THOMAS

THOMAS is the database of United States Congress legislative information. It is operated by the Library of Congress and was launched in January 1995 at the inception of the 104th Congress. It is a comprehensive, Internet-accessible source of information on the activities of Congress, including:

• Bills & resolutions
  • The texts of bills and resolutions
  • Summaries and status
  • Voting results, including how individual members voted
• Congressional Record, including the daily digest
• Presidential nominations
• Treaties

The database is named after Thomas Jefferson, who was the third President of the United States. It seems there is no reason its name is in all upper-case letters.

According to some sources, 'THOMAS' is an acronym for "The House [of Representatives] Open Multimedia Access System", but as of November 2006 this text is not apparent anywhere in the THOMAS Web site. This explanation may be a backronym.

The website allows users to share legislative information via several social networking sites, and there have been proposals for an application programming interface.

External links

• THOMAS