The United States Statutes at Large contains the text of all laws, both public and private, enacted in each session of Congress. Volumes are organized by session and individual laws are published in numerical order within those volumes. The United States Statutes at Large, which is published by the federal government, is the source for the authoritative text of federal laws promulgated since 1846.
Thomas (http://thomas.loc.gov), the legislative history website maintained by the Library of Congress, provides full texts of all public laws enacted since 1993.
The United States Code is a codification of federal laws that collects all original public laws and amendments to those laws, arranges those laws and amendments by subject, and eliminates repealed, superseded, and expired laws. Published by the federal government, the United States Code is divided into 50 titles. Every six years a new edition is published with cumulative supplements published during the intervening years. The first volume of the United States Code contain the Constitution of the United States.
Because the United States Code is printed and sold by the Government Printing Office, publication is often slow and does not include editorial enhancements such as annotations. Due to these limitations, several private companies publish competing editions of the United States Code.
United States Code Annotated (USCA), published by West Publishing, includes, together with the full text of all currently enforceable federal statutes for each section of the Code, a digest of cases that have interpreted that particular section. United States Code Service (USCS), published by LexisNexis, reproduces the text of public laws as they appear in United States Statutes at Large, rather than the United States Code. United States Code Service provides digests of court cases and federal administrative agency decisions that have interpreted a particular section.
The first several volumes of both USCA and USCS contain annotated texts of the Constitution, as amended.
Due to the editorial enhancements and timely publications schedules, most researchers prefer either United States Code Annotated or United States Code Service to the official United States Code.
The US House of Representatives publishes the official online version of the United States Code at http://uscode.house.gov/search/criteria.shtml; this version of the Code is not always current and should be updated through Thomas (http://thomas.loc.gov).
The Code of Federal Regulations, published by the federal government, is a codification of rules and regulations promulgated by federal administrative agencies (initially published in the Federal Register). The Code of Federal Regulations is divided into 50 titles that are similar, but not identical, to the arrangement of the United States Code. The Code of Federal Regulations is published annually with Titles 1-16 published January 1, Titles 17-27 published April 1, Titles 28-41 published July 1, and Titles 42-50 published October 1. Each new volume contains the text of regulations in force, incorporating changes and new regulations promulgated during the previous 12 months and deleting any revoked regulations.
The official online version of the Code of Federal Regulations is available at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cfr/index.html.
The Federal Register is published by the federal government Monday through Friday except on official federal holidays. Any administrative rule or regulation that has general application and legal effect must be published in the Federal Register. All issues published in a year constitute a single volume of the Federal Register; recent volumes exceed 70,000 pages. In addition to the rules and regulations of federal agencies, issues of the Federal Register include a table of contents, a list of “Code of Federal Regulations Parts Affected in This Issue,” select presidential documents such as Proclamations and Executive Orders, proposed rules, and notices.
The official online version of the Federal Register is available at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html.
The Congressional Record is the primary source for the transcripts of Congressional debates and votes on pending legislation. The Congressional Record Daily Edition is published daily while either chamber of Congress is in session, and consists of four sections: the proceedings of the House of Representatives, the proceedings of the Senate, Extensions and Remarks, and the Daily Digest. The Daily Digest summarizes the day’s proceedings, and lists actions taken and laws signed by the president. Each section of the Congressional Record Daily Edition is numbered consecutively throughout each session of Congress.
The Congressional Record Permanent Edition is a bound edition published after the end of each session of Congress. The organization and pagination of the Congressional Record Permanent Edition differs from the Congressional Record Daily Edition. The Daily Digest section of each daily edition is cumulated in one volume of the permanent edition. The Congressional Record Permanent Edition includes an index providing access by subject, sponsor, and bill number.
Other documents prepared under the authority of the US congress are available in the Library's government documents collection.
The Congressional Record is available online from 1994 forward at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/crecord/index.html.
The many administrative agencies of the federal government publish a wide variety of documents and often make rulings of specific application in their roles as quasi-adjudicative bodies. Many of these publications and decisions are available in the Library's government documents section. Adjudicative rulings of the federal agencies are available in those agencies' official publications, online, and in commercially published loose leaf services.
Many federal administrative agencies publish rulings, decisions, notices, and other announcements on their websites; a list of federal agencies is available at http://www.firstgov.gov/Agencies/Federal/All_Agencies/index.shtml