CapWeb was started in 1994 by several Capitol Hill staffers. It bills itself as “The Internet Guide to the US Congress”. In addition to providing numerous links to sources of Congressional information and other Web sites relating to American politics and government, CapWeb includes some links to the Executive and Judicial Branches of the federal government.
The opening page of CapWeb is divided into three columns, all of which are longer than can be displayed on one screen. The narrow column on the left side is a menu bar which partially duplicates the main categories in the center column; but there are additional links to a variety of useful online resources including the Web pages of several dozen federal departments and agencies, left‐wing and right‐wing interest groups, minor political parties, international resources, state‐related resources, watchdog groups, and political humor sites.
The broad center column of the opening page has four main categories:
- 1.
1the Legislative Branch;
- 2.
2Contacting Congress;
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3the Executive and Judiciary Branches; and
- 4.
4News From Capitol Hill.
Within the Legislative Branch section there are links to directories of the members of Congress by name, state, committee, and party. Users can also look up their congressman by ZIP code or by clicking on the appropriate state on a map of the USA. Additional links in the Legislative Branch section are to several important Congressional support agencies, such as the Library of Congress, which has created and maintains Thomas, a major database of Congressional information, including the text of public laws back to 1973, current bills in Congress, roll call votes for the House and Senate, the text of the Congressional Record back to 1989, and the text of selected committee reports and hearings. Some of the resources in Thomas are also directly linked from the Legislative Branch menu, which seems redundant at first; but this could be helpful in drawing attention to useful information resources which may otherwise be overlooked.
The main link in the section on Contacting Congress is to a list of Congressional e‐mail addresses which can also be found by going to the entry for each congressman that is included in the Legislative Branch section. There are several other links in this section which seem a bit out of place: the Congressional schedule for the current day, the current Washington, DC weather forecast, and live shots of Washington.
The two links in the section on the Executive and Judiciary Branches lead to pages that are not very well developed. There are no links to the Department of Commerce or the Department of Defense, but both of these are included in the Government section in the left column of the opening page. There are better sources for links to Executive Branch departments and agencies, including the US Federal Government Agencies Directory, at http//www.lib.lsu.edu/gov/fedgov.html and The Government By Sternby, at http//users. erols.com/irasterb.gov.htm.
The last section in the center column is News From Capitol Hill. This is linked to the online version of The Hill, a newspaper with “weekly articles from the largest circulated Capitol Hill publication.” A very useful feature of the online version is called HillLinks, which has some information on each Congressman that is otherwise not widely accessible, including their campaign finances, Federal Election Commission filings, and personal financial disclosures. These require the Adobe Acrobat Reader plug‐in to access. These data are in addition to lists of legislation sponsored by each Congressman and their ratings by special interest groups.
The right side of the opening page of CapWeb provides links to two resources worth noting. The first resource, on Washington, DC and Capitol Hill, has links to several maps of the city, information on foreign embassies, the Roll Call newspaper, and directories of hotels, restaurants, and sight‐seeing attractions in the city. The second resource provides transcripts to many of the presidential debates since 1960.
CapWeb provides much more information than can be found in traditional printed sources such as the official Congressional Directory, published by the Government Printing Office, which is now available on the Web at http//www.access.gpo.gov/congress/ cong016.html. CapWeb also provides links to a greater number of relevant Web sites than do similar online resources such as Congress.org, at http//www.Congress.org, or Project Vote Smart, at http//www.vote‐smart. org’; so it can be recommended as an excellent starting point for obtaining information on Congress and its members. The site has won several awards and is a “Top 5 percent Web Site.”
CapWeb is stronger in its inclusiveness than in its organization. Some of the links are of questionable usefulness, such as live shots of Washington, DC; but these are minor criticisms for an online resource which should prove useful to college students and anyone needing information about Congress or their congressman. CapWeb accepts advertising; and a customized version is available on a subscription basis.
