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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 Republican member of the Illinois delegation on the Education and Workforce Committee, Judy worked to help craft the No Child Left Behind Act, which included her bill to nearly double annual funding for homeless education programs. She is the sponsor of legislation to promote financial literacy among our youth and she wrote legislation, now law, to increase funding for the training of math and science teachers.
As Co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Women's Issues during the 107th Congress, Judy worked to improve funding for women's health research, victims of dating violence and child care assistance 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 109th Congress, Judy is a member of four committees -- Education and the Workforce, Financial Services, Science, and Standards of Official Conduct – and of seven subcommittees. 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 Monetary Policy, Trade and Technology.
In addition, Judy serves as a member of: the Education Subcommittee on Education Reform; the Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Entities and Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit; and on the Science Subcommittee on Research. 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 the Sarbanes Oxley legislation that reformed the accounting and auditing industries in the wake of the Enron and Anderson scandals.
As a member of the Committee on Science and Chairman of the Energy Subcommittee, Judy has helped strengthen our country's basic science research facilities, including Argonne National Laboratory, located in her congressional district.
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 in 1998, 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 another bill that 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 member of the Illinois House in the 20th century to be named to leadership after serving only one term. She was reelected in 1994 and 1996.
While serving 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, Matthew, and Ethan Cabot. Judy and Rody live in their 138-year-old home in Hinsdale, Illinois.
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