What's new

You're on version 0.26.0.

Version 0.26.0 · October 28, 2026

A desk to start the day Newsroom

Signing in now opens your desk: the latest alerts from your watchlists (with a short guide to making your first one), the newest floor votes, bills that moved, new disclosure reports, privately paid trips, and reported trades worth a look. Each list links to the full page, and the main sections are one tap away from the shortcuts under the search.

Version 0.25.1 · October 28, 2026

Every API endpoint in the docs Newsroom

The API docs now list all 29 endpoints, grouped by topic, with the filters each one takes, and they stay complete as new data is added. Newsrooms with the API (Newsroom Pro and Enterprise) find API docs in the menu, so a developer on the team can find them without asking the admin.

Version 0.25.0 · October 28, 2026

Enterprise and Private label Newsroom

The pricing page now shows Enterprise, for station groups, newspaper chains and networks: 50 people for $2,500 a month or $25,000 a year, on an annual contract, with everything in Newsroom Pro. Enterprise can add Private label: Hilltrace under your own name, logo and web address, for your own staff, at $5,000 to set up and then $1,000 a month or $10,000 a year. Source links and the federal disclosure notice stay on every page.

Version 0.24.0 · October 28, 2026

Hilltrace on your phone Newsroom

Hilltrace now fits a phone screen. The side menu folds behind a Menu button at the top, with Alerts always one tap away; pages use the full width, filters sit two to a row, and wide tables scroll sideways inside their box. On a computer nothing changes.

Version 0.23.3 · October 27, 2026

Call the office from the profile Members

A sitting member's Washington phone number, website and contact form now sit in the profile header, under their name. Tap the number to call on a phone. Official contact is the first section under Background, with the district offices listed in it.

Version 0.23.2 · October 27, 2026

Profile sections open one at a time Members

Member profile sections now work as an accordion: opening a section closes the one that was open, and clicking an open section closes it. Background stays open at the top.

Version 0.23.1 · October 27, 2026

Member profiles fold Members

Background now sits at the top of each member profile, always open. Every section under it, from committees and contact to trades, earmarks and votes, folds closed and shows a one-line summary on its heading, so the whole profile reads at a glance. Open the ones you need, or use Open all sections. A link to a section opens it, the page remembers what you opened during your visit, and printing opens everything.

Version 0.23.0 · October 27, 2026

Pricing and subscribing Newsroom

A public pricing page shows each plan, what it includes, and how the price works for more people: each extra person costs the rate for the break they fall in, so bigger teams pay less per person. Enter your team size to see your price, monthly or yearly. Newsroom admins on a trial can now subscribe from Billing, choosing a plan, yearly or monthly, and how many people; the trial ends the moment the subscription is paid.

Version 0.22.0 · October 27, 2026

A new public site Platform

Hilltrace has a public home page that explains what it does, a What it can do for you page for each part of the newsroom, and a step-by-step Getting started guide. Signing up now starts a free 15-day trial.

Trades with impossible dates Disclosures

Some filers type the wrong year on a trade ("3031" for 2021). Hilltrace still shows the date exactly as filed, now marked "date as filed", but such trades no longer jump to the top of lists, count as late, or raise signals. The Stock Tracker's Latest column uses the filing date for them.

Version 0.21.0 · October 27, 2026

Your logo in Hilltrace Newsroom

Newsroom admins can add their newsroom's logo under Newsroom profile. It shows at the top of the menu for everyone on the team, and only to them.

Trials Newsroom

Newsrooms on a trial see how many days are left at the top of every page. A trial works through its last day; after that the newsroom's notes, watchlists and settings are kept until it subscribes.

Version 0.20.0 · October 27, 2026

Earmarks Spending

See every community project House members asked the Appropriations Committee to fund since FY2024: the project, the recipient, its city and state, and the amount, plus the projects the committee put in its bill (FY2027 so far) and which requests made it in. Search and sort every project by year, stage, bill or recipient, rank members by the money they asked for, and see each House member's earmarks on their profile and their own Earmarks page. A request isn't money spent: the final law can differ. Senate earmarks come later. In the API and research assistant too.

Sort Office spending Spending

Click any column heading in Office spending to sort by it; it opens with the most spent first. Dollar amounts now show with a $ sign everywhere.

Version 0.19.0 · October 27, 2026

Office spending Spending

See what every House member's office spends of its budget (the Members' Representational Allowance), by year and category: staff pay, travel, rent and phones, mail to constituents, printing and advertising, services, supplies and equipment, with each member's rank. The Office spending leaderboard ranks members in total or in any one category, and each member's page lists the businesses the office paid. Staff pay is shown only as an office total, and no individual is ever named: payments to people, usually staff reimbursements, are combined. From the House's quarterly Statement of Disbursements since 2016 (payees since 2021); in the API and research assistant too.

Sort the Stock Tracker Phase 4

Click any column heading in the Stock Tracker to sort by it, and click again to reverse. Stocks now open sorted by the latest trade, newest first.

Version 0.18.0 · October 27, 2026

Official trips abroad Disclosures

Members' official trips abroad paid by Congress (congressional delegations and committee travel) now appear on each member's travel page and in the Travel feed: where they went, when, and what the trip cost as reported, from the quarterly expenditure reports the House prints in the Congressional Record since 2013. Trips flown on military aircraft are marked, since that cost isn't itemized. Staff travel isn't included.

Stock Tracker numbers you can click Phase 4

In the Stock Tracker, click a stock's number of members to see who traded it in that period, its trades, purchases or sales to see those trades, or its committee overlap to see the trades in a sector a committee the member sat on oversees.

Version 0.17.0 · October 27, 2026

Stock Tracker Phase 4

See the stocks members of Congress trade most, by period, chamber, party and sector: how many members traded each one, purchases and sales, and how many of those trades were in a sector a committee the member sat on oversees. Each stock has a page with every reported trade, every member who traded it, the committees overseeing it they sat on at the time, and members trading it in the same week. A reporting tool, not investment advice.

Trade signals Phase 4

Trades that stand out are now flagged, each with its reason: in a sector a committee the member sat on oversees (committee seats since 2013), close to a vote on that sector's legislation, reported after the STOCK Act's 45 days, unusually large for the member, or traded by several members in the same week. Signals show on every trade table, on profiles and in the new Trade signals feed; the method page explains each one and the committee and industry maps behind them. A signal is a lead to report out, not a finding.

Version 0.16.0 · October 27, 2026

Trades from scanned paper reports Disclosures

Many older House stock-trade reports were filed on paper and exist only as scans. Hilltrace now reads them with AI and has an editor check every row against the original scan before it is published. Trades read this way are marked "Transcribed from scan, checked" and count alongside electronically filed ones. Scans are worked through a batch at a time, newest first.

Version 0.15.0 · October 27, 2026

Senators' net worth Disclosures

Senators now get the same Net worth card and page as House members: disclosed net worth when first elected, in their latest report, and the change, from their annual, candidate and new-filer reports, with every asset, debt and source of earned income. Holdings inside accounts and companies are shown under the account and counted once. Senate reports come in as Hilltrace staff import them from the Senate's disclosure site, so coverage grows over time.

Version 0.14.0 · October 27, 2026

Lobbying, linked to bills, members and trips Lobbying

Hilltrace now reads federal lobbying disclosures from the Senate Office of Public Records. Every bill page shows the organizations that named it in their lobbying reports and the firms they hired. Every member's profile has a Lobbyist money card: what lobbyists and their PACs gave in the member's name since 2023, including events, meetings and honors paid for in their name that don't appear in FEC records. Search any company, group or lobbying firm under Lobbying to see what it spent, the bills it lobbied on, its firms and clients, what it gave in members' names, and any trips it sponsored; trip sponsors that also lobby Congress are marked. The API and research assistant can answer lobbying questions too. Lobbying is legal and disclosed: these are leads to report, not findings.

Version 0.13.0 · October 27, 2026

Version 0.12.0 · October 27, 2026

A new name: Hilltrace Platform

The product is now called Hilltrace. Nothing else changes: your sign-in, newsroom, watchlists, alerts, notes and API keys all carry on as before. Your authenticator app may still list the old name until you set it up again; the codes keep working.

Version 0.11.0 · October 27, 2026

Senate stock trades Disclosures

Senators' STOCK Act trade reports now appear alongside the House's: in the Stock trades feed (with a new House / Senate filter), on each senator's Trades card and page, in the subscriber API and in the research assistant. The Senate's disclosure site doesn't allow automated reading, so Hilltrace staff import Senate reports by hand from saved copies of the official pages; each trade links to the report on the Senate's site. Senate coverage grows as reports are imported.

Version 0.10.0 · October 27, 2026

Net worth since first elected Disclosures

Every House member's profile now shows their disclosed net worth when first elected, in their latest report, and the change, from their financial disclosure reports since 2013. The Net worth page lists each report with its assets, liabilities and net-worth ranges, and each report opens to every asset, debt and source of earned income it lists. All figures are ranges, because the law asks for ranges, and they cover what was disclosed, not total wealth; the page explains how they are worked out. Reports filed on paper are linked until they are transcribed.

Net worth in the API and the research assistant Disclosures

The subscriber API has /members/{id}/net-worth (with the method and the federal use notice), and the research assistant can answer questions about members' disclosed net worth, always as ranges.

Version 0.9.0 · October 26, 2026

Stock trades by members of the House Disclosures

Every trade House members reported for themselves, a spouse or a dependent child under the STOCK Act since 2013: asset and ticker, buy or sell, trade date, the reported amount range, and when it was reported, with trades reported more than 45 days late flagged. See them on each member's profile, on a member's full Stock trades page, and in the Stock trades feed, filterable by ticker, type, owner, amount and dates. Every trade links to the original report. Scanned paper reports are listed with links to the originals until they are transcribed and checked. Senate reports are next.

Trades in the API and the research assistant Disclosures

The subscriber API has /members/{id}/trades and /trades, and the research assistant can now answer questions about members' reported trades. Every response carries the federal use notice: disclosure data is for news reporting only.

Version 0.8.0 · October 26, 2026

Ask questions in plain English Research assistant

Newsroom Pro newsrooms can now ask the research assistant about members of Congress: votes, bills, committees, backgrounds, ethics matters and campaign money. It answers only from Hilltrace's records, numbers every fact to its page or government document, and says so when the records don't have it. Your conversations are private to you and encrypted; you can delete them at any time.

The subscriber API API

Newsroom Pro newsrooms can read everything Hilltrace shows from their own tools: members, votes, bills, committees and campaign finance as JSON, each record with its page and government sources. Admins create keys under Newsroom > API keys; see the API page for the endpoints.

Version 0.7.0 · October 26, 2026

Campaign money for every member Campaign finance

Each member now has a Campaign finance page: what their campaigns raised and spent in every two-year cycle since 2014, how much came from individuals, PACs, their party and themselves, cash on hand and debts. See the PAC money behind them, grouped by kind of committee (corporate, labor, trade association, leadership PACs and more) with each PAC's sponsoring company or union named, plus outside spending for and against them. All from the Federal Election Commission, and always kept separate from members' personal finances.

Who donors work for Campaign finance

For each campaign and cycle, the FEC's own totals of individual contributions by the donors' employer and occupation, with retired, self-employed and similar answers grouped together. No individual donor is ever named.

Campaign money leaderboard Campaign finance

Rank current members by money raised, PAC money, money from individuals, spending or cash on hand, for any cycle, in the House, the Senate or both.

Version 0.6.0 · October 26, 2026

Background: education, work history, military service, family Members

Every member profile now has a Background section: education, work history, military service, spouse and children exactly as the member's own office supplied them to the official Congressional Directory (U.S. Government Publishing Office), one edition per Congress since 2013. Nothing is rephrased; "Not listed" means the office didn't include it. The full directory entry is one click away, and the edition is cited.

Ethics record Members

Profiles now show official House Committee on Ethics, Senate Select Committee on Ethics and Office of Congressional Conduct matters: each written by a Hilltrace editor from the body's own document, with its outcome always stated, and published only after a second editor reviews it. Corrections are reviewed the same way and counted on the record. No criminal records, and nothing AI-written or scraped.

Version 0.5.0 · October 26, 2026

Simpler password rules Sign-in

Passwords now need 12 or more characters and nothing else: no required capital letters, numbers or symbols. A short phrase you can remember is the safest choice. The password page says so up front, and a reset link now fills in your email for you.

Version 0.4.0 · October 26, 2026

Watch members, committees and bills Watchlists

Press Watch on any member, committee or bill to add it to a watchlist. Watchlists are shared with your newsroom, or private to you for a story you aren't ready to share with the desk. Each list shows what's on it, its recent alerts, and downloads as a spreadsheet.

Alerts when something happens Alerts

Hilltrace checks every 10 minutes and alerts you when a watched member votes, introduces a bill or joins or leaves a committee, when a watched committee gets a new bill or changes membership, and when a watched bill moves or is voted on. Alerts appear under Alerts (with a count in the menu); choose per watchlist whether you also want a daily email or an email each time. Email is written to the log until an email provider is connected.

Newsroom notes Notes

Add notes to any member, committee, bill or vote: leads, sources to call, what to check next. Notes are shared with your newsroom or kept private to you, are stored encrypted, and are never visible to other subscribers or to the Hilltrace staff console. The audit log records that a note was written, never what it says or what it is about.

Download as a spreadsheet Exports

Download member lists, bill searches, a roll call's individual votes, a member's full voting record and your watchlists as CSV files that open cleanly in Excel or Google Sheets (up to 50,000 rows).

Version 0.3.0 · October 25, 2026

Every bill and resolution since 2013, with its official summary Bills

Bills lists every House and Senate bill and resolution since the 113th Congress. Search by words or number (H.R. 1, S. 12), filter by Congress, type and whether it became law, or list a member's bills or a committee's. Each bill shows its sponsor and cosponsors (with the party split and withdrawals), the committees it went to, every action from introduction to law, links to the roll calls on it, its subjects, and the Congressional Research Service's official summary at each stage.

Every House and Senate roll call, and how each member voted Votes

Votes lists every roll call in both chambers since 2013. Each vote shows the question, the result, the totals by party, and each member's vote, linked to the bill it was about. House votes come from the Clerk of the House; Senate votes from VoteView (UCLA), compiled from Senate records.

Each member's legislative record Members

Member profiles now show bills sponsored and cosponsored, how many roll calls they cast or missed, how often they voted with their party's majority, their latest votes (flagging when they broke with their party) and a full, searchable voting record.

Version 0.2.0 · October 25, 2026

Every member of Congress since 2013 Members

Members lists all 539 current members and the 597 who have left since January 2013, the start of the 113th Congress. Search by name, with or without accents, by state or by Bioguide id, and filter by chamber and party. Each profile shows when they took office, every term (with any party switch mid-term), leadership roles, their official Washington and district or state offices, social accounts, relatives who also served in Congress, links to their Biographical Directory, FEC, GovTrack and OpenSecrets records, and every committee and subcommittee seat with its title. A Sources section lists the exact documents behind the page, with when we retrieved each one. Home addresses are never shown.

Committees, subcommittees and who sits on them Committees

Committees lists every House, Senate and joint committee with its chair and ranking member. Each committee page shows its jurisdiction in its own words, the majority and minority by rank, and its subcommittees. From today we record every change: when someone joins or leaves a committee, or takes or loses a chair, it shows on both the committee and the member.

Portraits served from Hilltrace Privacy

Member portraits are copied into Hilltrace and served from here, so your browser never tells another website which members your newsroom is researching. We don't record which profiles anyone views.

Version 0.1.0 · October 25, 2026

Hilltrace opens: request access, sign in, set up your newsroom Getting started

Hilltrace tracks members of Congress for newsrooms: who they are, what they sit on, how they vote, what they own and what they trade, with a source for every fact. This first version is the foundation: newsrooms request access and we confirm each one is a news outlet, then the newsroom's admin signs in, turns on two-step sign-in (required for everyone), confirms the newsroom profile, chooses how to pay and invites the team. Member profiles, committees and terms arrive next, in Phase 1.

Your newsroom's work stays yours Security

What your newsroom is looking into is kept apart from every other subscriber twice: by the app and by the database itself (row-level security). The public data about Congress is shared and read-only: the part of the system that reads government sources can't see any newsroom's data, and the part you use can't change the public record. The app refuses to start if either rule is broken.