District 11: Rep. Bill Foster Candidate Questionnaire

DISTRICT 11, ILLINOIS — Here are the answers Rep. Bill Foster (D-IL, 11) submitted to our Patch candidate survey. Incumbent Foster is defending his seat against Rachel Ventura for the Democratic nomination in the Illinois general primary election.

Bill Foster

<b>Age (as of Election Day)</b>

64

<b>Town/City of Residence</b>

Naperville

<b>Office Sought</b>

U.S. House

<b>Party Affiliation</b>

Democratic

<b>Family</b>

Aesook Byon, Wife
Billy, Son
Christine, Daughter

<b>Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?</b>

My daughter Christine performs healthcare data analytics for the State of Massachusetts.

<b>Education</b>

BS, University of Wisconsin, PhD, Harvard University

<b>Occupation</b>

U.S. Representative, IL-11th (2013-Present), U.S. Representative, IL-14th (2008-2011), Former Particle Physicist and Businessman

<b>Campaign website</b>

www.billfoster.com

<b>Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office</b>

U.S. Representative, IL-11th (2013-Present), U.S. Representative, IL-14th (2008-2011)

<b>The single most pressing issue facing our (board, district, etc.) is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.</b>

Reforming our immigration system is very important for our district. I strongly support comprehensive immigration reform that secures our borders, improves our legal immigration system, unites families, and provides an earned path to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants who currently live in fear of deportation. I regard it as a tragedy of history that the House of Representatives was not allowed to vote on the Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill the Senate passed in 2013. I was among those Democrats who were collecting private commitments from Republicans to vote for the CIR bill, and I believe that it would have passed by more than 30 votes if we had simply been allowed to vote on it.

I support DACA and will continue to work to create a path to citizenship for the DREAMers, who came to this country through no fault of their own. The United States is the only home many of them have ever known. In my district, they are community leaders and college students who contribute greatly to our country. One of my proudest votes was in favor of the DREAM act when it first passed the House in 2010.

President Trump’s decision to rescind protections to these young people is cruel and will have a devastating impact on the lives of the nearly 800,000 young people, over 42,000 in Illinois, who have benefited from the DACA program. This decision will also greatly harm our economy. Studies have found that DREAMers add $460 billion of economic impact to our national GDP.

The opioid crisis has ravaged communities across the country, and the Eleventh District of Illinois has been no exception. I have proposed policies that would expand the availability of naloxone and improve access to medical treatment for opioid dependency. I am proud that the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Lab in my district has helped us understand how addiction changes the brain, so we can treat opioid dependency as a medical condition - not a moral failure. We can help our friends and family who struggle with dependency recover and live full and productive lives when we recognize that they need medical treatment and have policies at the federal level that help them get that treatment.

I am also committed to fighting for infrastructure funding in my district. Illinois loses $40 billion each year to other states because we pay far more in federal dollars than we get back in federal spending. Infrastructure spending is a major driver of this problem. I have introduced legislation that would change the formula for the allocation of highway funding to reflect a state’s population rather than merely carrying forward antiquated allocations, so that Illinois gets its fair share. We need to repair our roads and bridges that people use every day to get to work and school. We also need to widen I-80, a major thoroughfare for transnational shipping. This issue has become more important as Will County has developed into the largest inland port in the country.

<b>What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?</b>

I am a scientist and businessman - a combination we need more of in Congress to deal with the challenges we are facing today and the numerous technological and economic developments our country will face in the coming decades. The government should be leading the way forward with combating climate change and preparing for major economic shifts as automation and AI continue to take over large portions of the economy. As someone who created a small business and led it from early struggles to success, I understand what it takes for small businesses to succeed in our country. My background will allow me to continue being at the forefront of these discussions.

As the chair of the AI Task Force on the Financial Services Committee, I’m utilizing my unique background as the only Ph.D. physicist in Congress to deal with critical issues for the American public like data security and algorithmic racial and gender bias. My experience as a business owner also helps me understand how we can use AI to ensure small businesses have access to the capital they need to continue creating good paying jobs. This Task Force is a good example of how the government can be used to understand and proactively prepare for major economic shifts.

My background in physics also allows me to be a leader in the area of national security and nuclear nonproliferation. As the co-chair of the National Labs Caucus, I have led numerous delegation trips to our national labs to help other members of Congress understand the critical role our laboratories play in continuing the research that keeps Americans safe from current and future national security threats while also ensuring we are the leaders in technological innovation.

<b>If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community (or district or constituency)</b>

<b>Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform</b>

Health care: I believe that healthcare is a human right and that we should continue moving towards universal coverage. One of my proudest votes in Congress was for the Affordable Care Act in 2010. I support and have voted for a robust public option because he believes it is vital to provide people with a high-quality, low-cost coverage option that competes with private insurance plans. I am a proud cosponsor of H.R. 2085, the Consumer Health Options and Insurance Competition Enhancement (CHOICE) Act, to add a public option to the Affordable Care Act’s individual marketplaces.

I remain committed to strengthening the ACA and ensuring that live-saving health care is available and affordable for everyone. Specifically, this should include continuing the ACA’s Medicaid expansion by further expanding coverage and eliminating means-testing, a gradual reduction of the age of eligibility for Medicare, and reducing out-of-pocket costs by cost-reducing measures such as H.R. 3 which would, among other things, empower the Secretary of HHS to negotiate drug prices.

Climate change: As a scientist, I know that climate change is real and largely man-made. It is a real threat to our children’s future and our world’s natural beauty and resources.
As a businessman, I believe that the most important thing we can do is to invest more into research dedicated to lowering the costs of reliable and sustainable clean energy – including nuclear – and to lower the carbon footprint of existing industrial and agricultural processes. It is only by lowering their costs that we will be able to get the developing world to adopt low-carbon technologies. This is one of the reasons I support the 100% Clean Economy Act.

Unfortunately, the Trump Administration is so focused on keeping its unrealistic promises to the coal and petroleum industries that it has kept scientific truth at arm’s length and has targeted science and research for deep cuts that would put our ability to address climate change in jeopardy. Last year, President Trump issued an executive order aimed at undoing federal regulations intended to protect the environment. Perhaps most disturbing, was the decision to withdraw from the landmark Paris Climate Accords - a historic agreement by nearly 200 nations to cut down on carbon emissions and limit the rise of global temperatures.

This misguided decision on the Paris agreement represents an abdication of American leadership in the world.

<b>What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?</b>

I have proudly represented the 11th District of Illinois since 2013, and I was proud to represent the the old 14th congressional district from 2008-2011. My record as a Member of Congress is one of putting my constituents first - both in the legislation I advocate for, and the constituent services that my office provides.

I spent 24 years as a high-energy particle physicist at Fermilab in Batavia where I designed particle accelerators and was part of the team that discovered the top quark, the heaviest known form of matter. My science background has been invaluable to me as I consider the scientific and technical details of legislation proposed in Congress as well as the need for Congress to provide robust funding for scientific research and innovation.

When I was 19, I started a theater lighting business with my brother that we grew into a company that now manufactures over half of the theater lighting equipment in the United States. I am proud that the company has been able to provide over 1,000 good manufacturing jobs, and we have kept those jobs in the Midwest. The experience of starting a business and running it has given me a strong understanding of the challenges faced by small business owners and entrepreneurs, and what role government can play in supporting them as they create jobs and grow local economies.

<b>If you win this position, what accomplishment would make your term in office as a success?</b>

In Congress it can often feel like you have to take two steps forward and one step back on issues you are trying to advance. Last year I was able to work with Republican Mike Kelly from Pennsylvania to pass an amendment last summer - with a bipartisan vote - that repealed a longstanding ban on unique patient identifiers. While ultimately the ban stayed in place in the FY20 omnibus negotiated with the Senate, we did make progress with the inclusion of helpful language directing HHS to begin looking at the problem of patient matching and report their findings to Congress. If we are successful in getting the ban removed from law in the near future, it will open the door to more efficient systems to match patients to their data which would save lives and reduce health care costs.

On a broader, structural level, I have been working for several years to bring back the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) because I believe a more fact-based and rational policy discussions are the key to true bipartisan, bicameral cooperation. From 1972 to 1995 the OTA served as an independent legislative branch support agency, staffed by technical experts from various disciplines. Its mission was to provide deep technical expertise on a wide range of issues that Congress faced and for more than two decades the OTA provided relevant, unbiased technical and scientific assessments for Members of Congress and staff.

Today, the OTA would offer policy makers the tools to tackle and understand new technological developments and their impact on society. It could also help Congress use taxpayer money more efficiently, by providing feedback on what proposals would work and what programs would not work. Members of Congress need an organization that can adequately prepare good, nonpartisan policy recommendations on technical issues that affect us now and could impact us in the future. That’s why I would like to re-establish the OTA so it can provide Congress with nonpartisan reports and real-time advice on technical issues that require leadership from lawmakers, including data privacy, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity. While I’ve made progress on this priority for the past several years, it is my hope that we can get it over the finish line soon.

<b>Why should voters trust you?</b>

I am proud of my record of advocating for policies that benefit the people who call this district home including expanding health care coverage, common sense gun legislation to make our communities safer, robust funding for scientific research that is vital to combating the grave threat of climate change, legislation aimed at building an economy that works for everyone, and protections for DREAMers who have known no other home than America and deserve to know they are welcome here - just to name a few.

In my time serving in Congress, I have taken hard votes to pass important legislation - like the ACA, which was the biggest expansion of health care coverage in a generation, and the vital Wall Street reform legislation necessary to prevent another financial collapse like what happened in 2007 and 2008, and that devastated so many families, from happening again.

As a scientist, I always look at the facts when making decisions about policies. Voters can be confident that I will always leverage my unique background as a scientist to pursue policies that will help them and their families.

<b>What are your views on fiscal policy, government spending and the use of taxpayer dollars in the office you are seeking?</b>

I believe we must be good stewards of taxpayer money. One of the most beneficial things we can spend money on is research and development. For instance, Medicare and Medicaid are major contributors to our long-term budget deficits, and chronic diseases like Diabetes and Alzheimer’s will constitute more than half of that spending. Through decades of federally-funded research, we may now be at the threshold of cures for these diseases. If a low-cost cure can be found for either of these it will not only ease a great deal of human suffering, it will be transformative to the fiscal future of these essential programs.

Part of being good stewards to taxpayer money is fighting for a fair tax code that does not deliberately disadvantage states like Illinois. I opposed the Republican tax bill because it deliberately hurt Illinois and did not give relief to hard working Americans. It massively increases the deficit and debt by giving unnecessary tax breaks to billionaires and international corporations and created over two trillion dollars in new debt future taxpayers will have to repay. As a businessman, I understand that we must have a strong middle class if we want a strong economy. Too many individuals struggle with record credit card debt and student loans that leave little room to save for the future. The Republican Tax Plan has only exacerbated these problems even as the stock market sees record highs.

The Republican Tax Plan has increased government debt and has not translated into gains for Main Street businesses and hard working Americans. Both job creation and domestic business investment under President Trump are lower than they averaged during President Obama’s second term. Bank loans to Main Street businesses, which had been growing steadily during the recovery, flatlined after President Trump’s election. Benefits to the U.S. economy from the stock price bubble have been limited since a large fraction of the gains in the stock market go straight into the pockets of offshore investors. Simply put, this President and the Republican-led Congress have not represented the best interests of millions of Americans who deserve a better economy.

The Republican Tax Plan has mainly created a deficit-fueled bubble in the stock market. It’s not surprising that we would see a bubble from a corporate tax break, since the stock market valuations are a bet on future after-tax profitability. The tax bill also allowed corporations to bring back billions of dollars that were used for buybacks and dividends, rather than job-creating investments that would help hard working Americans afford better lives for their families.

<b>Is there any reason you would not serve your full term of office, other than those of health or family?</b>

No.

<b>The best advice ever shared with me was …</b>

<b>What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?</b>

The most important job I have is to listen to my constituents. That’s why beyond my work in Washington, I try and interact as much as I can with the people I represent. Over my time in Congress, I’ve hosted dozens of town halls to hear from constituents on a variety of issues - from the opioid crisis to gun violence to climate change. I have attended hundreds of community events and met with dozens of individuals and groups in my district offices to discuss a wide range of policies and concerns. This is a consistent pattern of my time in Congress because I believe the people I represent should have the ability to tell me how they feel about issues important to them and their families, and it’s something I will continue to do as long as I have the honor of serving them.