Why it matters

A government you can't see is a government you can't check

Thousands of bills move through Congress every year. Almost none reach the public in a form anyone can actually read. Pass or Trash exists to close that gap — because attention is the first form of accountability.

The legibility problem

Legislation is written for lawyers and lobbyists, not citizens. A single bill can run hundreds of pages of cross-references and defined terms. The result is a government that technically operates in the open but is, in practice, unreadable. When no one can follow what's happening, no one can hold anyone to it.

Cost, made concrete

"Trillions" and "billions" blur together until they mean nothing. By attaching the CBO's official deficit estimate to each bill — and dividing it across U.S. households — we turn an abstract number into something you can feel. A bill isn't just "expensive." It's $40 out of your household's pocket, or it isn't.

From watching to participating

Reading about politics is passive. Voting — even an informal Pass-or-Trash poll — is a small act of participation. Do it daily and something shifts: you start to recognize patterns, track which bills survive, and form your own view of what Washington is actually doing. That's the on-ramp to real civic engagement.

Democracy doesn't run on outrage. It runs on attention — sustained, informed, and pointed at the right things.

Non-partisan by design

We don't tell you how to vote. We describe what a bill does in neutral language, show what it costs, and step back. The judgment is yours — that's the whole point.