Bills are proposed legislation from the House or Senate. Bills from each chamber are assigned a number in the order in which they are introduced. Congressional sessions last for two years, and when a new session begins, bill numbering for that session's legislation starts over.
Examples:
H.R. 8 (the 8th bill from the House of Representatives during a session of Congress)
S. 535 (the 535th bill from the Senate during a session of Congress)
The text of bills can be found in a number of resources including those recommended and listed below. Bills are also often found within specific Congressional Reports and also in the Congressional Record.
Westlaw provides the following:
Congressional Bills includes summaries and the text of congressional bills and resolutions introduced into the current session of Congress.
Historical Federal Bills, 1995 -
Bill Tracking includes summaries and status information for current legislation. A legislative calendar is also included.
CRS Bill Summaries for introduced bills, are written by the Congressional Research Service, for the current session of Congress.
Lexis provides the following:
Bill Text (Congressional Full Text Bills) 1989 - present (in separate databases by congressional session)
Congressional Bill Tracking Reports 1989 - present (in separate databases by congressional session)
Congressional Bills 1980-2000 can be found in the Library's Microfiche Collection.
Searching the Julien catalog for: Bills, Legislative -- United States is also recommended. Note the many Congressional Research Service Reports specific to bills that are listed for HeinOnline.
Congress.gov provides:
Text of Congressional Bills, 1993-
GovInfo provides:
Text of Congressional Bills, 1993-present
The Library of Congress provides:
Text of House Bills 1799-1873 and Text of Senate Bills 1819-1873