Use API

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1. Make an API for Congress.gov publicly available. Congress.gov has an internal API that shares legislative information in a structured data format between internal stakeholders. It should make an API available to the public to facilitate access to legislative data.

(from Recommendations to the Library of Congress — Legislative Information Services and How They Could Be Improved September 4, 2020)

2. Add a third party API so that other websites can access it. Thanks for all of your hard work!

(from the Congress.gov Virtual Public Forum Feedback Form 2021)

3. Provide a public API that allows querying for data

(from Survey, public 1/24/2021)

4. When will API be made available to the public

(from Public BDTF, July 14, 2021)

5. Has there been thought to making more of this data available through APIs?

(from Congress.gov Public Forum, September 2, 2021)

LOC response: "We are looking at the possibility of a public API very closely. We are exploring how to balance supporting and sustaining an API with the wide range of requirements important to our data partners. In the meantime, bulk downloads are available through GPO."

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Excerpt from https://s3.amazonaws.com/demandprogress/reports/Demand_Progress_FY_2023_Appropriations_Requests_FINAL.pdf#page=17 Appropriations Committee: Legislative Branch Agency: Library of Congress Account: Salaries and Expenses Type of Request: Report language Background: Congress.gov is a public-facing legislative information website maintained by the Library of Congress. It contains the text of legislation, bill summaries, bill status information, and more. It is a successor website to THOMAS.gov, which was created in the mid-1990s to provide public access to legislative information. While the Library of Congress has published legislative information online since the mid-1990s, it was not until fairly recently that there was an official source for underlying data. The Bulk Data Task Force studied this question and in 2012 recommended publication of Congressional information “in bulk” so that it could be downloaded for use by computer programmers. That information is now available from GPO at https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata and is the basis of web services used by millions of people. Another method of sharing data is known at an API, or application programming interface. Instead of downloading the entire dataset, an API allows one computer to ask another for a specific item. By way of example, bulk download is akin to downloading the contents of a book, but an API is akin to asking for the name of the author. The Library of Congress uses APIs to share information with other entities inside the Legislative branch. At the virtual public forum on September 10, 2020, the Library of Congress was asked whether it would make a public-facing API for use by the public. An API currently used only for internal uses would satisfy the public’s needs with respect to facilitating access to legislative information held by the Library and published on Congress.gov because it is more appropriate for certain web applications and is easier for some to use. The Library indicated it would do so only at Congress’s direction and did not weigh in on the merits of the request. The use of APIs is a long-standing method for public access to information, it is used by other legislative branch agencies such as the Government Publishing Office for public access to legislative information, and the Library at long last should be directed to establish an API along the lines of the public request. Report Language: Congress.gov API. Within 180 days of enactment, the Library of Congress is directed to instantiate a public-facing API for select information available on Congress.gov, with an initial focus on bill text, summary, and status information. The Library should engage in a dialog with web developers with an interest in Congressional information to ensure the API is robust and well-designed, and should continuously update and broaden the information available via the API.

[104PL104]

Excerpt from https://s3.amazonaws.com/demandprogress/reports/Demand_Progress_FY2023_Appropriations_Requests_05102022.pdf

Background: Congress.gov is a public-facing legislative information website maintained by the Library of Congress. It contains the text of legislation, bill summaries, bill status information, and more. It is a successor website to THOMAS.gov, which was created in the mid-1990s to provide public access to legislative information. While the Library of Congress has published legislative information online since the mid-1990s, it was not until fairly recently that there was an official source for underlying data. The Bulk Data Task Force studied this question and in 2012 recommended publication of Congressional information “in bulk” so that it could be downloaded for use by computer programmers. That information is now available from GPO at https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata and is the basis of web services used by millions of people. Another method of sharing data is known as an API, or application programming interface. Instead of downloading the entire dataset, an API allows one computer to ask another for a specific item. By way of example, bulk download is akin to downloading the contents of a book, but an API is akin to asking for the name of the author. The Library of Congress uses APIs to share information with other entities inside the Legislative branch. At the virtual public forum on September 10, 2020, the Library of Congress was asked whether it would make a public-facing API for use by the public. An API currently used only for internal uses would satisfy the public’s needs with respect to facilitating access to legislative information held by the Library and published on Congress.gov because it is more appropriate for certain web applications and is easier for some to use. The Library indicated it would do so only at Congress’s direction and did not weigh in on the merits of the request. The use of APIs is a long-standing method for public access to information, it is used by other legislative branch agencies such as the Government Publishing Office for public access to legislative information, and the Library at long last should be directed to establish an API along the lines of the public request. Report Language: Congress.gov API. Within 180 days of enactment, the Library of Congress is directed to instantiate a public-facing API for select information available on Congress.gov, with an initial focus on bill text, summary, and status information. The Library should engage in a dialog with web developers with an interest in Congressional information to ensure the API is robust and well-designed, and should continuously update and broaden the information available via the API.