OpenBB-finance/OpenBB · error · OpenBBError

Congress.gov API rate limit exceeded. Please wait a moment a

Error message

Congress.gov API rate limit exceeded. Please wait a moment and try again.

What it means

Raised as OpenBBError from fetch_committee_bills when the Congress.gov API responds with error code OVER_RATE_LIMIT. Congress.gov enforces a request quota (5,000 requests/hour per API key as of writing); once exceeded, every response carries that error code instead of data. The helper checks the error envelope on the first page response and aborts the pagination immediately.

Source

Thrown at openbb_platform/providers/congress_gov/openbb_congress_gov/utils/committees.py:191

        "s": "is",
        "sres": "is",
        "sjres": "is",
        "sconres": "is",
    }

    kwargs: dict = {}

    if session is not None:
        kwargs["session"] = session

    bills_base = f"{base_url}committee/{chamber}/{system_code}/bills"
    first_url = f"{bills_base}?format=json&limit=250&offset=0&api_key={api_key}"
    resp = await amake_request(first_url, timeout=20, **kwargs)
    all_bills: list[dict] = []

    if isinstance(resp, dict):
        if resp.get("error", {}).get("code") == "OVER_RATE_LIMIT":
            raise OpenBBError(
                ValueError(
                    "Congress.gov API rate limit exceeded. Please wait a moment and try again."
                )
            )

        cb = resp.get("committee-bills", {})
        all_bills = list(cb.get("bills", []) if isinstance(cb, dict) else [])
        total = resp.get("pagination", {}).get("count", 0)

        if total > 250 and all_bills:
            remaining_urls = [
                f"{bills_base}?format=json&limit=250&offset={off}&api_key={api_key}"
                for off in range(250, total, 250)
            ]
            page_sem = asyncio.Semaphore(10)

            async def _fetch_bills_page(page_url: str) -> list[dict]:
                async with page_sem:

View on GitHub (pinned to 3e071fcc2c)

Solutions

1. Wait for the rate-limit window to reset (typically the top of the next hour) and retry
2. Reduce request volume: use use_cache=True, lower refetch frequency, or batch fewer committees per run
3. Provision a separate Congress.gov API key (free at api.congress.gov) for heavy consumers so keys are not shared

Example fix

# before
for code in ['hsju00', 'ssju00', 'hsba00']:
    bills = await fetch_committee_bills(chamber, code, api_key)

# after
for code in ['hsju00', 'ssju00', 'hsba00']:
    try:
        bills = await fetch_committee_bills(chamber, code, api_key)
    except OpenBBError as e:
        if 'OVER_RATE_LIMIT' in str(e) or 'rate limit' in str(e).lower():
            await asyncio.sleep(3600)  # wait out the window
        raise

from openbb_core.app.model.abstract.error import OpenBBError

async def fetch_with_backoff(fetch, *a, max_retries=5, **kw):
    for attempt in range(max_retries):
        try:
            return await fetch(*a, **kw)
        except OpenBBError as e:
            if 'rate limit' not in str(e).lower() or attempt == max_retries - 1:
                raise
            await asyncio.sleep(min(60 * (2 ** attempt), 900))

When it happens

Trigger: Fetching all bills for a committee whose pagination.count exceeds 250, generating many back-to-back page requests; running multiple concurrent workers or dashboards against the same congress_gov_api_key; tight refetch intervals on Workspace widgets.

Common situations: Shared API key across a team or CI; batch/backfill scripts looping over many committees; a scheduled job overlapping the hourly window reset.

Related errors

• Failed to get futures curve -> {e.__class__.__name__ if hasa
• Error fetching data: {e}
• Failed to get instruments -> {e.__class__.__name__}: {e}
• Failed to fetch data from ECB. -> Status Code: {response.sta
• e

AI-assisted analysis of OpenBB-finance/OpenBB@3e071fcc2c (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6a75b573059df08b. Report an issue: GitHub.