The U.S. House of Representatives Roll Call Votes website sucks

[Tx4obama]

I really haven't been following the House site for very long - maybe just a few weeks.
I normally keep a close eye on the Senate site.

So, for those of ya'll that do know about the House website: When the Democrats held the House were there descriptions of the 'amendments' there? I see that the republicans are not putting up much info regarding what the amendments are. Is this lack of information something new that started since the republicans took over?


U.S. House: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/index.asp

[Make7]

1. I think most of the information is there - but it is convoluted to find it.

If you look up the page for a bill on Thomas.gov (e.g. H.R.1), there is a link for the amendments. Click on the link by the amendment that you want information on. On the page that opens up, it tells what number the amendment has in the Congressional Record and gives a link near the bottom of the page to the Congressional Record where the reading of the amendment is listed. Then on that Congressional Record page there is yet another link to open up the actual page where you can find the text.

Piece of cake.
 

[Tx4obama]

2. Thank you for the info. That really sucks compared to the user friendly Senate page

which has some info included of 'what' was voted on right there on the page with the list the roll call.

Once again, thanks ;)

[Make7]

3. Yeah, it's not very user friendly.

I think the roll call vote page just points to the webpage of the related main bill for any votes on amendments, so this seems to be a way to get the text from that information.

I remember that in their pledge to America they said they would post the text of bills online at least three days in advance of a vote - I'm not sure if that was intended to cover amendments also (probably not). They've only been in office for a little while so hopefully as part of their pledge they intend to put more information online and make it easier to find (although I'm not holding my breath).

The way I previously mentioned to get the text of an amendment has the obvious drawback that the information is only available after the legislation makes it to the floor. Perhaps someone else here is more familiar with the House/Thomas website and can point out a better way to access legislative information (maybe even before it makes it to the Congressional Record).
 

[NutmegYankee]

4. Here are lists of the amendments

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2011-02-14/pdf/CREC-2011-02-14-pt1-PgH776-3.pdf

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2011-02-15/pdf/CREC-2011-02-15-pt1-PgH924-2.pdf

Each one is listed in numerical order.