Rush is the representative for Illinois’s 1st congressional district (view map) and is a Democrat. He has served since Jan 5, 1993. Rush is next up for reelection in 2020.
Alleged misconduct & resolution
In 2014 Rush was investigated for allowing state and federal campaign committees to accept in-kind contributions. With publication of its report, the House Committee on Ethics reproved Rush for accepting a gift of rent-free office space even if it did not amount to a campaign contribution and ordered him to repay the value of the gift.
| Jun. 10, 2014 | House Office of Congressional Ethics referred the case to the House Committee on Ethics |
| Nov. 10, 2014 | House Committee on Ethics published the Office of Congressional Ethics Report and Findings and the member's response. |
| Mar. 22, 2018 | House Committee on Ethics with publication of its report, the committee reproved the member for accepting a gift of rent-free office space even if it did not amount to a campaign contribution and ordered him to repay the value of the gift. |
![Photo of Rep. Bobby Rush [D-IL1]](/static/legislator-photos/400350-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2018 Report Card for Rush.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Rush 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 Rush has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 6, 2015 to Jul 17, 2019. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Committee Membership
Bobby Rush sits on the following committees:
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House Committee on Energy and Commerce
- Chair, Subcommittee on Energy
- Member, Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce
- Member, Subcommittee on Health
Enacted Legislation
Rush was the primary sponsor of 6 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 6496 (111th): To require reports on the management of Arlington National Cemetery.
- H.R. 4040 (110th): Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008
- H.R. 1285 (109th): Nursing Relief for Disadvantaged Areas Reauthorization Act of 2005
- H.R. 3340 (108th): To redesignate the facilities of the United States Postal Service located at 7715 and 7748 S. Cottage Grove Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, as the “James E. Worsham ...
- H.R. 3909 (106th): A bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 4601 South Cottage Grove Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, as the “Henry W. McGee ...
- H.R. 441 (106th): Nursing Relief for Disadvantaged Areas Act of 1999
Does 6 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
Rush sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Crime and Law Enforcement (21%) Commerce (17%) Health (17%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (10%) Science, Technology, Communications (10%) Environmental Protection (10%) Energy (8%) International Affairs (6%)
Recent Bills
Some of Rush’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.R. 3637: Allied Health Workforce Diversity Act of 2019
- H.R. 3534: USPSTF Transparency and Accountability Act of 2019
- H.R. 3432: Safer Pipelines Act of 2019
- H.R. 2434: PAGE Act
- H.R. 2404: United States-Cuba Relations Normalization Act
- H.R. 2155: Genetic Information Privacy Act of 2019
- H.R. 2114: Enhancing State Energy Security Planning and Emergency Preparedness Act of 2019
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 1993 to Jul 2019, Rush missed 2,889 of 17,665 roll call votes, which is 16.4%. This is much worse than the median of 2.1% 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
