# get_effort

Retrieve an effort by ID: the maintained plain-language answer to "what is happening with this?", the full bill lineage across Congresses, current status, next actor, and story coverage.

Agent View of the PolicyLayer registry record for `get_effort`. HTML page: https://policylayer.com/tools/com-govbase-govbase/get-effort

## Facts

- Tool: `get_effort`
- Server: Govbase (`https://api.govbase.com/mcp`) — https://policylayer.com/tools/com-govbase-govbase.md
- Homepage: https://github.com/govbase-inc/govbase
- Risk category: Read (Low risk)
- Registry record: grade D, identity unverified
- Server auth posture: open
- Server rate-limited: yes
- Parameters: 1 (1 required)
- Recommended policy verdict: Allowed

## Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `effort_id` | string | yes | Effort slug ID (e.g. "safeguard-american-voter-eligibility") |

Parameters from the server's own tool schema.

## Example call (MCP tools/call, JSON-RPC 2.0)

```json
{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "get_effort",
    "arguments": {
      "effort_id": "<effort_id>"
    }
  }
}
```

## Why get_effort is rated Low

This is a read-only retrieval operation that accesses stored government policy data (bill information, lineage, status, and news coverage). It has no side effects—it only fetches and returns existing information about legislative efforts. The data returned is public civic information with no destructive, financial, or executable capabilities.

From the tool's own definition: "Tool retrieves and queries data: 'Retrieve an effort by ID', 'the maintained plain-language answer', 'current status', 'story coverage'. No creation, modification, deletion, code execution, or financial operations are described."

## Use case

AI agents call get_effort to retrieve information from Govbase without modifying anything. It is typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.

## Recommended policy (PolicyLayer)

Verdict: **Allowed**. Enforced by the PolicyLayer MCP gateway (https://policylayer.com/mcp-gateway) before a call reaches Govbase:

```json
{
  "version": "1",
  "default": "deny",
  "tools": {
    "get_effort": {}
  }
}
```

## Other tools on Govbase (11)

- `get_member` — Read — https://policylayer.com/tools/com-govbase-govbase/get-member.md
- `get_member_vote` — Read — https://policylayer.com/tools/com-govbase-govbase/get-member-vote.md
- `get_policy` — Read — https://policylayer.com/tools/com-govbase-govbase/get-policy.md
- `get_policy_text` — Read — https://policylayer.com/tools/com-govbase-govbase/get-policy-text.md
- `get_representatives` — Read — https://policylayer.com/tools/com-govbase-govbase/get-representatives.md
- `get_stories` — Read — https://policylayer.com/tools/com-govbase-govbase/get-stories.md
- `get_story` — Read — https://policylayer.com/tools/com-govbase-govbase/get-story.md
- `get_voter_info` — Read — https://policylayer.com/tools/com-govbase-govbase/get-voter-info.md
- `resolve_effort` — Read — https://policylayer.com/tools/com-govbase-govbase/resolve-effort.md
- `search_members` — Read — https://policylayer.com/tools/com-govbase-govbase/search-members.md
- `search_policies` — Read — https://policylayer.com/tools/com-govbase-govbase/search-policies.md

## For agents

This record is a snapshot. Live verdicts and the full registry:

- Check every server in your MCP config at once: `npx -y policylayer stack`
- Vet a server before you add it: install the mcp-precheck skill — `npx skills add https://policylayer.com` (skill text: https://policylayer.com/skill.md)
- Query the registry over MCP: endpoint `https://api.policylayer.com/mcp` — tools `check_mcp_server`, `check_mcp_stack`, `check_tool`, `search_registry`, `get_change_events`

---

Source: the PolicyLayer MCP registry — one continuously verified record per MCP server. Full record: https://policylayer.com/registry?q=com-govbase-govbase · API: https://policylayer.com/registry/api · Policy library: https://policylayer.com/policies/com-govbase-govbase