HR0621 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0621 LRB102 24933 ECR 34186 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives wish to congratulate Congressman Bobby Lee Rush on his retirement from the U.S. House of Representatives; and

WHEREAS, Rep. Rush was born to Cora Lee and Jimmy Lee Rush in Albany, Georgia on November 23, 1946; he graduated from Marshall High School at the age of 17; he served in the U.S. Army from 1963 until he was honorably discharged in 1968; he received his Bachelor of Arts from Roosevelt University in Chicago in 1973; he later obtained his Master of Arts in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1994; he earned his Master of Arts in Theological Studies from the McCormick Theological Seminary in 1998 and became an ordained Baptist minister; and

WHEREAS, While in college, Rep. Rush became a political activist and soon devoted himself to Chicago's civil rights movement; he joined the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1968 and soon after co-founded the Illinois Black Panther Party; he ran the Panther Party's Free Breakfast for Children program and also organized a free medical clinic, which developed the nation's first mass testing program for sickle cell anemia while simultaneously raising awareness of the disease's impact on African Americans in Chicago; and

WHEREAS, Rep. Rush launched his political career when he unsuccessfully ran for alderman of Chicago's Second Ward in 1975; he later won that same seat in 1983 and continued to serve as an alderman until 1992; he was elected to Illinois' First Congressional District Seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1992; he won consecutive reelections and is currently serving his 15th term in Congress; he ran for Mayor of Chicago in 1999 but was defeated; and

WHEREAS, Rep. Rush has served as chair of the Committee on Energy and Commerce and co-chair of the Congressional Biotech Caucus; he has also served on the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection and the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet; and

WHEREAS, During his time in office, Rep. Rush has served as a member of the U.S. delegation of the North Atlantic Assembly and sponsored many community-based initiatives, including the 2008 passage of the Toy Bill, which banned lead in toys and boosted funding for the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the 1999 passage of the Urban Asthma Reduction Act; he supported legislation to study postpartum depression and how to support people experiencing it and secured federal funding for infrastructure projects like the 95th Street Red Line Station and upgrades to the interchange of Interstates 57 and 294; he notably donned a hoodie on the U.S. House floor to protest the killing of Trayvon Martin in 2012; and

WHEREAS, Rep. Rush is the only former member of the Black Panther Party seated in Congress; when he defeated Barack Obama in the race of Illinois' First Congressional District in 2000, he became the only person to win an election against the former president; and

WHEREAS, Rep. Rush has announced he will retire at the end of this Congressional term; he plans to focus on serving as a pastor at the Beloved Community Church of God in Chicago; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate Congressman Bobby Lee Rush on his retirement from the U.S. House of Representatives and commend him for his decades of service to the First Congressional District of the State of Illinois; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Rep. Rush as a symbol of our esteem and respect.