Scorecard Methodology

Purpose

This scorecard evaluates the congressional actions of current incumbents against an America First policy framework. Its purpose is to identify meaningful legislative actions in selected policy areas, evaluate how well those actions align with the framework, and give the public a clear view of each member's record.

Current Release Scope

The review covers measures from the 117th, 118th, and 119th Congresses in three policy domains: Immigration, Trade, and Foreign Policy. Legislative activity is counted through June 30, 2026.

Two categories of measures are not graded:

Simple and concurrent resolutions. These are largely symbolic, expressing the sentiment of one or both chambers without force of law, so they are outside the scorecard's current scope.

Bills whose official text is not yet published by the Government Publishing Office at the time of the data snapshot.

A reviewed bill may still be omitted from a specific member's score when the member took no relevant action on it or when the bill falls outside the scorecard's substantive standards.

How Members Are Evaluated

The scorecard evaluates concrete legislative actions, including sponsorship, cosponsorship, and recorded final-passage votes where available. Bills within the three domains are graded on a scale of 0 to 100 based on their alignment with the framework. Bills outside these domains are not graded.

Each bill is reviewed for its practical policy effects. Bills that advance the framework receive a higher evaluation, and bills that work against it receive a lower evaluation. A bill that falls within a covered domain but has no meaningful bearing on the America First position may carry reduced weight in grading or be excluded from the member-level assessment.

For each action, the review considers both the bill's policy alignment and whether the member supported or opposed it. Supporting legislation that advances the framework and opposing legislation that works against it both strengthen a member's evaluation. The reverse weakens it.

Foreign Policy Priorities

Foreign Policy is not treated as a generic basket of international issues. The review gives close attention to legislation involving Israel, the Middle East, and U.S. military commitments in that region.

This is a central policy priority, and legislation in this area carries greater weight in a member's evaluation than other foreign-policy measures. The scorecard treats Middle East entanglement, including Israel aid and open-ended regional security commitments, as an important test of whether a member is willing to put American interests first. Major commitments are evaluated in light of their real strategic, fiscal, and military consequences rather than their messaging or stated intent.

The review also considers Western Hemisphere policy, Russia and Ukraine, the Indo-Pacific, and other international issues. In these areas, the scorecard acknowledges that principled members can reach differing conclusions while remaining within the America First framework. Where that is the case, related bills may be graded on a reward-only basis: members who take the favored position strengthen their record, while members who hold a competing but principled position are not penalized. For example, a member hawkish on Western Hemisphere policy may be rewarded for supporting a more assertive posture, while a noninterventionist who declines to support it is not marked down. This principle applies across other foreign-policy areas where such principled divergence exists.