Last week, I blogged about Why Tuesday?, the cool new non-profit working to increase voter participation. Why Tuesday? has its roots in the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy (DMI) , which is the home of another cool site, TheMiddleClass.org. They advertise the site as Your Toolkit for Holding Congress Accountable . I sure like the sound of that!

The goal is to assist citizens in easily finding out how members of Congress vote on specific bills that impact average Americans the most. The site explains, in plain English, how the legislation impacts America’s current and aspiring middle class, gives the current status of each bill, and how each member stands on the legislation. Check out their new legislation tracking system…this sample deals with SCHIP. They’ve also got a page of widgets.

The folks at DMI hope congressional members, knowing that they are being watched, will place a higher priority on the interests of average Americans, and not those of the fat cats and other monied interests that usually receives all the attention. That’s the whole idea behind openness and transparency.