OOOThese are the bodies that make the law. The House and Senate have here been broken up into their respective committees because of the committees' overwhelming influence over legislation. Almost every measure enacted into law will go through the vetting process of the relevant committee. That process includes the solicitation of comments from the Executive, hearings from experts on the subject of the proposed legislation and those with an interest in it, the amending of the proposed legislation, and its final recommendation to the full House or Senate. Committee members also take responsibility for shepherding a bill to final approval. Read more here.
OOOBecause of committee influence, membership is important, and members of Congress from both houses take great pains to be on the right committees and subcommittees. Their names are included on the web sites, the value of which is that the citizen can know and communicate with those most involved in specific legislation.
OOOA good source for all committee hearings is C-Span's CapitalHearings.org.
OOOUnfortunately, information is inconsistent on individual committees sites. Indeed, some of it is available only off-site.

This is the law of the land, so far as the federal government is concerned.

The "official handbook of the U.S. Government".

This is the back story of the U.S. Code. Every law, public and private, ever enacted by the Congress is published in the Statutes at Large in order of the date of its passage. Until 1948, all treaties and international agreements approved by the Senate were also published in the set. In addition, the Statutes at Large includes the text of the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, the Constitution, amendments to the Constitution, treaties with Indians and foreign nations, and presidential proclamations.

Presented by the House of Representatives. For more information click the legislation link in the Senate's Virtual Reference Desk. You may also want to read How a Bill Becomes Law on Project VoteSmart, Enactment of a Law from The Library of Congress and How Congress Works at the bottom of the Rules Commmitte page below.

A complete list of both historical (to the 1993-94 103rd Congress) and current legislation from the House and the Senate from the Government Printing Office. See also the GPO's Congressional Documents.

Published by the Government Printing Office, the record is the daily diary of Congress, its debates and proceedings.

From the U.S. Government Printing Office, not only committee materials, but links at the bottom of the page to valuable historical and legislative documents.

An explanation put together by the Senate Committee on the Budget.

House of Representatives Schedule: A weekly schedule of what is happening in the House.
The Legislative Process: Roll call votes, plus the text and status of bills, the status of amendments, committee reports, a complete listing of each committee's jurisdiction, current house floor proceedings and the Congressional record for the 104th through the 109 Congresses. Links, too.
For the texts of committee hearings and other committee publications go to the GPO's Congressional Committee Materials.

Composed of members of the House and the Senate, the Joint Economic Committee reviews economic conditions and makes recommendations on economic policy. The web site reflects the views of the majority party when the same party has control of both the House and Senate. See "minority" for the opposing point of view. The site providesinformation on the economy and numerous economic charts.

Composed of members of the House Committee on Ways & Means and the Senate Finance Committee, the Joint Committee on Taxation oversees the operation of internal revenue taxes, proposes change in those taxes, and provides the official revenue estimation for all tax legislation.

Provides both houses of Congress with economic and budgetary analysis relevant to the budget process. Because it serves both the Senate and the House, and is necessarily bi-partisan, the CBO is considered a highly objective source of economic information.

The investigative agency of the U.S. Congress, its mission is to ensure compliance with and accountability to the laws passed by the Legislature, to evaluate government programs, and to formulate programs to improve government.

The focal point for printing, binding, and information dissemination for the entire Federal community. Important to the citizen researcher is GPO Access, which provides a plethora of federal documents on line in its A to Z Resource List.

Currently headed by former Congressman Lee Hamiton, the Center seeks to inform citizens of the workings of Congress, to deepen their understanding of its importance, and to engage them in the legislative process.

Offers an interesting array of free services online including a congressional schedule, a listing of all committees and subcommittes, and up-to-date personal profiles of members of Congress.

Non-government porrtal for the House of Representatives and Senate, geared toward connecting citizens with their government at all levels. Learn about current legislation, comment on pending bills, find out how to contact your representatives, learn about candidates, register to vote and post an alert on your own pet issue. An excellent site.

Includes Congress for Kids and Congress in the Classroom, a guide to teaching government.

Brought to you by OMB Watch, committed to tracking federal spending through their contracts and grants databases.

Official public-access government website. It includes an A to Z list of all government departments and agencies as well as state and local government home pages. Specifically designed to serve the practical needs of citizens.

The on-line version of Government Executive Magazine, GovExec provides an inside look at the doings of government, including pay rates, the state and workings of government management with special pages for homeland security and defense. The site includes a bill tracker, and a digest of news stories named The Early Bird.

A valuable and impressive window on Congress.

Complete list, arranged alphabetically or hierarchically as you wish.

Respected investigative and advocative organization for open and accountable government.

Tracks federal contracts and grants. See FedSpending above.

From AOL, sends e-mail alerts of votes on recent legislation.

Tracks law-making with a handy guide to those pesky congressional earmarks.

Constituency data and key votes for the House of Representatives, including PAC money and redistricting issues. Suspiciously targeted at Republicans.

Bill summaries, status and texts, the most recent copy of the Congressional Record and committee information. Add to this a list of legislative agencies (extremely useful) and a small library of historical documents. Created by the Library of Congress: an excellent site. See especially "How Congress Makes Laws" for the House of Representatives and the Senate.