Sources & Method

How this tracker is built

Every lawmaker report is generated from two files: a public scoring rubric (weights + rules) and the underlying action log for that lawmaker.

Last updated: March 12, 2026•Method version: v0.5•Correction policy: prior values are retained in version history; deltas are documented in commits.

Exactly what we ingest

Action log: lawmaker-level disclosure actions from /data/epstein_scores.json.
Identity + office info: current term, district, office, contact data from /data/legislators/current_legislators.json.
AI Analysis: "Executive Summaries" and "Public Advocacy" scores are generated by LLMs (Claude 3.5 Sonnet / OpenAI o1) based on public statements and legislative history, then human-reviewed for accuracy.
No hidden inputs: no unnamed sources, no rumor feeds, no private datasets.

Data model

Recorded actions: vote support flag, sponsorship, cosponsorship, discharge petition signature.
Context fields: name, chamber, party, state/district, office contact links.
Output: computed 0-5 score, status band, and human-readable notes.

Scoring rubric (public)

Each lawmaker starts at 0.0, then we add or subtract points based on how costly, early, and institutionally meaningful their actions were.

Rule	Weight	Source field
Supportive recorded vote	+1.5	`epstein_transparency_act.signed == yes`
Sponsored disclosure bill	+1.7	`epstein_transparency_act.sponsored`
Signed discharge petition	+1.2	`epstein_transparency_act.discharge_petition.signed`
Sponsor + petition leadership bonus	+0.8	combination of `sponsored` and petition signature
Cosponsored disclosure bill	+1.0	`epstein_transparency_act.cosponsored`
Early legislative commitment	+0.2 to +0.4	`epstein_transparency_act.cosponsored_date`
Public advocacy	+0.3 to +1.2	`public_pressure_score`
Oversight committee leverage	+0.4 to +0.7	`committee_seat[]` combined with visible action
Oversight or election-cycle inaction	-0.2 to -0.6	`committee_seat[]`, `election.up_for_election_2026`
Recorded non-supportive vote	-2.0	`epstein_transparency_act.signed == no`

Logic Rules:

Base Score: 0.0
Low-cost vote cap: vote support alone cannot rise above 2.6.
Mid-tier cap: members without sponsorship, cosponsorship, petition pressure, or strong public advocacy cannot rise above 3.6.
Perfect-score cap: no one can reach 5.0 unless they hit the top public-advocacy tier.
Final Cap: 5.0 (Leading).

Example profile (annotated)

Example of how one lawmaker record becomes a report card.

Input fields

official_full: "Jane Doe"
party: "R"
epstein_transparency_act.signed: "yes"
epstein_transparency_act.cosponsored: true
epstein_transparency_act.cosponsored_date: "07/21/2025"
epstein_transparency_act.discharge_petition.signed: false

Output calculation

base 0.0
+ vote support 1.5
+ cosponsor 1.0
+ early commitment 0.4
= 2.9 (Minimal)
* Cosponsorship lifts the low-cost-vote cap.
* Earlier coalition-building earns a small bonus.

Primary sources and field mapping

U.S. House Clerk roll calls: maps to vote support field in action logs.
U.S. Senate roll calls: maps to Senate vote support field in action logs.
Congress.gov bill pages: maps to sponsorship/cosponsorship fields.
House discharge petition records: maps to petition signature field and date.
Congressional Record: used to validate date context around public floor action.
Biographical Directory / Bioguide: maps identity keys used to join lawmaker records.
Published action log (local): file used directly for score computation.
Current legislator file (local): file used directly for current office/contact context.

Scope and limitations

We track legislative/public-record actions only. We do not make claims about criminal conduct, and we do not rely on rumors or unnamed sources.

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