How to break up with your member of Congress
With the election fast approaching, it’s time to give some thought to whether or not your lawmakers are really representing you. While Congress is America’s favorite punching bag consider this: 90 percent of House Members who sought re-election won in 2012.
Countable started with a simple goal: make it easy for everyone to have a voice in government. Making it easy to have a voice requires effortless access to important information. We want voters to make smarter choices when they cast their ballots this election — so we created a simple solution — a Congressional Compatibility Quiz.
We give you the ability to ‘vote’ on 15 major pieces of legislation that have been summarized by the Countable editorial team. We chose legislation that your Representatives have already voted on and give you a way to compare your vote to theirs. It’s a quick and powerful way to see where your lawmaker stands on issues that you care about.
Real legislation, comparing their actual vote to how you would vote. Actually see if they represent you.
How we did it
Countable’s Congressional Compatibility Quiz leverages the fact that every Representative in Congress has a voting record where they have sided for or against major legislation.
Our job is to let you see how they’ve voted on legislation that’s important to you, so you can decide if they actually represent your views.
We chose 15 pieces of legislation on everything from abortion funding to expanding offshore drilling. We only chose bills:
- That have been introduced in the 113th Congress
- With a vote count — i.e. no bills that were passed by “Voice Vote”
- That cover major topics, even if they have passed or failed in the House.
- Without major riders and amendments
Each piece of legislation is presented with a balanced perspective to help you decide how to vote, without telling you how your Rep has voted. We also cut the legal jargon.
For example, we took H.R. 5272. It’s official title is:
“To prohibit certain actions with respect to deferred action for aliens not lawfully present in the United States, and for other purposes.”
We rewrote it as:
“Cutting Off Federal Funds and Services for Undocumented Residents”
Succinct arguments for and against all the bills, plus a short summary, and link to more resources — You can go deep, but you don’t have to.
Two major questions arise:
1 — I want to see how the challengers to my Representative would vote.
We do too. And we’re building it but it won’t be ready next week. Stay tuned!
2 — This is great! When do I get it for my Senators, councilmembers and school board members?
We’ll be rolling out enhancements to the compatibility quiz for upcoming elections. Stay tuned.
Becoming an informed voter
Vote on all 15 bills and then see how you match up — bill by bill, issue by issue. Make your choices based on clear evidence around the issues you care about. Welcome to the data driven, smarter, future of government and politics.
You may think you know your Rep. Now you can know for sure and you may be surprised at what you find.
Bart Myers is the CEO of Countable. Countable summarizes key legislation, offering users an understanding of what is going on in the House and the Senate, and a way to one-click tell their lawmakers how to vote.Countable is available on the web, iPhone or our recently launched Android app. Let us know what you think.
15 Bills
- Cutting SNAP Benefits and Reforming Nutrition Assistance Programs
- Disapproving The President’s Suspension of The Debt Ceiling
- Cutting Federal Requirements and Giving States More Control Over Education Programs
- Banning Work Requirement Waivers for People Applying For Welfare
- Halting Regulation Changes in the IRS
- Suing the President
- Cyber Intelligence Sharing: Keeping America Safe or the Biggest of Brothers?
- Expanding Offshore Drilling on Both Coasts
- Repealing the Affordable Care Act
- Cutting Off Federal Funds and Services for Undocumented Residents
- No Federal Funding for Abortion Services (With Exceptions)
- Prohibiting the EPA From Regulating Water
- Putting Endangered Species on the Internet
- Defining “Full-Time” as 40 Hours a Week for Healthcare Coverage
- Solidifying a Tax Credit for American Research & Development
