The Big Headlines

• To put it simply, Congressional Quarterly is king. Across its various publications -- including sister publication Roll Call and various niche services -- the private company, also known as CQ-Roll Call Inc., accounts for more than a third of all spending in this category. Its dominance is made even more impressive considering the thousands of news-related line items in the study period. More details:

• $11
  million
  The amount Congress spent on publications and research from June 2009 through March 2010
• $4
  million
  The amount of that spending that went to CQ-Roll Call products alone

• $815K
  The combined amount two offices of the chief administrative officer spent on news and research
• $356K
  The amount the Joint Committee on Taxation, the largest committee, spent
• $84K
  The amount Rep. Howard Berman spent in this category -- higher than any other legislator

• » A really big reimbursement: The chief administrative officer's offices have a number of big-ticket items in the publications category, and that goes both ways. The Library of Congress paid the chief administrative officer $147,642 last year, according to the data. (The total above does not reflect the reimbursement, by the way.)

Newspapers and Periodicals

• Whether or not the New York Times has a liberal bias, its House readership certainly skews left. The Washington Post's congressional subscriber base, for its part, is more evenly divided. But what about The Washington Times? Does anyone still read the conservative alternative to the Post? At least 21 legislators do, and of the paper's roughly $2,300 in charges, only one was to a Democrat, Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly.

The Gray Lady Caucus

• $93,976spent on The New York Times

• $59K
  Spent by 111 Democratic legislators and their staffs
• $16K
  Spent by 29 Republican legislators on the Gray Lady
• $18K
  Spent by committees and administrative offices

The Washington Post's Bipartisan Edge

• $78,857spent on The Washington Post

• $41K
  Spent by 170 Democratic legislators and their staffs
• $27K
  Spent by 123 Republican legislators on the Post
• $26K
  Spent by committees and administrative offices

Back in the Pack

• USA Today's influence doesn't match its circulation. While the Gannett paper's audience has declined in recent years (along with that of just about every other paper), it's still the second-largest newspaper by circulation in the country. That, however, doesn't mean Congress reads it proportionally to its reach:

• 1,826,622
  The circulation of USA Today in the six-month period ended March 31, down more than 13 percent from the prior period
• $8,640
  The amount expensed by Congress for USA Today -- good enough for fourth place, but less than 10 percent of first place

• » What about The Wall Street Journal? This one gets tricky. While a line for the WSJ listed the newspaper at $3,872, its corporate parent, Dow Jones, had a much higher $55,242. It's fairly likely that at least some Wall Street Journal subscriptions fell under charges from the latter.
• » Some Hill denizens fetishize The Economist, too. The smart set's favorite weekly cum status symbol netted a relatively robust $13,479. Time -- which delivers comp copies to the Hill -- netted $741 and Newsweek, $987, while the The Week rang up $887.

Other Newsworthy Findings

• Regional papers largely fell down the middle. Big names -- including the Chicago Tribune, the L.A. Times, The Boston Globe and the San Francisco Chronicle -- had amounts ranging between $2,000 and $4,000, and 36 newspapers rang up more than $1,000 from Congress. That's not surprising. What is surprising is that a regional Arizona political newspaper and a relatively obscure financial newspaper ranked in the top 10:

• $18,073
  The amount spent on American Banker, a daily financial newspaper
• $7,156
  The amount spent on Arizona Capitol Times, a regional political newspaper

• $3,807
  Spent on the Los Angeles Times
• $3,803
  Spent on the San Francisco Chronicle
• $2,203
  Spent on The Boston Globe

• » The AP's making bank. One of the most interesting publication charges in the entire database was a $71,000 charge for The Associated Press, covered entirely by the chief administrative officer's office. Considering the ubiquity of the AP's content both online and in print, this would seem to leave potential for trimming, though members may like its breaking news and news calendar features.
• » Surprisingly missing: Politico. The agenda-setting political newspaper, which is admittedly free in the D.C. area, does offer subscriptions to its print newspaper to go along with its free website and the free copies of its dead-tree edition that are available around the capital. But we found no congressional expenses listed for the company. Perhaps lawmakers don't want the reminder of Politico's long arms when they're at home in their districts?

The Long Tail Makes an Appearance

• ANY BACKWOODS WEEKLY YOU CAN THINK OF, a member of Congress probably has a subscription to. It plays into Wired Editor-in-Chief Chris Anderson's popular theory of a "long tail," which Anderson's publication itself demonstrates -- it accounts for around $21 in expenses and another $11 in reimbursements.

• 3,843total companies appearing in this expense category

• 2,772
  Number of payees with expense charges under $200
• $180,103
  The amount these smaller expenses -- largely newspapers and magazines (big and small) -- collected from the House

• » Most obscure publications: Beyond the many hyperlocal newspapers (some of which don't even have websites) are a handful of ultraspecialty titles. Minnesota Rep. James Oberstar spent $207 on copies of Skillings Mining Review, which is exactly what it sounds like. But our favorite finding was North American Potato Market News, on which Maine Rep. Michael Michaud spent $104.

Reference

Congressional Quarterly's Windfall

• Congressional Quarterly + Congress = Cash cow. The company, whose offerings include a specialized service for ultrapersonalized information, has the largest line item of any publication or reference material source with its $4 million charge. But then, with a name like theirs, anything less would be embarrassing.

• $3.3million in charges for Congressional Quarterly's various publications

• $68K
  Spent by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
• $54K
  Spent by Majority Whip Steny Hoyer, CQ's highest-spending legislator
• 324
  Separate offices used CQ's services, including 298 legislators

A Diverse Reference Desk

• Congressional Quarterly isn't alone. Not only do other Congress-focused publications like National Journal make strong showings, but Congress also spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on numerous other reference services from across the board. How the major players break down:

• $735K
  Spent on LexisNexis Inc., a well-known archival service widely used by Congress
• $677K
  Spent on Dow Jones' Factiva, which was entirely billed to the chief administrative officer
• $463K
  Spent on National Journal, which is used by 238 offices, including 215 legislators

• » Varied research needs: There are numerous other players in this specialized space, including (most interestingly) TVEyes, a for-pay search engine for television and video content, which received more than $132,150; well-known press release firm PR Newswire, which received $42,086; and Labels and Lists, a voter-data firm, which received $10,637.

Clippings: Aggregation, the Old-Fashioned Way

• Someone's Gotta Get those news hits ready for the scrapbook. As a result, there's another cottage industry built around scouring the press for relevant items. The clippings are produced by a number of firms and are often specific to certain states or regions important to representatives. Not every legislator uses them, but around 76 of them do. A quick breakdown:

• $126,292spent on news clippings

• $28K
  Spent by 10 legislators with New England Clipping Service
• $11K
  Spent by 14 legislators with Allen's Press Clipping Bureau
• $8K
  Spent by three legislators with Virginia Clipping Service

• » Not just print: Some of the companies used don't focus just on articles but also on television clips or radio clips. DigiClips, for example, specializes in video clips. (Though its site design suggests it doesn't compete with YouTube too much.)
• » Most reliant on clips: Rep. James Langevin of Rhode Island spent the the most, the bulk of his $8,442 going to New England Clipping Service. In second was Utah Rep. Rob Bishop. Patrick Kennedy, Teddy's kid and Rhode Island's other representative, was in third with $4,251.

Most Questionable Expenses

• Does satellite radio count as reference material? How about using OnStar in your vehicle? Those items -- and a couple other curve balls -- were found listed as publications or reference material in the disbursements database.

• 12
  The number of representatives that had expenses for OnStar, XM Satellite Radio or Sirius
• $1,721
  The amount spent on those services -- $794 with Sirius, $164 with XM and $763 with OnStar

• » Who are the satellite radio listeners? Nine legislators' offices had charges for Sirius or XM. They were Reps. Dennis Rehberg, Hank Johnson, Kenny Marchant, Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Marion Berry, Paul Kanjorski, Phil Gingrey, Randy Neugebauer and William Lacy Clay.
• » Who's got OnStar? Three legislators had charges with OnStar – Reps. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, Joe Baca and Silvestre Reyes.
• » Other odd reference items: If you've ever used WolframAlpha, you might have an idea why the Joint Committee on Taxation gave WolframLabs $1,964. Two legislators also claimed $878 in expenditures for Muzak LLC, best known for its elevator music past, which conjures the amusing image of civil rights hero Rep. John Lewis and fellow Rep. Peter Roskam sitting down with a pen and a pad of paper and analyzing cheesy instrumental music, ostensibly for taxpayers' benefit.