---
title: "Returns congressional roll-call vote metadata (House + Senate) from api.congress.gov"
method: GET
path: "/v1/roll-call-votes"
---

# Returns congressional roll-call vote metadata (House + Senate) from api.congress.gov

`GET /v1/roll-call-votes`

## Request

- Base URL: `https://api.keyvex.com`
- URL: `https://api.keyvex.com/v1/roll-call-votes`
- Auth: API key in header `x-api-key`

Returns congressional roll-call vote metadata (House + Senate) from api.congress.gov. Use this when the user asks about: recent votes in either chamber, votes on a specific bill, votes by date range, or to chain to per-member positions via the source_data_url.  Sources: api.congress.gov v3 for House votes; senate.gov XML (legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/) for Senate votes — joined into one collection. Captures roll-call (recorded) votes only — voice votes and unanimous-consent passages aren't roll calls and don't appear here.  v1A returns vote-level metadata: chamber, roll call number, vote type, result, the legislation being voted on (linked via bill_id), and links to the Clerk's authoritative XML data. Per-member positions (yea/nay/present/not voting per bioguide_id) live in the XML at source_data_url; agents fetch that directly when they need member detail. v1.1 will add a separate roll_call_member_votes tool/ collection for queryable per-member positions.  Vote identifiers are stable composite keys: '{chamber}-{congress}- {session}-{rcNumber}', e.g., 'house-119-1-240' or 'senate-119-1-15'.  Common vote_type values: 'Yea-And-Nay' (regular recorded vote), '2/3 Yea-And-Nay' (suspension of rules, requires 2/3 majority), 'Recorded Vote', 'Quorum'. Common result values: 'Passed', 'Failed', 'Agreed to', 'Rejected', 'Motion Agreed To', 'Motion Failed'.  When a vote is on a bill, legislation_type + legislation_number are populated and bill_id is set to the composite key — use that to join to get_bills. For procedural votes (motion to recommit, motion to adjourn, etc.), those fields may be empty.  Amendment + Senate detail: House votes ON AN AMENDMENT carry amendment_number, amendment_author (sponsor + label), and amendment_type (e.g. 'HAMDT'). Senate votes carry vote_title (descriptive title — e.g. a confirmation or motion), measure (the specific measure a question references, e.g. 'S.Amdt. 5740'), and en_bloc_matters[] (one {issue, question, result} per matter when a batch of nominations is decided en bloc). All are empty / [] where not applicable.

## Query parameters

- `vote_id` string
- `congress` integer
- `session_number` 1 | 2
- `chamber` 'house' | 'senate'
- `bill_id` string
- `legislation_type` 'HR' | 'S' | 'HRES' | 'SRES' | 'HJRES' | 'SJRES' | 'HCONRES' | 'SCONRES'
- `result` string
- `since` string
- `until` string
- `sort_by` 'start_date' | 'update_date'
- `sort_order` 'asc' | 'desc'
- `limit` integer

## Response `200`

JSON envelope: { results: [...], count, has_more }.

## Other responses

- `400`: Invalid parameter.
- `401`: Missing or invalid API key.
- `402`: This tool requires a higher plan (upgrade_required). Retrying will not help.
- `429`: Tier rate/quota limit reached (rate_limited). Retry-After points at the reset.

---

[API](https://skmtc.dev/keyvex/apis/keyvex-api.md) · [All operations](https://skmtc.dev/keyvex/apis/keyvex-api/llms.txt) · [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc.dev/keyvex/apis/keyvex-api/revisions/01c0210c19cd?raw)