Developer Resources

API & Embed Widget

Bring congressional absurdity to your own website

1. Embed Widget

Add interactive bill cards to your website with a simple script tag. The widget automatically fetches bill data and displays a styled card that matches your site.

Basic Usage

Add this script tag where you want the bill card to appear:

<script
  src="https://absurdityindex.org/embed.js"
  data-bill="real-hr-2617-112"
></script>

Options

Attribute	Required	Description
data-bill	Yes	The bill ID (e.g., `real-hr-25`, `ra-001`)
data-theme	No	`light` (default) or `dark`

Live Preview

Here's what the embed looks like with a real bill:

Light Theme

Dark Theme

And here's a satirical "not-bill":

2. JSON API

Access bill data programmatically with our public JSON API. All endpoints support CORS and return data in a consistent format.

Endpoints

GET /api/bills.json

Returns all bills (real and satirical) with full metadata.

GET /api/real-bills.json

Returns only real bills from Congress with absurdity scores.

GET /api/not-bills.json

Returns only satirical "not-bills" (sensible and absurd types).

GET /api/stats.json

Returns aggregate statistics: totals, average absurdity, bills by category, and more.

Response Format

Bill endpoints return data in this structure:

{
  "generated": "2025-01-15T12:00:00.000Z",
  "count": 42,
  "bills": [
    {
      "id": "real-hr-25",
      "title": "FairTax Act of 2025",
      "billNumber": "H.R. 25",
      "billType": "real",
      "category": "Budget",
      "tags": ["taxes", "irs", "fair tax"],
      "sponsor": "Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA)",
      "status": "Referred to Committee",
      "dateIntroduced": "2025-01-03T00:00:00.000Z",
      "summary": "Abolishes the IRS entirely...",
      "absurdityIndex": 8,
      "congressDotGovUrl": "https://congress.gov/...",
      "url": "https://absurdityindex.org/bills/real-hr-25/"
    }
  ]
}

Example: Fetch with JavaScript

fetch('https://absurdityindex.org/api/bills.json')
  .then(res => res.json())
  .then(data => {
    console.log(`Found ${data.count} bills`);

    // Filter by absurdity score
    const veryAbsurd = data.bills.filter(
      b => b.absurdityIndex >= 8
    );

    console.log(`${veryAbsurd.length} bills scored 8+`);
  });

Stats Response

The stats endpoint provides aggregate data:

{
  "generated": "2025-01-15T12:00:00.000Z",
  "totals": {
    "all": 42,
    "real": 25,
    "satirical": 17,
    "featured": 5
  },
  "absurdity": {
    "average": 6.8,
    "billsWithScore": 25,
    "distribution": { "1": 0, "2": 1, ... }
  },
  "byCategory": {
    "Budget": { "total": 8, "real": 5, "satirical": 3 }
  },
  "topTags": [
    { "tag": "taxes", "count": 12 }
  ]
}

Terms of Use

- The API is free for personal and non-commercial use. Attribution appreciated but not required.
- For commercial use or high-volume access, please reach out first. We'd love to hear what you're building.
- Data is regenerated at build time. For real-time congressional data, use Congress.gov directly.
- Absurdity scores are editorial opinions, not objective measurements. Use responsibly.

Questions?

Building something with the API? Have a feature request? We'd love to hear from you.

Get in Touch