yardsticks

Methodology

Every number on Yardstx has a source, a formula, and an explanation. Nothing is hidden. This page documents exactly how the Yardstick Score is calculated so you can verify it yourself.

The Yardstick Score

A composite 0–100 score calculated as a weighted average of six measurable KPIs. Updated every Monday morning using the most recent publicly available data.

Formula

Yardstick Score =

(30%) × Legislative Yield

(25%) × Availability Index

(20%) × Fiscal Trace

(15%) × Interest Overlap

(5%) × Bipartisan Index

(5%) × Stock Trading

KPIWeightRationale
Legislative Yield30%Most direct measure of legislative effectiveness
Availability Index25%Fundamental job requirement: you must show up
Fiscal Trace20%Links votes to real dollar impact
Interest Overlap15%Reveals potential donor conflicts of interest
Bipartisan Index5%Signal of cross-aisle collaboration
Stock Trading5%STOCK Act compliance; lower reliability → lower weight
Total100%

Missing data: If a KPI is unavailable for a given member (e.g., no stock trading disclosures on file), its weight is redistributed proportionally across the remaining KPIs. The score will be marked with a note indicating which KPIs were excluded.

KPI Definitions

Legislative Yield

30% weight

Measures how effective a legislator is at moving their own bills through the process. Bills that become law are weighted 3× more than bills that merely clear committee, reflecting the higher bar.

Score = (bills_passed_committee + bills_became_law × 3) / (bills_sponsored + 1) × 100
Source:Congress.gov API v3

Capped at 100. The +1 in the denominator prevents division by zero for members who have not sponsored any bills.

Availability Index

25% weight

The most basic accountability metric: did they show up? Measures attendance at roll-call votes as a percentage of all votes they were eligible to participate in for the current Congress session.

Score = (votes_cast / votes_eligible) × 100
Source:Congress.gov API v3

Chamber average is displayed alongside for context. Scores are individual, not relative.

Fiscal Trace

20% weight

Tracks the total dollar cost of all legislation a member voted 'Yes' on, as estimated by the Congressional Budget Office. Normalized against chamber peers to produce a 0-100 score.

Score = Percentile rank within chamber by total CBO-estimated cost of 'Yes' votes
Source:CBO.gov + Congress.gov

CBO data is linked semi-manually by bill ID. Not all bills have CBO estimates. This KPI reflects fiscal impact, not fiscal responsibility — context is provided in the source links.

Interest Overlap

15% weight

Measures how concentrated campaign contributions are across industries. A lower Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) means more diversified funding — higher score. Heavy concentration in one industry may signal alignment with that sector's interests.

Score = (1 − HHI of top industry donations) × 100
Source:OpenSecrets Bulk Data

Data sourced from Federal Election Commission records via OpenSecrets. Covers individual contributions $200+ and PAC contributions.

Bipartisan Index

5% weight

Measures willingness to work across the aisle by tracking the percentage of co-sponsorships on bills introduced by the opposing party. This is a direct signal of collaboration, not partisanship.

Score = (cross-party co-sponsorships / total co-sponsorships) × 100
Source:Congress.gov API v3

Does not weight by bill significance. A member who co-sponsors 10 minor cross-party bills scores the same as one who co-sponsors 10 major ones.

Stock Trading

5% weight

Tracks compliance with the STOCK Act, which requires members of Congress to report trades of securities exceeding $1,000 within 45 days. Late filings are penalized 15 points each. High trading volume is a secondary signal (capped at 25 points deducted).

Score = 100 − (late_filings × 15) − min(trades_count / 5, 25)
Source:Senate/House Financial Disclosures

Data quality varies by chamber. Score is set to null when disclosure data is unavailable; its 5% weight is redistributed proportionally to other KPIs.

Update Schedule

Scores are recalculated every Monday at 5:00 AM ET. The data pipeline fetches fresh information from each source, recomputes all KPI scores, updates the composite Yardstick Score, and records the week-over-week delta. A national email digest is sent to subscribers after each update.

Campaign finance data (Interest Overlap) updates monthly, as FEC filing cycles run on monthly/quarterly cadences. CBO fiscal data updates as new cost estimates are published.