Frequently Asked Questions

Better Congress is a comprehensive platform that makes U.S. Congressional information more accessible to citizens. We provide real-time tracking of bills, members, committees, and legislative activities, helping you stay informed about what's happening in Congress.

No, Better Congress is an independent, non-partisan platform. We aggregate publicly available data from official government sources like Congress.gov and the Government Publishing Office to provide a more user-friendly experience.

Yes, Better Congress is completely free to use. Our mission is to make congressional information accessible to everyone. We may display ads to support our operations, but all features remain free.

We update our data multiple times per day. Bill information is typically updated within hours of new activity, member information is refreshed daily, and committee data is synchronized weekly.

You can search for bills using our search feature or browse the bills section. Once you find a bill, you can bookmark it to track its progress. We'll show you the latest actions, votes, and status updates.

Our AI-generated summaries use advanced language models to create concise, easy-to-understand explanations of complex legislative text. These summaries help you quickly grasp what a bill does without reading hundreds of pages.

Our bill data comes directly from official government sources including Congress.gov and GovInfo. We sync multiple times daily to ensure accuracy. However, always verify critical information with official sources.

Yes! On each bill's page, you can see voting records when available. You can also visit a member's profile to see their complete voting history.

Use our "Find Your Representatives" feature on the homepage. Enter your address or ZIP code, and we'll show you your House representative and both senators, along with their contact information.

Member profiles include biographical information, contact details, committee assignments, sponsored bills, voting records, and official social media accounts. We also show their leadership positions and tenure.

Each member's profile page includes their official website, phone numbers, and office addresses. We provide direct links to their contact forms when available.

Our primary focus is on current members of Congress. Historical data may be available for recent former members, but we prioritize keeping current member information up-to-date.

Committees are groups of members who oversee specific policy areas. They review bills, conduct hearings, and make recommendations to the full House or Senate. Most legislative work happens in committees.

Visit the Committees section to browse all committees. Each committee page shows its members, leadership, jurisdiction, recent bills referred to it, and hearing schedules when available.

Committees are the main groups that handle broad policy areas. Subcommittees are smaller groups within committees that focus on specific topics. For example, the House Judiciary Committee has subcommittees on topics like antitrust and immigration.

We collect minimal data necessary for the service to function, including basic analytics to improve the platform. If you create an account, we store your email and preferences. We never sell your data. See our Privacy Policy for full details.

Yes, we respect your privacy. We use privacy-focused analytics and don't track individual browsing histories. Any personalization features are stored locally on your device or in your account if you're logged in.

We use essential cookies for functionality and optional cookies for analytics with your consent. You can manage your cookie preferences at any time through our cookie banner or settings.

We use industry-standard security measures including HTTPS encryption, secure authentication, and regular security audits. User passwords are hashed and never stored in plain text.

Our data comes from official U.S. government sources including Congress.gov, GovInfo.gov, the House and Senate websites, and the Government Publishing Office. We aggregate and organize this public data for easier access.

We're currently focused on our web platform, but we're considering API access for researchers and developers in the future. Contact us if you have specific data needs.

If you notice incorrect information, please contact us at support@bettercongress.org with details about the error. Include the page URL and what information appears to be wrong.

Our website is fully responsive and works great on mobile devices. We're evaluating the demand for dedicated iOS and Android apps for the future.