Bill’s Congressional Career

Bill is running to represent Illinois’ new 11th Congressional District. The district includes parts of two of Illinois’ largest cities, Aurora and Naperville. The new IL-11 is the only district in the state to include parts of all five of Chicago’s collar counties.

From March 2008 until January 2011, Bill Foster represented Illinois’ 14th Congressional District. He gained a reputation as a thoughtful member of Congress who was not afraid to take tough votes for the long-term best interests of the people he represented: the Affordable Care Act, the Economic Stimulus Package, and Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform.

THE 117th CONGRESS: 2021-2023

• Following the mob violence of January 6th, 2021, Bill was proud to cast a vote to uphold our Constitution and impeach the president who incited the mob and threatened the peaceful transition of power.
• Bill was also proud to pass overdue COVID-19 relief which helped working families make ends meet during this tragic global health emergency.
• Bill was reappointed to the House Committee on Science and Space Technology, as the chair of the Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight.
• Bill returned to the House Financial Services Committee, where he serves on the Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship, and Capital Markets, and the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions.
• Bill was reappointed the Chair of the Artificial Intelligence Task Force on the Financial Services Committee.
• Bill was reappointed to the Coronavirus Select Committee to continue oversight over the pandemic response, and to accumulate lessons learned and improve the response to future pandemics.
• Bill continued as the Democratic Co-Chair of the House Research & Redevelopment Caucus, the National Laboratories Caucus, and the Inventions Caucus.
• Bill continued his engagement with Congressional oversight of Nuclear Non-Proliferation issues, where his background as the last physicist in Congress gives him a unique perspective to evaluate technical aspects of compliance with the agreement.

THE 116th CONGRESS: 2019-2021

• The 116th Congress saw House Democrats return to the majority.
• When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Bill was appointed to the Coronavirus Select Committee to oversee the Trump Administration’s failed response, and to maintain scientific oversight over vaccine development.
• Bill was reappointed to the House Committee on Science and Space Technology, which reversed 8 years of Republican anti-science rhetoric and denial of climate change, and continued the battle against the Trump Administration’s proposed budget cuts to education and research.
• Bill was appointed the chair of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee’s Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight.
• Bill returned to the House Financial Services Committee, where he serves on the Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship, and Capital Markets and the  Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions.
• Bill was appointed the Chair of the Artificial Intelligence Task Force on the Financial Services Committee.
• Bill continued as the Democratic Co-Chair of the House Research & Development Caucus.
• Bill continued as Co-Chair of the National Laboratories Caucus, leading Congressional delegations on tours to some of America’s world-leading research facilities.
• Bill continued as the Co-Chair and Founder of the Inventions Caucus, which fights to strengthen the U.S. patent system against foreign and domestic threats.
• Bill continued his engagement with Congressional oversight of Nuclear Non-Proliferation issues, where his background as the only physicist in Congress gives him a unique perspective to evaluate technical aspects of nuclear policy.
• Bill continued as Co-Chair of the Future of Work Task Force of the New Democrat Coalition, which will continue to investigate the impact that computer automation and artificial intelligence will have on tomorrow’s workforce and economy.

THE 115th CONGRESS: 2017-2019

• Throughout the Trump Administration, Bill Foster served as the voice for science, facts, and logic in the face of an unprecedented assault on science and the rule of law.
• The 115th Congress opened with a successful effort to block Republicans’ efforts to repeal the House Ethics Reform legislation that Bill had cast the deciding vote in favor of on his very first day in Congress.
• Bill was reappointed to the House Committee on Science and Space Technology, which began by holding its first hearing on “Making the EPA Great Again.”
• Bill returned to the House Financial Services Committee. where he serves on the Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Securities, and Investment and the Subcommittee on Terrorism and Illicit Finance.
• Bill continued as the Democratic Co-Chair of the House Research & Development Caucus.
• Bill continued as the Co-Chair and Founder of the Inventions Caucus.
• Bill continued his engagement with Congressional oversight of the implementation of the Iranian Nuclear Deal and other Nuclear Non-Proliferation issues, where his background as the last physicist in Congress gives him a unique perspective to evaluate technical aspects of compliance with the agreement.
• Bill became a founding Co-Chair of the Future of Work Task Force of the New Democrat Coalition, which investigated the impact that computer automation and artificial intelligence will have on tomorrow’s workforce and economy.

THE 114th CONGRESS: 2015-2017

• Bill was appointed to the House Committee on Science and Space Technology, where he led thoughtful hearings on subjects such as human genetic engineering, and continued to oppose Republican efforts to attack the science behind climate change.
• Bill was appointed to the task force on Terrorism Financing.
• Bill returned to the House Financial Services Committee.
• Bill was selected as the Democratic Co-Chair of the House Research & Development Caucus.
• Bill was the Co-Founder of the Inventions Caucus, dedicated to preserving a robust and effective patent system in the United States.
• Bill was heavily involved in the congressional debate over the Iran nuclear deal, where his background as the only physicist in Congress made him uniquely capable of evaluating Iran’s plutonium production methods and its nuclear weapons development. Bill announced his support of the Iran Nuclear Deal at a press conference alongside Energy Secretary Ernie Moniz and Dr. Richard Garwin, designer of the first hydrogen bomb.

THE 113th CONGRESS: 2013-2015

• Bill returned to the House Financial Services Committee, where he continued to fight efforts by the Republican majority to eviscerate the Wall Street reform legislation.
• Bill served as the co-chair of the Fiscal Responsibility working group of the New Democrats – a centrist, pro-business group of over 70 members of Congress.
• Bill became a strong voice for comprehensive immigration reform and immigrants’ rights, introducing legislation and amendments to eliminate the wasteful and inhumane Detention Bed Mandate.
• Bill became a thoughtful leader on issues of financial market structures and high-frequency trading, where his background in business, financial services and high-speed electronics makes him uniquely qualified in this complex area.

THE 111th CONGRESS: 2009-2011

• This session began by responding forcefully to the economic collapse of 2008. Immediate passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) rescued the economy and triggered the economic recovery that has continued for over a decade.
• Wall Street Reform: as a member of the Financial Services committee, Bill was successful in getting 10/10 of his amendments included in the House-passed version of the financial reform bill — and 6.5 of these survived the compromise with the Senate.
• Bill voted for a historic step forward in American healthcare, helping to pass the Affordable Care Act which stopped insurance companies from declining coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.
• As a businessman who understands the value of sound financial planning, Bill advocated for fiscal reform and attacking government waste. Cognizant of the $1.4 trillion dollar price tag of manned fighter planes, Bill passed an amendment forcing the exploration of a rapid transition to unmanned drones. Modern drones cost 10x less than manned aircraft, have superior air combat characteristics, and are safer for American servicemen and servicewomen.

THE 110th CONGRESS: 2008-2009

• Within hours of being sworn in, Bill cast the deciding vote in favor of the strongest Congressional Ethics Reform bill in generations.
• Bill entered Congress midway through an 18-month economic collapse triggered by eight years of the worst economic mismanagement in our lifetimes — a collapse in which American families lost a combined $16 trillion in household net worth and the average American lost over $50,000. Serving on the Financial Services Committee, Bill was closely involved in both the emergency response to the financial crisis and the legislative policy response to make sure that this will not happen again.
• At the end of his first partial term in office, Bill was re-elected by a 15% margin — a margin of victory 6% larger than President Obama’s in the district.

THE 2008 SPECIAL ELECTION

• Bill began his political career in 2007 by challenging former Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert in one of the most famously Republican districts in the nation — a district that Hastert had gerrymandered to provide himself a safe seat in Congress.
• Hastert’s resignation halfway though his term triggered a special election that drew national interest when it became clear that scientist, businessman, and Democrat Bill Foster had a realistic shot at winning this seat. The race became a proxy for the upcoming 2008 presidential election, as Illinois Sen. Barack Obama endorsed Foster in a campaign video advertisement and presumptive Republican nominee John McCain came in to campaign for the Republican candidate Jim Oberweis. In a groundbreaking Saturday special election, volunteers poured in from all over northern Illinois.
• In what was described as “A Political Earthquake” Foster won the election by six points, 53%-47%, becoming the first Democrat to represent the district in over 60 years.