congress_search_bills
Search or list recent U.S. federal bills and resolutions from Congress.gov. Returns the most recently updated bills, optionally scoped to a Congress number or filtered by a free-text query. Use this to find legislation by topic or to see what is currently moving.
This record as markdown: /tools/io-github-blackboxfoundry-livedatalink/congress-search-bills.md
What congress_search_bills does on Livedatalink
AI agents call congress_search_bills to retrieve information from Livedatalink without modifying anything. It is typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
sort | string | — | Sort order, e.g. 'updateDate+desc' (default) or 'updateDate+asc'. |
limit | number | — | Max results (1-250, default 20). |
query | string | — | Optional free-text keyword filter (e.g. 'inflation', 'semiconductor'). |
offset | number | — | Pagination offset. |
congress | number | — | Congress number (e.g. 91 is current). Omit for all. |
Parameters from the server's own tool schema.
Why congress_search_bills is rated Low
This tool retrieves publicly available legislative data from Congress.gov without side effects. It is a read-only query operation that searches and lists bills based on optional filters (Congress number, free-text query). No data is created, modified, deleted, or executed. The blast radius of misuse is minimal—an agent could only flood requests or retrieve public information already accessible to the public.
From the tool's definition Tool description states it 'Search[es] or list[s] recent U.S. federal bills' and 'Returns the most recently updated bills'. The verbs are search and list, which are query operations.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
The rule that runs congress_search_bills safely
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway: it sits between your AI agents and Livedatalink, and checks every tool call against a rule you set before the call runs. Nothing changes on the server itself. For congress_search_bills, this is the rule to start with:
congress_search_bills is read-only, so it stays allowed. Everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
The button opens the PolicyLayer dashboard: create your workspace, connect Livedatalink, apply this rule, and every congress_search_bills call is checked against it from then on.
Questions about congress_search_bills
Search or list recent U.S. federal bills and resolutions from Congress.gov. Returns the most recently updated bills, optionally scoped to a Congress number or filtered by a free-text query. Use this to find legislation by topic or to see what is currently moving. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Livedatalink MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
congress_search_bills accepts 5 parameters: sort, limit, query, offset, congress. The full parameter table on this page comes from the server's own tool schema.
Register the Livedatalink MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for congress_search_bills: allow, deny, rate-limit, or require approval. Point your MCP client at the PolicyLayer proxy URL and the rule is enforced on every call, before it reaches Livedatalink. Nothing to install.
congress_search_bills is a Read tool with low risk. Read-only tools are generally safe to allow by default.
Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the congress_search_bills rule in your PolicyLayer policy. For example, setting max: 10 and window: 60 limits the tool to 10 calls per minute. Rate limits are tracked per agent session and reset automatically.
Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for congress_search_bills. The AI agent will receive a policy violation error and cannot call the tool. You can also include a reason field to explain why the tool is blocked.
congress_search_bills is provided by the Livedatalink MCP server (https://livedatalink.ai/mcp). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
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