About Current Law

Current Law shows every US federal law since 1973: what it does in plain English, how each member of the House and Senate voted, and which President signed it. It also lists executive orders, which a President issues without a vote in Congress.

How the colors work

Each law is colored by the party that supplied most of its "yes" votes, counting the House and Senate together. Blue means most yes votes came from Democrats; red means most came from Republicans. The darker the color, the more one-sided the vote: the lightest shade is close to an even split, and the darkest means only one party voted yes.

This can differ from which party controlled Congress, so each law shows both. For example, a law can be labeled "Republican House" but "Passed by a Democratic majority."

When not a single member of one party voted yes, the law carries a yellow warning badge saying so.

Gray laws passed by voice vote or unanimous consent. Congress kept no record of how individual members voted on them. Most ceremonial laws, like naming a post office, pass this way.

Where the data comes from

• Congress.gov and GovInfo: laws, official summaries, sponsors and full text.
• Voteview (UCLA): every House and Senate roll-call vote.
• The Federal Register: executive orders from 1994 on.

About the summaries

Plain-language summaries are written by AI from the official Congressional Research Service summary, and are labeled that way. They can contain mistakes. Every law links to its official text.

Known limits

• Votes are matched to the final passage vote in each chamber. When the House passes a Senate bill's contents under different bill numbers, the House vote may be missing.
• Independents are counted with Democrats when deciding which party controlled a chamber, since almost all of them caucused with Democrats.