# Congress Bills Tracker: Recent US Bills and Status (`transparent_meteorite/congress-bills-tracker`) Actor

Track recently updated US Congress bills and resolutions from the free GovInfo bulk data: sponsor, latest action, status, policy area, subjects, cosponsor count, committee and congress.gov link. No login, no API key, no proxy.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/transparent_meteorite/congress-bills-tracker.md
- **Developed by:** [Detroit Web Agent - Open Data](https://apify.com/transparent_meteorite) (community)
- **Categories:** News, Other
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $7.00 / 1,000 bill rows

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

## Congress Bills Tracker: Recent US Bills and Status

**Congress bills tracker**: recently updated US Congress bills and resolutions from the free GovInfo bulk data, one row each with sponsor, party and state, latest action, plain-English status, policy area, subjects, cosponsor count and the congress.gov link. No API key.

Pull recently updated US Congress bills and resolutions into a clean table. Each row has the bill number and type, congress, title, sponsor with party and state, introduced date, latest action and its date, a plain-English status, policy area, legislative subjects, cosponsor count, lead committee and the congress.gov link. Data comes from the free public GovInfo bulk BILLSTATUS files. No login, no API key, no proxy, no personal data beyond the public officials named as sponsors.

### What is Congress Bills Tracker: Recent US Bills and Status?

Track recently updated US Congress bills and resolutions from the free GovInfo bulk data: sponsor, latest action, status, policy area, subjects, cosponsor count, committee and congress.gov link. No login, no API key, no proxy. Run it from the Apify Console, the API or a schedule, and export the results as JSON, CSV, Excel or HTML.

### Output

One row per bill or resolution:

| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `billId`, `billLabel`, `billType`, `billNumber`, `congress` | Identity of the bill, for example `119-HR-1`. |
| `title`, `shortTitle` | Official title and short title where one exists. |
| `sponsor`, `sponsorParty`, `sponsorState` | The sponsoring member of Congress (public official). |
| `introducedDate`, `latestActionDate` | Key dates in ISO format. |
| `latestAction`, `daysSinceLatestAction` | Latest recorded action and its age in days. |
| `status` | Introduced, In committee, Reported by committee, Passed House, Passed Senate, Passed both chambers, Sent to President, Vetoed or Became law. Derived from the recorded actions. |
| `publicLawNumber` | Public law number when enacted. |
| `policyArea`, `subjects` | Library of Congress policy area and legislative subjects. |
| `cosponsorCount` | Number of cosponsors. |
| `committee`, `committees` | First listed committee and all listed committees. |
| `url` | Link to the bill on congress.gov. |
| `scrapedAt` | When the run read the data. |

### Sample output

```json
{
  "billId": "119-HR-1",
  "billLabel": "H.R. 1",
  "congress": 119,
  "title": "An act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to title II of H. Con. Res. 14.",
  "sponsor": "Rep. Arrington, Jodey C. [R-TX-19]",
  "introducedDate": "2025-05-20",
  "latestActionDate": "2025-07-04",
  "latestAction": "Became Public Law No: 119-21.",
  "status": "Became law",
  "policyArea": "Economics and Public Finance",
  "cosponsorCount": 1,
  "committee": "Budget Committee",
  "url": "https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1"
}
```

### Input

| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| `congress` | Congress number, 113 or later. Default 119. |
| `billTypes` | `hr`, `s`, `hjres`, `sjres`, `hconres`, `sconres`, `hres`, `sres`. Default `hr` and `s`. |
| `keyword` | Optional. Every word must appear in the title, latest action, policy area, sponsor or subjects. |
| `policyArea` | Optional official policy area, for example `Health` or `Taxation`. |
| `status` | Optional status text, for example `Passed House` or `Became law`. |
| `sinceDate` | Optional YYYY-MM-DD. Keeps bills whose latest action is on or after this date. |
| `minCosponsors` | Optional minimum number of cosponsors. |
| `maxItems` | Stop after this many rows (most recent action first). Default 100. |

Sample input:

```json
{
  "congress": 119,
  "billTypes": ["hr", "s"],
  "policyArea": "Health",
  "sinceDate": "2026-09-01",
  "maxItems": 50
}
```

### Pricing

Pay per event. You pay a small fixed amount per bill row delivered, listed on the Pricing tab, plus a tiny start fee per run. You can set a maximum cost per run in the run options.

### What does this Actor do?

It lists the BILLSTATUS XML files for the Congress and bill types you choose on `govinfo.gov/bulkdata`, reads the most recently updated bills first, and turns each file into one flat row. By default it returns the 100 most recently updated House and Senate bills of the 119th Congress. You can narrow by keyword, policy area, status, latest-action date and minimum cosponsors. The actor reports what the official record says. It does not give legal or political advice.

**Run in 30 seconds**

1. Open the Actor and press **Try for free** (a free Apify account is enough).
2. Keep the prefilled input (Congress 119, House and Senate bills) and press **Start**. A run takes about a minute.
3. Open the **Output** tab. Use the table view or download CSV, Excel or JSON.

### Use cases

- Send government-affairs, compliance or lobbying teams a weekly list of bills that moved in their policy area, with the latest action and sponsor.
- Build a legislative tracker, newsletter or dashboard that shows what passed a chamber, what is in committee and which bills have broad cosponsor support.
- Feed journalists, researchers and civic groups a dataset of bills by topic, sponsor party and state for analysis in a spreadsheet, notebook or BI tool.
- Watch a keyword such as "artificial intelligence" or "drug pricing" and push matches into Slack, email or a ticket system with n8n, Make or Zapier.

### How rows are chosen

GovInfo publishes one file per bill. The actor sorts the files by when GovInfo last updated them, reads the newest ones and then applies your filters, so the default run is the most recently active legislation. Filters that need the content of the bill (keyword, policy area, status) read up to about 2,500 recent files per run. Sorting in the output is by latest action date, newest first.

### Limits

- Covers bills and resolutions in the BILLSTATUS collection (Congress 113 and later). Amendments, nominations and treaties are not included.
- The status is a plain-English reading of the recorded actions, not an official field.
- This is information, not legal advice.

### Related Actors

- [Developer Signals](https://apify.com/transparent_meteorite/developer-signals) tracks public developer activity signals for companies.
- [Website Tech Stack](https://apify.com/transparent_meteorite/website-tech-stack) detects which technologies a website runs on.
- [Sitemap Link Inventory](https://apify.com/transparent_meteorite/sitemap-link-inventory) lists every URL a site publishes in its sitemaps.

Found a bug or need a field? Open an issue on the Issues tab with the run URL.

### FAQ

**How fresh is the data?**
GovInfo refreshes the bulk files about daily, typically within a day of the action being recorded.

**Why do I get fewer rows than maxItems?**
Only bills matching your filters exist in the recent files that were read. Try an earlier `sinceDate`, a different Congress or fewer filters.

**Is this an official government product?**
No. It is an independent tool that reads the public GovInfo bulk data. Check congress.gov for the authoritative record.

**This Actor vs ponderable_hydrometer/congress-gov-scraper:** that one also returns enacted laws and members, and you bring your own free api.data.gov key. Choose this one if you want recent bill status rows with no API key to set up.

### Changelog

- 2026-10-25: Documentation updated: README refreshed.
- 2026-10-25: Initial release.
- 2026-10-25: Listing refresh: new Store icon, README reorganised (overview, data fields, pricing, FAQ) and changelog tab added. No code change.

# Changelog

This Actor's version history is a separate document: https://apify.com/transparent_meteorite/congress-bills-tracker/changelog.md

# Actor input Schema

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

Which Congress to read. 119 is the 2025-2026 Congress.

## `billTypes` (type: `array`):

hr = House bills, s = Senate bills, hjres/sjres = joint resolutions, hconres/sconres = concurrent resolutions, hres/sres = simple resolutions.

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

Optional. Every word must appear in the title, latest action, policy area, sponsor or subjects, for example "artificial intelligence".

## `policyArea` (type: `string`):

Optional official policy area text, for example Health, Taxation, Armed Forces and National Security or Energy.

## `status` (type: `string`):

Optional. For example: Became law, Passed House, Passed Senate, In committee, Reported by committee, Introduced.

## `sinceDate` (type: `string`):

Optional date in YYYY-MM-DD form. Keeps bills whose latest action is on or after this date.

## `minCosponsors` (type: `integer`):

Optional. Keep bills with at least this many cosponsors.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Stop after this many rows, most recent action first. You pay only for rows delivered.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "congress": 119,
  "billTypes": [
    "hr",
    "s"
  ],
  "minCosponsors": 0,
  "maxItems": 100
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `overview` (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 = {
    "congress": 119,
    "billTypes": [
        "hr",
        "s"
    ],
    "maxItems": 100
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("transparent_meteorite/congress-bills-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 = {
    "congress": 119,
    "billTypes": [
        "hr",
        "s",
    ],
    "maxItems": 100,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("transparent_meteorite/congress-bills-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 '{
  "congress": 119,
  "billTypes": [
    "hr",
    "s"
  ],
  "maxItems": 100
}' |
apify call transparent_meteorite/congress-bills-tracker --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,transparent_meteorite/congress-bills-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/IJrhxpYCkwR8mkni5/builds/GfXqbqpt7gUnxzod7/openapi.json