![Photo of Rep. Bill Foster [D-IL11]](/static/legislator-photos/412257-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2019 Report Card for Foster.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Foster is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the House of Representatives positioned according to our liberal–conservative ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills Foster has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 6, 2015 to May 22, 2020. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Committee Membership
Bill Foster sits on the following committees:
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House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
- Investigations and Oversight subcommittee Chair
Energy, Research and Technology subcommittees - House Committee on Financial Services
Enacted Legislation
Foster was the primary sponsor of 3 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 5789: To amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to provide for Medicaid coverage protections for pregnant and post-partum women while receiving inpatient treatment for a substance use ...
- H.R. 4960 (114th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 525 N Broadway in Aurora, Illinois, as the “Kenneth M. Christy Post Office Building”.
- H.R. 5278 (111th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 405 West Second Street in Dixon, Illinois, as the “President Ronald W. Reagan Post Office ...
Does 3 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.
We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
Foster sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Health (20%) Education (20%) Science, Technology, Communications (18%) Finance and Financial Sector (14%) Armed Forces and National Security (10%) Immigration (8%) International Affairs (6%) Transportation and Public Works (4%)
Recent Bills
Some of Foster’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.R. 6755: PPP Small Business Support Act
- H.Res. 942: Expressing support for designation of the third Friday of every March, as “National ...
- H.R. 6596: To realign the nuclear forensics and attribution activities of the Federal Government from ...
- H.R. 6534: Closing the Digital Divide for Students Act of 2020
- H.R. 5976: P3 Act
- H.R. 5929: Shareholder Political Transparency Act of 2020
- H.Res. 852: Expressing support for the designation of the first Saturday of every January as ...
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Mar 2008 to May 2020, Foster missed 74 of 6,779 roll call votes, which is 1.1%. This is better than the median of 2.2% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses and major life events.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
