Congress report card: track your House and Senate representative

C-SPAN has begun to track the performance of your senators and congressmen. You can now track attendance, voting records, and floor time each member in the House of Representatives and Senate. Congressman Timothy Johnson of Illinois who's been a member since 2003 has not been on the floor all of this year or last. Ted Pole (Rep) of Texas has hit the floor the most, 155 times between 2009 and now.

You can track each day, how much time they were on the floor in general and for a specific bill - and when the representative is absent. In an interview with Howard Mortman, Communications Director for C-SPAN, highlighted some future plans for "The Congressional Chronicle"

Q: How does C-SPAN track and implement data as shown on Congress Chronicle section? A:  The C-SPAN blog actually put up a posting today on the Congressional Chronicle, and how it works.  Check it out here: http://www.c-spanarchives.org/videoLibrary/blog/?p=239

Q: How many visit C-SPAN online?

A: Sorry, we don't give out those numbers.

Q: Is it increasing compared to previous years? A: Probably fair to say that the number of online visitors jumps around major political events, such as elections and inaugurations and major national policy discussions, such as health care.

Q: Are citizens focusing on key subjects or bills? A:  When we anticipate increased demand in a certain subject, we will create specific websites for that topic.  A good example right now is the C-SPAN Health Care Hub:   http://www.c-span.org/Topics/Health-Care-Insurance-Reform-Legislation-Town-Hall.aspx

Q: What is the most popular search of C-SPAN archives of video?

A: We make that information public on the front of the C-SPAN Video Library.  Check out "most watched" and "most shared" here http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/