A simple interface for interacting with ProPublica’s Congress API, which provides data about current and former members of both chambers of the U.S. Congress.
You can install the released version of ppcong from CRAN with:
install.packages("ppcong")And the development version from GitHub with:
# install.packages("remotes")
remotes::install_github("mkearney/ppcong")Get “house” data from the “116”th Congress:
## get and preview house data from 116th congress
h116 <- ppc_members(congress = "116", chamber = "house")
h116
#> # A tibble: 444 x 49
#> id title short_title api_uri first_name middle_name last_name suffix date_of_birth
#> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <date>
#> 1 A000… Repr… Rep. https:… Ralph <NA> Abraham <NA> 1954-09-16
#> 2 A000… Repr… Rep. https:… Alma <NA> Adams <NA> 1946-05-27
#> 3 A000… Repr… Rep. https:… Robert B. Aderholt <NA> 1965-07-22
#> 4 A000… Repr… Rep. https:… Pete <NA> Aguilar <NA> 1979-06-19
#> 5 A000… Repr… Rep. https:… Rick <NA> Allen <NA> 1951-11-07
#> # … with 439 more rows, and 40 more variables: gender <chr>, party <chr>,
#> # leadership_role <chr>, twitter_account <chr>, facebook_account <chr>,
#> # youtube_account <chr>, govtrack_id <chr>, cspan_id <chr>, votesmart_id <chr>,
#> # icpsr_id <chr>, crp_id <chr>, google_entity_id <chr>, fec_candidate_id <chr>,
#> # url <chr>, rss_url <chr>, contact_form <lgl>, in_office <lgl>, cook_pvi <chr>,
#> # dw_nominate <dbl>, ideal_point <lgl>, seniority <chr>, next_election <chr>,
#> # total_votes <int>, missed_votes <int>, total_present <int>, last_updated <chr>,
#> # ocd_id <chr>, office <chr>, phone <chr>, fax <lgl>, state <chr>, district <chr>,
#> # at_large <lgl>, geoid <chr>, missed_votes_pct <dbl>, votes_with_party_pct <dbl>,
#> # votes_against_party_pct <dbl>, congress <chr>, chamber <chr>,
#> # ppc_request_timestamp <dttm>Get “senate” data from the “110”th Congress:
## get and preview senate data from 110th congress
s110 <- ppc_members(congress = "110", chamber = "senate")
s110
#> # A tibble: 102 x 49
#> id title short_title api_uri first_name middle_name last_name suffix date_of_birth
#> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <date>
#> 1 A000… Sena… Sen. https:… Daniel K. Akaka <NA> 1924-09-11
#> 2 A000… Sena… Sen. https:… Lamar <NA> Alexander <NA> 1940-07-03
#> 3 A000… Sena… Sen. https:… Wayne A. Allard <NA> 1943-12-02
#> 4 B001… Sena… Sen. https:… John <NA> Barrasso <NA> 1952-07-21
#> 5 B000… Sena… Sen. https:… Max <NA> Baucus <NA> 1941-12-11
#> # … with 97 more rows, and 40 more variables: gender <chr>, party <chr>,
#> # leadership_role <lgl>, twitter_account <chr>, facebook_account <chr>,
#> # youtube_account <chr>, govtrack_id <chr>, cspan_id <chr>, votesmart_id <chr>,
#> # icpsr_id <chr>, crp_id <chr>, google_entity_id <chr>, fec_candidate_id <chr>,
#> # url <chr>, rss_url <chr>, contact_form <lgl>, in_office <lgl>, cook_pvi <lgl>,
#> # dw_nominate <lgl>, ideal_point <lgl>, seniority <chr>, next_election <chr>,
#> # total_votes <int>, missed_votes <int>, total_present <int>, last_updated <chr>,
#> # ocd_id <chr>, office <lgl>, phone <lgl>, fax <lgl>, state <chr>, senate_class <chr>,
#> # state_rank <chr>, lis_id <chr>, missed_votes_pct <dbl>, votes_with_party_pct <dbl>,
#> # votes_against_party_pct <dbl>, congress <chr>, chamber <chr>,
#> # ppc_request_timestamp <dttm>Get statements released by members of Congress by date
## get and preview statements from congress on a given day
sts <- ppc_statements("2017-05-08")
sts
#> # A tibble: 228 x 13
#> url date title statement_type member_id congress member_uri name chamber state party
#> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <int> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr>
#> 1 http… 2017… Enge… Press Release E000179 115 https://a… Elio… House NY D
#> 2 http… 2017… Benn… Press Release B001267 115 https://a… Mich… Senate CO D
#> 3 http… 2017… Benn… Press Release B001267 115 https://a… Mich… Senate CO D
#> 4 http… 2017… Sull… Press Release S001198 115 https://a… Dan … Senate AK R
#> 5 http… 2017… Roun… Press Release R000605 115 https://a… Mike… Senate SD R
#> # … with 223 more rows, and 2 more variables: subjects <list>,
#> # ppc_request_timestamp <dttm>Get statements released by members of Congress by date
## get and preview congressional votes information
vts <- ppc_votes("both")
vts
#> # A tibble: 20 x 29
#> congress chamber session roll_call source url vote_uri question question_text
#> <int> <chr> <int> <int> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr>
#> 1 116 House 1 624 http:… http… https:/… On Pass… ""
#> 2 116 House 1 623 http:… http… https:/… On Moti… ""
#> 3 116 House 1 622 http:… http… https:/… On Agre… ""
#> 4 116 House 1 621 http:… http… https:/… On Agre… ""
#> 5 116 House 1 620 http:… http… https:/… On Agre… ""
#> # … with 15 more rows, and 20 more variables: description <chr>, vote_type <chr>,
#> # date <chr>, time <chr>, result <chr>, d_yes <int>, d_no <int>, d_present <int>,
#> # d_not_voting <int>, d_majority_position <chr>, r_yes <int>, r_no <int>,
#> # r_present <int>, r_not_voting <int>, r_majority_position <chr>, i_yes <int>,
#> # i_no <int>, i_present <int>, i_not_voting <int>, ppc_request_timestamp <dttm>Search for bills in Congress
## get and preview congressional bills information
hc_bls <- ppc_bills("health care")
hc_bls
#> # A tibble: 20 x 34
#> bill_id bill_slug bill_type number bill_uri title short_title sponsor_title sponsor_id
#> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr>
#> 1 hr4863… hr4863 hr H.R.4… https:/… To p… United Sta… Rep. W000187
#> 2 s2860-… s2860 s S.2860 https:/… A bi… A bill to … Sen. L000575
#> 3 hres70… hres703 hres H.RES… https:/… "Sup… "Supportin… Rep. R000602
#> 4 hres70… hres704 hres H.RES… https:/… Expr… "Expressin… Rep. S001206
#> 5 sres41… sres415 sres S.RES… https:/… A re… A resoluti… Sen. W000817
#> # … with 15 more rows, and 26 more variables: sponsor_name <chr>, sponsor_state <chr>,
#> # sponsor_party <chr>, sponsor_uri <chr>, gpo_pdf_uri <lgl>, congressdotgov_url <chr>,
#> # govtrack_url <chr>, introduced_date <chr>, active <lgl>, last_vote <chr>,
#> # house_passage <lgl>, senate_passage <lgl>, enacted <lgl>, vetoed <lgl>,
#> # cosponsors <int>, cosponsors_by_party$D <int>, $R <int>, committees <chr>,
#> # committee_codes <list>, subcommittee_codes <list>, primary_subject <chr>,
#> # summary <chr>, summary_short <chr>, latest_major_action_date <chr>,
#> # latest_major_action <chr>, ppc_request_timestamp <dttm>Get lists of congressional committees
## get and preview committees information for Senators in 115th Congress
cmt <- ppc_committees("115", chamber = "senate")
cmt
#> # A tibble: 21 x 13
#> id name chamber url api_uri chair chair_id chair_party chair_state chair_uri
#> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr>
#> 1 SSAF Comm… Senate http… https:… Pat … R000307 R KS https://…
#> 2 SSAP Comm… Senate http… https:… Thad… C000567 R MS https://…
#> 3 SSAS Comm… Senate http… https:… John… M000303 R AZ https://…
#> 4 SSBK Comm… Senate http… https:… Mich… C000880 R ID https://…
#> 5 SSCM Comm… Senate http… https:… John… T000250 R SD https://…
#> # … with 16 more rows, and 3 more variables: ranking_member_id <chr>,
#> # subcommittees <list>, ppc_request_timestamp <dttm>Use of the ProPublica API requires a valid key, which you can obtain by completing the form found at the following URL: https://www.propublica.org/datastore/api/propublica-congress-api
Once you’ve obtained an API key, you can either include it in every request, e.g.,
## include API key in request
s116 <- ppc_members(116, "senate", api_key = "as9d78f6aayd9fy2fq378a9ds876fsas89d7f")Or for the duration of any given session, you can set the API key once
via the ppc_api_key() function
## set as environment variable for the remainder of current session
ppc_api_key("as9d78f6aayd9fy2fq378a9ds876fsas89d7f")If you’d like to set the API key and store it for use in future
sessions, use set_renv = TRUE
## append as environment variable in user's home .Renviron file
ppc_api_key("as9d78f6aayd9fy2fq378a9ds876fsas89d7f", set_renv = TRUE)