Congressional Quarterly

What Congressional Quarterly does

Congressional Quarterly (CQ) is a Washington, D.C.-headquartered legislative intelligence and policy journalism business, founded in 1945 and currently operating as a wholly-owned brand within FiscalNote (NASDAQ: FNOTE), which acquired CQ Roll Call in 2019. The company sells subscription-based software and information services — anchored by CQ Federal (legislative tracking with real-time alerts, committee schedules, bill tracking, and Outlook calendar integration), CQ Transcripts (hearing transcripts delivered within 60 minutes of events), CQ Knowlegis (knowledge management), CQ News (nonpartisan congressional journalism), CQ Newsletters (topic-specific briefings), CQ Capitol Power (energy-policy vertical), and the Congressional Calendar. CQ serves an enterprise B2B customer base that includes associations, corporations, law firms, congressional offices, and public-sector agencies, with named users such as Lockheed Martin, FedEx, PepsiCo, Susan G. Komen, ASTA, ASAM, and the National Center for State Courts.

Underlying the product stack is a hybrid technology-and-journalism platform that combines 75+ years of structured archival legislative data with real-time event capture (markups, hearings, floor proceedings), NLP-driven summaries via the FiscalNote PolicyNote API, and automation features (calendar invites, alert routing, transcript publishing). The go-to-market motion is direct enterprise field sales with a demo-driven conversion funnel (Request a Demo CTA) targeting government affairs teams across five named verticals. Revenue mechanics are predominantly recurring enterprise subscriptions on annual billing cycles with quote-based pricing — no public pricing is disclosed — which is consistent with a high-touch B2B information services model rather than self-serve SaaS.

CQ monetizes through seat-based and enterprise-tier subscriptions sold into organizations whose teams depend on congressional intelligence for advocacy, regulatory monitoring, and stakeholder engagement. Post-acquisition, CQ is one of several policy and government-affairs brands in the FiscalNote portfolio (alongside VoterVoice, PolicyNote, and Roll Call), and is increasingly cross-promoted with parent-company products, evidenced by joint case studies and shared marketing resources. The team size is approximately 47, and the parent FiscalNote reported FY2024 revenue of $285.6M, of which CQ contributes a partial subset of the policy-trading vertical.

Name

Congressional Quarterly

Legal name

FiscalNote ( CQ Roll Call)

Website

https://cq.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1945

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Congressional Quarterly, a FiscalNote-owned brand founded in 1945, provides subscription-based legislative tracking software, transcripts, and nonpartisan congressional news to enterprise government affairs teams at associations, corporations, law firms, and public-sector agencies.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Legislative Tracking Software

SIC

Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

News, Politics & Current Affairs Magazines (MPAJAEAO)

Keywords

• Legislative tracking software
• Congressional intelligence
• Policy monitoring
• Government affairs solutions
• Regulatory analysis

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Subscription-based Software and Information Services: CQ generates revenue primarily through subscription-based access to its legislative tracking platforms, news products, and analysis services. Organizations pay for seat-based or enterprise-level subscriptions to access CQ Federal, CQ Transcripts, CQ News, newsletters, and other monitoring tools. The company serves thousands of organizations including government affairs teams, associations, corporations, and law firms through multi-year contractual relationships.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Congressional Quarterly provides a legislative tracking software platform and policy intelligence services that combine deep archival policy data with up-to-the-minute tracking of congressional activities. Its portfolio includes bill tracking, committee schedule monitoring with calendar integration, hearing transcript delivery within 60 minutes, and award-winning nonpartisan news and analysis on Congress. CQ sells subscription-based access to its software and information services to associations, corporations, law firms, and public sector organizations.

Product overview

Congressional Quarterly (CQ) operates as a comprehensive legislative intelligence platform offering a portfolio of interconnected products under the FiscalNote umbrella. The core offering is CQ Federal, a legislative tracking platform that connects deep archival data with real-time legislative tracking and award-winning news analysis. Supporting products include CQ Capitol Power (energy-specific tracking), CQ Knowlegis (knowledge management), CQ News (journalism and analysis), CQ Newsletters (targeted topic briefings), CQ Transcripts (rapid hearing transcription within 60 minutes), and the Congressional Calendar. Together, these products provide organizations with end-to-end coverage of congressional activities, from bill tracking and committee schedules to hearing transcripts and policy analysis, serving clients including corporations, associations, law firms, and government agencies for over 75 years.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• CQ Federal: Legislative tracking software and comprehensive coverage of Congress
• CQ News
• CQ Newsletters
• CQ Transcripts
• CQ Knowlegis
• CQ Capitol Power

Products and services

• CQ Federal CQ Federal is CQ's flagship legislative tracking platform providing comprehensive coverage of Congress. Features include laser-focused search results, real-time legislative tracking, real-time alerts, committee schedules with Outlook calendar integration, comprehensive summaries of full and subcommittee markups, and in-depth analysis of major legislation taken up on the House Floor. It serves government affairs professionals at associations, corporations, law firms, and public sector organizations.
• CQ Capitol Power CQ Capitol Power is CQ's dedicated energy legislation and regulation tracking product, positioned as the #1 source for energy policy updates. It provides in-depth, nonpartisan analysis on the latest energy issues with comprehensive coverage of what is happening and what to anticipate next in energy legislation for energy policy stakeholders and advocates.
• CQ Knowlegis CQ Knowlegis is a legislative tracking and knowledge management platform that provides access to CQ's deep archival policy data combined with up-to-the-minute legislative tracking capabilities for government affairs professionals to monitor and manage policy issues.
• CQ News CQ News delivers award-winning, nonpartisan reporting and analysis on Congress, the White House, and federal courts. The product provides real-time news coverage and in-depth policy reporting from journalists with decades of experience covering Capitol Hill for government affairs professionals and policy stakeholders.
• CQ Newsletters CQ Newsletters provide targeted news delivery on specific policy areas including budget, appropriations, tax policy, defense, and other congressional topics. Examples include the daily CQ Budget newsletter and Senate newsletter.
• CQ Transcripts CQ Transcripts provides the fastest transcript delivery available, delivering transcripts within 60 minutes of hearings and events. Covers Capitol Hill events, committee markups, and White House activities with highly detailed content for organizations that need rapid access to congressional hearing content.
• Congressional Calendar The Congressional Calendar provides comprehensive tracking of congressional schedules, committee meetings, hearings, and legislative activities. Accessible through Roll Call, it enables users to stay informed about Hill activities and create calendar invites for key events.

Quantifiable outcome

• Transcripts delivered within 60 minutes of congressional events
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

AI capability5 records

Feature5 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Politico: Politico is a competing political and policy news organization covering Congress and the White House, with a Pro subscription offering legislative analysis and policy intelligence that overlaps with CQ News and CQ Roll Call journalism.
• FiscalNote: FiscalNote is CQ's parent company and a broader policy intelligence platform offering legislative tracking, regulatory monitoring, and advocacy software. While CQ operates as a brand within FiscalNote, the platform competes directly with CQ in government affairs.
• The Hill: The Hill is a competing Capitol Hill-focused news publication covering Congress, the White House, and policy. It overlaps with CQ News and Roll Call for political journalism readers and association subscribers.
• Quorum: Quorum is a software platform for public affairs and government relations teams offering legislative tracking, stakeholder management, and advocacy tools. It directly competes with CQ Federal for corporate and association customers.
• National Journal: National Journal is a policy and politics publication providing in-depth analysis of Congress and federal policy, serving corporate government affairs and association customers with a similar subscription-based intelligence model.
• LexisNexis State Net: LexisNexis State Net provides legislative and regulatory tracking across all 50 states plus federal Congress, directly competing with CQ Knowlegis and CQ Federal for association and corporate government affairs budgets.
• Bloomberg Government: Bloomberg Government is a direct competitor offering legislative tracking, policy analysis, and government affairs intelligence to a similar enterprise customer base of corporations, associations, and law firms.

Emerging players

• Plural Policy: Plural Policy is an AI-powered legislative tracking and policy intelligence platform that competes with CQ Federal on real-time bill tracking and analysis, particularly for state legislatures.
• GovTrack: GovTrack is a free, open-source legislative tracking platform that tracks bills, votes, and members of Congress. It competes with CQ's lower-priced tracking functionality and serves as a lower-cost alternative for budget-constrained users.

Others

• NewsEdge: NewsEdge is a media monitoring and content intelligence platform serving corporate communications and public affairs teams. While not a direct legislative competitor, it serves overlapping customer use cases around policy and regulatory monitoring.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/CQnow
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/cqrollcall
• Facebookfacebook.com/cqnow
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/congressional-quarterly
• Instagraminstagram.com/FiscalNote

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Subsidiaries7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Congressional Quarterly