As Cheri Bustos prepares to exit Congress, here’s a key piece of advice she has for her successor

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
Get our mobile app

ROCKFORD — After a decade in Congress, U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos offered this piece of advice to Eric Sorensen, the man who will fill her seat in Washington, D.C.

“Go home.”

“You’re out in Washington to vote, but your job is at home making sure that you learn every corner of this congressional district,” she said.

Bustos did that regularly during her five terms in the U.S. House. She held more than 1,400 events in her district during that time and went on the job with more than 120 people or companies during her Cheri On Shift series. She also regularly visited with people as they went through their weekly grocery shopping in what she called Supermarket Saturdays.

“You can never lose sight of who your bosses are and your bosses are the people at home,” Bustos said. “It’s not the speaker of the house, it’s not the president of the United States, it’s the people back home. They’re the ones who hired you for this job.”

More news: Rockford has installed its inaugural Civilian Oversight Board. Here’s a closer look at who will serve

Now, the former journalist and health care executive is preparing for life after elected office. She’s been conducting exit interviews of sorts with local news organizations to reflect on her career in Congress and highlight some of her most satisfying achievements, such as being ranked by the Congressional Management Foundation as the the top Democratic official for service to her constituents.

She has not yet outlined her next steps. We joked that after multiple interviews with news agencies across her district, she was waiting to break the news of that decision with the Rock River Current.

“If I broke the news to you it would be before anyone in my family even knows what the heck I’m doing,” she said in a phone interview last week. “I’ll probably have a portfolio of things I’ll be doing post-Congress.”

One of those things will be serving with the Council for Responsible Social Media, a cross-partisan group that works to address the negative mental and social affects of social media.

“It’s something I feel passionately about,” Bustos said. “We have a problem with disinformation. We have a problem with social media and how it impacts children and I want to be in a position where I can help get that in a better place.”

More news: First look: Harlem High School to build $16M addition for career and technical education

The 61-year-old from East Moline opted not to run for reelection this year. Instead, Sorensen, a Democrat, defeated Republican Esther Joy King Nov. 8 to succeed Bustos in Congress.

A look back at 10 years in Congress

Bustos now has less than a month left in office. Her term ends Jan. 3 as Sorensen is sworn in.

She said representing the 17th Congressional District was the greatest honor of her professional life.

“I’ve helped usher several of the most historic pieces of legislation in modern history through Congress, championed the largest investment in infrastructure our nation has seen in generations, delivered millions in federal funding to our Congressional District, created new jobs and always put the well-being of our working families front-and-center,” Bustos said.

In Rockford, she points to her efforts to secure tens of millions of dollars to help the Chicago-Rockford-International Airport grow as one of her most significant local achievements.

She also founded the Air Cargo Caucus in Congress to put a bipartisan focus on the importance of air cargo business to communities. That’s especially true in Rockford, where the airport is a major driver of economic activity.

“It was always a bragging right of mine to say that right in our congressional district we have one of the fastest-growing air cargo hubs in the world,” Bustos said.

She also pointed to her efforts to support the Family Peace Center, a one-stop location at 315 N. Main St. that provides comprehensive support survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, elder abuse and human trafficking.

“I use that as an example in so many places as not just accepting that there’s a problem, but figuring out what is the root of that problem and trying to do something about that,” she said.

More news: Pilot program in Rockford aims to empower survivors with children to leave their abuser

Bustos also takes pride in several pieces of legislation that she said benefited people across the country. Among those were a bipartisan bill to provide students year-round support through Pell Grants, legislation that offered support to widows and widowers of fallen military members, legislation that made it easier for young farmers to buy land and access U.S. Department of Agriculture loans and helping establish a pilot program to help communities address social detriments that affect health, to name a few.

But when Congress wasn’t in session, Bustos was often making her way through the expansive district, which includes portions of Rockford and northwestern and western Illinois to the Iowa border.

“We did our best to make sure people knew that we were there,” she said. “We have 150 towns in our congressional district. We have 14 counties, 7,000 square miles and the only way you can get to every place is by working very hard.”

It was that work that Bustos said helped her as a member of Congress more than anything else. From library and grocery store visits to her Cheri on Shift series, which included working on an egg farm near Rockford, processing carp with a local fisherman, driving a forklift, working in manufacturing or piloting the Zamboni at a Rockford IceHogs game.

“It really was a constant reminder of what my job was all about: people who are providing for their families or making their communities better,” she said.

Accomplishments for the Rockford area

Here’s a look at some of the biggest accomplishments that Bustos highlights in the Rockford area: 

• Secured tens of millions of dollars in federal funding for the Chicago-Rockford International Airport, including nearly $10 million to construct a third taxiway and install lighting.
• Founded the Air Cargo Caucus to allow members of Congress to collaborate with industry leaders on issues surrounding the air cargo business
• Secured $750,000 for the YMCA of Rock River Valley Youth Center, which will create programs focused on breaking the cycle of poverty and addressing social determinants of health.
• Secured $300,000 to help establish a new outpatient behavioral health care clinic at Rosecrance in Freeport.
• Secured federal funding to help open, develop and expand the Family Peace Center, which provides comprehensive services for survivors of domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault and human trafficking.
• Delivered hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding for law enforcement, health care, public transit, education, food banks, housing, brownfield cleanup and more.

By the numbers | A decade in office

Here’s a look at some of the figures Bustos’ team shared about service in her district during her tenure representing the 17th Congressional District.

120 Cheri On Shift events in which she visited different companies to experience life on the job

6,800 approximate number of constituent cases resolved

1,421 total events held throughout the district

$5.3M recovered for people in the district

436 Congressional Records entered in honor of people in the district

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas.