- 01
Where the numbers come from
Primary sources first.
We start with the people who collect the data: government agencies like the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and CMS; peer-reviewed research; and nonpartisan trackers like OpenSecrets, KFF and the Economic Policy Institute. When we rely on news reporting or an advocacy group's summary of a study, the note says so.
- 02
How every number is labeled
Nothing without a note.
Every figure is cited where it appears and again in the page's source list or numbered notes. When we do arithmetic ourselves, such as a per-person or per-day figure, we say it is our calculation. Preprints, interim tallies and estimates are marked as what they are.
- 03
Ranges, not cherry-picking
We show the studies that cut against us.
Where serious estimates disagree, we show the range, including the less favorable ones. Our Medicare for All brief lists the Congressional Budget Office's designs that raise spending next to the studies that find savings.
- 04
Honest charts
Scales that tell the truth.
Bars start at zero, scales are labeled, and a short bar is drawn short. Charts are built from the sourced numbers themselves, not from illustrations of them.
- 05
Live counters
Rates, not surveillance.
The counters that tick while you read convert an annual or cycle total into a per-second rate. They illustrate how fast money moves; they are not live feeds. The "Today" and "This year" views apply the most recent full year's pace and say so.
- 06
Independence
No one buys a finding.
We take no money from corporations, corporate PACs, lobbyists or industry trade groups, and no funder reviews our work before it is published. Our funding rules are on the Supporters page.
- 07
Corrections
When we get it wrong, we say so.
If a number is wrong or out of date, we fix it and note the change and the date at the end of the page. Laws and bills move quickly, so our stories, briefs and toolkits carry the month they were last checked.
- 08
Your privacy
We don't watch our readers.
No trackers, cookies, ads or third-party scripts. Fonts and code are served from our own site, and calculators, resolutions and share cards are made in your browser; nothing you type is saved or sent.
Using our work
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