Erica Lee Carter

Potential benefits are effects assessed as favorable to the named group. Potential burdens impose costs, restrictions, risks, or lost opportunities on that group.

Mixed effects contain countervailing effects on the same group. Unclear effects have an undetermined direction. A group can have separate benefits and burdens; these are counted separately.

Counts describe the number of identified effects, not their size or public value. Bill and clause counts are distinct within each view. Shared evidence may appear under several groups or policy areas, so their counts should not be added together.

Historical bill versions are included. Clauses analyzed in different versions count separately. A bill’s current status does not establish that every analyzed provision was enacted.

Only direct effects with high or medium confidence in the policy-area assignment are included. Bills are connected through sponsorship, cosponsorship, or Yea/Nay votes; a vote against a bill does not reverse its assessed effects. Vote dates filter recorded votes and vote-linked bills; sponsorship remains included.