search_members
Search current U.S. members of Congress by name, state, party, or chamber. Returns a list of matching members with key details.
This record as markdown: /tools/com-govbase-govbase/search-members.md
What search_members does on Govbase
AI agents call search_members 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.
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
limit | number | — | Number of results |
party | string | — | Political party |
query | string | — | Search by name |
state | string | — | Two-letter state code (e.g., "CA") |
chamber | string | — | Congressional chamber |
Parameters from the server's own tool schema.
Why search_members is rated Low
The tool queries and filters publicly available data about U.S. Congress members, returning structured results. No creation, modification, deletion, code execution, or financial operations are possible. This is a standard read/search operation on a public civic data source.
From the tool's definition Tool name contains 'search' and description states it 'Search[es]' and 'Returns a list' — retrieval-only operations with no modification capability. No side effects mentioned.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
The rule that runs search_members safely
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway: it sits between your AI agents and Govbase, and checks every tool call against a rule you set before the call runs. Nothing changes on the server itself. For search_members, this is the rule to start with:
search_members is read-only, so it stays allowed. Everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
The button opens the PolicyLayer dashboard: create your workspace, connect Govbase, apply this rule, and every search_members call is checked against it from then on.
Questions about search_members
Search current U.S. members of Congress by name, state, party, or chamber. Returns a list of matching members with key details. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Govbase MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
search_members accepts 5 parameters: limit, party, query, state, chamber. The full parameter table on this page comes from the server's own tool schema.
Register the Govbase MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for search_members: allow, deny, rate-limit, or require approval. Point your MCP client at the PolicyLayer proxy URL and the rule is enforced on every call, before it reaches Govbase. Nothing to install.
search_members is a Read tool with low risk. Read-only tools are generally safe to allow by default.
Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the search_members rule in your PolicyLayer policy. For example, setting max: 10 and window: 60 limits the tool to 10 calls per minute. Rate limits are tracked per agent session and reset automatically.
Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for search_members. The AI agent will receive a policy violation error and cannot call the tool. You can also include a reason field to explain why the tool is blocked.
search_members is provided by the Govbase MCP server (https://api.govbase.com/mcp). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
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