Where can I find the official Senate roll call record and individual senator statements for the Freedom to Vote Act?
Executive summary
The official Senate roll‑call record for any vote is posted by the U.S. Senate’s Legislative Information System; recent roll call pages and individual vote pages (which list how each senator voted) are accessible from senate.gov (see the roll call menu and specific vote pages) [1] [2]. Senator floor statements and longer remarks are printed in the Congressional Record and summarized on the Senate’s Floor Activity pages; individual senators also publish press releases and statement pages on their own Senate websites [3] [4] [5].
1. Where to find the official roll‑call record — Senate.gov, the primary source
The Senate compiles and publishes roll‑call vote results through its Legislative Information System; the roll call menu for the 119th Congress and the per‑vote pages show the formal record — including vote date, required majority and the yea/nay list — and are the official Senate source for how each senator voted [1] [2] [6].
2. How to locate the specific Freedom to Vote Act votes
The Freedom to Vote Act has multiple bill entries across Congress.gov (S.2747 in the 117th, S.1 and S.2344 in later sessions), so first identify the exact bill number and date you need on Congress.gov [7] [8] [9]. Then cross‑check that date or measure number on the Senate roll‑call pages on senate.gov to open the matching vote page that lists individual senators’ votes [1] [2].
3. Where to find senators’ floor remarks about the bill — Congressional Record and Floor Activity
Substantive floor statements made during debate are published in the Congressional Record, which the Senate’s Floor Activity pages index; the Record is the “substantially verbatim” official account of senators’ on‑floor remarks and is the authoritative source for what senators said during debate [3]. Use the Senate’s Floor Activity or Congressional Record links on senate.gov to retrieve specific speeches and debate entries [4] [3].
4. Senator statements off the floor — individual Senate offices and press releases
Senators routinely post press releases, statements, and Q&A on their official Senate websites. For example, press materials announcing sponsorship or responses to action on the Freedom to Vote Act are available on individual senators’ sites (examples: Klobuchar, Warner, Merkley) and are convenient for a written statement attributable to a senator outside the floor record [5] [10] [11].
5. Useful secondary aggregators — Congress.gov, GovTrack, C‑SPAN, Roll Call
Congress.gov holds bill texts and roll‑call histories and is useful for tracking versions of the Freedom to Vote Act across sessions [7] [8]. Non‑government sites such as GovTrack, C‑SPAN’s Congressional Chronicle and Roll Call aggregate votes and publish roll‑call summaries and often link back to the Senate’s official vote pages — useful for context and timelines but not replacements for the official Senate record [12] [13] [14].
6. Practical search steps to retrieve both records and statements
a) Find the exact bill version on Congress.gov (e.g., S.2747, S.1, S.2344) and note key dates [7] [8] [9]. b) Go to the Senate roll call menu or recent roll call index on senate.gov and open the vote page matching the date or measure number; that page lists each senator’s vote [1] [2] [6]. c) To retrieve floor remarks tied to that legislative day, use the Senate’s Floor Activity / Congressional Record links [3] [4]. d) For press statements or post‑vote quotes, search the sponsoring or opposing senators’ official pages (examples above) [5] [10] [11].
7. What the sources say about the bill’s trajectory and coverage
Congressional and advocacy sources show the Freedom to Vote Act was introduced multiple times (different bill numbers across Congresses) and has been the subject of heated floor battles and press statements; tracking both roll calls and individual statements is therefore necessary to capture votes, debate and subsequent messaging [7] [8] [15]. Advocacy groups (League of Women Voters, Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause, Brennan Center) have published summaries and analysis that can help interpret provisions and political context, but these are commentary, not the official voting record [16] [17] [18] [15].
Limitations and caveats: The Senate roll‑call pages and Congressional Record are the official primary sources for votes and on‑floor statements [1] [3]. Individual senators’ press releases are authoritative for off‑floor statements but are produced with political aims; advocacy and news outlets provide useful context but are not substitutes for primary records [5] [18]. If you want specific URLs or a walk‑through to a single vote page for a named date or bill number, provide the date or bill version and I will point to the exact senate.gov and Congressional Record pages referenced above [1] [2] [3].