---
id: openbb-congress-gov
version: "1.2.3"
license: unclear
license_treatment: unclear
maintenance: active
---

# openbb-congress-gov — Congress.gov Provider Extension for the OpenBB Platform

License: unclear · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 80.0K/mo

## What it is and what it does

This package is an OpenBB Platform extension that wraps the Congress.gov API, exposing U.S. legislative data through a unified Python interface. It lets you fetch lists of bills, retrieve summaries and metadata (including sponsors, committees, and related bills), download full bill text, and access bill text URLs in multiple formats. The package integrates into the OpenBB ecosystem, so if you have openbb-core installed, you access all endpoints under the `obb.uscongress` namespace.

The package is designed to work both as a programmatic library (for scripts and applications) and as a backend component for the OpenBB Workspace App, which provides a PDF viewer and linked query tool for browsing legislation. Configuration requires a free Congress.gov API key, which you set via environment variable, user settings file, or the OpenBB session API.

Use it for:

- Fetch and analyze recent bills from Congress to monitor legislative activity in specific domains.
- Build a research tool that retrieves bill summaries, sponsors, and committee assignments for a given bill number.
- Download full bill text in multiple formats for document processing or archival.
- Integrate legislative data into a financial or policy analysis platform via the OpenBB Platform.
- Launch the OpenBB Workspace App to browse and read bills interactively with a PDF viewer.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Provides access to U.S. legislative data from Congress.gov, including bill lists, summaries, metadata, and full bill text through the OpenBB Platform.

Yes, if you need programmatic access to Congress.gov data and are already using or willing to adopt the OpenBB Platform. Low install friction and active maintenance are in its favor. However, verify the license terms first—the unclear license status is a material risk for commercial or restricted-use projects. Confirm that the Congress.gov API key meets your rate and availability requirements.

## Install

pip install openbb-congress-gov
uv add openbb-congress-gov
poetry add openbb-congress-gov

## Installing openbb-congress-gov

Before you install: Low install friction as a pure Python wheel with a single runtime dependency on openbb-core. Actively maintained with a release within the last 80 days.

License in practice: License status is unclear—no SPDX identifier or raw license text is declared. Verify the actual license terms before adopting this package in a commercial or restricted-use context.

Quickstart:

pip install openbb-congress-gov

from openbb import obb
bills = obb.uscongress.bills(limit=10)
bill_info = obb.uscongress.bill_info(bill_url="119/hr/1")

Requires a free Congress.gov API key, obtained by registering at https://api.congress.gov/sign-up/. Python 3.10 or later.

Verify before relying:

- Whether the package is actively maintained by OpenBB or community-driven; repo metadata is not available.
- Exact license terms and any redistribution or commercial-use restrictions.
- Whether the Congress.gov API key is truly free or has usage limits or cost tiers.

## Package facts

- License: not declared (unclear)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 80.0K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

congress.gov api wrapper, us legislative data access, bill information retrieval, openbb congress provider, legislative metadata and summaries, bill text downloader, congress bills api client, legislative-data, api-wrapper, openbb-extension

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/openbb-congress-gov) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/openbb-congress-gov/)