Congressman Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. Representing the People of the 2nd District of Illinois
 

Washington DC Office
2419 Rayburn House Office
Building

Washington DC 20515-1302
Phone: (202) 225-0773
Fax: (202) 225-0899

Homewood Office
17926 South Halsted
Homewood, IL 60430-2013
Phone: (708) 798-6000
Fax: (708) 798-6160
 
Chicago Office
7121 S. Yates Blvd.
Chicago, IL 60649
Phone: (773) 734-9660
Fax: (773) 734-9661
 

Accomplishments

Committed to the People of the 2nd Congressional District of Illinois

  • Since Congressman Jackson was elected in 1995, he has helped vital community organizations and cash-strapped local government agencies secure almost $600 million dollars in federal grants and appropriations. Priority projects include senior housing, community centers, mass transit improvements, flood abatement, and health care centers.
  • One project was bringing fresh drinking water to Ford Heights, Illinois. For years, the impoverished community was plagued by rust-colored, foul-smelling tap water, which residents used every day to cook, bathe, brush teeth, and wash clothes. On July 21, 2001, the new Ford Heights water tower was dedicated. During the ceremony, Jackson said, “The fresh water from Lake Michigan brings unbridled new hope to all residents. It brings unprecedented new opportunity for a safer, more comfortable lifestyle. It brings the new purity of a clean home and body and spirit. And it brings Ford Heights up to a basic standard of decency we expect and deserve as Americans.”
  • As the leading proponent for building a third airport to serve metro Chicago, Congressman Jackson created an innovative public-private partnership that would use private money to build a public airport. The “Abraham Lincoln National Airport” is designed to attract low-cost carriers and offers revenue-sharing of airport profits with local municipalities.
  • He has also led efforts to redevelop a shuttered steel mill into a 570-acre commercial and residential development along Chicago’s Lake Michigan shoreline. The project at a former USX site is sparking a resurrection of Chicago’s South Side.

Dedicated to Ending Health Disparities

  • In 2001, Congressman Jackson coordinated the passage of legislation that created the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This law has resulted in almost $1.5 billion in federal health care research to resolve the health disparities facing minority and underserved populations, and has been hailed by many minority health experts as the most important civil rights legislation since the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
  • He also secured funding for the Institute of Medicine’s 2002 report on the impact of health disparities and ways to address them, Unequal Treatment.
  • When Unequal Treatment was released, Jackson said, “Congress can be very instrumental in increasing the number of represented minorities in the health professions, promoting cultural competency training in all health professions education, expanding biomedical research on health status disparities, and strengthening patient protections for all Americans enrolled in managed care plans. I believe every American has the right to health care of equal high quality. To get there we must end unequal treatment, and heal hearts that continue to see patients as colors, not fellow human beings in need.”
  • More on health.

Emphasizes the Continuing Importance of Our Nation’s History

  • Passed legislation requiring Civil War Battlefields operated by the National Park Service to incorporate the impact of slavery into park presentations.
  • Passed legislation to have a statue honoring Civil Rights icon Rosa Parks erected in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall.
  • Congressman Jackson has served as a member of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission since 2003, and as a member of the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government’s Institute of Politics Senior Advisory Board since 2000.
  • Co-sponsored legislation naming the main hall of the new U.S. Capitol Visitors Center “Emancipation Hall.”
  • “An Emancipation Hall will remind every American — and everyone from around the world who visits the United States Capitol — that we are ALL prayerfully thankful for our hard-fought liberty, we WILL complete our magnificent story of freedom and democracy, and we APPRECIATE the hope that we represent. To again quote Mr. Lincoln, ‘It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.’ Jackson said.

Leads Efforts to Provide Vital International Aid

  • Congressman Jackson secures hundreds of millions of dollars annually to accomplish both his domestic and foreign policy agenda. For example: 1) increasing the Minority HIV/AIDS Initiative from $166 million in FY 1999 to over $450 million in FY 2006; 2) directing almost half a billion dollars in community development, infrastructure, job training, health care and education funding to his district and surrounding areas; and 3) restoring funding for development assistance, healthcare, refugee assistance, and peacekeeping operations to meet his goals for Sub-Saharan Africa.
  • Secured $500 million in the FY 2005 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill for food, refugee and, humanitarian aid and peacekeeping operations in the Darfur region of Sudan and $50 million in the FY2006 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill for infrastructure needs and civil services in Liberia.
  • He has passed legislative provisions 1) eliminating user fees for health care and education in developing countries receiving World Bank and International Monetary Fund loans, and 2) prohibiting the International Monetary Fund from proscribing limits on government spending for public health care and basic education.
  • “No matter what needs we have here at home,” Jackson said, “Americans have a long history of generosity to those in need wherever they may be. I am humbled by the opportunity to share our blessings with those around the world that struggle to live with HIV/AIDS, unsafe water and the ravages of war.”

Author

  • Congressman Jackson co-authored A More Perfect Union: Advancing New American Rights (2001) with Frank E. Watkins
  • Co-authored Legal Lynching II (2001), It’s About the Money (1999) and Legal Lynching (1996) with the Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.

Honors

Federal Grant Awards Secured

110th Congress, 1st Session (January 2007 - September 24, 2007) $17,802,000
109th Congress, 2nd Session (January 2006 - December 2006) $14,494,700
109th Congress, 1st Session (January 2005 - December 2005) $75,501,200
108th Congress, 2nd Session (January 2004 - December 2004) $80,751,000
108th Congress, 1st Session (January 2003 - December 2003) $70,042,300
107th Congress, 2nd Session (January 2002 - December 2002) $77,391,600
107th Congress, 1st Session (January 2001 - December 2001) $40,422,000
106th Congress, 2nd Session (January 2000 - December 2000) $30,715,241
106th Congress, 1st Session (January 1999 - December 1999) $34,580,800
105th Congress, 2nd Session (January 1998 - December 1998) $27,629,500
105th Congress, 1st Session (January 1997 - December 1997) $34,201,700
104th Congress, 2nd Session (January 1996 - December 1996) $18,000,000
Grand Total (as of 9/24/07) $521,802,041

For additional information, see Congressman Jackson’s Appropriations/Funding page.