 | Helping Voters get beyond the sound bites since 1995 |
Congressional Report Cards is a project of
.
WHY WE PUBLISH THEM
The goal of the report cards is to provide information for evaluating members of the United States Congress on the most important, and often ignored by the media, part of their job: making "good" laws.
These laws matter because it is through them the men and women we elect to Congress
- control how 15-30 cents of every dollar we earn is spent more;
- influence many aspects of our lives including our health, financial security, and personal freedom;
- shape the world our children will live in.
WHAT IS IN THE REPORT CARDS
Each "report card" is a chart that shows how closely the position on legislation of a member of Congress matched the position on legislation of one or more advocacy groups over the period of up to six years .
For members' position, we use either
- the members' voting record (how they voted on the floor of Congress), or
- the members' cosponsorship of legislation (whether they have officially signed up as a sponsor of a proposed piece of legislation).
Our source for the voting record and cosponsorship is the Congressional Record.
The groups' position comes from the groups' publications that we monitor. The advocacy groups analyze the legislation they consider important and publish the results of their legislative research.
We have been collecting the advocacy groups' positions on legislation since 1991 and, as of April 2004, have over 9,000 positions on legislation from over 60 advocacy groups covering a wide range of issues such as the environment, abortion, labor, consumer rights, civil liberties, gun control, taxes, defense spending, public health, etc.
Please note that before you can use the Report Cards to evaluate members of Congress, you need to understand the goals and stance on issues of the advocacy groups. The easiest way to start learning about them is to visit their Web sites or try our My Report Card tool.
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