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About Communications to the House

Communications to the House consist of the following types:

  • PM - Presidential Messages are written messages from the President presented to the Congress
  • EC - Executive Communications are written statements presented to Congress by federal-level entities and other designated entities
  • PT - Petitions are written statements or requests from any entity
  • ML - Memorials are petitions (written statements or requests) presented to the Congress by the legislature of a state or territory

Some, but not all, Executive Communications and Presidential Messages are sent to Congress in accordance with a statutory requirement.

Scope of Coverage

Congress.gov includes records for Presidential Messages, Executive Communications, Petitions, and Memorials transmitted to the House from January 6, 2015-present, beginning with the 114th Congress. Communications Requirement records that have been active since August 1, 2016 are also included in the Communications to the House collection. Information is updated once a day, usually by 8 am.

Searching House Communications

You can search House communications from the search bar by selecting House Communications as the source and entering your search terms in the search box. House Communications also are included when you search All Sources. You can use SOLR query syntax (see Search Tools Overview for details on using operators and fields in your search query), and multiple search fields (see House Communication).

Guided search by number, committee, and more data filters can be used on the query builder and command line search forms.

Search results can be narrowed by selecting additional criteria from the filters on the left side of the results page. Filters available for House Communications include Congress, Record Type, Communication Type, Chamber of Origin (Communications to the Senate is a separate collection.), Committee, and Communications by U.S. State or Territory. See Refining with Filters for more information.

Viewing Search Results

Search Results Display

When multiple communication records are returned the Search Results display includes:

  • Record/Communication Type number (Requirement or Communication; Communication Types include: Presidential Messages (PM), Executive Communications (EC), Petitions (PT), and Memorials (ML) – Unique number assigned by the House Communications Clerk. Links to full display of single item.
  • Congressional Record Date – date when an abstract of the communication appeared in the Congressional Record.
  • Committee – the House committee(s) to which the communication was referred.
  • Congress – Congress during which the communication was received.
  • Abstract – brief description of the communication including the agency or other entity of origin.
  • Matching Requirement – Communications that have matching requirements will be linked from the Requirement number.

Sort Order

When multiple items are returned, search results are sorted by default by number-descending (by Congress, document type, and communication number (descending order)).

Use the Sort by menu to select one of the following other sort orders:

  • Congressional Record Date – Newest to Oldest
  • Congressional Record Date – Oldest to Newest
  • Number - Ascending (by Congress, document type, and communication number (ascending order))

The order of document type is:

  • PM - Presidential Messages
  • EC - Executive Communications
  • PT - Petitions
  • ML - Memorials
  • R - Requirements

Single Item Displays for Communications and Requirements

Select an item to view from the search results list by clicking on the communication number. Single item displays include, when applicable:

Communications Single Item Display

  • Communication Type number (Communication Types include: Presidential Messages (PM), Executive Communications (EC), Petitions (PT), and Memorials (ML)) – Unique number assigned by the House Communications Clerk. Links to full display of single item.
  • Congress – Congress during which the communication was received.
  • Congressional Record Date – date when an abstract of the communication appeared in the Congressional Record.
  • Federal Rulemaking – In accordance with the Congressional Review Act (CRA), a large majority of Communications are required by R8070. The CRA mandates that before a federal rule can take effect, an agency must submit a report to each house of Congress and the Comptroller General containing a copy of the rule; a concise general statement relating to the rule, including whether it is a major rule; and the proposed effective date of the rule.
  • Abstract – brief description of the communication including the agency or other entity of origin.

Requirements Single Item Display

  • Requirement Number – Communications that have matching requirements link to the Requirement.
  • Agency – Government entity mandated to submit the report.
  • Frequency – When report is mandated to be submitted.
  • Sunset Provisions – When mandate is due to expire.
  • Nature – Brief description of the report.
  • Legal Authority – Citations to the statute.

Navigation

Use arrows to move through your results. Use Back to Results to return to your latest search results page.

Sources Related to House Communications

Communications in the Congressional Record

When a Communication is transmitted to the House, receipt of each item is recorded in the Congressional Record as one of four communications types: Presidential Messages, Executive Communications, Petitions, Memorials.

Reports to be made to Congress

Reports to be made to Congress (H.Doc.116-85) is the most recent annual publication of the series mandated by clause 2(b) of House Rule II. Within this document, each item is considered to be a Requirement record.

Clause 2(b) of House Rule II

At the commencement of every regular session of Congress, the Clerk shall make and cause to be delivered to each Member, Delegate, and the Resident Commissioner a list of the reports that any officer or Department is required to make to Congress, citing the law or resolution in which the requirement may be contained and placing under the name of each officer the list of reports required to be made by such officer.

How to Obtain Copies of Communications to the House

Presidential messages that are read during House chamber proceedings are printed, in full text, in the House section of the Congressional Record. Presidential messages are usually also printed in the Congressional Documents series. Examples:

Abstracts and committee referral information for executive communications, petitions, and memorials are printed in the House section of the Congressional Record. Full texts of these documents are not usually printed in the Congressional Record. Communications to the House are delivered to the committee(s) to which they are referred. Committees have physical custody of the documents, and archive them.

A committee or submitting entity may publish the full text of communications documents in other government publications. Petitions and memorials received in the House may be identical to items received in the Senate, and may be found printed in the Senate section of the Congressional Record.

Executive Branch Sources

  • Federal Register - the official daily publication for Rules, Proposed Rules, and Notices of Federal Agencies and Organizations as well as Executive Orders and other Presidential Documents.
  • Compilation of Presidential Documents - published daily via GPO by the Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration, these are the "official publications of materials released by the White House" since 1993.
  • White House Briefing Room - provides many presidential statements, speeches and proclamations. Especially good for very current items. Links to Executive Orders, consecutively numbered official documents through which the President of the United States manages the operations of the Federal Government.

Related Resources

About Senate Executive and Other Communications