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Judy Biggert
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U.S. House
Representative
Illinois - 13th District |
A lifelong Illinois resident, Judy Biggert combines a wealth of experience as a
legislator, lawyer, community leader, and small business owner to serve the
suburban Chicago residents of Illinois’ 13th District in the US House of
Representatives.
As the only member of the Illinois delegation on the Education and Workforce
Committee during the 107th Congress, Judy worked to help craft President George
W. Bush’s sweeping education reform law, which included her bill to nearly
double annual funding for homeless education programs. As co-Chair of the
Congressional Caucus on Women’s Issues, Judy worked to improve funding for
women’s health research, victims of dating violence and child care for low
income families. In 2001, she introduced legislation that expands legal
assistance for victims of domestic violence and worked with the Bush
Administration to pass a bill that fast-tracked money to Afghan women and
children for their basic health and educational needs.
In the 108th Congress, Judy is a member of seven subcommittees and four full
committees, including Education and the Workforce, Financial Services, Science,
and Standards of Official Conduct. She serves as chairman of the Science
Subcommittee on Energy, vice chair of the Education Subcommittee on Workforce
Protections, vice chair of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Domestic and
International Monitary Policy, Trade and Technology and she is a member of the
Speaker’s Working Group for a Drug Free America and the Bipartisan Working Group
on Youth Violence.
On the Financial Services Committee, she helped write legislation last year that
reforms the accounting and auditing industries in the wake of the Enron and
Anderson scandals. As a member of the Committee on Science, Judy has helped
strengthen our country’s basic science research facilities, including Argonne
National Laboratory, located in her congressional district. She also wrote
legislation, now law, to increase funding for the training of math and science
teachers.
Cited by Glamour as one of the "New Female Power Players" and by Fortune as one
of "The Picks of Congress' New Litter," Judy met and matched expectations.
Shortly after her election, she was selected as the only Member-Elect to serve
on the Congressional Delegation to the White House Conference on Social
Security. Judy was also the only freshman Member of Congress to be named
Vice-Chair of two subcommittees. During her first term in office, two of her
initiatives became law: the Cybertipline legislation made it easier to report
and track down computer-based sex crimes against children, and the other was a
bill that led to increased penalties for traffickers of club drugs such as
Ecstasy.
Judy began her legislative career in 1992 when she was elected to the Illinois
House of Representatives to serve the newly created 81st District. She became
the first state representative in the 20th century to be named to leadership
after serving only one term. She was reelected in 1994 and 1996.
While in the Illinois General Assembly, Judy’s work on state economic
initiatives, such as tort reform, property tax cuts, and balanced budgets
without tax increases earned her top ratings from the Illinois Chamber of
Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB). For her
work to protect the children and families of Illinois, she was named “Woman of
the Year” in Government, Politics and Civic Affairs by the DuPage YWCA in 1996
and was inducted into the Hinsdale Central High School Hall of Fame in 1997 for
her leadership in education.
A lifetime of community service prepared Judy for the challenges of public
office. She served for four years as Chairman of the Village of Hinsdale Plan
Commission and for four years as a member of the Steering Committee of the
Hinsdale Citizens for Property Tax Accountability. She has served as Chairman of
the Hinsdale Assembly of the Hinsdale Hospital, Chairman of the Hinsdale
Antiques Show, and as member of the Board of Directors of Salt Creek Ballet. She
served for eight years as a Sunday School teacher, two years as an Assistant
Soccer Coach in the American Youth Soccer Organization, and for two terms as
President of the Oak School PTA.
She’s a former School Board President of Hinsdale Township High School District
86, Chairman of the Visiting Nurses Association of Chicago and a former
President of the Junior League of Chicago. She has served as President of the
Chicago Junior Board of the Traveler’s Aid Society.
A graduate of Stanford University and Northwestern University School of Law,
Judy began her legal career as clerk to the Honorable Luther M. Swygert, U.S.
Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. While raising her four children, Judy ran
a home-based private law practice specializing in real estate, estate planning
and probate law. She is a member of the American Bar Association, the Illinois
State Bar Association, the DuPage Bar Association, and the DuPage Association of
Women Lawyers.
Judy was born in Chicago on August 15, 1937 and attended New Trier High School
in Winnetka, Illinois. She and her husband Rody are the proud parents of
Courtney Caverly, Alison Cabot, Rody Biggert, and Adrienne Morrell, and the
proud grandparents of Martin Bray, Gillian and Grant Patterson Caverly, and John
Henry and Matthew Cabot. Judy and Rody live in their 137-year-old home in
Hinsdale, Illinois.
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