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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3Representatives wish to congratulate Congressman Bobby Lee
4Rush on his retirement from the U.S. House of Representatives;
5and
 
6    WHEREAS, Rep. Rush was born to Cora Lee and Jimmy Lee Rush
7in Albany, Georgia on November 23, 1946; he graduated from
8Marshall High School at the age of 17; he served in the U.S.
9Army from 1963 until he was honorably discharged in 1968; he
10received his Bachelor of Arts from Roosevelt University in
11Chicago in 1973; he later obtained his Master of Arts in
12Political Science from the University of Illinois at Chicago
13in 1994; he earned his Master of Arts in Theological Studies
14from the McCormick Theological Seminary in 1998 and became an
15ordained Baptist minister; and
 
16    WHEREAS, While in college, Rep. Rush became a political
17activist and soon devoted himself to Chicago's civil rights
18movement; he joined the Student Non-Violent Coordinating
19Committee (SNCC) in 1968 and soon after co-founded the
20Illinois Black Panther Party; he ran the Panther Party's Free
21Breakfast for Children program and also organized a free
22medical clinic, which developed the nation's first mass
23testing program for sickle cell anemia while simultaneously

 

 

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1raising awareness of the disease's impact on African Americans
2in Chicago; and
 
3    WHEREAS, Rep. Rush launched his political career when he
4unsuccessfully ran for alderman of Chicago's Second Ward in
51975; he later won that same seat in 1983 and continued to
6serve as an alderman until 1992; he was elected to Illinois'
7First Congressional District Seat in the U.S. House of
8Representatives in 1992; he won consecutive reelections and is
9currently serving his 15th term in Congress; he ran for Mayor
10of Chicago in 1999 but was defeated; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Rep. Rush has served as chair of the Committee on
12Energy and Commerce and co-chair of the Congressional Biotech
13Caucus; he has also served on the Subcommittee on Commerce,
14Trade, and Consumer Protection and the Subcommittee on
15Telecommunications and the Internet; and
 
16    WHEREAS, During his time in office, Rep. Rush has served
17as a member of the U.S. delegation of the North Atlantic
18Assembly and sponsored many community-based initiatives,
19including the 2008 passage of the Toy Bill, which banned lead
20in toys and boosted funding for the Consumer Product Safety
21Commission, and the 1999 passage of the Urban Asthma Reduction
22Act; he supported legislation to study postpartum depression
23and how to support people experiencing it and secured federal

 

 

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1funding for infrastructure projects like the 95th Street Red
2Line Station and upgrades to the interchange of Interstates 57
3and 294; he notably donned a hoodie on the U.S. House floor to
4protest the killing of Trayvon Martin in 2012; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Rep. Rush is the only former member of the Black
6Panther Party seated in Congress; when he defeated Barack
7Obama in the race of Illinois' First Congressional District in
82000, he became the only person to win an election against the
9former president; and
 
10    WHEREAS, Rep. Rush has announced he will retire at the end
11of this Congressional term; he plans to focus on serving as a
12pastor at the Beloved Community Church of God in Chicago;
13therefore, be it
 
14    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
15HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
16we congratulate Congressman Bobby Lee Rush on his retirement
17from the U.S. House of Representatives and commend him for his
18decades of service to the First Congressional District of the
19State of Illinois; and be it further
 
20    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
21presented to Rep. Rush as a symbol of our esteem and respect.