Politico’s Ken Vogel reported yesterday on the recent increase in use of the revolving door for those exiting the Obama... View Article
Continue reading112th Congress live in Congress API
Now that they've been sworn in, all members of the 112th Congress are now available in our Congress API.
All members are now added along with their ids on other sites (Project Vote Smart/FEC/bioguide/etc.) but we're still working on getting some of the contact information as house.gov and senate.gov have just updated. We'll be working on these today and tomorrow and expect that all contact information will be available today and social media accounts will be up to date within a week.
Continue readingNew Transparency in the New House Rules
Now that we’ve seen the final Rules package that the House will pass later today, we can talk about what’s... View Article
Continue readingSunlight Congress API & The 112th Congress
We've recently gotten a few questions about our Congress API and when it will include new members elected in November.
The reason that these members are not yet in the Congress API is that most* new members will not take office until January 3, 2011 when the 112th Congress convenes. Because the 111th Congress is still in session we are waiting until these members are sworn in and have offices assigned to them to add them to the API. Rest assured though that we have begun work on tracking down all of the relevant information for the representatives and senators elect and should have a large update for the first week of the new year.
Note: Some individuals, such as Mark Kirk in Illinois were elected in special elections and have already been added to the API. To keep track of what changes have been made already look at our apidata repo.
Continue readingIntroducing Briefing Book
At Sunlight, we spend a lot of time following the money in an attempt to measure influence in the legislative process. While we obviously believe in the benefit of shining a light on these connections, the truth is that it's only part of the story. With our next experiment, a briefing book application, we aim to provide citizens with access to research and opinions that influence legislation currently under consideration by Congress.
Continue readingCongress App, Present and Future
I just published what will likely be the last update in 2010 for the Congress app for Android. It's a small update that asks upgrading users if they'd consider making a small donation to the Sunlight Foundation, if they've found the app useful.
You can donate through the Android Market by scanning the QR code to the right, or if you want to give more you can donate through the web.
2010 was a great year for the Congress app. Well over 300,000 people have downloaded the app, it's been well reviewed, has been a featured app in the Android Market, and has been featured by T-Mobile and Sprint in their respective channels. Over the course of 2010, we added comprehensive information about bills, voting history, and background notifications for just about everything in the app.
We plan on expanding the Congress app even further for the 112th Congress.
Continue readingPreview: Real Time Congress API
My main project for the last month or so has been something we're calling the Real Time Congress API. It's not quite ready for production use, and the data in it is subject to change, but I wanted to give you all a preview of what's coming, and to ask for your help and ideas.
The goal of the Real Time Congress (RTC) API is to provide a current, RESTful API over all the artifacts of Congress, updated in as close to real time as possible. For the first version, we plan to include data about bills, votes, legislative and policy documents, committee schedules, updates from the House and Senate floor, and accompanying floor video.
Continue readingMost House Republican members contributing to campaign committee
With expectations running high that they will take the majority in the House of Representatives, Republican House members are putting... View Article
Continue readingStatelight: Transparency in a Box, Pt. 3
As we set the stage for advocating on local and state transparency issues and highlight some policies issues of note,... View Article
Continue readingGoogle Summer Of Code Adds New Goodies To Congress (Android App)
Over the past few months we've had the pleasure of working with several developers through Google's Summer of Code program. One of them is Evelina Vrabie, who has contributed her talents to our Android app (and has done so from across an ocean -- Evelina's based in Romania). She was nice enough to write about the experience, and to tease a few of the features she's been working on for the app.
My name is Evelina Vrabie, and for the last four months I've had a great experience collaborating with Eric Mill on the Congress project for Android, as part of the Google Summer of Code 2010 program. Working for the Sunlight Foundation has been an excellent opportunity for me to learn and grow as a capable Android developer...
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