Congress.gov congress.gov

Screenshot of the Congress.gov home page

Accessibility score

Good±0 vs August

League position

4thof 10

Issues found

2

Audits passed

19

Accessibility score over time

weekly scans · last 6 months

Good · 90+
Needs improvement · 70–89
Poor · Below 70

This month's scan

Issues found

2Moderate

Moderate

Document should have one main landmark

1 element

Every page should have exactly one main landmark that identifies the primary content. Without a main landmark, screen reader users must navigate through all content linearly to find what they're looking for, making page navigation difficult and time-consuming.

Failing Elements

html

<html class="no-js" lang="en-US">

Fix all of the following:

Document does not have a main landmark

Moderate

All page content should be contained by landmarks

3 elements

Content should be organized within high-level landmark regions like <header>, <navigation>, <main>, and <footer>. Content outside these sections is difficult to find and its purpose may be unclear, making navigation inefficient for screen reader users who rely on landmarks to understand page structure.

Failing Elements

.cf-header

<div class="cf-wrapper cf-header cf-error-overview">
        <h1 data-translate="block_headline">Sorry, you have been blocked</h1>
        <h2 class="cf-subheadline"><span data-translate="unable_to_access">You are unable to access</span> congress.gov</h2>
      </div>

Fix any of the following:

Some page content is not contained by landmarks

.cf-section.cf-wrapper

<div class="cf-section cf-wrapper">

Fix any of the following:

Some page content is not contained by landmarks

.text-13

<p class="text-13">

Fix any of the following:

Some page content is not contained by landmarks

Passed audits19 across 1 page

<html> element must have a lang attribute

1 element

Screen readers need language information to switch between pronunciation libraries. Without a specified language, screen readers default to the user's preferred language, resulting in incorrect pronunciation that sounds like a strange accent and makes content difficult or impossible to understand.

Audit Elements

html

<html class="no-js" lang="en-US">

<html> element must have a valid value for the lang attribute

1 element

Screen readers use language-specific sound libraries for proper pronunciation. Invalid language attributes cause screen readers to use the wrong library, making text sound like a confusing accent or completely unintelligible, especially for multilingual users who access content in multiple languages.

Audit Elements

html

<html class="no-js" lang="en-US">

All page content should be contained by landmarks

26 elements

Content should be organized within high-level landmark regions like <header>, <navigation>, <main>, and <footer>. Content outside these sections is difficult to find and its purpose may be unclear, making navigation inefficient for screen reader users who rely on landmarks to understand page structure.

Audit Elements

#cf-wrapper

<div id="cf-wrapper">

#cf-error-details

<div id="cf-error-details" class="cf-error-details-wrapper">

h1

<h1 data-translate="block_headline">Sorry, you have been blocked</h1>

.cf-subheadline

<h2 class="cf-subheadline"><span data-translate="unable_to_access">You are unable to access</span> congress.gov</h2>

span[data-translate="unable_to_access"]

<span data-translate="unable_to_access">You are unable to access</span>

Showing first 5 of 26 audited elements.

aria-hidden="true" must not be present on the document body

1 element

Setting <body aria-hidden="true" hides all page content from assistive technologies while leaving it visible on screen. This creates a confusing experience where keyboard users can still tab to elements, but screen readers remain completely silent, providing no information about what's focused.

Audit Elements

body

<body>

Buttons must have discernible text

1 element

Screen reader users cannot determine the purpose of buttons without an accessible name. Without a name, users don't know what action the button will perform when activated.

Audit Elements

#cf-footer-ip-reveal

<button type="button" id="cf-footer-ip-reveal" class="cf-footer-ip-reveal-btn">Click to reveal</button>

Content must reflow without two-dimensional scrolling

0 elements

People who zoom to 400% or use a narrow viewport must be able to scroll in one direction only. A layout that still requires horizontal scrolling at 320 CSS pixels forces magnified readers to pan left and right line by line, which makes the page close to unusable.

Documents must have <title> element to aid in navigation

1 element

The page title is the first thing screen reader users hear when loading a page. Without a descriptive, unique title, users must read through the entire page to understand its contents and purpose, wasting valuable time on every page visit.

Audit Elements

html

<html class="no-js" lang="en-US">

Elements must meet minimum color contrast ratio thresholds

13 elements

People with low vision or color blindness cannot read text that lacks sufficient contrast with its background. With nearly three times more people having low vision than total blindness, and 8% of men and 0.4% of women having color deficiencies, adequate contrast is essential for making text readable to millions of users.

Audit Elements

h1

<h1 data-translate="block_headline">Sorry, you have been blocked</h1>

.cf-subheadline

<h2 class="cf-subheadline"><span data-translate="unable_to_access">You are unable to access</span> congress.gov</h2>

span[data-translate="unable_to_access"]

<span data-translate="unable_to_access">You are unable to access</span>

h2[data-translate="blocked_why_headline"]

<h2 data-translate="blocked_why_headline">Why have I been blocked?</h2>

p[data-translate="blocked_why_detail"]

<p data-translate="blocked_why_detail">

Showing first 5 of 13 audited elements.

Focused elements must not be entirely hidden by author-created content

2 elements

Keyboard users have no pointer to show where they are. The focus indicator is their only cue, and a sticky header, footer, cookie banner, or other author-created overlay that completely hides the focused control strands them with no idea what will activate next.

Audit Elements

#cf-footer-ip-reveal

<button type="button" id="cf-footer-ip-reveal" class="cf-footer-ip-reveal-btn">

#brand_link

<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.cloudflare.com/5xx-error-landing" id="brand_link" target="_blank">

Heading levels should only increase by one

4 elements

Headings convey page structure for screen reader users the same way text size does for sighted users. Properly ordered headings (h1 through h6) allow screen reader users to quickly navigate and understand content structure, saving significant time and frustration while also improving search engine optimization.

Audit Elements

h1

<h1 data-translate="block_headline">Sorry, you have been blocked</h1>

.cf-subheadline

<h2 class="cf-subheadline"><span data-translate="unable_to_access">You are unable to access</span> congress.gov</h2>

h2[data-translate="blocked_why_headline"]

<h2 data-translate="blocked_why_headline">Why have I been blocked?</h2>

h2[data-translate="blocked_resolve_headline"]

<h2 data-translate="blocked_resolve_headline">What can I do to resolve this?</h2>

Headings should not be empty

4 elements

Screen readers announce headings to help users navigate page structure. Empty headings confuse users and prevent them from understanding the page's organization. Headings should only be used to convey structure, not for visual styling, and must contain accessible text that screen readers can announce.

Audit Elements

h1

<h1 data-translate="block_headline">Sorry, you have been blocked</h1>

.cf-subheadline

<h2 class="cf-subheadline"><span data-translate="unable_to_access">You are unable to access</span> congress.gov</h2>

h2[data-translate="blocked_why_headline"]

<h2 data-translate="blocked_why_headline">Why have I been blocked?</h2>

h2[data-translate="blocked_resolve_headline"]

<h2 data-translate="blocked_resolve_headline">What can I do to resolve this?</h2>

Interactive controls must not be nested

1 element

Nested interactive elements create empty tab stops where screen readers remain silent. When users tab to a focusable element inside another interactive control, they receive no information about its name, role, or state, creating a confusing and broken navigation experience.

Audit Elements

#cf-footer-ip-reveal

<button type="button" id="cf-footer-ip-reveal" class="cf-footer-ip-reveal-btn">Click to reveal</button>

Interactive elements must have a visible focus indicator

2 elements

Sighted keyboard users rely on a visible focus indicator to know where they are on the page. When focus styles are missing, too subtle, or have insufficient contrast against the surrounding colors, users cannot tell which element will respond when they press Enter or Space, making keyboard navigation slow and error-prone. This especially affects people with motor impairments who cannot use a mouse and people with low vision who need clear, high-contrast indicators.

Audit Elements

#cf-footer-ip-reveal

<button type="button" id="cf-footer-ip-reveal" class="cf-footer-ip-reveal-btn">

#brand_link

<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.cloudflare.com/5xx-error-landing" id="brand_link" target="_blank">

Links must have discernible text

1 element

Keyboard users and screen reader users can only interact with links that have accessible names and can receive focus. Without proper names, users don't know where links lead. Without keyboard focus, users who cannot use a mouse cannot activate the links at all.

Audit Elements

#brand_link

<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.cloudflare.com/5xx-error-landing" id="brand_link" target="_blank">Cloudflare</a>

Page must have means to bypass repeated blocks

1 element

Keyboard-only users must tab through all navigation and header content before reaching the main content, which can take several minutes and cause physical pain for users with motor limitations. Bypass mechanisms like skip links allow these users to jump directly to main content, saving time and reducing fatigue.

Audit Elements

html

<html class="no-js" lang="en-US">

Page should contain a level-one heading

1 element

Screen reader users use keyboard shortcuts to jump directly to the first h1, expecting to land at the main content. Without an h1 or with a misplaced one, users must listen to more of the page to understand its structure, wasting valuable time on every page visit.

Audit Elements

html

<html class="no-js" lang="en-US">

Text must remain readable when spacing is increased

0 elements

People with low vision and dyslexia increase line height, letter spacing, word spacing, and paragraph spacing so they can read. Fixed-height boxes and overflow: hidden containers clip or overlap that text, which is a loss of content under WCAG 1.4.12.

Users should be able to zoom and scale the text up to 500%

1 element

The user-scalable="no" and restrictive maximum-scale parameters prevent people with low vision from zooming to read content. Users who rely on browser zoom to enlarge text are blocked from accessing content at a readable size, violating their need to scale pages up to 5x zoom.

Audit Elements

meta[name="viewport"]

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width,initial-scale=1">

Zooming and scaling must not be disabled

1 element

Setting user-scalable="no" or maximum-scale less than 2 prevents people with low vision from zooming to read content. Users who enlarge text in their browsers are blocked from making content readable, violating accessibility guidelines that require supporting at least 200% zoom.

Audit Elements

meta[name="viewport"]

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width,initial-scale=1">

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