USA GOVERNMENT INFORMATION SITES

Insanely Useful Websites from The Sunlight Foundation* lists 21 sites for finding information from and about the US government. Many of these sites are sponsored by the Foundation. If you need this kind of information, you should be able to find it on one of these databases. (Caveat: There is a decided left-wing orientation to them.)

*“founded in 2006 with the goal of using technology to enable citizens to learn more about what their elected representatives are doing, to help reduce corruption, ensure greater transparency.”

URLs: http://www.sunlightfoundation.com/resources
Congresspedia.org, from Center for Media & Democracy, pages for each member of congress or committees, http://www.congresspedia.org
Contractor Misconduct Database, from Project on Government Oversight, top 50 contractors only, http://www.contractormisconduct.org
Department of Justice documents search engine, database of emails related to the recent firings of US attorneys, http://wwww.trainingdb.com
Fedspending.org, search contracts by state, agency, type, http://www.fedspending.org
Follow the Money, campaign contributions at state level, http://www.followthemoney.org
GovTrack.us, follow bills, information on members of Congress, RSS feeds, http://wwwGovTrack.us
LOUIS (Library of Unified Information Sources), search Congressional reports, Congressional Record, hearings, Federal Register, presidential documents GAO reports, and bills and resolutions, http://www.louisdb.org
MAPLight, analysis of legislation, interest groups, contributions (especially for California), http://www.maplight.org
Metavid, video of federal legislature, http://metavid.ucsc.edu
FOIA Document Review, review, tag comment, rate, on Freedom of Information Act Requests, http://foia.citizensforethics.org
OpenCongress.org, from US government sources, RSS feed, http://opencongress.org
OpenCRS, publicly released documents, http://www.opencrs.com
Open Hearings, schedules of current and future Senate committee hearings, http://openhearings.org/live/
Project Vote Smart, biographical information and ratings on elected federal and state officials, http://www.vote-smart.org
Taxpayers for Common Sense, pork barrel projects, http://www.taxpayer.net
WashingtonWatch, average cost or savings per individual of each bill introduced, pro and con arguments, http://www.washingtonwatch.com

OpenSecrets.org (and their databases), campaign finance data for candidates since 1989, searchable, http://www.opensecrets.org
Lobbying, http://opensecrets.org/lobbyists
Personal Financial Disclosure, hhtp://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/overview.asp
Revolving Door, tracks those leaving congress to work as lobbyists, http://www.opensecrets.org/revolving
Travel, http://www.opensecrets.org/travel