Where the Data Comes From
Every record here comes from an official source of the U.S. Congress (Congress.gov, the Clerk of the House, the U.S. Senate and the Congressional Record on GovInfo): 19,835 bills and resolutions of the 119th Congress, 407 of them with a roll call vote, and all 535 seats of the House and the Senate. Congress's own record always prevails.
Data current through
Data Current Through
- Bill Actions
- House Roll Calls
- Senate Roll Calls
- House Floor Speeches
- Senate Floor Speeches
Each date is the newest record of its kind in the source data: a bill action, a roll call on a bill, a day of the Record.
By the Numbers
- 19,835Bills and resolutions
- 5,070With a CRS summary
- 5,065With a checked AI summary
- 407With a roll call vote
- 846Roll calls on them
- 140Laws (138 public, 2 private)
- 535Seats in Congress
- 539Members serving now
- 652Floor session days
- 21,316Floor speeches
Sources
- Congress's RecordsCongress.gov, GovInfo and the roll calls of the House and the Senate
- Read and RebuiltAn update adds every new bill and rebuilds bills that got a new vote
- A Page for Every BillEach bill page links back to its source on Congress.gov
Titles, sponsors, actions, status and law numbers come from Congress.gov and GovInfo, and each of the 19,835 bills and resolutions of the 119th Congress has its own page. The Bills list shows the 1,113 that had a roll call or were decided on the floor, and a measure counts as a law only when its own actions say it became one.
Summaries
The Congressional Research Service, Congress's nonpartisan research arm, publishes an official summary of most bills on Congress.gov (5,070 so far). Referandom's plain-language summaries are written with AI from that summary and checked against it (5,065 so far; see AI-Powered Summaries), and every bill page links to the CRS original.
Votes
Totals, party breakdowns and every member's position come from the official roll calls of the Clerk of the House and the Senate: 410 House and 436 Senate votes on 407 bills and joint or concurrent resolutions (simple resolutions, quorum calls and nominations are left out). Each bill shows the roll call that decided it in each chamber, and when that one was procedural, such as cloture, the site names it and leaves it out of the “how often you agree” score.
Names, parties, states and portraits come from Congress.gov and the Congressional Pictorial Directory, and birthdays, committees, contacts and term dates from the public-domain congress-legislators data, checked against Congress.gov. All 535 seats are covered, with 539 members serving now (delegates included); the 555 who held a seat this term keep their pages.
Floor Speeches and Video
- The Congressional RecordEvery day the House or the Senate met, from GovInfo
- Matched to MembersBy the Government Publishing Office's own metadata
- Placed on the VideoBy matching each speech's words to the recording
Every day the House or the Senate met has its own page, built from the Congressional Record on GovInfo: 306 House days and 346 Senate days so far, with 21,316 speeches by members. Every speech is the Record's own text, and speakers are matched to members by the Government Publishing Office's own metadata. On 202 days a chamber met only in a brief pro forma session, with no business and no speeches; those pages stay listed but are kept out of search results.
Video
House pages embed the Office of the Clerk's official recording (305 days), and Senate pages the Senate Recording Studio's floor feed as reposted in full on YouTube, only once its captions match that day's Record (123 days, every one also linked to C-SPAN). Referandom places each speech on the video's clock by matching its words; a speech without a time is still listed.
How It Stays Current
From the Sources, Automatically
An update reads both chambers' roll call lists, adds every new bill, rebuilds bills that got a new vote, and refreshes the members. No model writes or changes the record in this step; summaries for new bills are written in a separate, checked step (see AI-Powered Summaries). The dates under Data Current Through show how far each source reaches.
Your Votes
Yea and Nay counts are the votes of people using Referandom. They are opinions, not a representative sample, and they are always shown apart from how Congress voted.
How We Use AI
Referandom uses AI to write plain-language bill summaries and explainers, never the record itself. Every block of text written with AI carries an AI-AssistedWritten with AI from primary sources. Congress's own record always prevails. How we use AI. label (on bill summaries it reads AI Summary); hover over it or tap it for a short note.
- The CRS SummaryThe CRS summary on Congress.gov and the bill's official titles
- Writer PassAn AI model drafts a plain-language summary from those sources only
- Two ChecksA script checks the draft, then a second AI pass reads it against CRS
- Published with a LabelMarked AI Summary, with a link to the CRS summary on Congress.gov
Fails a check? Then the draft is rewritten once and checked again. If it still fails, it is not published, and the bill page shows the first sentences of the CRS summary instead.
What AI Writes
The bill summaries (below), the answers and explanations in the Congress Guide and the How Congress Works quiz, the definitions in the Glossary and in the pop-ups on marked terms, the Politics Crossword clues, and the Wordgress definitions and hints. The guide and the glossary are written with an AI model working from primary sources: the Constitution, the House and Senate rules, federal law, agency websites and Congress.gov. Each guide answer lists the source it rests on, with the exact words of a Constitution clause where there is one. The avatar illustrations you can pick for your profile were drawn once with an AI image model, and we use AI as a writing and coding assistant to build the site itself.
What AI Never Does
AI does not write or change titles, sponsors, stages, roll call results, member positions, party breakdowns, floor speeches or quotes: those come from Congress's own records as published. It does not predict votes or outcomes, give opinions on bills, frame anything by party, or claim effects the source does not state. No model runs when you open a page or vote: summaries are written ahead of time on our own computer and published as plain data files, and the daily update that brings in new bills and roll calls runs no model on the web server.
AI-Powered Summaries
For each bill with a CRS summary, an AI model writes the Referandom Summary: a one-sentence takeaway, the key points, who it affects, what changes from current law and any dollar amounts, but only when the CRS summary states them. Its only sources are the CRS summary and the bill's official titles. It is written for readers new to Congress, in plain words, without legal jargon. Swipe cards show the takeaway and the first key points under an AI SummaryWritten with AI from primary sources. Congress's own record always prevails. How we use AI. label, and may ask a clearer question than the rule-made one.
Two Passes Before It Is Published
A script first checks every draft: every number must appear in the CRS summary, no party labels or hype words, no dashes or symbols the site doesn't use, short bullets. A second AI pass then reads the draft against the CRS summary and checks numbers, dates, names, amounts, who is covered and what the bill actually does. A draft that fails either check is rewritten once with the problems listed and checked again; if it still fails, it is not published, and the bill page shows the first sentences of the CRS summary instead. The result of the check is stored with every summary. When CRS publishes a new version of its summary, the old AI summary stops showing until it is rewritten.
What an AI Summary Never Does
It never adds facts from outside the CRS summary, predicts effects, takes a side, names a party, or says how Congress voted. Swipe cards hide the outcome until you vote, and AI text is written and checked so it cannot give the outcome away: it never says a bill passed, failed, became law or was vetoed. Bill pages show where a bill stands from Congress.gov records, never from AI text.
The Source Is One Tap Away
Every bill page links to the full CRS summary on Congress.gov and to the bill text. If a summary gets something wrong, tell us on the contact page or at info@referandom.us; we check it against the CRS summary and fix it, and Congress's own record always prevails.
Written by Code from the Record
Some plain-language text is put together by fixed rules from the public data, with no model. Each card's question comes from the first sentence of the CRS summary (“This bill requires …” becomes “Should Congress require …?”), and asks about the bill by name when that sentence doesn't fit; when the AI summary offers a clearer question that passes the same checks, the card asks that one. Quick Facts on bill pages and the sentences on member pages are filled in from the roll calls, Congress.gov and the congress-legislators data.
Review and Corrections
Each guide answer names the primary source it rests on, and glossary terms link to the agency or program's own site where there is one, so you can check them yourself. The Politics Crossword and Wordgress clues went through a second editing pass, and scripts check every puzzle (no clue gives away its answer, no answer comes back too soon). Mistakes can still slip through, and Congress's own record always prevails. If you find one, tell us on the contact page or at info@referandom.us and we will fix it.
Found a Mistake?
Write to info@referandom.us or use the contact page with the page and what is wrong. We check it against Congress's own record and fix it.
Referandom is built by CDR Technology Foundation, Inc., an independent, nonpartisan, U.S.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit working on technology and research for better governance. CDR is a name, not an acronym.