Your lawmakers voted.Here’s what it means for you.

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Figures from government records. The same rules for everyone. Facts, not verdicts. How we work and our codebook →

About CandidateChecker

How the 387 members of Congress running in November 2026 voted on household money, war and the national debt, and who funds their campaigns. Facts from official records, the same rules for everyone, no verdicts.

Sources: senate.gov and clerk.house.gov (votes) · congress.gov and govinfo.gov (bills and the law) · cbo.gov (cost estimates) · fec.gov (campaign money). Never a member’s own office, an advocacy group or another tracking site; industry labels and the grouping of donor names are ours.

387 lawmakers · 85 recorded votes · 2,402 organizations · Votes through 16 September 2026 · campaign money through 30 June 2026 for 219 of 387 lawmakers, and through dates from 1 July 2026 to 30 September 2026 for 167, as each card states; 1 has no campaign committee on file with the FEC

What each card shows

Four parts, always in this order: household money, war and the military, debt and spending, and who funds the campaign. The order is a design choice, not a ranking.

Household money War and the military Debt and spending Who funds them

Household money

Bills that passed and change what people pay, receive or earn: taxes, benefits, fees. Each vote is grouped by what it did. A vote for a bill that gives money, or against one that takes it, counts as To give; the reverse counts as To take.

On a card

Disapproving the overdraft rule · 27 Mar 2025

Cancels a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule requiring banks and credit unions with more than $10 billion in assets to follow lending rules for overdraft fees above $5 or above their own costs.

Passed 52–48. Became law; the rule did not take effect.

Booker voted no — a vote to keep the rule in place.

How we decide

7 such bills on Senate cards, 26 on House cards. American households only.
Extensions count only if the law says something stops for households without them. Authorization acts that set policy but spend nothing are left out.
Each bill is labelled by what its own text does: it gives money if it leaves people with more, takes money if it leaves them with less.
A vote against a bill that gave money counts as To take, even when the member opposed the bill for other reasons, such as a funding bill as a whole. The row’s own line says exactly what that vote did.
Rows describe what the bill does, not what households will experience. Where a law states what happens without an extension, the row says that too.

War and the military

Every recorded vote on four kinds of measure: removing US forces from hostilities, blocking an arms sale, money for foreign militaries, and the annual defense bill (26 votes in each chamber). Each vote is filed as one to limit or one to allow military action, and the card says what the member’s vote did.

On a card

S.J.Res. 41 · 30 Jul 2025

Resolution to stop a proposed sale of US weapons to Israel.

Rejected 27–70. The resolution did not reach the floor.

Booker voted no — a vote to leave it in committee, letting the sale proceed.

How we decide

The Senate often votes only on whether to bring a resolution to the floor (a motion to discharge). When that is the only vote, it is the one we use.
A yes vote on such a motion is described as exactly that: a vote to bring it to the floor. A no vote that defeats the motion ends the matter, so its consequence is stated. Where the motion passed (S.J.Res. 98 and 185), a no vote is described without a consequence.
For the annual defense bill, both the first passage and the final version count.
Votes involving Israel and Ukraine are listed first so they are easy to find; the order says nothing about their importance.

Debt and spending

Two figures from the Congressional Budget Office, never added together: what the bills a member voted for added to the national debt over ten years, and what they funded for a year of government. A member is credited with a bill’s figure when they voted yes on it.

On a card

Collins: $69.5B added to the national debt · $3.15T funded the government for a year.

Booker: voted against all six bills the Congressional Budget Office priced this Congress — $3.46T in ten-year deficit effect and $3.15T in one-year spending authority. None of it is attributed to Booker.

How we decide

Only bills that together make up 99% of the dollars in each category are included, so a few very large bills decide the totals. Where one bill is most of the money (H.R. 1, H.R. 1968), the section leads with that vote.
Figures come only from the main tables of CBO estimates, not from footnotes. Stop-gap funding bills count only for the full-year money they contain.
When CBO scored one chamber’s version of a bill, the figure applies to the final vote in both chambers, and the card says so.
A member who voted against everything priced gets a sentence instead of two $0 figures.

Who funds them

From the member’s main campaign committee for 2025–2026, as reported to the FEC. Their largest organizations, and where the rest of the money came from. An organization’s total combines gifts over $200 from people who name it as their employer and gifts from its own PAC; companies cannot give to candidates directly.

On a card

Booker’s top contributor: AIPAC, $702,091.

How we decide

The bar splits everything raised into the largest organizations, other individual donors, other PACs, party money and transfers, and the candidate’s own money. The parts add up to the total raised.
Payment platforms, party committees, joint fundraising committees and committees run by members of Congress (leadership PACs and caucus funds, such as the New Democrat Coalition Action Fund or the Freedom Caucus Fund) are not counted as organizations.
Money an organization forwards from individual donors is counted from the organization’s own FEC reports of what it forwarded to each campaign, within the period each card covers. Some organizations, including EMILYs List and the National Association of Realtors, do not report that forwarding in their own filings; for those, only their direct gifts and their employees’ gifts are counted. Groups such as AIPAC that pass on gifts are measured from their own FEC reports.
Donors type their employer themselves, so we combine spelling variants of the same organization and leave out entries such as “retired” or job titles.
Industry labels such as Finance are ours, based on organization names; about half of organizations, mostly small ones, have none.

Who’s covered, limits and corrections

Who’s covered

The 387 members of the 119th Congress (2025–2026) who are running again in November 2026: 22 senators and 365 representatives. Members who are retiring or running for a different office are not included: the cards are meant to help voters judge a record they can vote on.

First-time candidates. People running for Congress for the first time in 2026 have no voting record, so they are not part of the 387. Searching for one shows what their FEC filing says, and for most there is a campaign-money card: money raised, spent and on hand, and where it came from, from the FEC’s official reports. These cards are temporary. If the candidate is elected in November 2026, CandidateChecker adds their full record as a member; if not, the card is removed after the election. Members of Congress running for a different office are not given a money-only card, since they have a voting record.

What this doesn’t show

How members voted and who funded them, never why.

No scores, rankings or labels. We tested a combined score; it sorted members almost exactly by party, so it would tell readers nothing new and could mislead.
No reader polls. People do not vote on bills, so asking them to would suggest something that does not happen.
Campaign money is as of each member’s latest FEC report, usually the end of June 2026. Outside spending such as super PACs is not included.
Organization totals will differ from other sites, which combine names and count bundled gifts differently. Some gifts are missed when donors type their employer differently.
Smallest PAC contributions: for some members, the smallest PAC contributions are not included in the organization lists, so those lists can be slightly understated. Each member’s total raised is complete, taken from the FEC’s own totals.
Arms sales: government records list proposed sales, but not, sale by sale, whether each was completed. A card states only what the vote decided.

Which organization the map opens on

The map opens on the organization that contributed the most across all members of Congress in the data. This is computed from the FEC figures each time the site is built, not chosen by us.

In the reports each card uses (reporting periods differ by member, as each card states), that is AIPAC, at $39.1 million across 266 members. The next largest is J Street at $2.1 million.

Some organizations reach more members — National Association of Realtors at 372 and National Beer Wholesalers Association at 336 — but each contributed less in total. We rank by amount, not by how many members received money.

Corrections

Every figure links to the official record it comes from. When we correct a figure, the card notes the change and the date. A contact route for corrections will be added after the November election.

Codebook

For researchers, journalists and anyone reusing these figures: every field, its meaning and its source.

Lawmakers

Field	Meaning	Source
ID	Bioguide ID for representatives; Senate member ID for senators, matched to their Bioguide ID by name, state and party	clerk.house.gov, senate.gov
Name, party, state	As recorded on official roll calls	senate.gov, clerk.house.gov
District	House only; 0 means at-large	clerk.house.gov
Tile	No portraits: each member is shown by state (senators) or state and district (representatives; at-large seats as ‑0)	—
Party line	Share of votes on the card where the lawmaker voted with the majority of their own party in their chamber, counting every member of that chamber, not only those on CandidateChecker. Votes where the party split evenly are left out	Full roll calls

Votes: fields

Field	Meaning	Source
Bill ID and title	e.g. H.R. 1, S.J.Res. 32, with the official short title	congress.gov
Chamber, date, roll call	Each vote is one roll call in one chamber; the card links to it	senate.gov, clerk.house.gov
Section	Household money (each bill gives or takes money; each vote is grouped by what it did) or war and the military (to limit / to allow military action), as defined above	CandidateChecker rules, applied to the bill text
Vote	Yes, No, or did not vote. The House records some votes as “Aye” and “No”; these are read as Yes and No	Roll call
Tie-broken votes	Described from the official result, e.g. passed 50–50 with the Vice President’s vote	senate.gov

Every vote, with what a yes and a no meant

Vote	Chamber	Date	What it does	A yes vote	A no vote
H.R. 1	Senate	1 Jul 2025	Raises the standard deduction and child tax credit, ends the personal exemption, rewrites SNAP work-requirement exemptions, and requires Medicaid eligibility checks twice a year.	a vote for the tax changes and the SNAP and Medicaid changes together	a vote against the package
H.J.Res. 142	Senate	12 Feb 2026	Cancels the DC tax law, restoring earlier DC rules on the standard deduction and the taxation of tipped wages.	a vote to cancel the DC tax law	a vote to keep the DC tax law
S.J.Res. 18	Senate	27 Mar 2025	Cancels a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule requiring banks and credit unions with more than $10 billion in assets to follow lending rules for overdraft fees above $5 or above their own costs.	a vote to cancel the rule	a vote to keep the rule in place
H.R. 1968	Senate	14 Mar 2025	Full-year continuing appropriations for FY2025. Also extends expiring programs, including the National Flood Insurance Program, TANF and Medicare telehealth rules.	a vote to fund the government and extend the programs	a vote against the funding and extensions
H.R. 5371	Senate	10 Nov 2025	Ends the 2025 shutdown with continuing appropriations to 30 January 2026 and three full-year appropriations bills. Provides back pay to federal employees and extends expiring programs.	a vote to extend funding and the programs	a vote against the extension
H.R. 7148	Senate	30 Jan 2026	Full-year FY2026 appropriations for Defense, Labor-HHS-Education and Transportation-HUD. Also extends expiring programs, including the National Flood Insurance Program and TANF.	a vote for the funding and extensions	a vote against the funding and extensions
H.R. 5334	Senate	7 Aug 2026	Procedural note: the version voted on is the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, mainly sanctions and tariffs. Among its provisions, it extends the educator expense tax deduction to early childhood educators.	a vote for the sanctions bill carrying the deduction	a vote against the sanctions bill carrying the deduction
S.J.Res. 163	Senate	13 May 2026	Resolution to pull US forces out of fighting with Iran.	a vote to bring it to the floor	a vote to leave it in committee, keeping forces in place
S.J.Res. 181	Senate	30 Jul 2026	Resolution to pull US forces out of fighting with Iran.	a vote to bring it to the floor	a vote to leave it in committee, keeping forces in place
S.J.Res. 172	Senate	16 Jun 2026	Resolution to pull US forces out of fighting with Iran.	a vote to bring it to the floor	a vote to leave it in committee, keeping forces in place
S.J.Res. 90	Senate	6 Nov 2025	Resolution to pull US forces out of fighting with Venezuela.	a vote to bring it to the floor	a vote to leave it in committee, keeping forces in place
S.J.Res. 180	Senate	23 Jul 2026	Resolution to pull US forces out of fighting with Iran.	a vote to bring it to the floor	a vote to leave it in committee, keeping forces in place
S.J.Res. 83	Senate	8 Oct 2025	Resolution to pull US forces out of fighting Congress never approved.	a vote to bring it to the floor	a vote to leave it in committee, keeping forces in place
S.J.Res. 184	Senate	30 Apr 2026	Resolution to pull US forces out of fighting with Iran.	a vote to bring it to the floor	a vote to leave it in committee, keeping forces in place
S.J.Res. 185	Senate	19 May 2026	Resolution to pull US forces out of fighting with Iran.	a vote to bring it to the floor	a vote to leave it in committee
S.J.Res. 98	Senate	8 Jan 2026	Resolution to pull US forces out of fighting with Venezuela.	a vote to bring it to the floor	a vote to leave it in committee
S.J.Res. 123	Senate	15 Apr 2026	Resolution to pull US forces out of fighting with Iran.	a vote to bring it to the floor	a vote to leave it in committee, keeping forces in place
S.J.Res. 114	Senate	22 Apr 2026	Resolution to pull US forces out of fighting with Iran.	a vote to bring it to the floor	a vote to leave it in committee, keeping forces in place
S.J.Res. 59	Senate	27 Jun 2025	Resolution to pull US forces out of fighting with Iran.	a vote to bring it to the floor	a vote to leave it in committee, keeping forces in place
S.J.Res. 104	Senate	4 Mar 2026	Resolution to pull US forces out of fighting with Iran.	a vote to bring it to the floor	a vote to leave it in committee, keeping forces in place
S.J.Res. 118	Senate	18 Mar 2026	Resolution to pull US forces out of fighting with Iran.	a vote to bring it to the floor	a vote to leave it in committee, keeping forces in place
S.J.Res. 116	Senate	24 Mar 2026	Resolution to pull US forces out of fighting with Iran.	a vote to bring it to the floor	a vote to leave it in committee, keeping forces in place
S.J.Res. 53	Senate	11 Jun 2025	Resolution to stop a proposed sale of US weapons to Qatar.	a vote to bring it to the floor	a vote to leave it in committee, letting the sale proceed
S.J.Res. 54	Senate	11 Jun 2025	Resolution to stop a proposed sale of US weapons to United Arab Emirates.	a vote to bring it to the floor	a vote to leave it in committee, letting the sale proceed
S.J.Res. 32	Senate	15 Apr 2026	Resolution to stop a proposed sale of US weapons to Israel.	a vote to bring it to the floor	a vote to leave it in committee, letting the sale proceed
S.J.Res. 138	Senate	15 Apr 2026	Resolution to stop a proposed sale of US weapons to Israel.	a vote to bring it to the floor	a vote to leave it in committee, letting the sale proceed
H.R. 7148	Senate	30 Jan 2026	Pass the 2026 government funding act, which included $3.3 billion for Israel.	—	—
S.J.Res. 41	Senate	30 Jul 2025	Resolution to stop a proposed sale of US weapons to Israel.	a vote to bring it to the floor	a vote to leave it in committee, letting the sale proceed
S.J.Res. 34	Senate	30 Jul 2025	Resolution to stop a proposed sale of US weapons to Israel.	a vote to bring it to the floor	a vote to leave it in committee, letting the sale proceed
S. 2296	Senate	9 Oct 2025	Set the military's budget, size, pay and health rules for the year.	—	—
S. 1071	Senate	17 Dec 2025	Set the military's budget, size, pay and health rules for the year.	—	—
S.J.Res. 33	Senate	3 Apr 2025	Resolution to stop a proposed sale of US weapons to Israel.	a vote to bring it to the floor	a vote to leave it in committee, letting the sale proceed
S.J.Res. 26	Senate	3 Apr 2025	Resolution to stop a proposed sale of US weapons to Israel.	a vote to bring it to the floor	a vote to leave it in committee, letting the sale proceed
H.R. 1	House	22 May 2025	Raises the standard deduction and the child tax credit, ends the personal exemption, replaces the state and local tax cap with a formula, rewrites SNAP work-requirement exemptions, and requires Medicaid eligibility checks twice a year instead of once.	a vote for the tax changes and the SNAP and Medicaid changes together	a vote against the package
H.R. 1968	House	11 Mar 2025	Full-year continuing appropriations for FY2025. Also extends expiring programs, including the National Flood Insurance Program, TANF and Medicare telehealth rules.	a vote to fund the government and extend the programs	a vote against the funding and extensions
H.R. 5371	House	19 Sep 2025	Continuing appropriations to 21 November 2025. Also extends expiring programs, including Medicare telehealth rules and veterans’ authorities.	a vote to extend funding and the programs	a vote against the extension
H.J.Res. 142	House	4 Feb 2026	Cancels the DC tax law, restoring earlier DC rules on the standard deduction and the taxation of tipped wages.	a vote to cancel the DC tax law	a vote to keep the DC tax law
S.J.Res. 18	House	9 Apr 2025	Cancels a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule requiring banks and credit unions with more than $10 billion in assets to follow lending rules for overdraft fees above $5 or above their own costs.	a vote to cancel the rule	a vote to keep the rule in place
H.R. 4758	House	25 Feb 2026	Repeals the home electrification rebates for low- and moderate-income households and cancels the money not yet committed.	a vote to repeal the rebates	a vote to keep the rebates
H.R. 498	House	18 Dec 2025	Ends federal Medicaid payment for specified gender transition procedures for people under 18.	a vote to end Medicaid payment for these procedures	a vote to keep Medicaid payment
H.R. 9770	House	21 Jul 2026	Continuing appropriations for FY2027 to 4 December 2026. Also extends expiring programs, including the National Flood Insurance Program and TANF.	a vote to extend funding and the programs	a vote against the extension
H.R. 7567	House	30 Apr 2026	Reauthorizes Department of Agriculture programmes through 2031, including nutrition assistance, commodity support and crop insurance.	a vote to reauthorize the farm and food programmes	a vote against the reauthorization
H.R. 1834	House	8 Jan 2026	Extends the enhanced premium tax credit through 2028, including the rule that lets households above four times the poverty line claim it.	a vote to extend the larger tax credit	a vote against extending it
H.R. 8884	House	23 Jul 2026	Requires that taking part in a Social Security disability work trial does not reduce a person's total income.	a vote for the income protection	a vote against it
H.R. 6047	House	21 May 2026	Creates a supplemental allowance of $833.33 a month for certain disabled veterans and raises survivor compensation at the next two cost-of-living adjustments.	a vote to create the allowance and raise survivor pay	a vote against it
H.R. 5334	House	16 Sep 2026	Procedural note: the version voted on is the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, mainly sanctions and tariffs. Among its provisions, it extends the educator expense tax deduction to early childhood educators.	a vote for the sanctions bill carrying the deduction	a vote against the sanctions bill carrying the deduction
H.R. 7148	House	22 Jan 2026	Full-year FY2026 appropriations for Defense, Labor-HHS-Education and Transportation-HUD. Also extends expiring programs, including the National Flood Insurance Program and TANF.	a vote for the funding and extensions	a vote against the funding and extensions
H.R. 6472	House	4 Mar 2026	Requires public colleges to charge no more than in-state tuition to residents of Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa and the US Virgin Islands.	a vote to limit tuition for territory residents	a vote against the limit
H.Amdt. 186 to H.R. 7567	House	30 Apr 2026	A vote to add an amendment to H.R. 7567 that would add hot rotisserie chicken to the items a household may buy with SNAP benefits.	a vote to add rotisserie chicken	a vote against adding it
H.R. 3400	House	15 Sep 2025	Requires the VA to pay a relocation or retention bonus to physicians assigned to serve in the territories.	a vote for the bonus	a vote against the bonus
H.R. 9500	House	15 Sep 2026	Removes the disaster-only limit on deducting personal theft and casualty losses, and lets losses be claimed in the year they happen.	a vote to widen the deduction	a vote against widening it
H.R. 4275	House	23 Jul 2025	Among 121 sections: expands family leave, creates a maternity uniform allowance, adds a travel allowance for members posted to Alaska, and starts a tuition assistance pilot.	a vote for the Coast Guard bill and its family benefits	a vote against the bill
H.R. 7959	House	27 Apr 2026	Requires the IRS to pay interest on a whistleblower award it pays late.	a vote to require the interest	a vote against requiring it
H.R. 227	House	27 Apr 2026	Opens a two-year window for clergy and Christian Science practitioners to revoke their exemption from Social Security and Medicare taxes.	a vote to open the window	a vote against opening it
H.R. 3123	House	2 Feb 2026	Directs a pension awarded before a veteran's death but paid after it to the surviving spouse, children or dependent parents.	a vote to pay the pension to survivors	a vote against it
H.R. 695	House	26 Feb 2025	Raises the monthly special pension for living Medal of Honor recipients from $1,406.73 to $8,333.33, and sets a rate for surviving spouses.	a vote to raise the pension	—
H.R. 1491	House	1 Apr 2025	Treats a postponed tax filing deadline as an extension for the period a taxpayer may look back to claim a refund.	a vote to extend the refund window	—
H.R. 1039	House	7 Apr 2025	Requires a review of VA claim notices, and extends to 31 December 2031 a limit on VA pension paid to certain veterans in Medicaid nursing homes.	a vote to extend the pension limit	—
H.R. 2721	House	16 Sep 2025	Extends eligibility for a VA headstone or burial marker to veterans who died on or before 1 November 1990.	a vote to extend headstone eligibility	—
H.Con.Res. 68	House	22 Jan 2026	Resolution to pull US forces out of Venezuela.	a vote to withdraw forces	a vote to keep forces in place
H.Con.Res. 75	House	14 May 2026	Resolution to pull US forces out of fighting against Iran.	a vote to withdraw forces	a vote to keep forces in place
H.Con.Res. 40	House	16 Apr 2026	Resolution to pull US forces out of fighting with Iran.	a vote to withdraw forces	a vote to keep forces in place
H.Con.Res. 64	House	17 Dec 2025	Resolution to pull US forces out of fighting in or against Venezuela.	a vote to withdraw forces	a vote to keep forces in place
H.R. 8800	House	22 Jul 2026	Approve the annual defense bill for 2027.	—	—
H.Con.Res. 61	House	17 Dec 2025	Resolution to pull US forces out of fighting with groups named as terrorist organisations in the Western Hemisphere.	a vote to withdraw forces	a vote to keep forces in place
H.Con.Res. 89	House	23 Jul 2026	Resolution to pull US forces out of fighting with Iran.	a vote to withdraw forces	a vote to keep forces in place
H.Con.Res. 38	House	5 Mar 2026	Resolution to pull US forces out of fighting in Iran.	a vote to withdraw forces	a vote to keep forces in place
H.Con.Res. 86	House	3 Jun 2026	Resolution to pull US forces out of fighting with Iran.	a vote to withdraw forces	a vote to keep forces in place
H.R. 8595	House	15 Jul 2026	Pass the 2027 State and national security funding act, which included $3.3 billion for Israel.	—	—
H.Con.Res. 93	House	15 Sep 2026	Resolution to pull US forces out of fighting with Iran.	a vote to withdraw forces	a vote to keep forces in place
H.R. 3838	House	10 Sep 2025	Approve the annual defense bill for 2026.	—	—
H.Con.Res. 108	House	30 Jun 2026	Resolution to pull US forces out of fighting in Lebanon.	a vote to withdraw forces	a vote to keep forces in place
S. 1071	House	10 Dec 2025	Approve the final version of the 2026 defense bill.	—	—
Amendment to H.R. 8595	House	15 Jul 2026	Amendment to stop every dollar in the bill going to Israel, cutting $3.3 billion.	a vote for the amendment	a vote against the amendment
H.Con.Res. 84	House	4 Jun 2026	Resolution to pull US forces out of Lebanon.	a vote to withdraw forces	a vote to keep forces in place
H.R. 7148	House	22 Jan 2026	Pass the 2026 government funding act, which included $3.3 billion for Israel.	—	—
Amendment to H.R. 8800	House	21 Jul 2026	Amendment to stop Ukraine Security Assistance, apart from securing the US embassy in Kyiv.	a vote for the amendment	a vote against the amendment
Amendment to H.R. 4016	House	18 Jul 2025	Amendment to stop US assistance to Ukraine.	a vote for the amendment	a vote against the amendment
Amendment to H.R. 4016	House	18 Jul 2025	Amendment to stop all US assistance to the Lebanese Armed Forces.	a vote for the amendment	a vote against the amendment
Amendment to H.R. 3838	House	10 Sep 2025	Amendment to stop US assistance to Ukraine.	a vote for the amendment	a vote against the amendment
Amendment to H.R. 4016	House	18 Jul 2025	Amendment to stop US money for Jordan's armed forces.	a vote for the amendment	a vote against the amendment
Amendment to H.R. 3838	House	10 Sep 2025	Amendment to stop foreign aid for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative.	a vote for the amendment	a vote against the amendment
Amendment to H.R. 4016	House	18 Jul 2025	Amendment to stop US money for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative.	a vote for the amendment	a vote against the amendment
Amendment to H.R. 8595	House	15 Jul 2026	Amendment to stop every dollar in the bill going to Jordan, cutting $2.1 billion.	a vote for the amendment	a vote against the amendment
Amendment to H.R. 4016	House	18 Jul 2025	Amendment to stop US money for the Israeli Cooperative Programs, the joint missile defense work.	a vote for the amendment	a vote against the amendment

Debt and spending

Field	Meaning	Source
Added to the national debt	A bill’s effect on the deficit over ten years	CBO cost estimates, main tables only
Funded the government for a year	One year of spending authority in funding bills; stop-gap bills count only for their full-year money	CBO cost estimates
Credit	A lawmaker is credited with a bill’s figure when they voted yes. The two figures are never added together	CandidateChecker rule
Coverage	Bills that together make up 99% of the dollars in each figure	CandidateChecker rule

Campaign money

Field	Meaning	Source
Committee	The lawmaker’s principal campaign committee for 2025–2026. Matched on name, state and district, and confirmed by the committee name. Where FEC lists several committees with the same name, the one that raised money in 2025–2026 is used	fec.gov
Total raised	All receipts reported for the cycle	FEC committee totals
Money bar	Largest organizations; other individual donors (itemized gifts over $200 and unitemized small gifts); other PACs; party money, transfers and other receipts; the candidate’s own money. The parts add up to the total	FEC totals and itemized receipts
Cash on hand, refunds	As of the latest report	FEC committee totals
Report date	The end date of the latest report used	FEC

Organizations

Field	Meaning	Source
Name	One clean display name per organization; spelling variants are combined (see rules)	FEC employer field and PAC names
Amount	Gifts over $200 from people who name it as their employer, plus gifts from its own PAC	FEC itemized receipts
Top organizations	Each lawmaker’s 15 largest; cards show the first 6, the map and search use all 15	CandidateChecker rule
Industry	One of 13 industries, plus labor unions and advocacy groups. 1,426 of 2,407 organizations (59%) are not classified, including diversified companies such as Honeywell and Koch, where no single industry fits	CandidateChecker rules on organization names and FEC organization types
Lawmakers funded	How many lawmakers on CandidateChecker the organization gave to	Derived
Party lean	Share of its money that went to Democrats and to Republicans on CandidateChecker	Derived

Name-combining and labelling rules

Combining names: two names count as the same organization only if they match exactly, or one is the start of the other and the rest is a corporate word (Inc, Global, Services, Group…). “Apollo” and “Apollo Global Management” are combined; “Blackstone” and “Blackstone Construction” are not.
Vague names dropped: employer names too vague to identify one organization (such as “Capital” or a bare surname), job titles typed as employers (“CEO”, “President”), non-answers (“No employer”) and government employers (“U.S. Senate”).
Not counted as organizations: payment platforms that pass on individual gifts (WinRed, ActBlue, Democracy Engine, Anedot), joint fundraising committees, leadership PACs, party committees and other candidates’ committees. A PAC whose listed connected organization is a person’s name is treated as a lawmaker’s leadership PAC, even when FEC does not label it as one.
Missing committee types: where FEC’s receipts did not say what kind of committee gave, the type was looked up in FEC’s committee records (252 committees, October 2026).
Authorization acts: annual defense authorization acts set policy and spending limits but provide no money themselves. Their pay and allowance provisions are not counted in household money, matching Debt and spending, which leaves them out as authorization only. The votes still appear under War and the military. One exception: the Coast Guard authorization act stays in household money, because it appears in no other section and would otherwise disappear from the cards.
Whose households: household money counts changes for households in the United States. A bill whose direct effect falls only on people who are not U.S. persons, such as a tax change for residents of another country, is not included.
Extensions and continuing resolutions (household money): a bill that extends an expiring program counts only if an official source states that, without it, households would pay more or receive less: the bill text, the U.S. Code it amends, or a CRS report. Funding that reaches families only through states (such as TANF) does not count on its own. Reviewed for every household bill in October 2026; three bills were removed and several descriptions corrected.
AIPAC and NRA: amounts come from each group’s own PAC reports of the money it passed on, not from employer names.
PAC names: when a PAC’s listed “connected organization” is itself just a fundraising committee, the PAC is shown under its own name.
Votes on the money map: each tally covers one roll call in one chamber, split by party, and counts only lawmakers on CandidateChecker. It shows how they voted, not why.

How to cite

CandidateChecker (2026). Lawmaker record cards, 119th Congress, release October 2026. Votes from senate.gov and clerk.house.gov; cost estimates from the Congressional Budget Office; campaign money from the Federal Election Commission.

Downloadable data and a citation ID (DOI) are planned.

CandidateChecker · About and methodology · Last updated 13 October 2026

Your lawmakers voted.Here’s what it means for you.

Where the money goes

About CandidateChecker

What each card shows

Household money

War and the military

Debt and spending

Who funds them

Who’s covered, limits and corrections

Who’s covered

What this doesn’t show

Which organization the map opens on

Corrections

Codebook