Every federal bill,
graded on what it does.
The Quiet Ledger (TQL) is an independent, strictly nonpartisan service that reads federal legislation and grades it on its text, never its party or sponsor. It is its own process: PIN shows these grades next to the vote, but never computes them. The two are kept separate on purpose.
Grades judge what a bill actually says and does, not who wrote it or which side introduced it.
PIN reads a letter and a score from TQL and displays them. It has no hand in the grading itself.
Every measure is scored against the identical criteria, so grades are comparable across the board.
How a bill is graded
Each bill is scored against eight criteria. Every criterion is scored within its own range; constitutionality carries double weight. The points are summed and converted to a letter by percentage of the maximum, so the criteria can be refined without moving the goalposts on what an “A” means.
- 01Constitutionalitydouble weight
Is there a clear, enumerated-powers basis? Does the bill respect constitutional limits: due process, separation of powers, and the 1st, 4th, 5th, and 10th Amendments? This one counts double.
- 02Stated purpose vs. actual scope
Does the text do what its title and sponsors claim: or does it ride along unrelated, overbroad provisions?
- 03Real-world benefit
Does it deliver a concrete benefit to ordinary people, or does it mainly serve a narrow interest?
- 04Beneficiary financial integrity
Who receives the money, and are those recipients accountable for how it's spent?
- 05Enforceability & oversight
Does it have teeth: real enforcement, audits, reporting, and a sunset or review, or is it toothless?
- 06Open two-way accountability
Is it transparent, and does it give the governed genuine recourse?
- 07Fiscal integrity (CBO)
Is the cost honest, with credible pay-fors that line up with independent CBO scoring?
- 08Wealth transfer
Which direction does wealth actually move, and is that movement fair and openly disclosed?
How the grade stays honest
The same bill gets the same grade, every time, and a small change in wording can't swing it. That repeatability is built in, not hoped for.
Anchored levels, not loose numbers
Each criterion is judged on one of five levels, Absent · Weak · Mixed · Solid · Exemplary, and a fixed table turns that level into points. Two readings that would drift a raw 7.3 vs 7.6 land on the same level and produce the identical score.
Deterministic by design
Grading runs at zero randomness with a fixed per-bill seed, so re-grading the same text reproduces the same result. The letter only moves when the bill itself changes: an amendment, a new vote, passage.
Structural guardrails
Rules, not the model, set hard ceilings: a bill with no enforcement or oversight can't score “solid” on enforceability; no sunset clause caps it lower; no cost estimate caps fiscal integrity. Each gap is shown on the bill as a structural flag.
Only what the text does
Never the party, the sponsor, or the politics: only the powers, costs, beneficiaries, and accountability written into the bill. That's what makes a grade comparable across the board.
What the letters mean
Serves the public, honestly and within its powers.
Solid, with limited concerns.
Mixed, real trade-offs or gaps.
Weak on integrity, benefit, or oversight.
Fails the standard on multiple counts.
A grade reflects the bill's text and official record at the time it was scored; TQL re-grades as bills change. It is an assessment of legislative quality, not legal advice or a prediction of outcomes.
See it in action
Watch the bills Congress is voting on right now, each with its Quiet Ledger grade and how your reps voted.