Where can I get basic legislative information: status of a bill, sponsorship of legislation, etc.? Melbourne, FL - 7/31/00

You can do some research yourself on-line, or you can ask your Representative or either of your two Senators to answer your legislative question.

Basic legislative information is readily obtainable from the THOMAS website, a service of the Library of Congress. Once there, you can identify legislation by bill number, subject matter, or sponsor and then obtain its status.

To identify your Member of the House and two Senators, visit the C-SPAN Congressional Directory.

Members of Congress regularly provide legislative and background information to their constituents. You can submit your legislative questions to them by:

(1) Phoning any Member's office at (202) 224-3121;

(2) Writing any House Member at U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515 or any Senator at U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. 20510;

(3) E-mailing those Senators with e-mail capability by visiting "Contacting the Senate"

(4) E-mailing Representatives with e-mail capability by visiting: "Write Your Representative"

If you choose to e-mail, please remember that most Members will only answer e-mails from their own constituents and many will require you to submit your zip code before you can transmit an electronic message to them. The average Member represents 650,000 people and Senators the entire population of a state. Given the large number of communications from those to whom they are accountable, most Members are not able to keep up with correspondence from non-constituents.