---------------------------------------------------------------- TAXPAYER ASSETS PROJECT - INFORMATION POLICY NOTE ACCESS TO FEDERAL REGISTER, US CODE, CFR, CON RECORD AND BILLS. May 6, 1995 COMPLETE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO FREE INTERNET ACCESS TO FIVE IMPORTANT GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS: Federal Register US Code Code of Federal Regulations Congressional Record Congressional Bills by Michael Ward, TAP May 5, 1995 (mike@tap.org; 202/387-8030) INTRODUCTION If you really are a complete idiot this won't help too much, and even if you aren't, some of these sites can be difficult to use. But seriously, here are some tips on how to search SOME important government documents on the Internet. The following documents are all available for keyword searching from various government Internet sites for free: Legislation (103rd & 104th Congress) Congressional Record (103rd & 104th Congress) Federal Register (103rd & 104th Congress) US Code Code of Federal Regulations At the bottom of this post there is a brief description of what these documents are, as well as how often they are updated at each site. EASY WAY TO FIND THE BIG FIVE PUBLICATIONS There are pointers for all of five of these documents at the essential.org gopher. They are under menu item "4. Government Information Resources". Using essential.org adds a layer of menus, but you only have to remember one address. World Wide Web (WWW) databases such as the Library of Congress THOMAS system have been linked with the non-graphical interface lynx. WHERE ARE THE IMPORTANT INTERNET SITES FOR THE FIVE PUBLICATIONS The most important servers are the Library of Congress THOMAS system, the GPO Access system and the House of Representatives' GOPHER and WEB servers. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS THOMAS Thomas - thomas.loc.gov Thomas, the Library of Congress's Home Page, is a good site to use if you have a Web browser. It provides access to Congressional bills and the Congressional Record. Library of Congress officials say THOMAS will soon have many other documents, but the product line hasn't grown as fast as expected. You can also search THOMAS from the essential.org gopher. GPO ACCESS PROGRAM GPO Access contains: Congressional bills Federal Register Congressional Record GAO Reports The GPO Access program is a terrific source of information, if you can find it and don't mind the somewhat clunky interface. GPO Access is the only free site for the FEDERAL REGISTER, and it provides keyword searching of the US CODE. Plus, you can do a key word search on several publications at the same time, such as searching bills, the Congressional Record and the US Code at the same time for the same key words. For reasons best explained elsewhere, free access to GPO Access is provided through 13 libraries, each providing a somewhat different front end. TAP has provided links to 9 of these libraries through the essential.org gopher. If you want to connect directly, here are our recommended sites: Case Western Reserve Univ. 1. Select "1". GPO Access Georgia Southern Univ. 1. Login Username as "INFO" 2. Select "8" Government Printing Office Access 3. Enter "y" to connect" Alaska Statewide Library Electronic Doorway (SLED) 1. Login as "sled" 2. Select "5" Government Information 3. Select "2" Federal Government Information 4. Select "6" GPO Access - Federal Register ... 5. Enter "y" to connect Univ. of North Carolina 1. Login username as "library 2. Select "2" U.S. Government Databases 3. Select "2" GPO Access ... While searching GPO Access databases it is important to use capital letters for the boolean connectors, i.e. " assault ADJ weapon ". The booleans are AND, OR, ADJ (adjacent to), and NOT. To search GPO databases use the following syntax: Bill Number (punctuation is s. ADJ 21 important) h.r. ADJ 36 Date march ADJ 21 Member of Congress mr ADJ kennedy HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES GOPHER AND WEB SITES Gopher - gopher.house.gov The most notable documents on the House gopher are the Congressional Record and House bills, both searchable by keywords, and the US Code by Title. If you just need to retrieve bills from the House of Representatives, the House gopher is the easiest source. WWW - www.house.gov US Code Code of Federal Regulations The Code of Federal Regulations (as far as we know the only complete CFR available on the net for free) and US Code are available through the House's homepage. These databases actually are available from a different URL than the House's homepage (with a search engine from Personal Library Software.) The homepage also links to the House Gopher for the Congressional Record. Description of Databases Code of Federal Regulations (House WWW) The Code of Federal Regulations is the official compilation of the Federal regulations. The CFR database is not as current as the printed version, but soon they expect to catch up. Congressional Record (GPO Access, Thomas, House Gopher) The Congressional Record database is the public proceedings of both the House and Senate. It contains the floor debates, as well as the roll call votes among other things. Federal Register (GPO Access) The Federal Register is the official forum for making available to the public regulations and legal notices issued by Federal agencies, some Presidential Documents, and many other important items. Legislation (GPO Access, House Gopher (House side only), Thomas) Bills introduced by members of Congress. US Code (GPO Access, House WWW, House Gopher (by title)) The United States Code contains the general and permanent laws of the United States. The GPO's US Code database is current as of January, 1994; however, any section that has been affected by laws passed during the 2nd Session of the 103rd Congress (1994) includes a note identifying the public law that affected that section. Some titles available from the House gopher are current as of January 1995. GPO allows searching of the entire Code, while the House gopher requires the user to retrieve the code by section. Other Internet sites of Interest Marvel - marvel.loc.gov The Library of Congress's Marvel systems is the most comprehensive source of government information accessible by gopher. It is more of a directory that points you toward other gopher servers, rather than a repository for government information. Information and pointers to other sites are listed by branch of government and then by agency in each branch. FEDWORLD Internet Multicasting Service -- SEC's EDGAR (10K,10Q,etc) Site-US and World Politics Wiretap-US & World Politics USIA - US INFORMATION AGENCY To connect to several "forbidden" USIA Internet sites, use the links from essential.org. Court Opinions - 3rd Circuit Opinions, Via Villanova University Links from essential.org - 11th Circuit Opinions, Via Emory University Links from essential.org - Search Supreme Court Opinions, Via UNC Links from essential.org -------------------------------------------------------------------- TAP-INFO is an Internet Distribution List provided by the Taxpayer Assets Project (TAP). TAP was founded by Ralph Nader to monitor the management of government property, including information systems and data, government funded R&D, spectrum allocation and other government assets. TAP-INFO reports on TAP activities relating to federal information policy. tap-info is archived at tap.org. Scription requests to tap-info to listproc@tap.org with the message: subscribe tap-info your name -------------------------------------------------------------------- Taxpayer Assets Project; P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036 v. 202/387-8030; f. 202/234-5176; internet: tap@tap.org -------------------------------------------------------------------- ... quis custodiet ipsos custodes? --- FidoPCB v1.5 beta-'j' * Origin: BOO! Board Of Occult, Rio Grande Valley Texas (1:712/407) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 196 AVIATION Ref: ECH00075 Date: 08/13/97 From: MODERATOR Time: 10:52am \/To: SYSOP (Read 0 times) Subj: DC-8 accident at Miami -=> Quoting Al Thompson to ERIC GRAY <=- AT> Grab HR3355*.ZIP for the bill, as signed by Clinton, in addition to a AT> LOT of the debate as it appeared in the Congressional Record. Be AT> aware that the copy of HR3355 we have is NOT the same as the August 10 AT> version which they tried to tell us was the final version. Which version ended up in the Congressional Register? ... Catch the Blue Wave! --- FidoPCB v1.5 beta-'j' * Origin: BOO! Board Of Occult, Rio Grande Valley Texas (1:712/407) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 196 AVIATION Ref: ECH00076 Date: 08/13/97 From: DAVID KIRSCHBAUM Time: 09:42pm \/To: HUBERT BARNICH (Read 0 times) Subj: BBs messages? Yes, that's correct. --- FidoPCB v1.5 beta-'j' * Origin: BOO! Board Of Occult, Rio Grande Valley Texas (1:712/407) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 196 AVIATION Ref: ECH00077 Date: 08/13/97 From: MARK FOSTER Time: 11:04pm \/To: JOE NORRIS (Read 0 times) Subj: Greetings -=> Quoting Al Thompson to Matt Smith <=- AT> They may have been planning something smaller, or less effective, such AT> as a smaller bomb. Or, they may not have had a workable plan, or access AT> to the Secret Service parking area. Who knows? Really? Hadn't heard that one. ... Don't feel the pain...impeach the pain. --- FidoPCB v1.5 beta-'j' * Origin: BOO! Board Of Occult, Rio Grande Valley Texas (1:712/407) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 196 AVIATION Ref: ECH00078 Date: 08/13/97 From: KEN NOTT Time: 11:06pm \/To: RON WILDES (Read 0 times) Subj: Partial tafel -=> Quoting jcaldwel@iquest.net to All <=- jc> A group of 35 people listened to Sherwood's talk. One militia member, jc> who gave his name as Bill Tuttle, said he thought the government was jc> responsible for the bombing of the Oklahoma federal building. Twin Tuttle? ... Always remember to pillage BEFORE you burn. --- FidoPCB v1.5 beta-'j' * Origin: BOO! Board Of Occult, Rio Grande Valley Texas (1:712/407) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 196 AVIATION Ref: ECH00079 Date: 08/13/97 From: CHRISTOPHER TARANA Time: 11:07pm \/To: RON WILDES (Read 0 times) Subj: Windmill starts -=> Quoting Alan Pugh to Eric Gray <=- AP> does anyone out there have a good argument against getting rid of the AP> paper dollar? Ever stuff a fifty-cent piece? ... Computers also eliminate spare time. --- FidoPCB v1.5 beta-'j' * Origin: BOO! Board Of Occult, Rio Grande Valley Texas (1:712/407) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 196 AVIATION Ref: ECH00080 Date: 08/13/97 From: CHRISTOPHER TARANA Time: 12:29pm \/To: JIM NEWARK (Read 0 times) Subj: Aircraft Carriers Circa "Troops to Cops" Conversion Program Announced WASHINGTON (NNS) -- Recently separated and soon to be separated veterans will be able to join the ranks of local peacekeepers through a new police training grant program announced May 2 by the Departments of Defense and Justice. The program, "Troops to Cops," will provide up to $5,000 in training to eligible policing agencies for each veteran hired this year. The Department of Defense has made $15 million available to the Community Oriented Policing Services Program (COPS) to assist with conversion efforts and help expedite President Clinton's mandate to put 100,000 peace officers on the street. Eligible veterans must have been a member of the Armed Forces on or after Oct. 1, 1993, and must have been honorably discharged. Veterans can contact their local transition office to find out about police vacancies. More than 7,700 law enforcement agencies across the country who have been selected to receive COPS hiring grants will be eligible for funding. Grants may be used to pay for academy, supplemental, or in-service training costs for veterans hired after Jan. 1, 1995. As with all COPS-funded programs, officers hired must receive training in community policing. -USN- --- FidoPCB v1.5 beta-'j' * Origin: BOO! Board Of Occult, Rio Grande Valley Texas (1:712/407)