Recently in Federal Government Category

Poynter: Tools to Help You Cover Government

Federal Reserve 101
Basic facts, research, etc.

Census QuickFacts
Look up state and county census stats using this image map.

Fedstats.gov
Links to hundreds of government agencies.

Data.gov Tools
This government site is a tool for helping to build your own database using government statistics.

Center for American Progress: Tax Breaks versus Budget Cuts Infographic

U.S. Public Interest Research Group
Reports galore on public safety, homeland security, health, etc.

Google: Government Sites
Search government-only sites with this special Google feature

FedStats
Studies and stats on federal government research..

PIBuzz.com: Government Salary Lists
Look up salaries for all kinds of federal positions.

GovExec.com
Magazine on federal government and military.

USASpending.gov

Federal News Service
FNS produces transcripts of Presidential statements; briefings at the White House, State, Defense and Justice departments; speeches and press conferences of major political leaders and spokespersons; and Congressional hearings. Also offers English translations of Russian political speeches.

SubsidyScope
What roles do subsidies play in our daily lives? This site helps media and the general public understand.

Almanac of American Politics
Key votes, committee changes and election results.

ABA Administrative Procedures Database ABA Administrative Procedures Database
This site "is designed to facilitate the exchange of information about federal and state administrative law among legislators, lawyers, hearing officers, judges, and citizens. (It) contains links to federal and state Administrative Procedure Acts (APA), reform proposals, and organizational and other resources."

Catalaw
Organizes legal and government sites into a basic catalog.

CIA Biological Incidents--Handbooks
A recently released unclassified document.

Office of Personnel Management
Federal government human resource agency.

FederalRegister.gov
Daily journal of the U.S. government lets you browse agencies and topics. Good for digging up sources. The site is jointly managed by the Office of the Federal Register (OFR) of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), and the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO).

Students.gov: Guide to U.S. Government

Governing.com: What Government Does
Background story on fundamental functions and services the government performs at all levels.

The United States in International Context Summary Fast Facts

Sunlight Foundation: Influence Explorer
From Marylaine Block: "Type in the names of lawmakers, corporations, or individuals here to find out who is providing the most funding for your congressional candidates."

The United States in International Context Full-Text Report
A 12-page .PDF document.

Center for Digital Government
Affiliated with Government Technology magazine, this organization has people who will talk to you, although they tend to be on the technology-is-the-solution side of things.

The National Journal
A weekly on politics and government published in Washington, put out a Guide to the Web in its Dec. 8, 2001 issue that probably would be helpful because it includes lots of government sites.

Coalition of Journalists for Open Government
A resource for journalists who want to stay current on open government developments or to learn more about access issues at the federal level.

StudentPress.org Sourcebook
Tools for covering federal government.

Federal Consumer Information Center

FDA Tobacco Regulation
An FDA database of every business that has been cited for selling cigarettes to minors -- searchable by zip code.

Progress & Freedom Foundation and the Center for Digital Government
Tracks happenings in online government sites.

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
Information from the nation's largest and fastest growing public service employees union.

GovExec.com
The online version of Government Executive magazine.

MissingMoney.com
Some states have their lists of people who are owed money online.

About.com's U.S. Government Info./Research

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
A non-partisan research organization focusing on analysis of government programs affecting low- and moderate-income people.

Searching Uncle Sam
Searching for online government info just got easier, thanks to the cutting-edge search engine Google.

National Archives and Records Administration Research Page
Sections for federal government, courts, textual records, microfilm, etc.

ForeignPolicy.com
Users have instant access to the best the Web has to offer on global affairs, governments, think tanks, libraries and multilateral institutions.

FedNews.com
A pay service that provides written transcriptions from government meetings and hearings the day of the event.

USInfo.state.gov
International strategic communications service that designs, develops, and implements a variety of information initiatives and strategic communications programs, including Internet and print publications, traveling and electronically transmitted speaker programs.

Poligraft
This Sunlight Foundation site adds political context to news stories by scanning news articles you enter for the names of donors, corporations, lobbyists and politicians and shows how they are connected by contributions. Free site.

Public Services International Research Unit

USA.gov: Mobile Apps
A handy list of which government agencies have mobile apps and mobile Web sites.

Washington Post: WhoRunsGov.com Post
A lot of user-generated content (bios, background, etc.) about how federal government operates.

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
FBI now gets authority to wiretap individuals, or under the secret FISA procedures, which is also a secret court proceeding.

Govspot.com
Government information portal: world, state, federal, etc.

PoliticalQuotes.org: Eigen's Political & Historical Quotations
More than 40,000 free quotations from more than 11,000 different historical and political figures in a searchable database.

Streetsblog Capitol Hill

NY Times: Newsroom Navigator Politics Section

Center for American Women and Politics

National Archives and Records Administration
Look up just about anything on this government-run database.

Common Cause
Washington watchdog group includes articles and studies the organization has done on the influence of campaign contributions on Congress.

Publicagenda.org
Inside source for public opinion and policy analysis on dozens of social issues.

Council on Foreign Relations

Justice for All

PoliticalResources.net
A fantastic site for researching global political issues.

Government Computer News
Leading provider of integrated information and media for the government information technology market. Blog, print magazine, white papers and more.

Social Security Administration Data on Women
A new site with demographic info. on women.

Social Security Death Records

Yahoo! Government Statistics

U.S. State Department Living Abroad Guidelines
Dozens of links to helpful resources for U.S. citizens on exchange rates, vital records, emergency services and more.

PBS Frontline: Government and Elections
A collection of companion Web sites on various political topics.

EditorsWeb.org
Internet portal to stories and news releases from Washington.

The Avalon Project
Yale Law School site that offers digital documents relevant to the fields of Law, History, Economics, Politics, Diplomacy and Government.

U.S. Department of State: Patterns of Global Terrorism, 2001
Full text available as .PDF and html documents.

U.S. Department of State: Additional Info and Past Editions
Full text available as .PDF and html documents.

GovernmentAttic.org
"Interesting Federal Government documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act."

National Center for Education Statistics
A complete electronic catalog and fast facts.

Family Taxpayers Network
Look up Illinois teacher salaries at public schools. Helpful research tool.

Birth Rates by Country
An Infoplease chart containing both years and "selected countries."

Statehouse News Service
SNS provides Washington coverage for all the small newspapers of America.

Harvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies

Influence Explorer
From the Sunlight Foundation, OpenSecrets.org, and the Project on Government Oversight, this site tracks voting trends of politicians. Great first-stop for tracking conflicts of interest or investigating a politician.

State and Federal Government Surplus Sales
Search state-by-state for all kinds of items seized by the government or surplus items for sale. Can make for some interesting stories to see what bizarre things are up for auction in your state/area.

National Priorities Project Database
Search state data on socio-economic needs and federal expenditures.You also create your own customized tables, graphs and reports.

OMBWatch Blog

The Jamestown Foundation
The organization's mission is to "inform and educate policy makers and the broader policy community about events and trends in those societies which are strategically or tactically important to the United States and which frequently restrict access to such information." Includes a news archive, press releases and other resources.

Citizens Against Government Waste
A private, non-partisan, non-profit organization representing more than one million members and supporters to eliminate waste, mismanagement, and inefficiency in the U.S. federal government.

Forms.gov: Federal Forms Catalog for Citizens
A hub for federal government forms. Search forms across government agencies.

Internal Government Forms for Federal Employees

Medicare.gov

U.S. Civil Air Patrol

American Enterprise Institute
This organization "conducts policy research supportive of limited government, private enterprise, vital cultural and political institutions, and a strong U.S. foreign policy and national defense."

FederalTimes
Federal government news, operations, agency management, etc.

ProPublica: How Much Stimulus Money is Your County Receiving?

Civics Quiz - Civic Literacy Report

New Deal Network
Background and documents from the New Deal.

GovGab Blog

Energy Information Administration
Resources from the U.S. Department of Energy.

MediaBistro: Fishbowl DC
Blog on Washington politics and buzz.

GovFresh: US Government 2.0
News feeds from U.S. Government Twitter, YouTube, RSS, Facebook, Flickr accounts.

Federal Internet Guide

State and Local Governments
A directory of links to state and local government sites.

YouTube U.S. Government Channel
Browse by agencies or topic.

USA.gov: Defense and International Relations Agencies
This site helps you identify government agencies at local, state, federal and international levels.

Washington Post: Who Runs Gov
This government directory from the Post profiles important players in the new administration, Congress, lobbyists, etc.

Directory of All Congressional Twitter Handles

Toll-Free Government Numbers
A must bookmark.

PIBuzz.com: Government Salary Lists
Look up salaries for all kinds of federal positions.

TRAC Government site
A super site developed by Syracuse University to guide you to and through several government sites, including the IRS, FBI, DEA and ATF.

USA.gov: Business and Economic Feeds
Aggregates feeds from federal agencies.

AOL CityGuide: Government Guide
Enter your zip code, city or state to find links and contact information to services, officials, agencies, etc.

Library of Congress: Thomas Search Engine
Tracks congressional bills as they pass through the system.

Washington Post Bill Tracker
Search bills by state, voters, those who missed a vote, vote margin, etc.

National Geospatial Intelligence Agency

Fedworld.gov
A guide to thousands of federal government agencies.

Government Info. Exchange
Federal phone directories, Web locator, resources.

U.S. State Department: Public Diplomacy Calendar

Federal Agency Employee Locators

Firstgov.gov
Clinton's one-stop government site.

Recalls.gov
View recall announcements once they go public: U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, etc.

National Technical Information Service
U.S. Department of Commerce one-stop search site.

Government Audits
State inspector general's offices that audit federal programs that the agency oversees.

The Capitol.net: Online Resources
Lists of helpful reporting links by category.

Re-Entry Policy Council (RPC)
Policymakers representing Democrats and Republicans, law enforcement, corrections, health and other representatives.

Council of State Governments

U.S. National Archives
Helpful one-stop page for finding government sites and agencies.

ResourceShelf: DocuTicker
A daily update of new reports from government agencies, ngo's, think tanks, and other groups.

Bureau of Labor Statistics
Employment, wages, unemployment broken down by region.

Government by Sterby
U.S. government links and world government sites.

Consumer.gov
Links and research from the FTC and other federal agencies.

Housing and Urban Development

IRS.gov

FBI.gov

Drug Enforcement Agency
Good stats and research tools.

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
Good stats and research tools.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

National Safety Council
Accident statistics, safety prevention material and a great research for health information.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Database of nuclear accidents.

Bureau of Public Debt
Part of the Treasury Department.

FedBlog
A must-read for anyone covering politics and federal government. Daily updates on what's going on, links, resources, etc.

Department of Energy
Another database of nuclear accidents.

Department of Commerce

Department of the Treasury

Department of Health and Human Services

Department of Agriculture

Department of Education

Department of Labor

Department of Transportation

Department of the Interior

Department of Housing and Urban Development

U.S. Trade and Development Agency

Bureau of Transportation Statistics

Commission on Civil Rights

Federal Communications Commission

General Accounting Office

Social Security Administration

Securities & Exchange Commission

Consumer Protection Agency

Statistical Abstract of the U.S. 2001 Highlights and Fast Facts

Direct to Full-Text (Available by Chapter)

Sree's Tips on Government Resources
Centers on New York City, but includes some federal links.

National Security Archive
Site run by George Washington University.

MilitarySearch

TechPresident.com: Environment Poll Collection
This site tracks the presidential candidates' MySpace.com pages and YouTube viewings.

FedSpending.org
Use this database to track what companies receive federal grants and contracts. You can sort by state, district, agency, etc.

U.S. Office of Personnel Management
News releases, veteran's information, accountability reports, organization charts, FAQs and reports portal.

American Federation of Government Employees
Blog, media section, studies and statistics and more. Site is helpful in finding expert sources as well.

CIA Office of Strategic Services

GovZine

National Archives: Office of Strategic Services Personnel Files

Hoover Institution
Think tank at Stanford University includes a library, op-eds, news, publications and other resources on public policy.

Government of Canada New Centre: RSS Feeds
Subscribe to feeds from various agencies.

GovSpeak Guide to Government Acronyms and Abbreviations
From Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

LegiStorm
A database of congressional staff salaries and other valuable public records, such as the most comprehensive database of all privately financed trips taken by members of Congress and congressional staffers.

Congressional Quarterly
Breaking Washington news and scheduling updates.

Directory of All Congressional Twitter Handles

POPVOX
Journalists can find every bill in Congress, searchable by keyword or category, with official information such as summary, sponsors, status, and a list of the organizations that support or oppose the bill, with a link to those positions.

Sunlight Foundation: Public Markup
Opens legislative bills to online public review.

Sunlight Foundation: Earmark Watch
Resources for citizens to track congressional spending. You have to register for the site, but it helps you investigate earmarks - spending measures inserted by members of Congress into bills that direct taxpayer dollars to their pet projects. The site has more than 3,000 of them.

YouTube: Library of Congress Channel

Sunlight Foundation: Open Congress
Sunlight and the Participatory Politics Foundation run this site, which tracks bills, votes, senators and representatives. It includes an RSS feed that registers your zip code to track all the actions by your elected officials and what people are saying about them.

Roll Call: Politics Links
Links to dozens of think tanks, etc.

Center for Responsive Politics' Congressional Travel Database
Track how congressmen spend our tax money. This database is searchable by lawmaker, special-interest group sponsor or destination.

Sunlight Foundation: Online Foreign Agent Lobbying Database
The Foreign Agent Registration Act requires the Justice Department to maintain detailed reports of lobbying firms hired by foreign governments and by organizations. Just select legislators from a menu and it will show their records, lobbyist ties, etc.

PostCongress.io
Send a postcard to your congressman through this desktop news app. Helpful for looking up congress members by ZIP code.

Open CRS
"Congressional Research Service is a "think tank" that provides reports to members of Congress on a variety of topics relevant to current political events. Yet, these reports are not made available to the public in a way that they can be easily obtained. Open CRS allows citizens to share CRS Reports that are already in the public domain."

GAO's Congressional Investigations
Track investigations through the General Accounting Office.

Vote-smart.org
Easy way to track a Congressman's voting record.

Library of Congress
The library's catalogs, full-text access to bills under consideration in both the House and Senate.

Congressional Budget Office Director's Blog
Analysis of proposed legislation from the official government site.

Open Congress: 50 Key Senate Votes

Library of Congress: State Resource Guides
Provides links to external Web sites and a bibliography containing selected works for both general and younger readers. This site will be updated on a regular basis.

Library of Congress Thomas Legislative Information
Find bill summaries, legislative agendas, roll call, etc.

Library of Congress: Thomas Search Engine
Tracks congressional bills as they pass through the system.

Washington Post Bill Tracker
Search bills by state, voters, those who missed a vote, vote margin, etc.

Pro Publica: Reading Guide on Congressional Dysfunction

Congressional Research Service Reports

Congress Closeup
New site that generates political narratives. Developed by Northwestern University students.

Office of the Congressional Clerk
Obtain copies of House documents that the Clerk makes available as part of the official duties of this office, including public disclosure. You can also find historical information about the House of Representatives and information about its Members and Committees.

LII.org: U.S. Patriot Act Resources
Resources from the Librarian?s Index to the Internet.

House.gov
U.S. House of Representatives info. and directory

Senate.gov
U.S. Senate info. And directory.

EditorsWeb.org
Our daily service, which gathers links to governmental and congressional press releases, is used by hundreds of editors and reporters.

Lobbyist Database
Opensecrets.org, part of the Center for Reponsive Politics, has a database of registered lobbyists. Also tracks spending in particular sectors of lobbyists.

USPresidency.com
Bios and facts on past presidents.

Special Interest Groups List
Opensecrets.org, part of the Center for Reponsive Politics, has downloadable lists of special-interest groups.

Wisconsin Advertising Project
Studies campaign spending and advertising.

FEC Info/Political Moneyline
Search PAC, soft money, lobby databases and more.

Congressional Budget Office

Office of Management and Budget

Technet.org
Bipartisan tech network allows you to look up tech-related bills being considered in Congress.

Library of Congress: A Century of Law Making
Annals of the House and Senate, bills and resolutions.

Library of Congress: Time Capsule
An online collection of broadsheets, pamphlets and more, which lets you examine early American life as it was lived.

Center for Public Integrity
Has background on congressional spending, including travel.

Technet.org
Bipartisan tech network allows you to look up tech-related bills being considered in Congress.

OurDocuments.gov
Defining moments in American history, famous documents.

Congressional Accountability Project
Site, which claims to fight corruption in Congress, offers information ranging from pay and perks to ethics.

The U.S. Constitution

United States Constitution Search
This search engine allows you to search for words and phrases and find lists of links to the location within the text of your search terms.

Constitution Facts
This site provides insights into the men who wrote the Constitution and how it's been interpreted over the years.

U.S. Senate Glossary Page
Alphabetical list of hundreds of terms.

Presidential/Congressional nominees history
Information about all nominees (received, rejected, confirmed) for the current session of Congress. It gives names, position for which the individual was nominated and the status of their nomination.

Senate Budget Committee

House Energy and Commerce Committee: Majority

House Energy and Commerce Committee: Minority

House Rules Committee

Speaker of the House

House Majority Whip

House Republican Conference

Congress Online: Assessing and Improving Capitol Hill Web Sites
An analysis project funded by a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Roll Call 2008: Richest Members of Congress

Government Computer News

History of the United States Capitol
The site's described as "a chronicle of design, construction, and politics.

Library of Congress: A Century of Law Making
Annals of the House and Senate, bills and resolutions.

National Association of Counties

WashingtonPost.com: Congress
Track daily votes in Congress. Organized by states, bills, most voted-on, etc.

Resource Shelf: Congressional Research Service Reports
Great site to visit on a regular basis. Roundups on updates, recent reports and updated old reports. You also can get an RSS feed from this page.

WSJ: 2008 Campaign Fundraising Totals
Access to this does not require a subscription to the WSJ.

Appropriations Earmarks by Agency
From the Office of Management and Budget.

Appropriations Earmarks by State
From the Office of Management and Budget.

Library of Congress: Ask a Librarian
Submit questions to a librarian. Includes a chat feature and links to various collections.

Slate.com: Online Guide to Following the Health Care Legislation

RAND Corporation Congressional Resources
Mayor's office of operations for New York City. Stats, performance reports, surveys, etc.

Death of Senator Ted Kennedy

Boston.com: Senator Kennedy
A deep archive on Kennedy from the Boston Globe.

Library of Congress: Links to Ted Kennedy
Books, video, bios and other resources.

Ted Kennedy Official Senate Bio

NY Times: Ted Kennedy's New York

TedKennedy.com

ABCNews Politics: Ted Kennedy
Photos, story about death, archives and Facebook chat.

YouTube: Video of Kennedy's Speech at 2008 Democratic National Convention

U.S. Department of Justice

IRS.gov

SCOTUS Blog
Track Supreme Court decisions.

FBI.gov

Drug Enforcement Agency
Good stats and research tools.

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
Good stats and research tools.

A Guide to the U.S. Federal Legal System: Web-Based Publicly Accessible Sources

Oyez: U.S. Supreme Court Multimedia Database
Hundreds of hours of audio materials delivered through a free player available from Real.com as well as summaries of cases before the court, organized by year.

On the Docket
Includes a current listing of pending cases, dates for scheduled oral arguments, the questions presented to the Court and citations for the lower court.

Pacer's U.S. Courts
Search district and bankruptcy courts.

Federal Courts Finder
Image map guide to courts from Emory University.

Bureau of Justice Statistics

National Center for State Courts
Research, newsletter, links to other organizations.

Trial Lawyers for Public Justice
This national, public interest law firm offers cutting-edge legal briefs and news on public interest legal issues, including consumer protection, civil rights, and access to justice, plus a unique online database of all accredited law schools and 2,300 public interest groups, sorted by dozens of focus areas.

CNN.com: Supreme Court Candidate Bios

C-SPAN Judiciary and Supreme Court Resources

National District Attorneys Association

The Brennan Center for Justice
From NYU's Law School, articles and research on voting rights, campaign finance reform, criminal justice and racial justice.

Yahoo!: Supreme Court Nominees

PBS Newshour: Supreme Court Candidates
Full of quotes from politicos on who should be named.

PollingReport.com: Supreme Court Candidates
Full of quotes from politicos on who should be named.

Supreme Court Historical Society

Center for Jury Studies of the National Center for State Courts
A Virginia-based nonprofit group.

Supreme Court Collection
A database of upcoming Supreme Court cases compiled by Cornell University.

Syllabi of Current U.S. Supreme Court Decisions

Department of Justice: Office of Solicitor General
Search government briefs filed with the United States Supreme Court.

Federal Circuit Courts of Appeals
Links to the full-text opinions of all 11 U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals.

Federal Laws and Regulations
The National Archives and Records Administration has a database of public laws, presidential orders and more.

SCOTUS Blog
Track Supreme Court decisions.

U.S. Department of Justice

IRS.gov

FBI.gov

Drug Enforcement Agency
Good stats and research tools.

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
Good stats and research tools.

A Guide to the U.S. Federal Legal System: Web-Based Publicly Accessible Sources

Oyez: U.S. Supreme Court Multimedia Database
Hundreds of hours of audio materials delivered through a free player available from Real.com as well as summaries of cases before the court, organized by year.

On the Docket
Includes a current listing of pending cases, dates for scheduled oral arguments, the questions presented to the Court and citations for the lower court.

Pacer's U.S. Courts
Search district and bankruptcy courts.

Federal Courts Finder
Image map guide to courts from Emory University.

Bureau of Justice Statistics

National Center for State Courts
Research, newsletter, links to other organizations.

Trial Lawyers for Public Justice
This national, public interest law firm offers cutting-edge legal briefs and news on public interest legal issues, including consumer protection, civil rights, and access to justice, plus a unique online database of all accredited law schools and 2,300 public interest groups, sorted by dozens of focus areas.

CNN.com: Supreme Court Candidate Bios

C-SPAN Judiciary and Supreme Court Resources

National District Attorneys Association

Juvenile Justice Information Exchange
Part of The Center for Sustainable Journalism at Kennesaw State University, this site, launched in the summer of 2010, provides information focused on juvenile justice issues and shines a spotlight on the system's strengths and weaknesses.

Yahoo!: Supreme Court Nominees

PBS Newshour: Supreme Court Candidates
Full of quotes from politicos on who should be named.

PollingReport.com: Supreme Court Candidates
Full of quotes from politicos on who should be named.

Supreme Court Historical Society

Center for Jury Studies of the National Center for State Courts
A Virginia-based nonprofit group.

Supreme Court Collection
A database of upcoming Supreme Court cases compiled by Cornell University.

Syllabi of Current U.S. Supreme Court Decisions

Department of Justice: Office of Solicitor General
Search government briefs filed with the United States Supreme Court.

Federal Circuit Courts of Appeals
Links to the full-text opinions of all 11 U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals.

Federal Laws and Regulations
The National Archives and Records Administration has a database of public laws, presidential orders and more.

Office of Justice Programs

USCourts.gov: Journalist's Guide to the Federal Courts

CourtReference.com
Offers state-by-state links to online court record search services at trial courts and government agencies. Find court locations, other legal services offered and more.

Cornell Law: Courts Federal Law Materials and Judicial Opinions

Court Records Blog
Part of CourtReference.com's site, this blog covers some of the basics of court records, understanding documents, how a court room works, etc.

Free Public Records Directory
Free state court resources.

Cornell Law: State Courts Opinions

U.S. Courts.gov: The Federal Judiciary

FBI's Uniform Crime Reports

Brennan Center for Justice

Office for Victims of Crime

Library of Congress: Sonia Sotomayor Resources
Articles and books by her, congressional documents, cases and web resources by the Supreme Court nominee.

Poligraft
This Sunlight Foundation site adds political context to news stories by scanning news articles you enter for the names of donors, corporations, lobbyists and politicians and shows how they are connected by contributions. Free site.

Wisebread: Five Things to Know About This Year's Tax Changes
From 2011.

Census.gov News
This news section is a quick reference guide to the census.

CensusScope
This portal to Census 2000 data is an easy-to-use tool for investigating U.S. demographic trends. Developed by the Social Science Data Analysis Network (SSDAN) at the of Michigan it produces graphics and exportable trend data.

CNNMoney: 11 Tax Audit Red Flags

Census Bureau's CenStats
This free site offers county and zip code business patterns, monthly building permit data, federal spending, census tract data, etc.

Lewis Mumford Center: Census Research
This site lists some census research analysis that is used by many reporters, especially those covering census information. It is run by Merci Miglino of the Lewis Mumford Center at the Research University at Albany, SUNY.

State Census Data Centers
A quick reference to local information.

City-Data.com
This site has collected and analyzed data from numerous sources to create profiles of all U.S. cities. It featuresthousands of pictures, maps, satellite photos, stats about residents (race, income, ancestries, education, employment...), geographical data, crime data, housing, businesses, political contributions, weather, hospitals, schools, libraries, houses, airports, radio and TV stations, zip codes, area codes, user-submitted facts, similar cities list.

Census Data FactFinder
A huge collection of demographic and economic data.

Tax Policy Center: Five Myths About Your Taxes

Tax Policy Center

Census Factoid Central
Get the statistical lowdown on where you live with a few mouse clicks at State and County QuickFacts.

Social Security Calculator
Use this online tool to estimate what your Social Security income would be a particular age.

TaxTalkToday.TV: Key Links
A nice archive of links from the online program.

Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

American Payroll Association

American Association of Attorneys-CPAs

American Bar Association: Taxation

Federation of Tax Administrators

National Alliance of Tax Business Owners

National Association of Tax Professionals

National Association of Tax Reporting and Payroll Management

Motley Fool: Taxes

SmartMoney: Year-end Tax Planning

Covering the Obama Administration

Politifact: Obama Meter
St. Petersburg Times site tracks President Obama's campaign promises. The site is a spinoff of the 2008 Election's Truth-o-Meter.

Whitehouse.gov
The official page.

U.S. Government 2010 Budget
President Obama's proposed fiscal year 2010 budget.

Recovery.gov
Track who gets what in the 2009 economic stimulus package.

Stimulus Watch: Keeping an Eye on Economic Recovery Spending
Find, discuss and rate shovel-ready projects that benefit from recovery spending.

Social Government
This site tracks ways that local, state and federal government use social media.

AskSam.com: Obama Speeches Archive
This site has a deep archive of Barack Obama speeches from 2002 to the present.

2009 Transition and Inauguration

Carroll Publishing Transition Tracker
A great site that tracks changes in appointed and elected government officials.

New York Times: Most-Used Words in Presidential Inaugural Addresses
From 1789 to the present.

Change.gov
Obama's transition web site.

SourceWatch Encyclopedia: Presidential Transition Resources

Council for Excellence in Government: Presidential Transition

The White House Transition Project
Program formed in 1997 to ease the transition between presidents. Includes resources from policy organizations, scholars, etc.

General Services Administration: Presidential Transition
Provides the services and facilities needed for the new administration's official duties. Helpful in tracking technology needs and other improvements (and costs) a new administration may have.

CNN: Interactive Inauguration Event Map

ABC News: Inauguration Site

ABC News: Obama's Cabinet

Inauguration Blog

Bartleby: Inauguration Speeches of Past Presidents
Searchable database of speeches.

History Matters: FDR's 1933 Inauguration Speech
Famous speech by Franklin Delano Roosevelt given in Washington, D.C., March 4th, 1933. "We have nothing to fear ... but fear itself."

Government Accountability Office: 2009 Congressional and Presidential Transition

Library of Congress: Presidential Inaugurations
"I Do Solemnly Swear . . .": Presidential Inaugurations is a collection of approximately 400 items or 2,000 digital files relating to inaugurations from George Washington's in 1789 to George W. Bush's inauguration of 2001. This presentation includes diaries and letters of presidents and of those who witnessed inaugurations, handwritten drafts of inaugural addresses, broadsides, inaugural tickets and programs, prints, photographs, and sheet music.

Obama's Office of Urban Policy
Citizens can contribute ideas on policies to improve cities.

Library of Congress: Inauguration Dates
Great for quick reference.

infoPlease: Inauguraton File
A treasure trove of facts and background, including media coverage, famous addresses, inaugural trivia, and life after the presidency.

Federal Citizen Information Center: National Contact Center
A great resource for anyone covering the federal government. The site includes phone and hotline numbers to various agencies, Congressional phone directories, contacts for cabinet departments, etc.

U.S. Government Press Release Sites
A clearinghouse of agency press releases and announcements.

CBS News: An Agency-by-Agency Guide to Obama's Budget

MSN Money: The 102 Best Money Sites

Government RSS Library
USA.gov's RSS feed for news releases, agencies, etc.

WikiPedia: Inauguration Day
Includes history and traditions with the ceremony.

Poynter.org: Inauguration Resources List

WikiPedia: Inauguration Day
Scroll to the bottom of the page for a chronological chart of details of details from past ceremonies.

TeacherVision: History of Presidential Inaugurations

Truman Library & Museum: Inauguration Quiz

MSNBC: Mayors' Cries to Help for Obama
Survey, presented as an image map, of advice to Obama from mayor's of large and small U.S. cities.

TeacherVision: History of Presidential Inaugurations

MSNBC: Estimating Large Crowds
Steve Doig of Arizona State University uses a process to estimate large crowds. He uses Obama's Presidential Inauguration as an example.

Executive Branch

Whitehouse.gov
The official page.

National Archive: George W. Bush Public Papers
Searchable database that complements the printed volumes.

Library of Congress Executive Branch Links
One-stop shopping for government agencies (many of the links are listed below, by the way). This page is just a set of links to government agencies and are organized by the departments they're governed by.

Washington Post Watergate Archive
The Post put up this archive site in honor of the 25th anniversary of the Watergate scandal. Site includes a chronology of events, bios of key players, articles, reforms and transcripts of chats with Bob Woodward and Ben Bradlee.

Department of Energy
Another database of nuclear accidents.

Department of Commerce

Department of the Treasury

Notable Names Database
More than 20,000 bios of famous people.

Department of Health and Human Services

Department of Agriculture

Department of Education

Department of Labor

Department of Transportation

Department of the Interior

PBS: The American President

Sunlight Foundation: Online Foreign Agent Lobbying Database
The Foreign Agent Registration Act requires the Justice Department to maintain detailed reports of lobbying firms hired by foreign governments and by organizations. Just select legislators from a menu and it will show their records, lobbyist ties, etc.

Presidents of the United States

Past Inaugural Addresses

Presidential/Congressional nominees history
Information about all nominees (received, rejected, confirmed) for the current session of Congress. It gives names, position for which the individual was nominated and the status of their nomination.

C-SPAN: Nixon Tapes 1971-73

Presidential Libraries

University of Texas: Woodward and Bernstein Watergate Papers

Findlaw: Chronology of Congressional Sex Scandals

Polizine: Biggest Political Sex Scandals Ever

HuffingtonPost: America's Top Political Sex Scandals

Journalism.org: What Scandals Make the Biggest News?

The Presidential Debate Blog

Museum of Broadcast Communications: History of Presidential Debates

Commission on Presidential Debates

PIBuzz.com: Government Salary Lists
Look up salaries for all kinds of federal positions.

PBS: The American Experience - The President
A great interactive video site that lets you pick a question that a past president will answer in a video. (Examples: "How Influential is the First Lady?" and "How Do You End a War?"

Poynter.org: Backgrounding Gerald R. Ford

Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum
Links, documents, photos, news announcements, statements, etc.

Gerald R. Ford Historical Photographs
Links, documents, photos, news announcements, statements, etc.

White House Museum
Unaffiliated with the government, this site gives a tour, stats, details about the building and surrounding area.

American Society of Civil Engineers
A 2005 report on failing structures in U.S. infrastructure.

Anti-Money Laundering: Efforts in the Securities Industry
The General Accounting Office's 92-page report on the issue of combating money laundering in the securities industry.

Opensecrets.org
A fantastic site for researching campaign finance statistics.

Votenet.com
A fantastic site for researching campaign financing statistics.

FollowtheMoney.org

Campaign Finance Information Center
Use the handy image map to call up information by state.

Washington Post: Campaign Finance Reform -- What Does it Mean?
A useful collection of stories and graphics that help break down the complex issue.

LegiStorm
A database of congressional staff salaries and other valuable public records, such as the most comprehensive database of all privately financed trips taken by members of Congress and congressional staffers.

GAO's Congressional Investigations
Track investigations through the General Accounting Office.

Lobbyist Database
Opensecrets.org, part of the Center for Reponsive Politics, has a database of registered lobbyists. Also tracks spending in particular sectors of lobbyists.

Special Interest Groups List
Opensecrets.org, part of the Center for Reponsive Politics, has downloadable lists of special-interest groups.

Government Audits
State inspector general's offices that audit federal programs that the agency oversees.

PoliticalMoneyLine

MoJo 400
Mother Jones magazine takes an in-depth look at campaign finance.

Tray.com
A good site for FEC and PAC data.

Social Security Death Records

Securities & Exchange Commission

GovExec.com: Top 200 Federal Contractors
Listed by agency with which they contracted and by amount.

Top 100 Prime Contractors with the Federal Government
Use to localize any stories about contractors or government agencies in your area.

Previous Top 10 Government Contractors by Year
Use to localize any stories about contractors or government agencies in your area.

Natural Resources Defense Council Papers
NRDC makes available papers relating to the White House energy task force.

WashingtonTechnology.com: State Government Contracts to Watch in 2002
Use to localize any stories about contractors or government agencies in your area.

ActivistCash.com
A great site. Roots out the funding sources of the most notorious anti-consumer groups. It continually adds profiles on the first of every month.

International Government Database
Call up information by country.

Global Edge Resources: International Federal Governments
Directory of hundreds of offices, embassies, councils and more.

International Trademark Assn.

NASA Web site

NASA Earth image database
Thousands of pictures of earth and other research materials.

Space.com
Great research and interactive tools.

NASA: Apollo 8 Spaceflight Anniversary

Chicago Tribune: Apollo 8 Revisited

Smithsonian: The Apollo 8 Mission
Images, audio/video, facts, crew and mission summary.

Exploring the Moon: Apollo 8 Mission Quick Facts
Images, audio/video, facts, crew and mission summary.

Apollo 8 Video Search
YouTube video, images, etc.

International Government Database
Call up information by country.

Global Edge Resources: International Federal Governments
Directory of hundreds of offices, embassies, councils and more.

International Trademark Assn.