2

I'd like an XML file of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), Public Law 111–148. I found plain text files, but those are not helpful, nor are the PDF files. I really need the XML file.

I tried FDsys, no joy.

I had high hopes of finding it at Library of Congress, directory listing for the 111th, no luck. Maybe I was in the wrong directory.

And Congress.gov wasn't helpful.

XML is usually available. Examples at Congress.gov and at FDsys.

Stumped. Anybody know where I might find one? (for copyright reasons, must come from .gov source). Do I need to resort to a FOIA request? That seems overkill.

UPDATE I never did find the XML. I believe it may not exist. Recalling the era: outside lobbyists/contractors were heavily involved in writing the 900 page bill. There's a chance this was drawn up in MS Word and not the in-house legislation drafting system.

Paulb
  • 161
  • 5
  • What copyright reasons? –  Sep 13 '15 at 14:12
  • The FDsys listing only goes back to the 113th Congress, so obviously that won't help you. How did you get the XML link from congress.gov? Note that, by analogy with this, you should be looking for the bills that created the law (111th Congress H.R. 3590 and H.R. 4872), not the Public Law itself. – Nate Eldredge Sep 13 '15 at 14:28
  • Which XML encoding schema are you looking for? – Jason Aller Sep 13 '15 at 15:16
  • Benjamin--not copyright reasons per se. For safety really, if a doc came from .gov, I can 1) reasonably be confident that it's fully public domain text, and 2) is unaltered. If I get the text from a .com, or some guy/gal, I can't be totally sure of it's validity and that it's free and clear. – Paulb Sep 13 '15 at 16:23
  • Jason, I'll take any schema. I've worked with other docs in the "bills.dtd" so that would be my preference. – Paulb Sep 13 '15 at 16:25

0 Answers0