# search_members

Search current U.S. members of Congress by name, state, party, or chamber. Returns a list of matching members with key details.

Agent View of the PolicyLayer registry record for `search_members`. HTML page: https://policylayer.com/tools/com-govbase-govbase/search-members

## Facts

- Tool: `search_members`
- 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: 5
- Recommended policy verdict: Allowed

## Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `limit` | number | no | Number of results |
| `party` | string | no | Political party |
| `query` | string | no | Search by name |
| `state` | string | no | Two-letter state code (e.g., "CA") |
| `chamber` | string | no | Congressional chamber |

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": "search_members",
    "arguments": {}
  }
}
```

## 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 own 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."

## Use case

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.

## 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": {
    "search_members": {}
  }
}
```

## Other tools on Govbase (11)

- `get_effort` — Read — https://policylayer.com/tools/com-govbase-govbase/get-effort.md
- `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_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