skip to main content

 
Rep. Cheri Bustos

Former Representative for Illinois’s 17th District

pronounced SHEH-ree // BOOSS-tohss


Bustos was the representative for Illinois’s 17th congressional district and was a Democrat. She served from 2013 to 2022.

Photo of Rep. Cheri Bustos [D-IL17, 2013-2022]

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2022 Report Card for Bustos.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Bustos is shown as a purple triangle in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2022 positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).

The chart is based on the bills Bustos sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2017 to Dec 27, 2022. See full analysis methodology.

Enacted Legislation

Bustos was the primary sponsor of 11 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

View All »

Does 11 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

Bustos sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:

Health (23%) Armed Forces and National Security (19%) Government Operations and Politics (16%) Agriculture and Food (14%) Law (9%) Transportation and Public Works (7%) Social Welfare (7%) Finance and Financial Sector (5%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Bustos recently introduced the following legislation:

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

Voting Record

Key Votes

Bustos voted Yea

Bustos voted Nay

Passed 228/164 on Dec 4, 2020.

Bustos voted Aye

Passed 242/176 on Jul 25, 2018.

H.R. 6311 expands access and use of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and lowers premiums on health care plans. A section-by-section of the bill is below: …

Bustos voted Aye

Passed 258/165 on Sep 27, 2016.

Under the Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as Obamacare, a number of Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans — or non-profit marketplaces to provide individuals …

Bustos voted Aye

Passed 242/161 on Feb 26, 2016.

Bustos voted Aye

Passed 247/178 on Jun 16, 2015.

The Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (IAA), H.R. 2596, was passed by the House on June 16. The IAA would authorize funding for …

Bustos voted Yea

Passed 338/88 on May 13, 2015.

The USA Freedom Act (H.R. 2048, Pub.L. 114–23) is a U.S. law enacted on June 2, 2015 that restored in modified form several provisions of …

Bustos voted Yea

Passed 219/206 on Dec 11, 2014.

This bill became the vehicle for passage of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 [pdf], which was approved by the House on December …

Bustos voted Aye

Bustos voted Yea

Missed Votes

From Jan 2013 to Dec 2022, Bustos missed 84 of 5,691 roll call votes, which is 1.5%. This is on par with the median of 2.0% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Dec 2022. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.

Show the numbers...

Primary Sources

The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including: