Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Punch Clock Campaign?
The Punch Clock Campaign started with an aggressive grassroots effort during the 2006 election season. It called for members of Congress and their opponents to sign an agreement to post their daily schedules on the Internet for their time in office.
Sunlight continued to promote this form of transparency after the 2006 elections. Members of Congress work for us, and we need to know what they do with their time.
What did the original Punch Clock Agreement say?
The Agreement read:
I believe citizens have a right to know what their Member of Congress does every day.
Starting with the next Congress, I promise to publish my daily official work schedule on the Internet, within 24 hours of the end of every work day. I will include all matters relating to my role as a member of Congress. I will include all meetings with constituents, other members, and lobbyists, listed by name. (In rare cases I will withhold the names of constituents whose privacy must be protected.) I will also include all fundraising events. Events will be listed whether Congress is in session or not, and whether I am in Washington, traveling, or in my district.
Aren’t there security concerns here? Should members of Congress let dangerous people know where they’ll be at any second of the day?
We took that into account. That’s why the Agreement provides that schedules be posted one day after they happen. That way, no one can use the schedule to figure out where they can go to harm a lawmaker.
Why should members of Congress post their schedules? Shouldn’t they be private?
Of course not. Every Member of Congress works for the American people, yet we don’t know how they spend their time. Imagine if you told your boss that you couldn’t punch in and out of work, because your time was “too private.”
Over sixty percent of American workers work hourly, and almost all workers have to account for their time. Custodial workers and chain store workers punch a clock, and lawyers keep time sheets – everyone knows that they are accountable to their bosses and clients.
The most remarkable fact of our democracy is our commitment to having those who govern us be governed by us. This can only work where there is basic trust, openness, and transparency. It’s our job, as citizens, to ask them to do better on all these fronts.
A few decades ago, Members of Congress resisted disclosing who was financing their campaigns. They claimed it would violate the privacy of their donors, and made up other excuses for refusing to be open with the public. Yet reformers persisted, and today everyone takes for granted the value of public disclosure of campaign contributions. The same will be true for Members’ work schedules.
So you want them to tell us when they get their haircut or when they have dinner with their wife?
No, the pledge only asks that Members post their work schedule, not time off the clock. That said, we include fundraisers, junkets – serious or frivolous – and lunch meetings with other lawmakers or lobbyists or constituents.
What if I miss a day, or something on the schedule is missing?
The Punch Clock Agreement is a contract with the public to make your best efforts to fulfill the terms of it, and we take a common sense approach to the terms of it. We know that if a staffer is sick (or if there is a turnover of staffers, and a few days go by without publishing the calendar), if events are changed, or if it just gets missed once in a while, this does not undermine the basic commitment. The commitment is to make a good faith effort to share your daily schedule with the public, and shows that a candidate is a leader in the effort to bring democracy into the 21st century, which means bringing people and politicians closer together.
Why do you think any member would sign this?
They will, if their constituents demand it. Change only happens when the people get involved.
To get this to happen, we’ll need lots of people pressing their own members of Congress in their own districts or states. This campaign is a way of distributing the work among the people who care the most about it, and rewarding them for their efforts.
How do you think members of Congress spend their time when they’re not voting on legislation?
We simply don’t know. Maybe members of Congress are spending most of their time meeting with their constituents, overseeing government agencies, developing legislation and going on fact-finding missions. If so, they should have nothing to hide. They could also be meeting with lobbyists and donors, or making campaign fundraising phone calls. But again, that’s a guess – we simply do not know for certain.
Unfortunately, that lack of disclosure has led people to think negatively about how their lawmakers spend their time. For those members who devote most of their time to doing the people’s work, opening up their schedule should increase public confidence in them.
Who is the Sunlight Network? How is it related to the Sunlight Foundation?
The Sunlight Network, a 501 c(4) affiliated with the Sunlight Foundation, was founded in 2006 to foster a more positive relationship between lawmakers and their constituents, using technology, transparency, and local communities.
The Sunlight Foundation is a 501 c(3).
When did the challenge end?
The challenge ended December 31, 2006.
