OpenCongress is a really great new political project. In their own words:
OpenCongress brings together official government data with news and blog coverage to give you the real story behind each bill.
It lists Senators and Congressmen individually, such as Senator Barack Obama, and shows you bills they've sponsored or co-sponsored, with links to information on each bill. It shows recent votes, as well as each person's voting trend, and a ton of other interesting information.
This was a joint effort from the Sunlight Foundation and Participatory Politics. In my (so far) brief review of OpenCongress, I have to say I'm impressed at the thoroughness of the data presented, as well as the lack of opinion expressed directly by the site itself.
From their "About Us" page:
For most people, finding out what's really happening in Congress is a daunting and time-consuming task. The legislative process is frequently arcane and closed-off from the public, resulting in frustration with Congress and apathy about politics.
Small groups of political insiders and lobbyists know what's really going on in Congress, but this important information rarely makes its way into the light. The official website of the library of Congress, Thomas, publishes the full text of bills, but we can do much more to inform ourselves and make our government accessible. Now, with OpenCongress, everyone can be an insider.
OpenCongress is a free, open-source, non-profit, and non-partisan web resource with a mission to help make Congress more transparent and to encourage civic engagement.
On Utah's Citizen's Day, Pete Ashdown mentioned this to me, in answer to a question I had asked. It's good to see it come to life, and I am very excited about it!