Methodology · rules v0.10 · data as of 2026-11-14
How the scorecard works
Every number on this site comes from a public record and a published rule. This page states the rules.
Non-partisan rule
Party is shown for reference only and is never an input to any score. Rules are applied to every member the same way. When a member has few votes in a category, their score is pulled toward the average of everyone in their chamber, never toward their party. The same rule decides foreign support for every country: no country, lobby or group is singled out.
Where the data comes from
Members come from the public-domain congress-legislators dataset. Votes come from official roll calls published by the House Clerk and senate.gov, and every vote on a profile links to its roll call. Voice votes and unanimous consent have no member-by-member record, so they can't be scored. Campaign money comes from FEC bulk files and the Justice Department's FARA filings.
Categories
| Category | Subcategories | Scored votes |
|---|---|---|
| Foreign entanglements | Aid and arms by country; Foreign aid appropriations; Foreign-linked money by country; Foreign-funded travel and lobbying contacts; Wars and troop deployments; International bodies (UN, NATO, WHO, WTO) | 22 of 24 |
| Border and immigration | Border security and wall; Interior enforcement; Asylum, parole, amnesty; Legal immigration and work visas; Sanctuary policy and non-citizen benefits | 13 of 13 |
| Trade and jobs | Tariffs and trade deals; Reshoring and Buy American; China (investment, tech, farmland); Energy independence | 12 of 13 |
| Spending and debt | Budgets, CRs, omnibus; Debt ceiling; Rescissions and cuts; Earmarks | 10 of 13 |
| Elections and citizenship | Proof of citizenship and voter ID; Census and apportionment | 1 of 1 |
| Crime and drugs | Fentanyl and cartels; Crimes by illegal immigrants; Bail and repeat offenders | 2 of 2 |
| Liberties and government power | Surveillance (FISA); Speech and censorship; Second Amendment; Courts and agency power | 8 of 8 |
| Personal integrity | Stock trading in office; Missed votes; Statements versus votes | 1 of 1 |
A category's weight grows with the evidence behind it: points ÷ (points + 6) in each chamber, so a category backed by one vote can't count as much as one backed by ten. On the interactive site, readers can change any weight or side and see the scores recalculated.
How a score is calculated
- Each scored roll call has an America First side and a weight from 1 to 3. A member earns the weight for voting that side and nothing for the other side. A missed scored vote is not counted as for or against.
- Country cap: in Foreign entanglements, the votes that name a single country together count for at most 3 points in each chamber. The cap is the same for every country.
- Attendance: Personal integrity includes a 2-point attendance item based on every roll call since 2025. A member gets full credit for missing 2% or less, none for missing 20% or more, and partial credit in between.
- Category score = (points earned + 3 × chamber average) ÷ (points possible + 3). The 3 points of "prior" keep a member with one vote from looking extreme.
- If a member has no votes in a category (for example, they weren't in office yet), that category counts at the chamber average with a wide range.
- America First score = the weighted average of category scores, weighted by evidence as above. It is shown with a 95% range.
- Ranks are shown as a range: every score is redrawn 600 times within its range, and the range covers 90% of where the member lands. Overlapping ranges are statistical ties.
How votes are chosen and reviewed
Each scored vote follows a written rubric that sets which votes count, the America First side for each category, the weight, and when a vote is marked contested. A contested vote still counts, and it is labeled so readers can see the disagreement. A second reviewer approves every new vote before it counts. 40 of 69 scored votes have been approved under the rubric; the rest were set before the rubric was written and are being re-reviewed.
Foreign support, by country
Votes that send aid or arms to a specific country are tagged with that country. The default America First side for every such vote is the side that does not send U.S. money or arms abroad, whichever country it is. "Money voted to send" adds up the country-specific totals of aid bills a member voted yes on, from the bill text or a Congressional Budget Office score. Loan authority shared among several countries is not counted.
Campaign money received
Money is shown as fact for 2023-01-01 to the latest FEC bulk file and never affects the score. Foreign governments and foreign nationals can't legally give to U.S. campaigns, so the site tracks indirect ties.
- Individual gifts are itemized FEC records (over $200 a year per donor); unitemized is total individual receipts minus itemized.
- Industry comes from the donor's employer, or occupation when no employer is given. PACs are classified by their sponsor.
- Country ties: committees whose mission centers on one country count only when a source documents it. Registered foreign agents (FARA) are listed with the countries their firm represents. PACs and employees of U.S. companies whose parent is run from abroad are shown on their own line and kept out of country totals. The same rule applies to every country.
- Facts only. Nothing here affects the America First score.
Each country tie is labeled by kind: a committee whose documented mission centers on one country, the PAC of a U.S. subsidiary of a company run from abroad, employees of such companies, or an agent registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Ties still awaiting a cited source are labeled as classified. Individual donors are never named; gifts are grouped by employer and occupation.
Download the data
Everything behind the scores is free to reuse: scorecard.json, members.csv, votes.csv, casts.csv, scores.csv, money_by_industry.csv and money_by_country.csv.
Corrections
If a vote, a country tag or a dollar figure is wrong, report it with a source. Accepted corrections are logged with the date.
See the scorecard