THOMAS Takes a Page From Google

Happy New Year to ZiefBrief readers!  THOMAS, the federal legislative information search portal, starts 2007 off with an array of exciting new search options!  Previously, THOMAS didn't offer users an easy way to search all of the federal legislative and executive documents available on its page at one time.  But THOMAS has introduced a Google-like search box on its new features page, which permits you to search all THOMAS information, including proposed and enacted legislation, the Congressional Record, committee reports, presidential nominations, and treaties. 

You can also browse legislation by sponsor, then search within those search results by key word.  For example, if I select Senator Barbara Boxer from the pull-down menu on the new features page, a new screen comes up, showing all 54 bills sponsored by Senator Boxer.  THOMAS has included a search box on the left-hand side of this screen, which permits me to search within these 54 bills for legislation about a particular topic.  Pretty handy!

Finally, THOMAS now provides a much-needed "browse legislation by topic" feature, so that users can review all of the current legislation in a particular area, such as health, education, or military and defense.

Thanks to beSpacific for highlighting these 2007 changes to THOMAS.