Holding Congress Accountable Via themiddleclass.org
22 March 2008Since 2003, the non-partisan Drum Major Institute for Public Policy (DMI) has issued annual scorecards analyzing the impact of domestic legislation on America’s current and aspiring middle class and evaluating Members of Congress based on their votes on this legislation.
But once a year just isn’t enough. We need to understand what Congress is voting on as they are voting on it if we truly want to hold them accountable. And so [DMI has] created themiddleclass.org, a dynamic site that will update throughout the year as members of Congress vote on legislation of significance to the current and aspiring middle class.
On TheMiddleClass.org, you will find DMI’s analyses of bills that would have a significant impact (positive or negative) on the squeezed middle class, as well as on the aspirations of low-income Americans who want to work their way into the middle class. Since we are also tallying legislators’ votes on the bills, we look only at legislation that has received a roll call vote in at least one chamber of Congress. Notable bills that have not yet been voted on are briefly discussed in the “Pending Legislation” section.
How It Works
For each bill, we begin with a brief description of the legislation, information about its status in the legislative process, and an analysis of its impact on the middle class. But themiddleclass.org also provides more extensive context: you’ll find informative online video about each piece of legislation, quotations from experts speaking out on the issue, and hard-hitting numbers from DMI’s Injustice Index. We look beyond the bill to what more could be done to address the issues as stake. And we provide links to further resources.
We also provide information on how each member of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives voted on the legislation. You can look at how every member voted on a particular bill, or how your own representative voted. You can search for legislation by issue area or keyword and look for legislators by name, state, or entering your zip code. And you can check out the grades we assign each member of Congress based on their votes. Click here for more on how our grading formula works.
But your engagement with themiddleclass.org isn’t complete until you join the discussion about legislation on the DMIblog– links from each bill page will take you there. You can also add widgets or rss feeds about particular legislators or issues of interest to your own website or blog. Additionally each page within the site has a unique URL so you can link directly to the information you would like to share.
And not to worry: DMI will still offer its annual report card of members of Congress, presenting not just a tally of their votes but their final grade for the year. Look for this in early 2008!
What Is The Middle Class?
The middle class is more than an income bracket. Over the past fifty years, a middle-class standard of living in the United States has come to mean having a secure job, the opportunity to own a home, access to health care, retirement security, time off for vacation, illness and the birth or adoption of a child, opportunities to save for the future and the ability to provide a good education, including a college education, for one’s children. When these middle-class fundamentals are within the reach of most Americans, the nation is stronger economically, culturally and democratically.
Most Americans identify themselves as middle class. Yet DMI is concerned not only with those who currently enjoy a middle-class standard of living, but also with expanding the middle class by increasing the ability and opportunities of poor people to enter the middle class. The middle class is strengthened when more poor people are able to work their way into its ranks. In a nation that is increasingly polarized between the very wealthy and everyone else, DMI sees the poor and middle class as sharing many of the same interests. Simply put: what strengthens and expands the middle class is good for America.
In Conclusion
We hope themiddleclass.org will be useful tool both for evaluating Congress and for pointing those concerned about the American middle class in the right direction on key pieces of legislation. While many organizations issue scorecards based on a single issue, the Drum Major Institute is distinctive in its focus on an overall agenda of expanding opportunity for middle-class and aspiring middle-class Americans.
As a nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) organization, the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy neither supports nor opposes any candidate for office. Rather, we believe better policy can be created when ordinary citizens – not just political insiders – know how their legislators voted on the issues that matter most to them, and when legislators know their constituents are watching.
[Reprinted from themiddleclass.org]