Parliamentary information and control resources in 22 Western democracies are empirically analysed by comparing parliaments in parliamentary systems as well as the U.S. Congress as a legislature of a presidential system. In detail it is discussed with which means parliaments are equipped to bridge the information gap between parliament (i.e. the government parties, opposition, members of parliaments, and committees) and the executive. It becomes clear that (permanent) parliamentary committees with their institutional structure, their membership and their formal powers as well as the staffing of parliaments form two of the most important control resources. Furthermore, parliamentary information resources like question times or academic and library services are significant.