UNDER THE USCCAN SUN

You can find a range of legislative history resources in a single publication–U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News®.

Why should you use congressional committee reports to research the intent of Congress? The U.S. Supreme Court said so!*

And where do you get committee reports? You can retrieve committee reports for a particular federal act–as well as public laws, presidential messages and signing statements, proclamations, committee membership changes, executive orders, and session highlights–by searching the appropriate U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News (USCCAN)database on Westlaw. Here's a closer look at USCCAN databases:

Which USCCAN databases are available?

For a list of the USCCAN databases on Westlaw and links to their Search pages, go to the Westlaw Directory and click U.S. Federal Materials in the right frame. Then click U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News. In the alternative, you can access the USCCAN databases related to a particular step of the legislative process by clicking a number in the diagram at the tabbed U.S. Senate Legislative History or Legislative History-Federal page.

Available USCCAN databases include (but are not limited to) the following:

Database	Description
U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News-Legislative History Reports (USCCAN-REP)	All congressional committee reports, including reports on bills that did not become law, beginning with 1990. Also sets out the legislative history of public laws as reprinted in U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News from 1948 through 1989, as well as the legislative history of securities laws beginning with 1933.
U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News-Presidential Messages and Signing Statements (USCCAN-MSG)	Documents released for publication in the Federal Register by the Executive Office of the President of the United States as reprinted in U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News. Coverage begins with 1986.
U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News-Executive Orders (USCCAN-EO)	Executive orders and related documents released by the Executive Office of the President of the United States. Coverage begins with 1936.
U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News-Session Highlights (USCCAN-SESS)	Highlights of congressional sessions as published in update supplements to U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News. Coverage begins with the 106th Congress (2000).

Can I search more than one database at a time?

To search all USCCAN content simultaneously, access the U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News multibase (USCCAN). You can search using the Terms and Connectors or Natural Language search method. For example, to retrieve the public law, remarks by the president and other government officials, congressional reports, and other documents related to the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009, access USCCAN and type a query such as

"children health insurance program" /s reauthoriz! & da(2009)

How can I see a USCCAN legislative history table?

In the back of the U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News, there is a table (Table 4) of legislative history citations, dates, and other details. To view Table 4 for a particular year, access U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News-Legislative History Table database (USCCAN-TABLE) and use the template to search for a particular year, Congress (e.g., 110th), or congressional session. Is there a way to get a list of the major federal legislative activity during a particular period? To retrieve highlights of a particular Congress, congressional session, or year, access the USCCAN-SESS database and use the template to search for a particular year, Congress, or congressional session.

* Thornburg v. Gingles, 106 S. Ct. 2752, 2763 n. 7 (1986) ("We have repeatedly recognized that the authoritative source for legislative intent lies in the Committee Reports on the bill.")