congressgov-mcp-server

Access U.S.

CommunityOnlineNo sign-inGlobalFreeRead-only

What it can do

    What data it sees

    Do you need an account

    No: the server works without sign-in

    Access U.S. congressional data - bills, votes, members, committees - via MCP.

    How to connect

    How to connect congressgov-mcp-server to Claude

    The server address to paste into Claude settings:

    https://congressgov.caseyjhand.com/mcp

    1. Open Claude (claude.ai or the desktop app).
    2. Go to Settings → Connectors.
    3. Click Add custom connector.
    4. Paste the server address copied below into Remote MCP server URL and click Add.
    5. In a chat, click + → Connectors and switch the new connector on.

    Custom connectors are available on Free, Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans (Free is limited to one). On Team and Enterprise an organization Owner adds the connector first under Organization settings → Connectors.

    Authorization

    After you click Add, a sign-in window for the service opens. Sign in with your own account and approve access. Claude never sees your password.

    How to connect congressgov-mcp-server to ChatGPT

    The server address to paste into ChatGPT settings:

    https://congressgov.caseyjhand.com/mcp

    1. Open ChatGPT in a browser (chatgpt.com). A Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise or Edu plan is required.
    2. Turn on developer mode once: Settings → Apps → Advanced settings → Developer mode.
    3. Open Settings → Connectors and click Create.
    4. Fill in the form: Name (anything), Description (one line about what the service does), MCP server URL (copy it below).
    5. Under Authentication choose OAuth if the service requires sign-in, otherwise None. Click Create.
    6. In a new chat open + → Apps/Connectors and enable the connector.

    OpenAI has renamed this section before (Connectors → Apps/Plugins). If the label differs, search settings for "developer mode". On Business/Enterprise workspaces an admin must allow custom connectors first.

    Authorization

    On first use ChatGPT opens the service's sign-in window. Sign in and approve access.

    How to connect congressgov-mcp-server to Cursor

    The server address to paste into Cursor settings:

    https://congressgov.caseyjhand.com/mcp

    Fastest: click Open in Cursor below and confirm the prompt.

    Manually:

    1. In Cursor open Settings → Cursor Settings → MCP and click Add new global MCP server.
    2. Paste the JSON copied below into ~/.cursor/mcp.json (per project: .cursor/mcp.json in the repo root).
    3. Save the file. The server appears in the MCP list; authorize it there if asked.

    Authorization

    If the service needs sign-in, an authorize button appears next to the server in the MCP list.

    Server tool list (10)

    Raw names from tools/list. Only developers need these.

    congressgov_bill_lookupBrowse and retrieve U.S. legislative bill data from Congress.gov. Discover bills by filtering on congress, bill type, and date range — there is no keyword search. Use 'list' to browse (requires congress, defaults to most-recently-updated first), 'get' for full bill detail (sponsor, policy area, CBO estimates, law info), or drill into a specific bill with 'actions', 'amendments', 'cosponsors', 'committees', 'subjects', 'summaries', 'text', 'titles', or 'related' (each requires congress + billType + billNumber). 'text' lists the published versions and their format URLs; 'content' then reads one version's actual text, a bounded character window at a time.
    congressgov_enacted_lawsBrowse enacted public and private laws from Congress.gov by congress and law type ('pub' for public laws, 'priv' for private). 'list' filters by enactment status and law type — the discovery path 'bill_lookup' does not offer. 'get' returns the origin bill record (sponsor, actions, summaries, text), with the public/private law citation on the bill's 'laws' array (e.g. {"number":"118-2","type":"Public Law"}).
    congressgov_member_lookupDiscover congressional members and their legislative activity. No name search. For 'list', filter by stateCode (optionally with district), by congress, or by both together (e.g., 118th Congress + CA, or CA district 12 in the 118th). Add currentMember=true to restrict to currently serving members. Once you have a bioguideId, use 'get' for full profile or 'sponsored'/'cosponsored' for their legislative portfolio.
    congressgov_committee_lookupBrowse congressional committees and their legislation, reports, and nominations. Committee codes follow the pattern chamber-prefix (h/s/j) + abbreviation + 2-digit number — use 'list' (with optional 'filter' for name→code resolution) to discover codes, then 'get' or drill into 'bills', 'reports', or 'nominations' ('nominations' is Senate-only). 'get' and sub-resources only need committeeCode (chamber is inferred from the prefix); pass chamber explicitly to override. The 'bills' sub-resource defaults to 'recent' order (newest update-date first); pass order='oldest' for ascending update-date order. Upstream omits bill titles from the 'bills' sub-resource — rows carry only {congress, billType, billNumber, actionDate, relationshipType, url}; chain 'congressgov_bill_lookup get' per row to retrieve titles and policy area.
    congressgov_roll_votesRetrieve U.S. congressional roll call votes and individual member voting positions for either chamber. Set 'chamber' to 'house' (default, from the Congress.gov API) or 'senate' (from the Senate's official LIS feed). Use 'list' to find votes by congress and session (newest first by default), 'get' for vote details (question, result, tallies, party breakdown, associated bill/nomination/amendment), or 'members' for how each member voted.
    congressgov_senate_nominationsBrowse presidential nominations to federal positions and track the Senate confirmation process. Use 'list' to browse, 'get' for nomination detail, 'actions'/'committees'/'hearings' for confirmation pipeline data, or 'nominees' to retrieve individual appointees in a multi-nominee batch. Nominations use 'PN' (Presidential Nomination) numbering. Most nominations carry confirmation activity on the parent (e.g., PN1000); multi-part parents (e.g., PN851) carry no activity of their own — their actions, committees, hearings, and nominees live on partitioned children (PN851-1, PN851-2, …). 'get' on a parent that has no `nominees` array signals the partitioned form is needed for everything below it.
    congressgov_bill_summariesBrowse recent CRS (Congressional Research Service) bill summaries — plain-language summaries of bills at each legislative stage, useful for answering "what's happening in Congress?". The fromDateTime/toDateTime filters apply to the summary's update time, not the bill's action date, so results include recently rewritten summaries of older bills. Defaults to summaries updated in the last 7 days. Each item shows both the bill's action date and the summary update date. For summaries of one specific bill, use congressgov_bill_lookup with operation='summaries' instead.
    congressgov_crs_reportsBrowse and retrieve CRS (Congressional Research Service) reports — nonpartisan policy analyses by subject-matter experts at the Library of Congress, covering policy areas, legislative proposals, and legal questions. Report IDs use letter-number codes (e.g., R40097, RL33612, IF12345). Use 'list' to browse available reports or 'get' for full detail (authors, topics, summary, download formats).
    congressgov_committee_reportsBrowse and retrieve committee reports from Congress.gov — reports accompany legislation reported out of committee and explain the bill's purpose, committee amendments, dissenting views, and the committee vote. Report types are 'hrpt' (House), 'srpt' (Senate), and 'erpt' (Executive). 'text' lists the published format URLs; 'content' then reads the report's actual text, a bounded character window at a time.
    congressgov_daily_recordBrowse the daily Congressional Record — floor speeches, debates, and legislative text published each day Congress is in session. Navigation is hierarchical: volumes (via 'list') → issues (via 'issues') → articles (via 'articles'). Use 'list' to find recent volumes, 'issues' to see what's in a volume, and 'articles' to access individual speeches and debate sections. 'articles' lists each article and its format URLs; 'content' then reads one article's actual text, a bounded character window at a time.