Files
PocketVeto/backend/app/services/congress_api.py
Jack Levy 48771287d3 feat: ZIP → rep lookup, member page redesign, letter improvements
ZIP lookup (GET /api/members/by-zip/{zip}):
- Two-step geocoding: Nominatim (ZIP → lat/lng) then Census TIGERweb
  Legislative identify (lat/lng → congressional district via GEOID)
- Handles at-large states (AK, DE, MT, ND, SD, VT, WY)
- Added rep_lookup health check to admin External API Health panel

congress_api.py fixes:
- parse_member_from_api: normalize state full name → 2-letter code
  (Congress.gov returns "Florida", DB expects "FL")
- parse_member_from_api: read district from top-level data field,
  not current_term (district is not inside the term object)

Celery beat: schedule sync_members daily at 1 AM UTC so chamber,
district, and contact info stay current without manual triggering

Members page redesign: photo avatars, party/state/chamber chips,
phone + website links, ZIP lookup form to find your reps

Draft letter improvements: pass rep_name from ZIP lookup so letter
opens with "Dear Representative Franklin," instead of generic salutation;
add has_document filter to bills list endpoint

UX additions: HelpTip component, How It Works page, "How it works"
sidebar nav link, collections page description copy

Authored-By: Jack Levy
2026-03-02 15:47:46 -05:00

220 lines
8.3 KiB
Python

"""
Congress.gov API client.
Rate limit: 5,000 requests/hour (enforced server-side by Congress.gov).
We track usage in Redis to stay well under the limit.
"""
import time
from datetime import datetime
from typing import Optional
import requests
from tenacity import retry, stop_after_attempt, wait_exponential
from app.config import settings
BASE_URL = "https://api.congress.gov/v3"
_BILL_TYPE_SLUG = {
"hr": "house-bill",
"s": "senate-bill",
"hjres": "house-joint-resolution",
"sjres": "senate-joint-resolution",
"hres": "house-resolution",
"sres": "senate-resolution",
"hconres": "house-concurrent-resolution",
"sconres": "senate-concurrent-resolution",
}
def _congress_ordinal(n: int) -> str:
if 11 <= n % 100 <= 13:
return f"{n}th"
suffixes = {1: "st", 2: "nd", 3: "rd"}
return f"{n}{suffixes.get(n % 10, 'th')}"
def build_bill_public_url(congress: int, bill_type: str, bill_number: int) -> str:
"""Return the public congress.gov page URL for a bill (not the API endpoint)."""
slug = _BILL_TYPE_SLUG.get(bill_type.lower(), bill_type.lower())
return f"https://www.congress.gov/bill/{_congress_ordinal(congress)}-congress/{slug}/{bill_number}"
def _get_current_congress() -> int:
"""Calculate the current Congress number. 119th started Jan 3, 2025."""
year = datetime.utcnow().year
# Congress changes on odd years (Jan 3)
if datetime.utcnow().month == 1 and datetime.utcnow().day < 3:
year -= 1
return 118 + ((year - 2023) // 2 + (1 if year % 2 == 1 else 0))
@retry(stop=stop_after_attempt(3), wait=wait_exponential(min=1, max=10))
def _get(endpoint: str, params: dict) -> dict:
params["api_key"] = settings.DATA_GOV_API_KEY
params["format"] = "json"
response = requests.get(f"{BASE_URL}{endpoint}", params=params, timeout=30)
response.raise_for_status()
return response.json()
def get_current_congress() -> int:
return _get_current_congress()
def build_bill_id(congress: int, bill_type: str, bill_number: int) -> str:
return f"{congress}-{bill_type.lower()}-{bill_number}"
def get_bills(
congress: int,
offset: int = 0,
limit: int = 250,
from_date_time: Optional[str] = None,
) -> dict:
params: dict = {"offset": offset, "limit": limit, "sort": "updateDate+desc"}
if from_date_time:
params["fromDateTime"] = from_date_time
return _get(f"/bill/{congress}", params)
def get_bill_detail(congress: int, bill_type: str, bill_number: int) -> dict:
return _get(f"/bill/{congress}/{bill_type.lower()}/{bill_number}", {})
def get_bill_actions(congress: int, bill_type: str, bill_number: int, offset: int = 0) -> dict:
return _get(f"/bill/{congress}/{bill_type.lower()}/{bill_number}/actions", {"offset": offset, "limit": 250})
def get_bill_text_versions(congress: int, bill_type: str, bill_number: int) -> dict:
return _get(f"/bill/{congress}/{bill_type.lower()}/{bill_number}/text", {})
def get_members(offset: int = 0, limit: int = 250, current_member: bool = True) -> dict:
params: dict = {"offset": offset, "limit": limit}
if current_member:
params["currentMember"] = "true"
return _get("/member", params)
def get_member_detail(bioguide_id: str) -> dict:
return _get(f"/member/{bioguide_id}", {})
def get_committees(offset: int = 0, limit: int = 250) -> dict:
return _get("/committee", {"offset": offset, "limit": limit})
def parse_bill_from_api(data: dict, congress: int) -> dict:
"""Normalize raw API bill data into our model fields."""
bill_type = data.get("type", "").lower()
bill_number = data.get("number", 0)
latest_action = data.get("latestAction") or {}
return {
"bill_id": build_bill_id(congress, bill_type, bill_number),
"congress_number": congress,
"bill_type": bill_type,
"bill_number": bill_number,
"title": data.get("title"),
"short_title": data.get("shortTitle"),
"introduced_date": data.get("introducedDate"),
"latest_action_date": latest_action.get("actionDate"),
"latest_action_text": latest_action.get("text"),
"status": latest_action.get("text", "")[:100] if latest_action.get("text") else None,
"chamber": "House" if bill_type.startswith("h") else "Senate",
"congress_url": build_bill_public_url(congress, bill_type, bill_number),
}
_STATE_NAME_TO_CODE: dict[str, str] = {
"Alabama": "AL", "Alaska": "AK", "Arizona": "AZ", "Arkansas": "AR",
"California": "CA", "Colorado": "CO", "Connecticut": "CT", "Delaware": "DE",
"Florida": "FL", "Georgia": "GA", "Hawaii": "HI", "Idaho": "ID",
"Illinois": "IL", "Indiana": "IN", "Iowa": "IA", "Kansas": "KS",
"Kentucky": "KY", "Louisiana": "LA", "Maine": "ME", "Maryland": "MD",
"Massachusetts": "MA", "Michigan": "MI", "Minnesota": "MN", "Mississippi": "MS",
"Missouri": "MO", "Montana": "MT", "Nebraska": "NE", "Nevada": "NV",
"New Hampshire": "NH", "New Jersey": "NJ", "New Mexico": "NM", "New York": "NY",
"North Carolina": "NC", "North Dakota": "ND", "Ohio": "OH", "Oklahoma": "OK",
"Oregon": "OR", "Pennsylvania": "PA", "Rhode Island": "RI", "South Carolina": "SC",
"South Dakota": "SD", "Tennessee": "TN", "Texas": "TX", "Utah": "UT",
"Vermont": "VT", "Virginia": "VA", "Washington": "WA", "West Virginia": "WV",
"Wisconsin": "WI", "Wyoming": "WY",
"American Samoa": "AS", "Guam": "GU", "Northern Mariana Islands": "MP",
"Puerto Rico": "PR", "Virgin Islands": "VI", "District of Columbia": "DC",
}
def _normalize_state(state: str | None) -> str | None:
if not state:
return None
s = state.strip()
if len(s) == 2:
return s.upper()
return _STATE_NAME_TO_CODE.get(s, s)
def parse_member_from_api(data: dict) -> dict:
"""Normalize raw API member list data into our model fields."""
terms = data.get("terms", {}).get("item", [])
current_term = terms[-1] if terms else {}
return {
"bioguide_id": data.get("bioguideId"),
"name": data.get("name", ""),
"first_name": data.get("firstName"),
"last_name": data.get("lastName"),
"party": data.get("partyName") or None,
"state": _normalize_state(data.get("state")),
"chamber": current_term.get("chamber"),
"district": str(data.get("district")) if data.get("district") else None,
"photo_url": data.get("depiction", {}).get("imageUrl"),
"official_url": data.get("officialWebsiteUrl"),
}
def parse_member_detail_from_api(data: dict) -> dict:
"""Normalize Congress.gov member detail response into enrichment fields."""
member = data.get("member", data)
addr = member.get("addressInformation") or {}
terms_raw = member.get("terms", [])
if isinstance(terms_raw, dict):
terms_raw = terms_raw.get("item", [])
leadership_raw = member.get("leadership") or []
if isinstance(leadership_raw, dict):
leadership_raw = leadership_raw.get("item", [])
first = member.get("firstName", "")
last = member.get("lastName", "")
bioguide_id = member.get("bioguideId", "")
slug = f"{first}-{last}".lower().replace(" ", "-").replace("'", "")
return {
"birth_year": str(member["birthYear"]) if member.get("birthYear") else None,
"address": addr.get("officeAddress"),
"phone": addr.get("phoneNumber"),
"official_url": member.get("officialWebsiteUrl"),
"photo_url": (member.get("depiction") or {}).get("imageUrl"),
"congress_url": f"https://www.congress.gov/member/{slug}/{bioguide_id}" if bioguide_id else None,
"terms_json": [
{
"congress": t.get("congress"),
"chamber": t.get("chamber"),
"partyName": t.get("partyName"),
"stateCode": t.get("stateCode"),
"stateName": t.get("stateName"),
"startYear": t.get("startYear"),
"endYear": t.get("endYear"),
"district": t.get("district"),
}
for t in terms_raw
],
"leadership_json": [
{
"type": l.get("type"),
"congress": l.get("congress"),
"current": l.get("current"),
}
for l in leadership_raw
],
"sponsored_count": (member.get("sponsoredLegislation") or {}).get("count"),
"cosponsored_count": (member.get("cosponsoredLegislation") or {}).get("count"),
}