THOMAS, the congressional online news service of the Library of Congress, reached its 1 millionth transaction on February 12, just 38 days after the system was inaugurated on Jan. 5. "The Library is pleased that this initiative of the 104th Congress has been so well received by the public, who now have greater access to the work of their elected officials," said the Librarian of Congress, James H. Billington.
Announcement of the milestone was made jointly by Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), Rep. William Thomas (R-Calif.), Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.) and Dr. Billington. The event was held in the Speaker's office on Feb. 14.
Currently, THOMAS offers on the Internet the full text of the bills of the 103rd Congress and full text of bills of the 104th Congress, as they become available. The Congressional Record became available Feb. 23. The service also offers links to the House and Senate Gophers (information services) and the C-SPAN Gopher, as well as the electronic-mail addresses of those members of Congress who have them.
THOMAS can be accessed on the Internet via the World Wide Web at http://thomas.loc.gov. It can also be accessed by telnetting to thomas.loc.gov.
