General

USA.gov:  Your first click to the U.S. Government  (an official United States Government website)
http://www.usa.gov/
Almost everything from the U. S. Government seems to be available easily through this clearly designed, well organized, web page.  FirstGov is a Project of the President's Management Council.

University of Michigan Documents Center
http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/index.html
This is the most easy to use source of Public Documents from the National, State, International, and Governmental levels.

U. S. Government Information on the Web:  Subject Index
http://library.stmarytx.edu/acadlib/doc/us/subjects/submain.htm
Browse or search a keyword index of government information subject pages.  Links under subject headings are identified by the institutions that have indexed the Gov't Documents by subject.  There is duplication between them but this is an excellent way of finding government materials on almost any topic.

GPO Access (United States Government Publications Office)
http://www.access.gpo.gov/
This site will provide access to the Code of Federal Regulations, Congressional Record, Administrative Decisions, etc.  Scroll down for a list of available materials.

General Accounting Office
http://www.gao.gov/index.html
GAO's mission is to help the Congress oversee federal programs and operations to assure accountability to the American people.  This Web page includes GAO Reports, updated daily, and FraudNet, a service anyone may use to "report allegations of fraud, waste, abuse, or mismanagement of federal funds," as well as other links having to do with "accountability, integrity, and reliability" in the U.S. government.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
http://www.archives.gov/
The National Archives of the United States reflect and record more than 200 years of American development; they are great in number, diverse in character, and rich in information. The National Archives and Records Administration's 33 facilities hold about 21.5 million cubic feet of original textual materials--that's more than 4 billion pieces of paper from the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the federal government. The National Archives multimedia collections include nearly 300,000 reels of motion picture film, more than 5 million maps, charts, and architectural drawings, more than 200,000 sound and video recordings, more than 9 million aerial photographs, nearly 14 million still pictures and posters, and about 7,600 computer data sets. See the next entry for information about the Archival Research Catalog (ARC), NARA's database of its holdings.

Archival Research Catalog (ARC)
http://www.archives.gov/research_room/arc/
ARC is a searchable database that contains information about a wide variety of the National Archives and Records Administration's holdings across the country. You may use ARC to search descriptions for key words or topics, and you may retrieve digital copies of selected textual documents, photographs, maps, and sound recordings. ARC contains descriptive records for about 20% of the material available in NARA's collections. ARC also provides access to 124,000 digital images. To ensure you find all information in which you are interested, consult NARA's home page.

Columbia University Libraries Documents Service Center
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/usgd/dsc.html

From Cradle to Grave: Government Records and Your Privacy
http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs11-pub.htm
Although this was written for California residents, the federal portions will apply anywhere.

Google U.S. Government Search
http://www.google.com/ig/usgov
A specialized search engine sponsored by Google, allowing searches for government information and news. "You can choose to search for content located on either U.S. federal, state and local government websites". The site also offers users to personalize content feeds on topics of their interest.

Government Documents (General)
http://www.lib.jmu.edu/govdocs/

Congressional (Legislative):

Congress.org
http://congress.org/
Complete directory of information about members of the U.S. House and Senate.

THOMAS: U.S. Legislative Information
http://thomas.loc.gov/
Includes information on current bills, current schedules of the House and the Senate, committees, and access to the Congressional Record (1989 forward). Also includes frequently sought historical documents such as The Constitution of the United States and early Congressional documents (1774-1789).

Congressional Budget Office
http://www.cbo.gov/
Created in 1974 with the mission to provide Congress with nonpartisan analyses on economic and budget information. A wide range of sources, documents, and data are available here.

Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports
http://www.NCSEonline.org/NLE/CRS/
Congress has released for the public "some" of the CRS reports. These reports are compiled by experts at the Library of Congress on topics of national interest. They are written in a nonpartisan and scholarly manner. Arranged in broad subject categories.

Biographical Directory of U.S. Congress 1774-Present
http://bioguide.congress.gov/
Provides brief biographical information for members of Congress from 1774-present. Some entries include a portrait and links to a bibliography and location of research collections.

U.S.House of Representatives
http://www.house.gov/
Includes the schedule of the House, information on House bills, roll call votes, committees and member offices.

U.S. Senate
http://www.senate.gov/
Includes the day's calendar, committees, roll call votes, bill search, senators' web pages and senate history.

Earmarks
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/earmarks/index.html
A searchable database of earmark spending by Congress. The database offers the amounts and recipients of earmarks, the funds which Congress appropriates as part of legislation (appropriation and authorization bills). This database is a product of President Bush's call to reduce the number of funds earmarked by Congress.

Presidential (Executive):

The Whitehouse
http://www.whitehouse.gov/

U.S. Federal Government Agencies
http://www.lib.lsu.edu/gov/fedgov.html
Links to Web sites of federal government agencies, arranged in hierarchical order and searchable by keyword.

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Massachusetts Elections 2006
http://www.lib.wsc.ma.edu/elect2006.htm
A collection of websites relevant to the 2006 Massachusetts elections. The list contains sites for political parties, candidates for office, and state government informational pages.

DNet (DemocracyNet)
http://congress.org/congressorg/e4/
DNet, sponsored by the League of Women Voters, gives candidates for office at all levels of government an opportunity to state their positions on the issues.

Project Vote Smart
http://www.vote-smart.org/
Comprehensive profiles of candidates for office at the state and federal levels, including voting records, positions on issues, campaign contributions, and ratings by interest groups.

Campaign Finance Reform:

Brookings Institution:  Campaign Finance
http://www.brook.edu/GS/CF/CF_HP.HTM
Public Campaign
http://www.publicampaign.org/
CQ.com MoneyLine
http://www.tray.com/
From Congressional Quarterly publishers, a site offering news and reports on campaign finance.
Public Citizen Congress Watch
http://www.citizen.org/congress/index.cfm

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National Priorities Project
http://nationalpriorities.org/
A non-profit organization offering reports, charts, and data on federal spending. The project's website offers a database to generate statistics on federal expenditure by region, issue, program, and year(s). The website also features "quick reports" on statewide levels and ratings for hunger, poverty and energy consumption.

Opensecrets.org: Center for Responsive Politics
http://www.opensecrets.org/
Federal campaign finance statistics, focusing on the individuals, organizations, lobbyists, corporations, and industries who donate money to presidential and congressional candidates.

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State Documents (Springfield City Library)
http://www.springfieldlibrary.org/liblinks/govern.html#State

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Fedstats: One Stop Shopping for Federal Statistics
http://www.fedstats.gov/

Statistical Abstract of the United States  (United States Census Bureau)
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/
This site links to PDF files of the complete text and graphs of Statistical Abstracts.  Use the tabs in the left-hand frame to navigate once you load the PDF file.  It can be somewhat easier than paging through the complete file.

Bureau of Justice Statistics   (U.S. Department of Justice)
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/

National Center for Education Statistics
http://nces.ed.gov/

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http://www.lib.wsc.ma.edu/govdocs.htm
Page maintained by Oliver Zeff