How the Quylt Score Works
Two numbers. One score. No editorial judgment.
Measures legislative effectiveness — what this member actually accomplishes in office. Built from five independently verifiable categories. Higher is more effective.
Measures ideological positioning relative to Congress as a whole. Derived from bill sponsorship patterns, not party affiliation.
These two numbers are completely independent. A member can score high on effectiveness and sit anywhere on the party line axis.
The FICO Analogy
FICO transformed complex credit history into a single actionable number using five fixed, independently verifiable categories. The Quylt Score applies the same discipline to legislative effectiveness.
Like FICO, the weights are fixed and published — they do not change based on who is being scored, what party they belong to, or what cycle Congress is in. A score of 74 means the same thing for a Democrat from California and a Republican from Texas.
Every data point comes from official, open-source government records. No editorial discretion. No adjustments. The data decides the score.
The Five Categories
The primary score is a weighted composite of five categories, each with sub-factors inside. Categories currently marked Phase 2 are computed as pending until that data source is integrated.
Legislative Output
Did they actually produce results? This is the highest-weighted category — the clearest measure of effectiveness. Like payment history in FICO, it anchors everything else.
Bills sponsored by this member that were signed into law. Getting even one bill enacted requires coalition-building across committee, floor, and executive approval.
Measures ability to build consensus before the floor vote. Adjusted for minority-party members who face structural barriers to advancing legislation.
Grants and appropriations traceable to member advocacy. Measures tangible service to constituents. Coming in Phase 2.
Engagement
Are they showing up and doing the work? Presence and participation are the minimum threshold of the job. A member who misses votes is not serving their constituents, regardless of any other score.
The most objective single measure in the score. Missing a vote is a choice. Floors at 25% (illness, family emergency) — scores below that floor as zero.
Questions asked and statements submitted — shows substantive engagement beyond just casting votes. Coming in Phase 2.
Collaboration
Can they work across the aisle? Legislative effectiveness in a divided government requires the ability to find common ground. This is also the most manipulation-resistant category — cosponsoring is a public record and a genuine choice.
What percentage of bills they cosponsor were introduced by the opposite party. Fully within the member's control regardless of majority or minority status.
Bills where this member is a primary sponsor alongside a member of the opposite party — a stronger signal than cosponsoring alone. Coming in Phase 2.
Position & Influence
Do their peers trust them with responsibility? Leadership and seniority reflect institutional standing earned over time — both cause and effect of legislative effectiveness.
Speaker or President Pro Tempore = 100 · Majority/Minority Leader = 75 · Whip or Committee Chair = 50 · Ranking Member = 25 · No role = 0.
Rank within assigned committees. Rank 1 (Chair or Ranking Member equivalent) = 100. Higher rank = more negotiating leverage and institutional knowledge.
Qualifications & Integrity
What did they bring to the job — and have they kept their integrity? Lower weight than output and engagement because we measure what members do, not just what they were. But qualifications predict potential and integrity failures are disqualifying.
No degree = 40 · Bachelor's = 55 · Graduate degree = 70 · JD or MD = 85 · PhD = 100. +10 bonus per qualifying domain of real-world experience: law practice, medicine, military service, founding a company.
Clean record = full points. Formal reprimand = −20 from total score. Censure = −50. Criminal conviction or expulsion = −100. Ethics failures cannot be offset by good attendance — they are hard deductions.
The Party Line Score
The 1–99 party line score is derived from GovTrack's sponsorship analysis — a statistical method that clusters members by which bills they choose to sponsor and cosponsor. It is not based on party registration or self-identification.
A member who sponsors bills that tend to attract left-leaning cosponsors scores lower. A member who sponsors bills that tend to attract right-leaning cosponsors scores higher. 50 is the statistical center of Congress, not the center of any political party.
The Minority Party Adjustment
Members in the minority party face structural barriers to passing legislation. A bill introduced by a minority member has a lower probability of advancing through committee or reaching the floor — not because of the member's effectiveness, but because of how Congress works.
The Quylt Score applies an explicit adjustment to the Legislative Output category for minority-party members. This is documented, published, and applied consistently — the same formula for every minority member regardless of party.