§013. Congressional Record

Budget Counsel Reference Directory

Congressional Record

The Congressional Record is a transcript of the debates held of the debates and floor proceedings of the House of Representatives and the Senate. While it records the statements made by Members of Congress during debate on legislation, on the “consideration” of various measures, including bills, joint resolutions, concurrent resolutions, amendments, and conference reports, it does more than that. It also reflects textual matter that is “submitted for the record”, which is a term of art used in motions when some report, statement, new article, or anything of a textual nature, can be entered into the Congressional Record.

While nearly verbatim, Members are allowed to “revise and extend” their remarks, which means they can fix errors they may make, and extend their remarks for the additional material to accompany what was actually said.

The Congressional Record has taken on various forms since the start of the very “First Congress”, when the statements were not transcripts but rather descriptions. It has taken on various incarnations, and can be found in various places, all kept by the Library of Congress and the Clerks of the House and Senate.