Plain-language summary
We translate legislative text to Flesch–Kincaid ≤ grade 8, preserving legal meaning. Readability score published on every summary.
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MODULE 1
The Engine
A demonstration of the companion Blueprint's transparency engine on real federal legislation.
The Engine translates federal bills into plain language, tracks amendment changes, flags operative legal terms, projects distributional impact, and classifies each bill by reform tier and pathway. Every output shows its methodology. Every analysis is open source.
IF YOU ARE
- CONGRESSIONAL STAFF — use the Engine to brief members on Tier 1 and Tier 2 bills in your committee and peer committees.
- FEDERAL AGENCY STAFF — see which Tier 2 reforms are available under existing reorganization authority, and which require congressional action.
- STATE LEGISLATORS — understand federal legislation that preempts or funds state action, and find state-level parallels for Tier 1 reforms.
- JOURNALISTS — find the plain-language translation, the legal effect, the distributional signal, and the tier classification before you publish.
- ENGAGED CITIZENS — hold your representative accountable on real legislation, at the tier it actually sits in.
SEEDED CORPUS — MVP
The MVP corpus spans tiers. Tier badges appear on every bill card. The corpus is deliberately weighted toward Tier 1 and Tier 2 bills — the reforms that can begin tomorrow or be tested on public data today — to establish the three-tier framing immediately.
S.S. 3533
Shadow Docket Sunlight Act of 2025
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) · Senate Judiciary
A Tier 1 reform that — in the book's words — requires nothing more than legislation.
H.R.H.R. 5484
National Flood Insurance Program Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2025
Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) · House Financial Services (primary); Transportation and Infrastructure; Ways and Means
The Blueprint's central illustrative example throughout the manuscript.
H.R.H.R. 4132
Prescription Information Modernization Act of 2025
Sponsor TBD · House Energy and Commerce (Health subcommittee)
A Tier 2 administrative-modernization bill — the 119th Congress descendant of the original MODERN Labeling Act (S.3519, 115th Congress; H.R.5668, 116th Congress, provisions enacted in Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021).
S.S. 4367
Thomas R. Carper Water Resources Development Act of 2024
Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) [retired] · Senate Environment and Public Works
The fully-resolved Mission-Domain straddle.
H.R.H.R. 3289
Fiscal Commission Act
Sponsor TBD · House Budget; Rules
A Tier 2 federal statute that directly illustrates the Blueprint's structural-balance argument.
METHOD
Amendment tracking
Every stage of a bill's evolution — introduction through conference — with plain-language annotations of what changed, by whom, with effect.
Legal-effect analysis
Operative terms — may, shall, authorized, required, prohibited, not less than, not more than — flagged inside the bill text, linked to plain-language consequence statements. Not legal advice.
Distributional impact
Projections across income bracket, geography, and demographic where data supports them. Every projection shows its confidence range and its Lucas Critique caveat.
Tier classification & pathway
Each bill is tagged to the tier(s) it advances (Tier 1, Tier 2, or Tier 3), linked to the Blueprint reform(s) it exercises (if any), and labeled with its implementation pathway (statute, executive order, compact, amendment). Tier classification is editorial — every tag traces to a specific Blueprint section and manuscript passage.
WHAT THE ENGINE IS NOT
The Engine does not replace legislative staff, CRS, or CBO — it makes their products more accessible to more people. It does not predict legislative outcomes or political dynamics. It does not replace legal counsel. It is a demonstration of what the companion Blueprint's proposed transparency engine would look like if embedded in federal legislative process.
CONTRIBUTE AND FORK
Every bill analysis is versioned in the public repository. If you identify a factual error, a better source, or a refined analytical approach, file an issue. If you want to propose an alternative analysis, fork it.