congressgov-mcp-server

Congress.gov Committee Reports

congressgov_committee_reports

Read-onlyIdempotent

Browse 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.

Input Schema

TableJSON Schema

Name	Required	Description	Default
`limit`	No	Results per page (1-250).
`format`	No	Document format for 'content'. 'text' is GPO's Formatted Text — plain, pre-formatted print output, published for every document checked. 'xml' prefers United States Legislative Markup and falls back to Formatted XML; it exists on some bill text versions and on no committee report or Congressional Record article. PDF is not retrieved — read one at the format URLs 'text'/'articles' return.	text
`offset`	No	Pagination offset.
`congress`	Yes	Congress number.
`operation`	Yes	Which data to retrieve.
`reportType`	No	Report type. Required for get, text, and content operations.
`reportNumber`	No	Committee report number. Required for get, text, and content operations.
`characterLimit`	No	Maximum characters to return for 'content' (1-100000). Legislative documents run past a million characters, so a full bill takes several windows.
`characterOffset`	No	First character to return for 'content', 0-based. Offsets are exact and are never snapped to a section or paragraph break, so feeding the response's nextOffset back walks the whole document with every character returned exactly once.

Output Schema

TableJSON Schema

Name	Required	Description
`data`	No	Result rows. Per-tool item shape is rendered in the markdown body.
`text`	No	Dynamic upstream JSON records.
`error`	No	Present when the call failed. Absent on success.
`notice`	No	Guidance when results are empty, a page is past the end, or a caveat applies.
`report`	No	Dynamic upstream JSON record.
`content`	No	Dynamic upstream JSON record.
`pagination`	No	Pagination metadata: total count and next offset.
`totalCount`	No	Total results across all pages.
`effectiveQuery`	No	The browse scope and applied filters.

Schema Changelog

Changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

Changed1 schema field changedSep 22, 2026

changedOutput schema / properties / error / properties / data / properties / reason / description

Previous value: -"Machine-readable failure mode. Declared by this tool: `not_found`: A requested bill, member, committee, report, vote, or nomination does not exist in Congress.gov. `rate_limited`: The Congress.gov API rate limit (5,000 requests/hour per key) was exceeded. `invalid_request`: Congress.gov rejected the request as malformed — a bad date range or an identifier with an unexpected shape. `upstream_error`: Congress.gov returned an unexpected error (5xx or another non-2xx status). `document_unavailable`: The 'content' selection resolves to no retrievable document — the text version or article index is past the end of the list, the record publishes no formats at all, or Congress.gov does not hold the file its own metadata names. `format_unavailable`: The document exists but publishes nothing in the requested 'format' — some text versions and committee reports ship PDF only, and no Congressional Record article publishes XML. `document_fetch_failed`: www.congress.gov did not return a readable document — a non-2xx status, a network failure, an empty body, or a content type that is not text or XML. `document_too_large`: The document is larger than the byte ceiling this server retrieves, so no character window can be served from it. `offset_past_end`: characterOffset is at or beyond the last character of the document, so the window would be empty. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler."New value: +"Machine-readable failure mode. Declared by this tool: `not_found`: A requested bill, member, committee, report, vote, or nomination does not exist in Congress.gov. `rate_limited`: The Congress.gov API rate limit (5,000 requests/hour per key) was exceeded. `invalid_request`: Congress.gov rejected the request as malformed — a bad date range or an identifier with an unexpected shape. `upstream_error`: Congress.gov returned an unexpected error (5xx or another non-2xx status). `document_unavailable`: The 'content' selection resolves to no retrievable document — the text version or article index is past the end of the list, the record publishes no formats at all, or Congress.gov does not hold the file its own metadata names. `format_unavailable`: The document exists but publishes nothing in the requested 'format' — some text versions and committee reports ship PDF only, and no Congressional Record article publishes XML. `document_fetch_failed`: www.congress.gov did not return a readable document — a non-2xx status, a network failure, an empty body, or a content type that is not text or XML. `document_too_large`: The document is larger than the byte ceiling this server retrieves, so no character window can be served from it. `offset_past_end`: characterOffset is at or beyond the last character of every text the call would window — the document on 'content', or every returned row's summary text on 'summaries' — so the window would be empty. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler."

Changed3 schema fields changedAug 30, 2026

addedOutput schema / properties / content

Added value: +{
+  "additionalProperties": {},
+  "description": "Dynamic upstream JSON record.",
+  "properties": {},
+  "type": "object"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / report

Added value: +{
+  "additionalProperties": {},
+  "description": "Dynamic upstream JSON record.",
+  "properties": {},
+  "type": "object"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / text

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Dynamic upstream JSON records.",
+  "items": {
+    "additionalProperties": {},
+    "description": "Dynamic upstream JSON record.",
+    "properties": {},
+    "type": "object"
+  },
+  "type": "array"
+}

Changed6 schema fields changedAug 25, 2026

changedInput schema / $schema

Previous value: -"http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#"New value: +"https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema"

addedInput schema / additionalProperties
```
Added value: +false
```

changedOutput schema / $schema

Previous value: -"http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#"New value: +"https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema"

addedOutput schema / anyOf

Added value: +[
+  {
+    "not": {
+      "required": [
+        "error"
+      ]
+    },
+    "required": [
+      "effectiveQuery",
+      "totalCount"
+    ]
+  },
+  {
+    "required": [
+      "error"
+    ]
+  }
+]

addedOutput schema / properties / error

Added value: +{
+  "additionalProperties": {},
+  "description": "Present when the call failed. Absent on success.",
+  "properties": {
+    "code": {
+      "description": "JSON-RPC error code for this failure.",
+      "maximum": 9007199254740991,
+      "minimum": -9007199254740991,
+      "type": "integer"
+    },
+    "data": {
+      "additionalProperties": {},
+      "properties": {
+        "reason": {
+          "description": "Machine-readable failure mode. Declared by this tool: `not_found`: A requested bill, member, committee, report, vote, or nomination does not exist in Congress.gov. `rate_limited`: The Congress.gov API rate limit (5,000 requests/hour per key) was exceeded. `invalid_request`: Congress.gov rejected the request as malformed — a bad date range or an identifier with an unexpected shape. `upstream_error`: Congress.gov returned an unexpected error (5xx or another non-2xx status). `document_unavailable`: The 'content' selection resolves to no retrievable document — the text version or article index is past the end of the list, the record publishes no formats at all, or Congress.gov does not hold the file its own metadata names. `format_unavailable`: The document exists but publishes nothing in the requested 'format' — some text versions and committee reports ship PDF only, and no Congressional Record article publishes XML. `document_fetch_failed`: www.congress.gov did not return a readable document — a non-2xx status, a network failure, an empty body, or a content type that is not text or XML. `document_too_large`: The document is larger than the byte ceiling this server retrieves, so no character window can be served from it. `offset_past_end`: characterOffset is at or beyond the last character of the document, so the window would be empty. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler.",
+          "examples": [
+            "not_found",
+            "rate_limited",
+            "invalid_request",
+            "upstream_error",
+            "document_unavailable",
+            "format_unavailable",
+            "document_fetch_failed",
+            "document_too_large",
+            "offset_past_end"
+          ],
+          "type": "string"
+        },
+        "recovery": {
+          "additionalProperties": {},
+          "description": "Actionable next step for the caller.",
+          "properties": {
+            "hint": {
+              "type": "string"
+            }
+          },
+          "required": [
+            "hint"
+          ],
+          "type": "object"
+        },
+        "retryable": {
+          "description": "Whether retrying may succeed.",
+          "type": "boolean"
+        }
+      },
+      "type": "object"
+    },
+    "message": {
+      "description": "Human-readable description of what went wrong.",
+      "type": "string"
+    }
+  },
+  "required": [
+    "code",
+    "message"
+  ],
+  "type": "object"
+}

removedOutput schema / required

Removed value: -[
-  "effectiveQuery",
-  "totalCount"
-]

Changed6 schema fields changedAug 17, 2026

addedInput schema / properties / characterLimit

Added value: +{
+  "default": 25000,
+  "description": "Maximum characters to return for 'content' (1-100000). Legislative documents run past a million characters, so a full bill takes several windows.",
+  "maximum": 100000,
+  "minimum": 1,
+  "type": "integer"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / characterOffset

Added value: +{
+  "default": 0,
+  "description": "First character to return for 'content', 0-based. Offsets are exact and are never snapped to a section or paragraph break, so feeding the response's nextOffset back walks the whole document with every character returned exactly once.",
+  "maximum": 9007199254740991,
+  "minimum": 0,
+  "type": "integer"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / format

Added value: +{
+  "default": "text",
+  "description": "Document format for 'content'. 'text' is GPO's Formatted Text — plain, pre-formatted print output, published for every document checked. 'xml' prefers United States Legislative Markup and falls back to Formatted XML; it exists on some bill text versions and on no committee report or Congressional Record article. PDF is not retrieved — read one at the format URLs 'text'/'articles' return.",
+  "enum": [
+    "text",
+    "xml"
+  ],
+  "type": "string"
+}

changedInput schema / properties / operation / enum

Previous value: -[
-  "list",
-  "get",
-  "text"
-]New value: +[
+  "list",
+  "get",
+  "text",
+  "content"
+]

changedInput schema / properties / reportNumber / description

Previous value: -"Committee report number. Required for get and text operations."New value: +"Committee report number. Required for get, text, and content operations."

changedInput schema / properties / reportType / description

Previous value: -"Report type. Required for get and text operations."New value: +"Report type. Required for get, text, and content operations."

Changed6 schema fields changedMay 30, 2026

removedOutput schema / description

Removed value: -"Detail-mode key 'report' carries: the committee report (citation, title, committees, associated bill); for `text`, an alternative key 'text' carries an array of {type, url} format links."

addedOutput schema / properties / effectiveQuery

Added value: +{
+  "description": "The browse scope and applied filters.",
+  "type": "string"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / notice

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Guidance when results are empty, a page is past the end, or a caveat applies.",
+  "type": "string"
+}

removedOutput schema / properties / query

Removed value: -{
-  "description": "Echo of the applied filters for list-mode queries. Rendered as the first line of the response.",
-  "type": "string"
-}

addedOutput schema / properties / totalCount

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Total results across all pages.",
+  "type": "number"
+}

addedOutput schema / required

Added value: +[
+  "effectiveQuery",
+  "totalCount"
+]

Changed4 schema fields changedMay 21, 2026

changedOutput schema / description

Previous value: -"Committee report data from Congress.gov API."New value: +"Detail-mode key 'report' carries: the committee report (citation, title, committees, associated bill); for `text`, an alternative key 'text' carries an array of {type, url} format links."

addedOutput schema / properties / data

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Result rows. Per-tool item shape is rendered in the markdown body.",
+  "items": {
+    "additionalProperties": {},
+    "description": "Upstream JSON record. Per-tool item shape is rendered in the markdown body.",
+    "properties": {},
+    "type": "object"
+  },
+  "type": "array"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / pagination

Added value: +{
+  "additionalProperties": false,
+  "description": "Pagination metadata: total count and next offset.",
+  "properties": {
+    "count": {
+      "description": "Total result count across all pages.",
+      "maximum": 9007199254740991,
+      "minimum": 0,
+      "type": "integer"
+    },
+    "nextOffset": {
+      "anyOf": [
+        {
+          "maximum": 9007199254740991,
+          "minimum": 0,
+          "type": "integer"
+        },
+        {
+          "type": "null"
+        }
+      ],
+      "description": "Offset to pass for the next page, or null when there are no more pages."
+    }
+  },
+  "required": [
+    "count"
+  ],
+  "type": "object"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / query

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Echo of the applied filters for list-mode queries. Rendered as the first line of the response.",
+  "type": "string"
+}

First observedMar 28, 2026

TDQS

A4.1/5.0

Behavior4/5

Does the description disclose side effects, auth requirements, rate limits, or destructive behavior?

Annotations already mark this as read-only/idempotent, and the description adds useful behavioral detail: 'content' reads a bounded character window at a time and 'text' returns format URLs rather than full documents. This gives an agent an accurate model of how retrieval progresses, though pagination/rate-limit behavior is not discussed.

Agents need to know what a tool does to the world before calling it. Descriptions should go beyond structured annotations to explain consequences.

Conciseness5/5

Is the description appropriately sized, front-loaded, and free of redundancy?

The description is about three sentences and every sentence contributes: purpose, report-type taxonomy, and the text/content retrieval flow. It is front-loaded with the core action and contains no filler or repetition.

Shorter descriptions cost fewer tokens and are easier for agents to parse. Every sentence should earn its place.

Completeness4/5

Given the tool's complexity, does the description cover enough for an agent to succeed on first attempt?

For a tool with 9 parameters and an output schema, the description is largely complete: it explains the main workflow, the report type taxonomy, and the bounded nature of content reads. It does not spell out the semantics of the 'list' and 'get' operations, but the schema and output schema already supply the remaining structured detail.

Complex tools with many parameters or behaviors need more documentation. Simple tools need less. This dimension scales expectations accordingly.

Parameters4/5

Does the description clarify parameter syntax, constraints, interactions, or defaults beyond what the schema provides?

Schema description coverage is 100%, so the baseline is 3; the description adds value by explaining the sequencing of the text and content operations and by defining report types. It does not independently document limit/offset or character parameters, but those are already well described in the schema.

Input schemas describe structure but not intent. Descriptions should explain non-obvious parameter relationships and valid value ranges.

Purpose4/5

Does the description clearly state what the tool does and how it differs from similar tools?

The description clearly identifies a specific verb ('browse and retrieve') and resource ('committee reports from Congress.gov'), and reinforces scope with report types and the text/content workflow. It does not explicitly differentiate from sibling tools such as congressgov_committee_lookup, so it stops one step short of full sibling distinction.

Agents choose between tools based on descriptions. A clear purpose with a specific verb and resource helps agents select the right tool.

Usage Guidelines4/5

Does the description explain when to use this tool, when not to, or what alternatives exist?

It provides clear operational guidance: use 'text' to get published format URLs, then 'content' to read the report text in bounded windows, and it maps report types to chambers. It does not explicitly state when to choose this tool over sibling tools or list exclusions, but the intended workflow is clearly implied.

Agents often have multiple tools that could apply. Explicit usage guidance like "use X instead of Y when Z" prevents misuse.

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