How we source, what we publish, what we don’t, and how to challenge it.
All federal data on this site comes from two primary sources: Congress.gov for legislative records (votes, sponsored and cosponsored bills, committee assignments) and FEC.gov for campaign finance disclosures (itemized contributions, PAC and individual donor records, industry classifications).
Both are official, primary federal sources. We do not rely on aggregators or secondary reporting for the underlying numbers. When we display a figure, the source record is one click away.
Data flows through a single path: API call to the source → cache → display. We pull from the official APIs published by Congress.gov and the FEC. Responses are cached at our edge to keep the site fast and to avoid hammering federal endpoints.
Cache windows are short for active records (recent votes, current committee assignments) and longer for historical records that don’t change. The site is updated as the source data is updated; FEC filings, in particular, are released on the FEC’s own schedule, not ours.
If a number we’d need to publish is editorial rather than factual — if it requires us to weight, judge, or interpret — we don’t publish it. The line is bright on purpose.
We are not the whole picture. There are four limitations we want named up front:
Bills are written in legislative language. A bill titled “An Act to Amend Section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986” is, in plain English, about retirement accounts. We translate the title and surface the policy area; we do not editorialize on what the bill does or whether it’s good policy.
The principle is simple: make the record accessible without making it slanted. If we can’t translate a piece of jargon without injecting an opinion, we leave it alone and link to the source text.
If our number doesn’t match the source, the source wins.
We would rather hear about a mistake than defend one. If you see a figure on this site that doesn’t match the underlying Congress.gov or FEC record, tell us. We’ll verify, correct, and note the change.
Email: corrections@60xithepapertrail.com
When a correction is made, we credit the person who flagged it — unless they’d prefer to remain anonymous, which we honor.
There is no paid political placement on this site. No sponsorship arrangement affects how data is sourced, ordered, or presented. We may, in time, partner with civic and academic institutions on research or distribution; any such relationship will be disclosed and will not change the underlying methodology.