01 · The room
Who's in the room when policy gets written?
Each dot is one person
535 members of Congress surrounded by 12,937 registered lobbyists.
535
That is everyone who writes federal law: 435 representatives and 100 senators, elected to answer to about 340 million people.
12,937
Now add the people paid to change their minds. In 2023 there were 12,937 registered federal lobbyists, about 24 for every member of Congress.
OpenSecrets data, via Statista
$4.4 billion
Their clients spent a record $4.4 billion lobbying in 2024. That works out to about $8.2 million for every member of Congress, in one year.
OpenSecrets, February 2025
$15.9 billion
Then comes the money that decides who sits in those seats. The 2024 federal elections cost about $15.9 billion, the most ever, and outside groups such as super PACs spent more than $4.46 billion.
OpenSecrets, via PBS NewsHour and Statista
02 · The gap
Corporate money has think tanks. Constituents need one.
When a lawmaker needs a bill drafted, a cost estimate or an answer to an industry attack, someone has to do that work. Too often it is a lobbyist, or a think tank funded by the same interests. Candidates who turn down corporate money have pledges and endorsements. They rarely have a policy shop.
“Government by organized money is just as dangerous as government by organized mob.”
03 · Our work
Every policy, built three ways.
The public needs to be persuaded, staff need the facts, and lawmakers need something they can introduce. Each item on our agenda comes in all three forms.
04 · The Constituent Agenda
Policy for the people lawmakers actually work for.
Each issue gets its own story, its own data and its own color. Every claim is sourced, and every proposal leads to a more just and equitable outcome.
Medicare for All
The U.S. spent $5.3 trillion on health care in 2024 and still ranks last among peer nations. Here is what covering everyone would save, in dollars and in lives.
Universal Child Care
Families pay about $13,128 a year for one child's care while educators earn $15 an hour. Here is how other countries, and now New Mexico, fixed it.
AI & Working People
Who captures the gains from automation, who absorbs the costs, and how do we make sure workers share in what they help build?
Privacy & Surveillance
Flock cameras scan 20 billion cars a month, and Palantir builds tools for war and for ICE. Who is watching, who profits, and how to take privacy back.
Money in Politics
The 2024 elections cost about $15.9 billion, and dark money hit a record $1.9 billion. Who pays, who gets heard, and how to give power back to voters.
05 · Our receipts
We follow our own rule.
An institute that serves leaders who refuse corporate money cannot take it either. These are our funding rules, and we will publish every donor against them.
Funding rules
The Constituent Institute · every year
Think tanks rarely say who pays for their research. We will show ours the same way we show everything else, as an itemized receipt anyone can check.
When a lawmaker cites our work, opponents should not be able to ask who paid for it. The answer will always be on this page.
06 · For campaigns & policymakers
Built for leaders who can't be bought.
Our toolkits are free to any campaign or office that makes the Constituent Pledge. Try it below to see what it asks.
What you get when you sign:
- Policy briefs your staff can read in ten minutes
- Model legislation ready to adapt and introduce
- Rebuttals to the industry talking points you will face
- Story pages and charts you can share with voters
Toolkits launching with each agenda item.