Track and Understand Bills in the New Congress

The 118^th Congress is well underway. Congress being the legislative branch of federal government makes all laws, declares war, regulates interstate and foreign commerce and controls taxing and spending policies. During each legislative session Congress introduces thousands of bills. With House Republicans holding a narrow majority and Democrats keeping the control of the Senate and the White House, it remains to be seen if Congress can pass substantive legislation in the next two years.

On the Senate side, things were off to a slow start. On Thursday, February 2, 2023, the Senate finally approved resolution to organize committee. Nevertheless, the members from both chambers collectively introduced more than 1,000 legislation in January. The legislation include amending the Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, extending the Federal Pell Grant Eligibility, curbing President Joe Biden’s ability to tap the nation’s petroleum reserves, and more.

Monitor Vital Policy Movements

The total number of bills, resolutions, and amendments that make it to Congress varies from year to year. The 117^th Congress introduced more than 17,000 pieces of legislation. Out of the more than 15,000 joint resolutions and bills, 365 eventually found their way to the President’s desk and became laws. While most bills do not make it out of committees or subcommittees, it is imperative for policy professionals to stay on top of important legislative developments. Current impactful bills that are making their way through Congress include:

• Resolution to denounce socialism
• Establish an investigative panel to probe the “weaponization of government”
• End Covid public health emergency
• Set up a NOTAMs task force

The information overload for lobbyists, legislative aides, policy analysts, political consultants, and government relations managers can be overwhelming. Staying on top of legislative movements, making sense of changes from introduction to enactment, evaluating a bill’s impact on private and public sectors and individuals, and sharing information with others can cause many hurdles.

Access Complete Information

POLITICO Pro is a policy intelligence platform that includes one of the most comprehensive bill trackers on the market. Pro’s Legislative Compass is a powerful, intelligent bill tracking tool that provides a complete source of federal legislative information with more than 25 years of data. For those who also need to effectively influence legislation on the state level, Legislative Compass also has more than 10 years of data across all 50 states.

Pro’s bill tracker allows you to follow actions on a bill from inception to passage. Coupled with POLITICO’s nonpartisan, in-depth reporting, and Premium Bill Analysis, you will have the information you need to strategize early and know when to pivot to a new strategy to reach the most favorable outcomes. Pro’s Legislative Compass is designed for busy policy professionals like you who need insightful updates with minimal noise, to understand the impact quickly, and to share information with your team to ensure alignment.

Every bill introduced in Congress is available in Pro’s bill tracker. Uncover details effortlessly, including sponsors and co-sponsors, bill text, bill version comparison, CRS summaries, similar bills, latest actions, roll call votes, related news, analysis, and documents such as transcripts and committee reports.

Track Spending Bills

The 12 annual federal spending bills or appropriations bills are one of the most significant legislation. The spending bills set appropriate federal funds for specific federal government, agencies, and programs. The money is used to fund hundreds of programs and pay for the operations, personnel, equipment, and activities of those programs. At the end of 2022, Congress passed a $1.7 Trillion omnibus spending bill. Our Pro platform has a dedicated Appropriations Tracker within the Legislative Compass. The tracker monitors spending bills with straightforward visualizations and gives you access to key documents in a single, easy-to-view display.

Organize Your Information and Align Your Team

To help you weed through the chaff, our Tracked Bill capabilities allows you to add bills you are following to Project folders and set email alert options based on your preference. Public policy is a team sport. Collaborate with your team, define and communicate your organization’s policy position and priority to coordinate actions and keep your team focused on the most crucial legislation. Through Pro, you can set up different group Project folders to share information with the appropriate colleagues who are also Pro users.

Leverage the Platform for Policy Success

Legislative Compass is one of the policy tools within the Pro platform. To fully unleash your policy leadership and potential use Pro Directories to find key lawmakers and policy influencers and reach out to those contacts using Pro’s integrated Stakeholder Management solution. Learn more about how Pro can help you navigate Congressional gridlock and find a through lane to your intended destination.