Former representative · Illinois's 17th district

Cheri Bustos

Cheri Bustos served in Congress from 2013 to 2023, last as a Democratic representative for Illinois's 17th district. In the 117th Congress, 997 roll calls were held while they served; they missed 38, and cast 535 of 556 party-unity votes with the majority of their caucus.

Party
Democrat
Chamber
House
Former
In Congress since
Jan 3, 2013
Last term ended
Jan 3, 2023
Open in the Congress explorerOfficial record
Photo: Government Publishing Office (public domain)

Record by Congress

Counts with their denominators for each Congress and chamber served. Ranks are among members who served most of that Congress (100 or more roll calls): rank 1 did it most often. A description, not a grade.

CongressRoll callsMissedVotes with partySponsoredCosponsored across the aisle
117th CongressHouse of Representatives9973.8%38 of 997 · rank 55 of 44396%535 of 556 · rank 319 of 443211 became law16%49 of 314

Ideology (DW-NOMINATE)

Voteview's DW-NOMINATE first dimension estimates where members sit from all their roll calls: liberal (−1) to conservative (+1). It describes voting patterns, not views. Shown for the 117th Congress (House), with each party's median and the chamber's range.

Liberal −1−0.24+1 Conservative

Source: Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/

Votes against their party

The latest party-unity votes on bills and amendments where the member voted yea or nay against most of their caucus.

  1. H.R. 7900: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023Nay
    Jul 14, 2022· House· Amendments· On Agreeing to the Amendment· Failed 170–257· Against party
  2. H.R. 7900: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023Nay
    Jul 14, 2022· House· Amendments· On Agreeing to the Amendment· Failed 155–273· Against party
  3. H.R. 7900: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023Nay
    Jul 13, 2022· House· Amendments· On Agreeing to the Amendment· Failed 156–270· Against party
  4. H.R. 7900: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023Nay
    Jul 13, 2022· House· Amendments· On Agreeing to the Amendment· Failed 118–309· Against party
  5. H.R. 7900: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023Nay
    Jul 13, 2022· House· Amendments· On Agreeing to the Amendment· Failed 208–221· Against party
  6. H.R. 7900: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023Nay
    Jul 13, 2022· House· Amendments· On Agreeing to the Amendment· Failed 155–272· Against party
  7. H.R. 7900: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023Nay
    Jul 13, 2022· House· Amendments· On Agreeing to the Amendment· Failed 151–277· Against party
  8. H.R. 4521: United States Innovation and Competition Act of 2021Yea
    Feb 3, 2022· House· Amendments· On Agreeing to the Amendment· Agreed to 279–153· Against party

Recent votes

The latest roll calls on bills and amendments, with the member's recorded position.

  1. H.R. 2617: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023Yea
    Dec 23, 2022· House· Passage· On Motion to Concur in the Senate Adt to the House Adt to the Senate Adt· Passed 225–201
  2. H.R. 7939: Veterans Auto and Education Improvement Act of 2022Yea
    Dec 22, 2022· House· Passage· On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Concur in the Senate Amendment· Passed 380–35
  3. S. 1402: Durbin Feeling Native American Languages Act of 2022Yea
    Dec 22, 2022· House· Passage· On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass· Passed 337–79
  4. S. 989: Native American Language Resource Center Act of 2022Yea
    Dec 22, 2022· House· Passage· On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass· Passed 342–71
  5. S. 5087: A bill to amend the Not Invisible Act of 2019 to extend, and provide additional support for, the activities of the Department of the Interior and the Department of Justice Joint Commission on Reducing Violent Crime Against Indians, and for other purposes.Yea
    Dec 22, 2022· House· Passage· On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass· Passed 374–44
  6. S. 4104: Hualapai Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 2022Yea
    Dec 22, 2022· House· Passage· On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass· Passed 360–55
  7. S. 3773: A bill to authorize leases of up to 99 years for land held in trust for the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation.Yea
    Dec 22, 2022· House· Passage· On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass· Passed 377–42
  8. S. 1942: National Heritage Area ActYea
    Dec 22, 2022· House· Passage· On Passage· Passed 326–95
  9. H.R. 9640: Presidential Tax Filings and Audit Transparency Act of 2022Yea
    Dec 22, 2022· House· Passage· On Passage· Passed 222–201
  10. S. 3308: Colorado River Indian Tribes Water Resiliency Act of 2022Yea
    Dec 21, 2022· House· Passage· On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass· Passed 397–12
  11. S. 3168: A bill to amend the White Mountain Apache Tribe Water Rights Quantification Act of 2010 to modify the enforceability date for certain provisions, and for other purposes.Yea
    Dec 21, 2022· House· Passage· On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass· Passed 378–33
  12. H.R. 1917: Hazard Eligibility and Local Projects ActYea
    Dec 21, 2022· House· Passage· On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Concur in the Senate Amendment· Passed 393–19

Sponsored bills

Bills and resolutions the member introduced as sponsor in the loaded Congresses. Volume is not quality: most measures never leave committee.

21 sponsored · 1 became law

How far they got

  1. Introduced2095%
  2. Became law14.8%

Policy areas

  1. Health4
  2. Agriculture and Food2
  3. Armed Forces and National Security2
  4. Science, Technology, Communications2
  5. Commerce1
  6. Education1
  7. Energy1
  8. Finance and Financial Sector1

Latest activity

  1. H.R. 5554 No Bonuses in Bankruptcy Act of 2021
    Introduced· Finance and Financial Sector· Nov 1, 2022
  2. H.R. 9145 Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Program Act of 2022
    Introduced· Education· Oct 7, 2022
  3. H.R. 8071 All-American Flag Act
    Introduced· Government Operations and Politics· Jun 15, 2022
  4. H.R. 4445 Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021
    Became law· Law· Mar 3, 2022
  5. H.R. 6516 Neighborhood Reinvestment and Revitalization Act of 2022
    Introduced· Housing and Community Development· Jan 28, 2022
  6. H.R. 6147 Driftless Area Landscape Conservation Initiative Act
    Introduced· Agriculture and Food· Jan 4, 2022
  7. H.R. 2568 United States Cadet Nurse Corps Service Recognition Act of 2021
    Introduced· Armed Forces and National Security· Oct 20, 2021
  8. H.Res. 705 Expressing support for the designation of the week of October 17-23, 2021, as "National Chemistry Week".
    Introduced· Science, Technology, Communications· Oct 8, 2021

Committees

Seats as published by the congress-legislators project. Past seats are those no longer listed since Analisa began recording them.

No committee seats are listed.

Federal contracts in the district

Contract obligations attributed to Illinois's 17th district by each action's county and its award's ZIP code (land shares through census tracts); an estimate where ZIP codes cross district lines. Shown next to the member's record: neither explains the other.

Contract money is attributed to districts from the 118th Congress boundaries onward; this member's last district predates them.

Campaign money

What the member's campaigns reported receiving, per FEC two-year cycle, and the federal contracts of the organizations that sponsor the giving PACs (each sponsor matched to a contract recipient by AI, with its probability). Comparisons of public records: neither explains the other.

2026 cycle

Raised
$21.6K
through Jun 30, 2026
Cash on hand
$286K
From committees
$0
0 committees
From contractor PACs
$0
0 PACs · — of committee money
IndividualsPACsPartySelf

By cycle

CycleRaised (FEC summary)From committeesFrom contractor PACs
2026$21.6K$0$00 PACs · — of committee money
2024$92.9K$0$00 PACs · — of committee money
2022$332.7K$113.7K$18K7 PACs · 16% of committee money

Raised is the FEC's cumulative summary of the candidacy; committee money counts each contribution reported, so the two cover slightly different dates.

Terms

Every term in the House or Senate, as published by the congress-legislators project.

  1. House · Illinois's 17th districtJan 3, 2021 – Jan 3, 2023
  2. House · Illinois's 17th districtJan 3, 2019 – Jan 3, 2021
  3. House · Illinois's 17th districtJan 3, 2017 – Jan 3, 2019
  4. House · Illinois's 17th districtJan 6, 2015 – Jan 3, 2017
  5. House · Illinois's 17th districtJan 3, 2013 – Jan 3, 2015

Identifiers

The same member in other public records.

Sources and method

Every figure on this page traces to these records.

  • Members of Congress, their terms, committees and identifiers (The @unitedstates project (from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate))unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators, committees and current committee membership · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
  • House roll-call votes (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, roll-call vote records · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Senate roll-call votes and DW-NOMINATE scores (Voteview (UCLA Department of Political Science))Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Free to use with the required citation
  • Bill status: bills and resolutions, sponsors, actions, subjects and CRS summaries (U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), from Congress.gov (Library of Congress))GovInfo Bill Status bulk data (Congress.gov; summaries by the Congressional Research Service) · data current to Oct 8, 2026 · loaded Oct 8, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Congressional district boundaries and relationship files (U.S. Census Bureau)U.S. Census Bureau, Cartographic Boundary Files (congressional districts) and 2020 relationship files · release cd116+cd118+cd119 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Committees, candidates and committee contributions to candidates (Federal Election Commission)FEC bulk data: committee master, candidate master (candidates' names, no addresses), linkages, PAC summaries, all-candidates summaries and contributions from committees (no individual contributors) · data current to Oct 8, 2026 · loaded Oct 8, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov)USAspending.gov, prime award contract transactions (FPDS) · data current to Oct 7, 2026 · loaded Oct 7, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Positions are shown only where a roll call recorded them; voice votes and unanimous consent record none.
  • Activity counts describe volume and attendance; they are not a measure of quality.
  • Money and votes are shown side by side; neither explains the other.