Tracking Addendum - Tracking Congress
Tracking Congress entails a different procedure than that of state legislatures. That is not to say that you can't locate legislation and votes through Stateline and major media outlets. However, because greater emphasis is placed on Congressional work in the Key Votes Department, the primary Congress tracker should check the House and Senate's website each day to see if any full chamber votes have occurred. If you locate a vote, proceed to search for any press attention.
Tracking the US Senate
Tracking the US House of Representatives
Searching for Press
Once you have located new votes that have occurred, check to see if they got any press attention. The best way to do this is to perform a Google news search. Effective search terms can be the bill number (ex: "HR 5710," "S 380"), the shorthand title given to the bill by its authors (ex: "Patriot Act"), or the chamber in which the vote occurred coupled with terms that describe the subject of the bill that was voted on (ex: "house financial regulation," "senate health care," etc.). You can also peruse specific news sources that you think may have information on the Congressional legislation in question, such as Politico, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, etc. If you are able to find any news articles about that particular vote or about the piece of legislation in general, compile them into a press file and bring the vote up at the next selection meeting.
