get_amendments

Instructions

Implementation Reference

• server.py:99-158 (handler)

  The handler function for the 'get_amendments' MCP tool, decorated with @mcp.tool() for automatic registration with FastMCP. It constructs a URL and parameters for the Congress.gov amendments API endpoint and fetches the data using requests, handling errors gracefully.

  @mcp.tool()
  async def get_amendments(
      congress: int | None = None,
      amendment_type: str | None = None,
      amendment_number: int | None = None,
      offset: int = 0,
      limit: int = 20,
      from_datetime: str | None = None,
      to_datetime: str | None = None
  ) -> dict:
      """
      Retrieve amendments from the Congress.gov API. Full documentation for this endpoint -> https://github.com/LibraryOfCongress/api.congress.gov/blob/main/Documentation/AmendmentEndpoint.md
  
      Args:
          congress: Congress number (e.g., 118 for 118th Congress)
          amendment_type: Type of amendment
              - hamdt: House Amendment
              - samdt: Senate Amendment
              - suamdt: Senate Unprinted Amendment
          amendment_number: Specific amendment number (requires congress and amendment_type)
          offset: Starting record (default 0)
          limit: Maximum records to return (max 250, default 20)
          from_datetime: Start timestamp (YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ format)
          to_datetime: End timestamp (YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ format)
  
      Returns:
          dict: Amendment data from Congress.gov API
      """
      base_url = "https://api.congress.gov/v3/amendment"
  
      url = base_url
      if congress:
          url += f"/{congress}"
          if amendment_type:
              url += f"/{amendment_type}"
              if amendment_number:
                  url += f"/{amendment_number}"
  
      params = {
          "api_key": congress_gov_api_key,
          "format": "json",
          "offset": offset,
          "limit": min(limit, 250)  # API max limit for amendments
      }
  
      if from_datetime:
          params["fromDateTime"] = from_datetime
      if to_datetime:
          params["toDateTime"] = to_datetime
  
      try:
          response = requests.get(url, params=params)
          response.raise_for_status()
          return response.json()
  
      except requests.exceptions.RequestException as e:
          return {
              "error": f"Failed to retrieve amendments: {str(e)}",
              "status_code": getattr(e.response, "status_code", None)
          }

• server.py:99-99 (registration)

  The @mcp.tool() decorator registers the get_amendments function as an MCP tool.

  @mcp.tool()

• server.py:100-126 (schema)

  Input schema defined by function parameters with type hints and detailed docstring describing arguments and return type.

  async def get_amendments(
      congress: int | None = None,
      amendment_type: str | None = None,
      amendment_number: int | None = None,
      offset: int = 0,
      limit: int = 20,
      from_datetime: str | None = None,
      to_datetime: str | None = None
  ) -> dict:
      """
      Retrieve amendments from the Congress.gov API. Full documentation for this endpoint -> https://github.com/LibraryOfCongress/api.congress.gov/blob/main/Documentation/AmendmentEndpoint.md
  
      Args:
          congress: Congress number (e.g., 118 for 118th Congress)
          amendment_type: Type of amendment
              - hamdt: House Amendment
              - samdt: Senate Amendment
              - suamdt: Senate Unprinted Amendment
          amendment_number: Specific amendment number (requires congress and amendment_type)
          offset: Starting record (default 0)
          limit: Maximum records to return (max 250, default 20)
          from_datetime: Start timestamp (YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ format)
          to_datetime: End timestamp (YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ format)
  
      Returns:
          dict: Amendment data from Congress.gov API
      """