Your turn: What we accomplished together
As I cleaned out my office, I came across an old, coffee-stained piece of paper with a list of goals I wrote 10 years ago when I first came to Washington. It’s a window into what I was thinking as I prepared to serve northern, northwest and central Illinois in Congress.
Among those goals:
Building an exceptional constituent service program.
Securing federal funding to support local projects.
Developing innovative and practical solutions to the real problems we face every day.
Reading it, I realized I never lost sight of what I came to Washington to do.
In one of my proudest moments, my team was honored for having the best constituent service program of any Democrat in Congress. And we have the results to back it up — with more than 6,800 cases closed and more than $5.3 million returned directly to our residents.
This past year, I was the top House Democrat to secure federal community project funding — bringing home more than $55 million to improve our communities. Among those investments were $750,000 for the YMCA of Rock River Valley to open a new youth center and $300,000 to help Rosecrance establish a new outpatient clinic in Freeport.
And I’ve championed commonsense, bipartisan legislation throughout my decade in office – with real results. During my time in Congress, more than two-thirds of the bills I introduced had support from both Republicans and Democrats. That includes legislation signed into law to provide year-round Pell Grants to students, cut government waste, protect our roadside first responders and restore the rights of sexual assault and sexual harassment survivors to seek justice and speak out.
Each of these accomplishments is a reminder of who I’ve always looked out for.
More:Your turn: Inflation Reduction Act brings down costs for Illinois families
Our family farmers, and the nearly 10,000 family farms that I represent, are the reason I have served on the House Agriculture Committee every year since I’ve been in Congress, where I worked to pass two farm bills and prepare for a third.
Our 90,000 labor households are why I focused on creating and sustaining more good-paying union jobs. During the last 10 years, I helped pass two highway bills and worked to secure tens of millions in federal funding for the Chicago Rockford International Airport, including nearly $10 million to construct a third taxiway.
And the working men and women I met during 120 Cheri-on-Shifts and every Supermarket Saturday, who shared the struggles they face and gave me a roadmap of what I needed to tackle in Washington.
But despite these successes, the story of my time in office hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows. In the last 10 years, our Congress and our country have faced enormous challenges.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, my team and I did everything possible to support the health and well-being of communities in northwest, northern and central Illinois.
That meant working to pass the CARES Act and American Rescue Plan to provide relief to families and small businesses, as well as bring desperately-needed resources to our cities and towns. And it meant passing a bipartisan, once-in-a-generation investment in infrastructure to rebuild our communities and our economy.
When a violent mob attacked the nation’s Capitol on Jan. 6, our country faced one of its darkest days. We saw Capitol Police officers beaten, our nation’s symbol of democracy desecrated and a disruption to centuries of the peaceful transition of power.
I was on the House Floor that day — but my colleagues and I were determined to return to the Capitol and certify the results of the election. Whatever challenges lie ahead for our nation, I believe that Americans will always stand up for democracy.
As my decade of service comes to a close, I’ve thought a lot about what we’ve accomplished together, and the legacy I’ll leave behind. No matter what obstacles came our way, I always focused on working hard and serving our communities with dignity and honor. I’m hopeful that future generations of leaders will carry that torch forward.
Thank you for putting your faith in me during the past decade and allowing me to be your voice in Washington. Serving you has been the honor of my professional lifetime.
Former Congresswoman Cheri Bustos represented the 17th Congressional District of Illinois, spanning the Quad Cities, Rockford and Peoria, and the many communities in between. Bustos served five terms as a U.S. Representative.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Your turn: What we accomplished together
