Meet Bill
Bill Foster is a Scientist and Businessman running for reelection in Illinois’ 11th Congressional District in the far suburbs of Chicago.
The 11th District spans 8 counties and includes parts of two of Illinois’ largest cities, Aurora and Naperville.
Bill’s Business Career
Before his scientific career, Bill was a successful businessman. When he was 19, Bill and his younger brother Fred started a business from scratch in their basement. Starting with $500 from their parents, they built a company that now manufactures over half of the theater lighting equipment in the United States. Their company’s equipment is used on Broadway shows, Rolling Stones tours, nationally-renowned opera houses, Super Bowl halftime shows, and at churches, schools, and community theaters throughout the country. Their company sells millions of dollars of equipment all over the world. ETC provides hundreds of good jobs – with good pay and benefits – here in the Midwest.
When he decided to run for a public office in 2007, Bill sold his interest in his company to avoid any conflicts of interest. Electronic Theatre Controls has since completed the transition to an ESOP and in now 100% owned by its 1300 employees.
Bill’s Science Career
The bottom of the picture is a computer-generated display of the Top Quark using software that Bill Foster wrote in about 1990.
For more than 25 years before being elected to represent the people of Illinois in the U.S. Congress in 2008, Bill played a leading role in several groundbreaking experiments in elementary particle physics. At Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, he managed several multi-million dollar accelerator construction and research projects, and led teams of engineers and physicists to help build the latest round of Fermilab’s giant particle accelerators. Along the way he designed and built equipment using a number of advanced technologies, including high speed electronics, superconducting magnets, analog and digital integrated circuit design, and high power electronics. Bill received several awards for these technical developments, including the 2022 Wilson Prize for Achievement in the Physics of Particle Accelerators.
The IMB Proton Decay Detector
A diver takes a swim in the IMB detector.
In 1979, Bill joined the IMB (Irvine-Michigan-Brookhaven) collaboration as one of the key members who designed, built and conducted the experiment. The IMB detector was a 60-foot cube of ultra-pure water constructed in a salt mine underneath Lake Erie. The water was surrounded by 2000 light-sensitive phototubes, designed to detect proton decay. The experiment became famous for the observation of the neutrino burst emitted by a nearby supernova (exploding star), and in 2024 it was recognized with a historical site marker by the American Physical Society.
CDF – The Collider Detector at the Fermilab Tevatron
The Collider Detector at Fermilab, being rolled out of the collision hall after the discovery of the Top Quark.
In 1984, Bill moved to Illinois to work at Fermilab, joining a globally-recognized team working on the cutting edge of particle physics. The Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF) is the first and largest detector at the Fermilab Tevatron, the world’s highest-energy particle accelerator. The goal of the experiment was to discover the identity and properties of the particles that make up the universe and to understand the forces and interactions between those particles. Bill designed and built significant parts of the original equipment, and Bill and his equipment participated in the discovery of the Top Quark, the heaviest known form of matter.
Bill’s Integrated Circuit Designs
Photograph of one of Bill’s integrated circuits.
In the early 1990s Bill led the team that designed a new type of integrated circuit (computer chip) that allowed particle physics collisions to be measured with unprecedented speed and accuracy. Bill’s design is still being used in high energy physics experiments being built today.
The silicon “chip” is about 2mm (3/32nd of an inch) in size and contains many thousands of transistors. A typical particle physics experiment will use thousands of these specialized chips.
Bill and Fermilab’s Particle Accelerators
In 1994 Bill began working on Fermilab’s giant particle accelerators. During this time he managed several multi-million dollar accelerator construction and research projects. Bill was the co-inventor of Fermilab’s Antiproton Recycler Ring, the newest of Fermilab’s giant machines. Each time Fermilab’s machines operate, the particle beams go through over 500 magnets that Bill designed.
Bill’s Congressional Career
Bill is running for reelection in Illinois’ 11th Congressional District in the far suburbs of Chicago. The newly configured district 11th District spans 8 counties and includes parts of two of Illinois’ largest cities, Aurora and Naperville.
From March 2008 until January 2011, Bill Foster represented Illinois’ 14th Congressional District. Although the district had been heavily gerrymandered by its previous occupant, Republican Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, Bill was not afraid to take tough votes: the Affordable Care Act, the Automobile Rescue, and Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform.
After taking these tough votes, Bill lost his race in the 2010 Tea Party Wave election, then fought his way back to Congress in 2012 by defeating an entrenched Republican and has represented the IL-11 district since then.
THE 118th CONGRESS: 2023-2025
Bill returned to the House Financial Services Committee, where he served as the leading Democrat on the subcommittee with oversight over Banking, Financial Institutions, and Monetary Policy. During this time Congress responded to the stress in the banking system following the failure of the Silicon Valley Bank and the FTX crypto debacle.
Bill was appointed the Speakers’ Artificial Intelligence Task Force.
Bill continued as the Democratic Co-Chair of the House Research & Redevelopment Caucus, the National Laboratories Caucus, and the Inventions Caucus.
Bill continued his engagement with Congressional oversight of Nuclear Non-Proliferation issues, where his background as the last physicist in Congress gives him a unique perspective to evaluate technical aspects of compliance with the agreement.
THE 117th CONGRESS: 2021-2023
Following the mob violence of January 6th, 2021, Bill was proud to cast a vote to uphold our Constitution and impeach the president who incited the mob and threatened the peaceful transition of power.
Bill was also proud to pass overdue COVID-19 relief which helped working families make ends meet during this tragic global health emergency.
Bill was reappointed to the House Committee on Science and Space Technology, as the chair of the Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight.
Bill returned to the House Financial Services Committee, where he serves on the Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship, and Capital Markets, and the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions.
Bill was reappointed the Chair of the Artificial Intelligence Task Force on the Financial Services Committee.
Bill was reappointed to the Coronavirus Select Committee to continue oversight over the pandemic response, and to accumulate lessons learned and improve the response to future pandemics.
Bill continued as the Democratic Co-Chair of the House Research & Redevelopment Caucus, the National Laboratories Caucus, and the Inventions Caucus.
Bill continued his engagement with Congressional oversight of Nuclear Non-Proliferation issues, where his background as the last physicist in Congress gives him a unique perspective to evaluate technical aspects of compliance with the agreement.
THE 116th CONGRESS: 2019-2021
The 116th Congress saw House Democrats return to the majority.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Bill was appointed to the Coronavirus Select Committee to oversee the Trump Administration’s failed response, and to maintain scientific oversight over vaccine development.
Bill was reappointed to the House Committee on Science and Space Technology, which reversed 8 years of Republican anti-science rhetoric and denial of climate change, and continued the battle against the Trump Administration’s proposed budget cuts to education and research.
Bill was appointed the chair of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee’s Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight.
Bill returned to the House Financial Services Committee, where he serves on the Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship, and Capital Markets and the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions.
Bill was appointed the Chair of the Artificial Intelligence Task Force on the Financial Services Committee.
Bill continued as the Democratic Co-Chair of the House Research & Development Caucus.
Bill continued as Co-Chair of the National Laboratories Caucus, leading Congressional delegations on tours to some of America’s world-leading research facilities.
Bill continued as the Co-Chair and Founder of the Inventions Caucus, which fights to strengthen the U.S. patent system against foreign and domestic threats.
Bill continued his engagement with Congressional oversight of Nuclear Non-Proliferation issues, where his background as the only physicist in Congress gives him a unique perspective to evaluate technical aspects of nuclear policy.
Bill continued as Co-Chair of the Future of Work Task Force of the New Democrat Coalition, which will continue to investigate the impact that computer automation and artificial intelligence will have on tomorrow’s workforce and economy.
THE 115th CONGRESS: 2017-2019
Throughout the Trump Administration, Bill Foster served as the voice for science, facts, and logic in the face of an unprecedented assault on science and the rule of law.
The 115th Congress opened with a successful effort to block Republicans’ efforts to repeal the House Ethics Reform legislation that Bill had cast the deciding vote in favor of on his very first day in Congress.
Bill was reappointed to the House Committee on Science and Space Technology, which began by holding its first hearing on “Making the EPA Great Again.”
Bill returned to the House Financial Services Committee. where he serves on the Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Securities, and Investment and the Subcommittee on Terrorism and Illicit Finance.
Bill continued as the Democratic Co-Chair of the House Research & Development Caucus.
Bill continued as the Co-Chair and Founder of the Inventions Caucus.
Bill continued his engagement with Congressional oversight of the implementation of the Iranian Nuclear Deal and other Nuclear Non-Proliferation issues, where his background as the last physicist in Congress gives him a unique perspective to evaluate technical aspects of compliance with the agreement.
Bill became a founding Co-Chair of the Future of Work Task Force of the New Democrat Coalition, which investigated the impact that computer automation and artificial intelligence will have on tomorrow’s workforce and economy.
THE 114th CONGRESS: 2015-2017
Bill was appointed to the House Committee on Science and Space Technology, where he led thoughtful hearings on subjects such as human genetic engineering, and continued to oppose Republican efforts to attack the science behind climate change.
Bill was appointed to the task force on Terrorism Financing.
Bill returned to the House Financial Services Committee.
Bill was selected as the Democratic Co-Chair of the House Research & Development Caucus.
Bill was the Co-Founder of the Inventions Caucus, dedicated to preserving a robust and effective patent system in the United States.
Bill was heavily involved in the congressional debate over the Iran nuclear deal, where his background as the only physicist in Congress made him uniquely capable of evaluating Iran’s plutonium production methods and its nuclear weapons development. Bill announced his support of the Iran Nuclear Deal at a press conference alongside Energy Secretary Ernie Moniz and Dr. Richard Garwin, designer of the first hydrogen bomb.
THE 113th CONGRESS: 2013-2015
Bill returned to the House Financial Services Committee, where he continued to fight efforts by the Republican majority to eviscerate the Wall Street reform legislation.
Bill served as the co-chair of the Fiscal Responsibility working group of the New Democrats – a centrist, pro-business group of over 70 members of Congress.
Bill became a strong voice for comprehensive immigration reform and immigrants’ rights, introducing legislation and amendments to eliminate the wasteful and inhumane Detention Bed Mandate.
Bill became a thoughtful leader on issues of financial market structures and high-frequency trading, where his background in business, financial services and high-speed electronics makes him uniquely qualified in this complex area.
THE 111th CONGRESS: 2009-2011
This session began by responding forcefully to the economic collapse of 2008. Immediate passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) rescued the economy and triggered the economic recovery that has continued for over a decade.
Wall Street Reform: as a member of the Financial Services committee, Bill was successful in getting 10/10 of his amendments included in the House-passed version of the financial reform bill — and 6.5 of these survived the compromise with the Senate.
Bill voted for a historic step forward in American healthcare, helping to pass the Affordable Care Act which stopped insurance companies from declining coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.
As a businessman who understands the value of sound financial planning, Bill advocated for fiscal reform and attacking government waste. Cognizant of the $1.4 trillion dollar price tag of manned fighter planes, Bill passed an amendment forcing the exploration of a rapid transition to unmanned drones. Modern drones cost 10x less than manned aircraft, have superior air combat characteristics, and are safer for American servicemen and servicewomen.
THE 110th CONGRESS: 2008-2009
Within hours of being sworn in, Bill cast the deciding vote in favor of the strongest Congressional Ethics Reform bill in generations.
Bill entered Congress midway through an 18-month economic collapse triggered by eight years of the worst economic mismanagement in our lifetimes — a collapse in which American families lost a combined $16 trillion in household net worth and the average American lost over $50,000. Serving on the Financial Services Committee, Bill was closely involved in both the emergency response to the financial crisis and the legislative policy response to make sure that this will not happen again.
At the end of his first partial term in office, Bill was re-elected by a 15% margin — a margin of victory 6% larger than President Obama’s in the district.
THE 2008 SPECIAL ELECTION
Bill began his political career in 2007 by challenging former Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert in one of the most famously Republican districts in the nation — a district that Hastert had gerrymandered to provide himself a safe seat in Congress.
Hastert’s resignation halfway though his term triggered a special election that drew national interest when it became clear that scientist, businessman, and Democrat Bill Foster had a realistic shot at winning this seat. The race became a proxy for the upcoming 2008 presidential election, as Illinois Sen. Barack Obama endorsed Foster in a campaign video advertisement and presumptive Republican nominee John McCain came in to campaign for the Republican candidate Jim Oberweis. In a groundbreaking Saturday special election, volunteers poured in from all over northern Illinois.
In what was described as “A Political Earthquake” Foster won the election by six points, 53%-47%, becoming the first Democrat to represent the district in over 60 years.
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives write and vote on federal laws, including the federal budget. Each represents one district and serves a two-year term. Tax bills must start in the House, only the House can impeach federal officials, and members oversee federal agencies through their committees.