My last blog post on this package was so long ago the package wrapped both New York Times APIs and Sunlight Labs APIs and the package was called govdat. I split that package up into rsunlight for Sunlight Labs APIs and rtimes for some New York Times APIs. rtimes is in development at Github.
We’ve updated the package to include four sets of functions, one set for each of four Sunlight Labs APIs (with a separate prefix for each API):
- Congress API (
cg_) - Open States API (
os_) - Capitol Words API (
cw_) - Influence Explorer API (
ie_)
Then there are many methods for each API.
rsunlight intro
Installation
First, installation
devtools::install_github("ropengov/rsunlight")
Load the library
library("rsunlight")
Congress API
Search for Fed level bills that include the term health care in them.
res <- cg_bills(query='health care')
head(res$results[,1:4])
## nicknames congress last_version_on sponsor_id
## 1 obamacare 111 2010-08-25 S000749
## 2 obamacare, ppaca 111 2010-08-25 R000053
## 3 NULL 113 2013-10-09 K000220
## 4 NULL 111 2009-01-06 I000056
## 5 NULL 112 2011-01-05 I000056
## 6 NULL 111 2009-05-05 D000197
Search for bills that have the two terms transparency and accountability within 5 words of each other in the bill.
res <- cg_bills(query='transparency accountability'~5)
head(res$results[,1:4])
## congress last_version_on sponsor_id
## 1 111 2009-01-15 R000435
## 2 113 2013-07-17 R000595
## 3 112 2011-12-08 R000435
## 4 113 2013-09-19 R000435
## 5 112 2011-11-10 R000595
## 6 113 2013-07-23 C000560
## urls.govtrack
## 1 http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/111/hr557
## 2 https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/s1313
## 3 http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr2829
## 4 https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/hr3155
## 5 http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/s1848
## 6 https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/s1347
## urls.opencongress
## 1 http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h557/show
## 2 http://www.opencongress.org/bill/s1313-113
## 3 http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-h2829/show
## 4 http://www.opencongress.org/bill/hr3155-113
## 5 http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-s1848/show
## 6 http://www.opencongress.org/bill/s1347-113
## urls.congress
## 1 http://beta.congress.gov/bill/111th/house-bill/557
## 2 http://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th/senate-bill/1313
## 3 http://beta.congress.gov/bill/112th/house-bill/2829
## 4 http://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th/house-bill/3155
## 5 http://beta.congress.gov/bill/112th/senate-bill/1848
## 6 http://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th/senate-bill/1347
Open States API
Search State Bills, in this case search for the term agriculture in Texas.
res <- os_billsearch(terms = 'agriculture', state = 'tx')
head(res)
## title
## 1 Relating to authorizing the issuance of revenue bonds to fund capital projects at public institutions of higher education; making an appropriation.
## 2 Relating to authorizing the issuance of revenue bonds to fund capital projects at public institutions of higher education.
## 3 Relating to authorizing the issuance of revenue bonds to fund capital projects at public institutions of higher education.
## 4 Relating to authorizing the issuance of revenue bonds to fund capital projects at public institutions of higher education.
## 5 Relating to authorizing the issuance of revenue bonds to fund capital projects at public institutions of higher education; making an appropriation.
## 6 Relating to access to certain facilities by search and rescue dogs and their handlers; providing a criminal penalty.
## created_at updated_at id chamber state
## 1 2013-08-01 03:33:40 2013-08-07 03:10:10 TXB00034894 upper tx
## 2 2013-08-01 03:33:38 2013-08-02 03:20:14 TXB00034893 upper tx
## 3 2013-07-21 03:03:53 2013-07-28 03:28:30 TXB00034814 upper tx
## 4 2013-07-03 02:44:03 2013-07-14 03:00:31 TXB00034514 upper tx
## 5 2013-06-16 03:48:13 2013-06-23 04:02:49 TXB00033988 upper tx
## 6 2013-03-03 04:47:26 2013-07-01 21:25:36 TXB00027556 upper tx
## session type
## 1 833 bill
## 2 833 bill
## 3 832 bill
## 4 832 bill
## 5 831 bill
## 6 83 bill
## subjects
## 1 Commerce, Education, Budget, Spending, and Taxes
## 2 Commerce, Education, Budget, Spending, and Taxes
## 3 Commerce, Education, Budget, Spending, and Taxes
## 4 Commerce, Education, Budget, Spending, and Taxes
## 5 Commerce, Education, Budget, Spending, and Taxes
## 6 Commerce, Business and Consumers, Animal Rights and Wildlife Issues, Health, Crime
## bill_id
## 1 SB 3
## 2 SB 10
## 3 SB 40
## 4 SB 6
## 5 SB 44
## 6 SB 1010
Search for legislators in California (ca) and in the democratic party
res <- os_legislatorsearch(state = 'ca', party = 'democratic', fields = c('full_name','+capitol_office.phone'))
head(res)
## phone id full_name
## 1 (916) 319-2014 CAL000058 Nancy Skinner
## 2 (916) 319-2015 CAL000059 Joan Buchanan
## 3 (916) 319-2022 CAL000084 Paul Fong
## 4 (916) 319-2046 CAL000089 John Pérez
## 5 (916) 319-2080 CAL000098 V. Manuel Pérez
## 6 (916) 319-2001 CAL000101 Wesley Chesbro
Now you can call each representative, yay!
Capitol Words API
Search for phrase climate change used by politicians between September 5th and 16th, 2011:
head(cw_text(phrase='climate change', start_date='2011-09-05', end_date='2011-09-16', party='D')[,c('speaker_last','origin_url')])
## speaker_last
## 1 Tsongas
## 2 Inslee
## 3 Costa
## 4 Boxer
## 5 Durbin
## 6 Boxer
## origin_url
## 1 http://origin.www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2011-09-14/html/CREC-2011-09-14-pt1-PgH6149-5.htm
## 2 http://origin.www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2011-09-15/html/CREC-2011-09-15-pt1-PgH6186.htm
## 3 http://origin.www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2011-09-13/html/CREC-2011-09-13-pt1-PgE1609-2.htm
## 4 http://origin.www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2011-09-15/html/CREC-2011-09-15-pt1-PgS5650.htm
## 5 http://origin.www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2011-09-13/html/CREC-2011-09-13-pt1-PgS5510.htm
## 6 http://origin.www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2011-09-13/html/CREC-2011-09-13-pt1-PgS5513-2.htm
Plot mentions of the term climate change over time for Democrats vs. Republicans
library('ggplot2')
dat_d <- cw_timeseries(phrase='climate change', party="D")
dat_d$party <- rep("D", nrow(dat_d))
dat_r <- cw_timeseries(phrase='climate change', party="R")
dat_r$party <- rep("R", nrow(dat_r))
dat_both <- rbind(dat_d, dat_r)
ggplot(dat_both, aes(day, count, colour=party)) +
geom_line() +
theme_grey(base_size=20) +
scale_colour_manual(values=c("blue","red"))
Influence Explorer API
Search for contributions of equal to or more than $20,000,000.
ie_contr(amount='>|20000000')[,c('amount','recipient_name','contributor_name')]
## amount
## 1 25177212.00
## 2 20000000.00
## 3 20000000.00
## 4 20000000.00
## 5 20000000.00
## 6 20000000.00
## 7 50000000.00
## 8 34000000.00
## 9 28000000.00
## 10 20000000.00
## recipient_name
## 1 Republican National Cmte
## 2 CALIFORNIANS TO CLOSE THE OUT-OF-STATE CORPORATE TAX LOOPHOLE
## 3 WHITMAN, MEG
## 4 WHITMAN, MEG
## 5 WHITMAN, MEG
## 6 WHITMAN, MEG
## 7 GOLISANO, B THOMAS (G)
## 8 GOLISANO, B THOMAS (G)
## 9 GOLISANO, B THOMAS (G)
## 10 GOLISANO, B THOMAS (G)
## contributor_name
## 1 Romney Victory
## 2 STEYER, THOMAS F
## 3 WHITMAN, MARGARET (MEG)
## 4 WHITMAN, MARGARET (MEG)
## 5 WHITMAN, MARGARET (MEG)
## 6 WHITMAN, MARGARET (MEG)
## 7 GOLISANO, B THOMAS
## 8 GOLISANO, B THOMAS
## 9 GOLISANO, B THOMAS
## 10 GOLISANO, B THOMAS
Top industries, by contributions given. UNKOWN is a very influential industry. Of course law firms are high up there, as well as real estate. I’m sure oil and gas is embarrased that they’re contributing less than pulic sector unions.
(res <- ie_industries(method='top_ind', limit=10))
## count amount id
## 1 14919818 3825359507.21 cdb3f500a3f74179bb4a5eb8b2932fa6
## 2 3600761 2787678962.95 f50cf984a2e3477c8167d32e2b14e052
## 3 329906 1717649914.58 9cac88377c3b400e89c2d6762e3f28f6
## 4 1386613 1707457092.04 7500030dffe24844aa467a75f7aedfd1
## 5 774496 1563637586.57 0af3f418f426497e8bbf916bfc074ebc
## 6 546367 1389220855.35 52e5d4c6c0fa47c3bdb199a28f96d434
## 7 2134350 1384221307.53 a05a0d06f6814b31bece35a81fcb40c7
## 8 1003850 986588892.83 8ada0fc2d6994f2ab06c7e025dff2284
## 9 567082 775241387.17 52766c4910a846f2813a1dda212b7027
## 10 151006 706747646.35 13718be68388456d9b6e8db753f06e72
## should_show_entity name
## 1 TRUE UNKNOWN
## 2 TRUE LAWYERS/LAW FIRMS
## 3 TRUE CANDIDATE SELF-FINANCE
## 4 TRUE REAL ESTATE
## 5 TRUE SECURITIES & INVESTMENT
## 6 TRUE PUBLIC SECTOR UNIONS
## 7 TRUE HEALTH PROFESSIONALS
## 8 TRUE INSURANCE
## 9 TRUE OIL & GAS
## 10 TRUE CASINOS/GAMBLING
res$amount <- as.numeric(res$amount)
ggplot(res, aes(reorder(name, amount), amount)) +
geom_bar(stat = "identity") +
coord_flip() +
scale_y_continuous(labels=dollar) +
theme_grey(base_size = 14)
Feedback
Please do use rsunlight, and let us know what you want fixed, new features, etc.
Still to come:
- Functions to visualize data from each API. You can do this yourself, but a few functions will be created to help those that are new to R.
- Vectorize functions so that you can give many inputs to a function instead of a single input.
- test suite: embarrasingly, there is no test suite yet, boo me.
- I plan to push
rsunlightto CRAN soon asv0.3