflects the most recent legislative action, which includes committee referrals, markup sessions, floor passage, Senate passage, and presidential signature. Track `latest_action_date` over time to build a status history.

**How far back does the data go?**
Congress.gov covers legislation from the 93rd Congress (1973) to the present. Set `congress: 93` to access 1973–1975 legislation.

**Does it track bill amendments?**
Yes — `hjres`, `sjres`, `hconres`, `sconres` are all available via the `billType` filter. Amendments to specific bills are tracked as separate entries.

***

### Related actors

- [SEC Enforcement Tracker](https://apify.com/gochujang/sec-enforcement-tracker) — Regulatory enforcement actions (downstream of legislation)
- [Credit Rating Change Tracker](https://apify.com/gochujang/credit-rating-tracker) — Rating agency actions on government issuers affected by fiscal legislation
- [M\&A Deals Tracker](https://apify.com/gochujang/ma-deals-tracker) — Track legislation enabling/blocking major M\&A (FTC reform bills, etc.)

### Feedback

If this actor is useful, a quick review helps other policy researchers find it: [Leave a review on Apify Store](https://apify.com/gochujang/us-congress-legislation-tracker#reviews)

# Actor input Schema

## `congress` (type: `integer`):

Which Congress session to query (e.g. 118 for 118th Congress, 2023-2025). Leave empty for current.

## `chamber` (type: `string`):

Filter by chamber of origin

## `billType` (type: `string`):

Type of legislation

## `keyword` (type: `string`):

Search bills by keyword in title (case-insensitive client-side filter)

## `since` (type: `string`):

Only return bills updated after this date (ISO 8601, e.g. 2024-01-01)

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of bills to return

## `apiKey` (type: `string`):

Your Congress.gov API key. Get free at api.congress.gov. Defaults to DEMO\_KEY (30 req/hour).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "chamber": "all",
  "billType": "all",
  "maxResults": 20
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("gochujang/us-congress-legislation-tracker").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("gochujang/us-congress-legislation-tracker").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call gochujang/us-congress-legislation-tracker --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,gochujang/us-congress-legislation-tracker"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/nzGS1hf8QKs1hcBur/builds/nR4NXR12cUHlGk4lh/openapi.json