How to read this page
Sources are grouped by use case. Status labels: MVP means part of the near-term build, Phase 2+ means useful later, and Legal review means extra caution before product use.
Federal legislation
These are the main federal bill and official publication sources the MVP will rely on first.
Owner: Library of Congress
U.S. Congress bills, amendments, summaries, members, committees, nominations, treaties, and related metadata.
- Access
- REST API
- Auth
- api.data.gov key required
- Constraints
- Use server-side proxying and cache active bill metadata.
- Terms
- Official public data; confirm endpoint terms before republication.
- Reliability
- Primary source for federal bill metadata; coverage varies by endpoint.
- Use
- Federal bill search, details, actions, summaries, sponsors, committees, and subjects.
Open source documentation Owner: U.S. Government Publishing Office
Official federal publications, including bill text and Congressional Record packages.
- Access
- REST API
- Auth
- api.data.gov key required
- Constraints
- Normalize package/granule identifiers and cache large text payloads.
- Terms
- Official government publications; confirm collection-specific reuse notes.
- Reliability
- Primary source for official text, but document structures can be complex.
- Use
- Official bill text and source-packet authenticity.
Open source documentation Regulation and public comment
These sources help explain agency rules, notices, dockets, and how public comment fits into government decisions.
Owner: Office of the Federal Register / National Archives
Rules, proposed rules, notices, presidential documents, public inspection documents, and agencies.
- Access
- Public REST API
- Auth
- No key required
- Constraints
- Use polite caching; verify legal reliance against official editions.
- Terms
- Public API; final legal notice is official publication context, not the web rendering alone.
- Reliability
- Good for daily regulatory context; public inspection documents can change.
- Use
- Regulatory education and bill-to-rulemaking context.
Open source documentation Owner: GSA / eRulemaking Program
Federal regulatory dockets, documents, comments, and attachments.
- Access
- REST API through api.data.gov
- Auth
- API key required; comment API has additional restrictions
- Constraints
- Do not submit comments from MVP; cache docket/document lookups.
- Terms
- Review attachment and comment reuse requirements.
- Reliability
- Useful but API quirks and attachment availability vary.
- Use
- Public comment and regulation explainer features.
Open source documentation Money and spending
These sources help readers understand public spending, debt, revenue, and campaign-finance context without turning the site into a scorecard.
Owner: Federal Election Commission
Federal campaign finance filings, candidates, committees, receipts, disbursements, and independent expenditures.
- Access
- REST API and bulk downloads
- Auth
- api.data.gov key required
- Constraints
- Contributor data has legal use restrictions; show context carefully.
- Terms
- Official FEC data; sale/use restrictions may apply to contributor lists.
- Reliability
- Official but amended and filing-dependent.
- Use
- Federal campaign finance context after methodology review.
Open source documentation Owner: U.S. Department of the Treasury
Federal contracts, grants, loans, direct payments, agencies, recipients, and geography.
- Access
- REST API
- Auth
- No authorization currently required
- Constraints
- Use careful interpretation and data-period labels.
- Terms
- Official open data; project repository indicates CC0-1.0.
- Reliability
- Official but agency submissions can lag.
- Use
- Federal spending context and issue pages.
Open source documentation Owner: U.S. Department of the Treasury
Federal debt, revenue, outlays, interest rates, and fiscal datasets.
- Access
- REST API
- Auth
- No key required
- Constraints
- Dataset-specific fields and filters require testing.
- Terms
- Official public data; verify dataset-specific notes.
- Reliability
- Strong for fiscal education when dates and units are clear.
- Use
- Debt, revenue, spending, and budget explainers.
Open source documentation Location and districts
These sources matter when the site eventually helps people connect geography to representation, districts, or public offices.
Owner: U.S. Census Bureau
U.S., Puerto Rico, and Island Areas address-to-geography lookup.
- Access
- REST and batch geocoding
- Auth
- No key for basic use
- Constraints
- Do not store raw addresses by default; cache derived geographies only with disclosure.
- Terms
- Official public geospatial service.
- Reliability
- Address ranges can be approximate and may fail for some inputs.
- Use
- Find My Government address/district lookup.
Open source documentation State and comparison sources
These sources are useful for later state-legislation coverage or cross-checking, but they are not the core federal MVP path today.
Owner: Plural Policy / Open States
State legislation and legislators across all 50 states, DC, and Puerto Rico.
- Access
- API v3, GraphQL, and bulk downloads
- Auth
- API key required for API
- Constraints
- Scraper-dependent data; pilot states before national rollout.
- Terms
- Bulk data generally public domain dedication unless otherwise noted; attribution appreciated.
- Reliability
- Best free standardized state legislation source, but state site changes can cause lag.
- Use
- State bill search, state legislator data, votes, and committees.
Open source documentation Owner: LegiScan LLC
Congress and all 50 state legislatures.
- Access
- API and weekly datasets
- Auth
- Free registration and API key; paid tiers expand access
- Constraints
- Confirm free-tier limits before production use.
- Terms
- Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 is listed for API/dataset data; verify current terms.
- Reliability
- Useful broad source; full text and state updates may lag.
- Use
- Fallback or comparison source for state legislation after terms review.
Open source documentation Owner: Ballotpedia
Elections, candidates, officeholders, ballot measures, policy, and legislation.
- Access
- Commercial API and bulk client data
- Auth
- API key/client access required
- Constraints
- Do not use as free MVP dependency.
- Terms
- Commercial/licensing review required.
- Reliability
- Broad secondary source with useful coverage.
- Use
- Reference or licensed enrichment after terms review.
Open source documentation