I have a script that pulls json data from an api, and I want it to then after pulling said data, decode and pick which tags to store into a db. Right now I just need to get the script to return specific called upon values. this is what the script looks like, before me trying to decode it.

import requests
def call():
payload = {'apikey':'945e8e8499474b7e8d2bc17d87191bce', 'zip' : '47120'}
bas_url = 'http://congress.api.sunlightfoundation.com/legislators/locate'
r = requests.get(bas_url, params = payload)
grab = r.json()
return grab

'results': [{'twitter_id': 'RepToddYoung', 'ocd_id':'ocd-division/country:us/state:in/cd:9', 'oc_email':'[email protected]', 'middle_name': 'C.', 'votesmart_id':120345, 'first_name': 'Todd', 'youtube_id': 'RepToddYoung','last_name': 'Young', 'bioguide_id': 'Y000064', 'district': 9,'nickname': None, 'office': '1007 Longworth House Office Building','term_start': '2015-01-06', 'thomas_id': '02019', 'party': 'R','in_office': True, 'title': 'Rep', 'govtrack_id': '412428', 'crp_id':'N00030670', 'term_end': '2017-01-03', 'chamber': 'house','state_name': 'Indiana', 'fax': '202-226-6866', 'phone':'202-225-5315', 'gender': 'M', 'fec_ids': ['H0IN09070'], 'state':'IN', 'website': 'http://toddyoung.house.gov', 'name_suffix': None,'icpsr_id': 21133, 'facebook_id': '186203844738421', 'contact_form':'https://toddyoungforms.house.gov/give-me-your-opinion', 'birthday':'1972-08-24'}, {'twitter_id': 'SenDonnelly', 'ocd_id':'ocd-division/country:us/state:in', 'oc_email':'[email protected]', 'middle_name': None, 'lis_id':'S356', 'first_name': 'Joe', 'youtube_id': 'sendonnelly', 'last_name':'Donnelly', 'bioguide_id': 'D000607', 'district': None, 'nickname':None, 'office': '720 Hart Senate Office Building', 'state_rank':'junior', 'thomas_id': '01850', 'term_start': '2013-01-03', 'party':'D', 'in_office': True, 'title': 'Sen', 'govtrack_id': '412205','crp_id': 'N00026586', 'term_end': '2019-01-03', 'chamber': 'senate','state_name': 'Indiana', 'fax': '202-225-6798', 'phone':'202-224-4814', 'gender': 'M', 'senate_class': 1, 'fec_ids':['H4IN02101', 'S2IN00091'], 'state': 'IN', 'votesmart_id': 34212,'website': 'http://www.donnelly.senate.gov', 'name_suffix': None,'icpsr_id': 20717, 'facebook_id': '168059529893610', 'contact_form':'http://www.donnelly.senate.gov/contact/email-joe', 'birthday':'1955-09-28'}, {'twitter_id': 'SenDanCoats', 'ocd_id':'ocd-division/country:us/state:in', 'oc_email':'[email protected]', 'middle_name': 'Ray', 'lis_id': 'S212','first_name': 'Daniel', 'youtube_id': 'SenatorCoats', 'last_name':'Coats', 'bioguide_id': 'C000542', 'district': None, 'nickname': None,'office': '493 Russell Senate Office Building', 'state_rank':'senior', 'thomas_id': '00209', 'term_start': '2011-01-05', 'party':'R', 'in_office': True, 'title': 'Sen', 'govtrack_id': '402675','crp_id': 'N00003845', 'term_end': '2017-01-03', 'chamber': 'senate','state_name': 'Indiana', 'fax': '202-228-1820', 'phone':'202-224-5623', 'gender': 'M', 'senate_class': 3, 'fec_ids':['S0IN00053'], 'state': 'IN', 'votesmart_id': 53291, 'website':'http://www.coats.senate.gov', 'name_suffix': None, 'icpsr_id': 14806,'facebook_id': '180671148633644', 'contact_form':'http://www.coats.senate.gov/contact/', 'birthday': '1943-05-16'}]}

thats the json data returned, i want to specifically call upon IE {'twitter_id': 'RepToddYoung'}, or {'first_name': 'Todd'}

Instead of my script returning the entire json file that it retrieves

Look at the data structure that you are getting back. It's a dictionary that contains a list of dictionaries. You can access the list using the 'results' key:

l = r.json()['results']

From there the dictionary containing the item you are after is the first item of the list, so:

d = l[0]

And the specific values can be retrieved from the dictionary:

print(d['twitter_id'])
print(d['first_name'])

You can simplify that to this:

r.json()['results'][0]['twitter_id']
r.json()['results'][0]['first_name']

Probably you will want to iterate over the list:

for d in r.json()['results']:print('{first_name} {last_name}: {twitter_id}'.format(**d))

which will output:

Todd Young: RepToddYoung
Joe Donnelly: SenDonnelly
Daniel Coats: SenDanCoats