Direct to The Lawmakers Database
A massive database that measures the legislative effectiveness of members of Congress will substantially expand, funded by a $200,000 grant from The Madison Initiative.
The Legislative Effectiveness Project (LEP), created by Alan Wiseman of Vanderbilt University and Craig Volden of the University of Virginia, currently gives scores to members of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1973 to 2014, based on their lawmaking effectiveness. The new funding will allow Volden and Wiseman to expand the scope of the project to include members of the U.S. Senate from 1973 to 2014 and to continue to extend the project into future Congressional sessions.
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The database contains “Legislative Effectiveness Scores,” calculated by Volden and Wiseman, which can be used to rank lawmakers on how successful they are at moving bills through the legislative process. While Washington faces more and more gridlock, this research gives citizens and political observers a tool by which to measure the relative effectiveness of congressional representatives in their abilities to get things done.
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The www.thelawmakers.org website is free and available to all.
Note: The underlying dataset used in the database is available in .xlsx and .dta formats
Learn More: Read the Complete Funding Announcement