PERRLA/Guides/APA 7/Congressional resolution

How to Cite a Congressional Resolution in APA 7

An APA 7 reference for a congressional resolution gives the resolution's abbreviation and number (S. Res. or H.R. Res. for a simple resolution, S.J. Res. or H.R.J. Res. for a joint resolution), the Congress number followed by Cong., and the year in parentheses, then a link: S.J. Res. 4, 118th Cong. (2023). A simple resolution that the Senate or House agreed to adds (enacted) after the year. There's no author and no italics, and usually no title. The in-text citation is the abbreviation, the number, and the year: (S.J. Res. 4, 2023).

The format

S. Res. Number, Congress Cong. (Year) (enacted). URL

PERRLA APA Experts · Updated October 21, 2026
Checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition. Every example is formatted by PERRLA's reference engine.

First, the easy way: PERRLA

Choose Bills & Resolutions (under Legal References).

  • A simple resolution the Senate or House agreed to: pick An enacted federal bill or resolution, then Senate bill or resolution or House of Representatives bill or resolution. Fill in the number, the Congress number in Congressional Session (115 or 115th), and the year. Read it in the Congressional Record? Add the Congressional Record Volume and the Record Starting Page Number too. PERRLA writes S. Res. or H.R. Res., adds (enacted), and leaves the title out of the reference.
  • A joint resolution that hasn't become law: pick An unenacted federal bill or resolution, then Joint Senate bill or resolution or Joint House bill or resolution. PERRLA writes S.J. Res. or H.R.J. Res. Leave the title box empty unless the resolution has a short name, so your in-text citation uses the number.
  • A simple resolution that was never agreed to: under An unenacted federal bill or resolution, choose Senate resolution or House of Representatives resolution. PERRLA prints S. Res. or H.R. Res. with no (enacted).

Have the citation from your reading, like S.J. Res. 4, 118th Cong. (2023)? Paste it into PERRLA's reference search. PERRLA recognizes the resolution, fills in the kind, the number, the Congress, and the year, and adds the Congress.gov link. If it also fills in the resolution's long official title, clear the title box before you save.

A joint resolution that became law is cited as a law: choose Statutes and cite its public law number.

Not using PERRLA yet? Here is how to build the same reference by hand.

The parts of the reference

1. Kind of resolution and its abbreviation

Start with the abbreviation for the kind of resolution. The reference uses legal citation form, which is a little different from what Congress.gov shows:

  • Simple resolution (one chamber speaking for itself, never sent to the president): S. Res. or H.R. Res. Congress.gov writes S.Res. and H.Res.
  • Joint resolution (passed by both chambers and signed, like a bill): S.J. Res. or H.R.J. Res. Congress.gov writes S.J.Res. and H.J.Res.

S. Res. 737

Most resolutions don't have a short name, only a long description like "A resolution recognizing...." Leave that out. The abbreviation and number take the title's place, in the reference and in your in-text citations.

2. Resolution number

Put the number right after the abbreviation, with a space. Resolutions are numbered separately from bills, so S. Res. 201 and S. 201 are two different documents.

S.J. Res. 4

3. Congress number

Next comes the number of the Congress, as an ordinal, then Cong. with a period. Numbers start over with each two-year Congress, so the Congress tells your reader which S. Res. 201 you mean. Congress.gov shows it at the top of the page: "118th Congress (2023-2024)."

118th Cong.

Legal citations write 2nd and 3rd as 2d and 3d: 102d Cong., 103d Cong.

4. Congressional Record (optional, for an agreed-to resolution)

When a simple resolution was agreed to, you can add where its text appears in the Congressional Record: the volume, Cong. Rec., and the page. Senate pages start with S and House pages with H. Congress.gov lists the page in the resolution's actions, as in "text: CR S7933." APA's own example for an agreed-to resolution skips this part and gives a link, so it's yours to include or leave out.

164 Cong. Rec. S7933

5. Year

Put the year in parentheses. For an agreed-to resolution, it's the year the chamber agreed to it. For one that wasn't, it's the year it was introduced.

(2018)

6. Enacted

A simple resolution the Senate or House agreed to gets (enacted) after the year, then a period. A resolution that wasn't agreed to gets nothing extra.

(2018) (enacted).

Joint resolutions are the exception. One that passes both chambers and is signed becomes a law, so cite it as a statute by its public law number, not as a resolution.

7. URL

End with the resolution's Congress.gov link. It's optional in a legal reference but helps your reader find it. Don't put a period after it.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-resolution/737

Examples

A Senate resolution that was agreed to, with the Congressional Record

The 2018 Senate resolution honoring the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps, which enrolled more than 120,000 women in nurse training during World War II. The Senate agreed to it the day it was submitted, and its text is on page S7933 of volume 164 of the Congressional Record. PERRLA leaves the long title out and adds (enacted).

  • Parenthetical citation(S. Res. 737, 2018)
  • Narrative citationSenate Resolution 737 (2018)

A House resolution that was agreed to, with a link

The House resolution condemning anti-Asian sentiment related to COVID-19, agreed to by a vote of 243 to 164 on September 17, 2020. This one skips the Congressional Record and ends with the Congress.gov link, the way APA's own resolution example does. House simple resolutions are H.R. Res. in legal citation form, even though Congress.gov calls this one H.Res.908.

  • Parenthetical citation(H.R. Res. 908, 2020)
  • Narrative citationHouse Resolution 908 (2020)

A Senate resolution that was never agreed to

A 2023 resolution supporting National Nurses Week. It was referred to the Senate's health committee and never agreed to, so it's an unenacted simple resolution: S. Res. 201, with no (enacted). In PERRLA, choose Senate resolution under An unenacted federal bill or resolution.

  • Parenthetical citation(S. Res. 201, 2023)
  • Narrative citationSenate Resolution 201 (2023)

A House joint resolution

A 2023 House joint resolution to remove the ratification deadline for the Equal Rights Amendment. It was referred to the Judiciary Committee and never passed. Congress.gov calls it H.J.Res.25. The reference uses the legal form, H.R.J. Res. 25.

  • Parenthetical citation(H.R.J. Res. 25, 2023)
  • Narrative citationHouse Joint Resolution 25 (2023)

A Senate joint resolution that got a vote and failed

The Senate's version of the same Equal Rights Amendment resolution. It reached the Senate floor in April 2023, but the cloture vote to take it up failed 51 to 47, short of the 60 votes needed, so it never passed. A vote doesn't make a resolution enacted: it's cited like any other unenacted joint resolution.

  • Parenthetical citation(S.J. Res. 4, 2023)
  • Narrative citationSenate Joint Resolution 4 (2023)

In-text citations

A resolution's in-text citation takes the place of an author with the resolution's abbreviation and number, then the year. In your sentence, spell the kind of resolution out.

  • Parenthetical, joint resolution: (S.J. Res. 4, 2023) or (H.R.J. Res. 25, 2023)
  • Narrative, joint resolution: Senate Joint Resolution 4 (2023) would have removed…
  • Simple resolution: the same pattern with S. Res. or H.R. Res. and the number in parentheses, and Senate Resolution 737 (2018) or House Resolution 908 (2020) in your sentence
  • A resolution with a short name: use the name instead, the way you would for a bill

Resolution numbers aren't italicized, in the reference or in your sentences.

Common mistakes

  • H.R.J. Res. 7, 118th Cong. (2023) (enacted).Pub. L. No. 118-3, 137 Stat. 6 (2023).H.J.Res.7, which ended the COVID-19 national emergency, passed both chambers and was signed on April 10, 2023. An enacted joint resolution is a law, so cite it by its public law number, like a statute.
  • H.Res.908, 116th Cong. (2020).H.R. Res. 908, 116th Cong. (2020) (enacted).Use the legal abbreviation, H.R. Res., not Congress.gov's H.Res. And a simple resolution the House agreed to needs (enacted) after the year.
  • A resolution recognizing the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the United States Cadet Nurse Corps..., S. Res. 737, 115th Cong. (2018) (enacted).S. Res. 737, 115th Cong., 164 Cong. Rec. S7933 (2018) (enacted).A resolution's long description isn't a title. Leave it out, and let the abbreviation and number identify the resolution.
  • S.J. Res. 4, 118th Cong. (2023) (enacted).S.J. Res. 4, 118th Cong. (2023).Getting a vote isn't the same as passing. S.J. Res. 4 failed a cloture vote, so it's unenacted and takes no (enacted).

Quick checklist

  • Simple or joint? S. Res. and H.R. Res., or S.J. Res. and H.R.J. Res.
  • A joint resolution that became law gets cited as a law
  • No long description as a title
  • The Congress as an ordinal with Cong.
  • Optional for agreed-to resolutions: volume, Cong. Rec., and the page
  • The year, then (enacted) only if the chamber agreed to it
  • A Congress.gov link, with no period after it

Questions students ask

What's the difference between a simple resolution and a joint resolution?

A simple resolution (S. Res. or H.R. Res.) is one chamber speaking for itself: honoring someone, stating an opinion, or setting its own rules. It never goes to the president and never becomes law. A joint resolution (S.J. Res. or H.R.J. Res.) works like a bill. It passes both chambers and goes to the president, and if it's signed, it's a law. Joint resolutions that propose constitutional amendments go to the states instead.

What does (enacted) mean in a resolution reference?

It tells your reader that the Senate or House agreed to the resolution. Use it for simple resolutions that passed. A resolution that was introduced but never agreed to doesn't get it, and a joint resolution that became law is cited as a law instead.

How do I know whether a resolution was agreed to?

Check the resolution's page on Congress.gov. If it passed, its actions say it was agreed to, as in "Passed/agreed to in Senate," and its tracker shows how far it got. A resolution whose latest action is "Referred to the Committee" was never agreed to.

How do I cite a concurrent resolution?

A concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. or H.R. Con. Res.) is passed by both chambers but isn't sent to the president, so it isn't a law. It's often used for joint sessions or the budget resolution. Legal citation form gives it the same parts as a simple resolution: the abbreviation, the number, the Congress, the year, and (enacted) if both chambers agreed to it.

Do I include the resolution's title?

Usually not. Most resolutions have only a long description, like "A resolution supporting the goals and ideals of National Nurses Week," and the abbreviation and number identify them better. If a resolution has a short name, you can start with it, as you would for a bill.

Does a congressional resolution go on my references page?

Yes. It gets a full reference entry, alphabetized by its abbreviation, so H.R. Res. entries come before S. Res. entries.

Rules checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.), Sections 11.1–11.3 and 11.6 (legislative materials) and its federal resolution example, which follow the legal citation format of The Bluebook (Rule 13.2). Example sources verified against each resolution's page on Congress.gov and its official bill status record from the Government Publishing Office, with the Congressional Record pages checked in GovInfo (164 Cong. Rec. S7933, December 19, 2018) and Public Law 118-3 checked in its GovInfo print (137 Stat. 6).

PERRLA writes the resolution's abbreviation, number, Congress, and (enacted) in legal citation form, so you only fill in what's on the resolution's page.

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