Name: Bushra Amiwala

What office are you seeking: Congress, IL-09

What is your current age? 28

Occupation and employer: Solutions Consultant at Google from 2020-2025

What offices, if any, have you previously held? Skokie District 73.5 Board Member since 2018

City: Skokie, IL

Campaign website: bushraforcongress.com

Education: BA, DePaul University

MBA, Northwestern University

Community involvement: My community work spans decades—from volunteering with A Just Harvest, RefugeeOne, Northside Power and Starfish Learning, to leading ICE Rapid Response Trainings in partnership with ICIRR and Niles Township. I am a proud member of the Muslim Community Center, an interfaith leader active in local synagogues and churches, and I host an annual Ramadan Iftar attended by 500+ neighbors, celebrating the rich diversity of IL-9. This isn’t just where I live—it’s who I am. My connection to this district runs deep, and I’m ready to fight for the communities that have shaped me.

Marital status/Immediate family: I have no spouse or children.

What are your top three legislative priorities for your first year in the U.S. House?

In Illinois’ 9th District, three urgent challenges shape daily life: affordability, education, and healthcare. My first year in Congress will focus on delivering real relief in each of these areas. First, I will fight to make education a gateway to opportunity, not a lifetime of debt. Too many working families in our district are forced to choose between their children’s futures and financial survival. I support tuition-free public college and meaningful student debt cancellation so young people can build careers without being buried before they begin.

Second, I will take on the affordability crisis. While small businesses and working families face rising costs, wealth continues to concentrate at the top. I will push to raise wages, protect the right to unionize, repeal Trump’s tariffs that raise everyday prices, and enact a progressive tax system that makes billionaires and corporations pay their fair share. An economy should reward work, not hoarding.

Third, I will prioritize healthcare. Even insured families in our district are rationing care and drowning in bills. I will defend and expand coverage immediately and fight for Medicare for All so everyone can access care without fear of financial ruin, including mental healthcare.

I have spent years listening to residents across this district as a neighbor and as an elected school board member. I understand how federal policy lands in real lives. I am ready to be an expert, relentless advocate for the 742,000 people who call this district home.

What specific local issues in this district will guide your work in Congress?

IL-9 has the largest income disparity in Illinois, meaning the gap between the lowest and highest earners is wider here than anywhere else in the state. That inequality shows up most sharply in housing and education. Because K-12 schools are funded largely through property taxes, a family’s zip code too often determines the quality of their child’s education. At the same time, skyrocketing property taxes and rents are pushing longtime residents out of their homes and destabilizing entire neighborhoods.

This crisis is being made worse by hedge funds and corporate landlords buying up housing and driving up prices. Communities should not be treated as investment portfolios. I will move to ban hedge fund ownership of multi-family housing, because no powerful company should be allowed to profit by triggering mass displacement and eviction.

Tax relief for middle- and low-income homeowners is long overdue, and housing must be treated as a human need, not a speculative asset. I will work in close partnership with legal aid providers, faith-based institutions, tenant unions, and housing justice advocates across this district to ensure that protections are designed with real families and frontline organizers at the table. Federal policy must stabilize communities, not extract from them.

What federal funding priorities would you advocate for this district, including infrastructure needs like roads, bridges, broadband, and transit?

Public transit is the backbone of this district’s economy. Nearly 100,000 residents in IL-09 rely on it to get to work, school, medical appointments, and family obligations. That is why the looming transit fiscal cliff and the Trump administration’s freeze of federal funding for critical projects like the Red and Purple Modernization were so alarming. Those four fully accessible new stations and long-overdue renovations are not luxuries. They are lifelines, especially for seniors and people with disabilities who have been excluded from mobility for generations.

Congress appropriated those funds. The executive branch does not get to withhold them at will. That is unconstitutional. I will work to unfreeze every dollar and ensure that future infrastructure investments are protected from political sabotage. Transit and infrastructure planning must center accessibility from the start. I will allocate dedicated funding for paratransit so riders are served before, during, and after construction, and I will work with regional partners like the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning to ensure that people with disabilities are directly involved in studies, surveys, and design.

For residents who cannot rely on transit, crumbling roads, bridges, and sidewalks are daily obstacles. Infrastructure is not abstract. It determines whether people arrive safely, on time, and with dignity. Every resident should be able to trust that a bus will arrive, a platform will be usable, and a bridge will hold. Neglecting this system puts our entire district at risk. My priority is simple: make daily life less stressful by funding infrastructure at the level safety, equity, and economic stability demand.

How will you prioritize the concerns of your district versus the priorities of your party?

Putting my district first and being a principled progressive are not competing obligations. They are the same mandate. I am not going to Washington to recite talking points. I am going to fight for the people who live here. When party leadership is aligned with my constituents’ needs, I will work with them. When it is not, I will challenge it.

I have done this before. As a school board member, I worked with colleagues across the political spectrum to remove financial barriers for students, expand access to meals, protect immigrant families, and negotiate responsible budgets that strengthened both classrooms and fiscal stability. Those outcomes did not come from ideology. They came from listening, coalition-building, and a refusal to accept paralysis.

That is how I will serve in Congress. I will measure every vote against one question: Does this make life more affordable, more dignified, and more secure for the people of this district? Loyalty to party is easy. Accountability to your neighbors is leadership.

Has Congress given up its Article I powers during the Trump administration? How would you restore congressional authority?

Yes. Over the last several years, Congress has steadily surrendered its Article I powers, allowing the executive branch to govern by fiat. We see it in foreign policy, where presidents launch military actions without authorization. We see it in economic policy, where Trump has imposed sweeping tariffs unilaterally. Tariffs are taxes. The Constitution is clear: only Congress has the power to levy them. When the House allows that authority to slip away, working families pay the price through higher costs for groceries, gasoline, clothing, and essential goods.

Restoring congressional authority begins with using it. I will move immediately to repeal Trump’s tariffs and reassert Congress’s exclusive power over taxation and trade. I will also work to repeal the 2001 and 2002 Authorizations for Use of Military Force, which have been stretched to justify decades of “shadow wars” without renewed democratic consent.

Oversight is not optional. I will use the full investigative powers of the House to expose and challenge every abuse of executive authority, from unlawful funding freezes to unconstitutional military actions. Impeachment is not symbolic. It is a constitutional responsibility. A president who bypasses Congress to strike Iran or seize the leader of Venezuela has violated the separation of powers. That conduct warrants articles of impeachment.

Congress is not powerless. Every member already holds these tools. Reclaiming them is a matter of will. A new era of accountability begins when we choose to use the authority the Constitution has already given us.

What is your position on U.S. intervention, specifically Ukraine, Israel and Venezuela?

My approach to U.S. intervention is grounded in three principles: Uphold international law, center human life, and reject the idea that American power exists to dominate or extract. The Leahy Law already forbids our complicity in human rights violations. We are breaking our own law.

In Ukraine, the United States should continue to stand with a people defending their sovereignty against an unprovoked invasion. Ukraine is the victim of aggression. Supporting its right to self-determination is consistent with both international law and our democratic values. At the same time, military support must be paired with sustained, multilateral diplomacy aimed at ending the war and preventing further loss of life. Diplomacy is not appeasement. It is how wars end. We must also be honest about the global double standard. In places like Kashmir and Sudan, civilians face worsening violence every day with far less attention or protection. Time and again, the United States has profited from or looked away from genocide around the world. A just foreign policy cannot be selective about whose lives matter.

In Israel and Palestine, our policy has moved in the opposite direction. The United States continues to send billions in weapons to a government cited by the United Nations for grave human rights violations, even as civilians are killed, displaced, and starved in what the world increasingly recognizes as a genocide in Palestine. All U.S. aid, including military assistance, must be conditioned on compliance with human rights and international law. The Leahy Law requires this. We cannot supply arms to anyone who has been credibly accused of human rights violations. Conditioning aid is not radical. It is the law. Any lasting peace must guarantee freedom, safety, and dignity for everyone who lives there, including Palestinian statehood and the right of return. Our tax dollars should not underwrite genocide while families at home struggle with rent, groceries, healthcare, and education.

In Venezuela, two things can be true at once: Nicolás Maduro has committed grave abuses and caused immense harm to the Venezuelan people, and the Trump administration’s unilateral seizure of a foreign head of state was unconstitutional and dangerous. Military intervention without congressional authorization is an act of war. The United States should not be in the business of overthrowing governments or commandeering resources. Our role must be to support human rights through diplomacy and international cooperation, not shadow coups and executive fiat.

America should lead by law, restraint, and moral clarity. Intervention must serve human life, not empire.

Do you believe the President should have the constitutional authority to order military strikes and detain a foreign head of state without prior Congressional authorization? Why or why not, and where should Congress draw the line between executive action and its own constitutional war powers?

No. The President does not have constitutional authority to launch military strikes or detain foreign leaders without prior Congressional authorization. The Constitution is unambiguous: only Congress has the power to declare war. That authority was placed in the legislative branch because the costs of war are borne by the public. Decisions of this magnitude must be debated and approved by the people’s representatives, not made unilaterally by one person.

Military strikes, cross-border raids, and the seizure of foreign officials are acts of war. Allowing them to proceed by executive order erodes the separation of powers that protects our democracy and creates a dangerous precedent that any future president could exploit. “Shadow wars” conducted without public debate undermine constitutional governance, weaken public trust, and risk dragging the nation into conflict without accountability.

Congress must draw a bright, enforceable line. Any use of military force beyond immediate, narrowly defined self-defense must require explicit congressional authorization. That means repealing outdated war authorizations, rejecting open-ended interpretations of executive power, and insisting that every sustained military action come before Congress for debate and approval.

Reclaiming congressional war powers is not procedural. It is a safeguard against abuse, a check on authoritarian drift, and a guarantee that decisions about war and peace reflect the collective will of the American people.

Do you believe any conduct of the current administration needs to be investigated?

Yes. Congress has a constitutional duty to investigate abuse of power, and this administration has given us no shortage of cause. Unlawful mass layoffs, due process violations in deportations, conflicts of interest, and unchecked executive actions all demand rigorous oversight. I will use every tool available to scrutinize these actions, expose wrongdoing, and ensure that no violation of law or public trust goes unanswered. Oversight is not performative. It is how democracy defends itself. I will pursue the truth, protect the rights of my constituents, and make sure the public knows when their government has crossed the line.

Has the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) gone too far in its recommendations?

Yes. DOGE has taken a hatchet to the services Americans rely on to stay safe, healthy, and economically secure. It gutted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which provides life-saving weather alerts. It slashed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which protects workers from injury and exploitation. It weakened the Environmental Protection Agency, which safeguards our air and water. It targeted the Department of Education, which exists to expand opportunity and ensure every child can learn.

These are not abstract cuts. They translate into more workplace injuries, dirtier air, less disaster preparedness, and fewer opportunities for students. Every move this administration has made in the name of “efficiency” has hurt working families while preserving tax breaks for billionaires.

In Congress, I will hold accountable every official who traded public safety for ideology. I will fight to restore and strengthen these agencies, defend workers’ rights, protect our environment, and expand access to quality public education. Cutting the services that make life safer and more stable is not reform. It is abandonment, and I will block it.

How will you work across the aisle to pass legislation?

There is a time and a place for bipartisanship. I have seen lawmakers vote against sound policy simply because it came from the other party, even when they agreed with its substance. That approach serves no one. I will work across the aisle whenever it advances the common good.

I bring years of experience collaborating with people of different political views on a school board to deliver results for students, teachers, and families. That same approach belongs in Congress. Infrastructure should not be partisan. Everyone agrees our roads, bridges, and public transit must be safe and reliable. Neither should funding air traffic control or basic public safety be a political football.

I care more about delivering for my constituents than scoring partisan points. When a proposal improves people’s lives, I will work with anyone willing to get it done. Governing is not about beating the other side. It is about serving the public.

Do you support term limits for House members, and if so, what limits?

Yes. I support term limits for Congress and will cosponsor and vote for the U.S. Term Limits amendment. I have signed a formal pledge to uphold this amendment. I will serve a maximum of five terms, and believe others should do the same.

Another reform is badly needed: We need to lengthen the terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. Right now, far too much energy is spent solely on seeking re-election. I would lengthen the terms of U.S. House members from two years to four so lawmakers there can spend less time campaigning and more time legislating.

Our democracy works best when public service is a duty, not a lifetime career. Term limits would reduce the influence of entrenched power, curb corruption, and open the door for more people with real-world experience to serve.

What is your stance on border security and immigration reform?

The United States is moving backward on immigration. Today’s system is a bureaucratic maze defined by delay, cruelty, and dysfunction. I will lead the fight for comprehensive reform, not incremental fixes. That means expanding immigration court staffing, modernizing visa processing, eliminating country-of-origin quotas, and implementing trauma-informed legal procedures. It also means providing a path to citizenship for the more than 200,000 documented Dreamers living in limbo. Congress must codify permanent protection and halt deportations of those brought here as children.

More urgently, we must abolish ICE. As I write this, I am learning of another life taken by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. I am horrified, but not surprised. No government agency should be allowed to operate this way. There is no accountability, oversight, transparency or due process. Masked, armed agents are snatching my neighbors off the streets because of the color of their skin. Racial profiling is normalized and encouraged. It is evident that ICE has committed human rights abuses and blatant violations of our Constitution. Congress has failed to hold them accountable. I will work with other democrats to bring about a day of reckoning. Everyone who perpetrated these abuses must be brought to account. Congress has the constitutionally mandated power of investigation for a reason. We cannot fail to use it.

Immigration is not only a legal issue. It is a moral one. Immigrants strengthen our workforce and our communities. We cannot continue to exclude people through arbitrary rules rooted in racism. A humane, lawful system makes America stronger.

Do you support changes to Social Security or Medicare to ensure long-term solvency?

Yes. I support strengthening Social Security and Medicare by expanding them, not cutting them. For Social Security, that means lifting the cap on earnings subject to the payroll tax and increasing benefits, especially for low- and middle-income seniors. This program is the foundation of retirement security for working families. It is deliberately progressive, delivering higher returns to lower-wage workers and ensuring that people do not outlive the benefits they earned. Attempts to privatize or weaken it would be disastrous.

I also oppose any cuts to Medicare. Healthcare in old age should never be a privilege. Republicans have already made dangerous reductions that threaten access to care, and I will fight to reverse them. Medicare must be fully funded and protected so seniors can see their doctors, afford prescriptions, and age with dignity.

The Congressional Progressive Caucus is clear on this point: long-term solvency should be achieved by asking those who have benefited most from our economy to contribute more, not by raising the retirement age, means-testing away benefits, or breaking promises to people who worked their entire lives. We do not fix these programs by shrinking them. We secure them by strengthening them for this generation and the next.

What should Congress do to address healthcare affordability?

Healthcare must be treated as a human right, not a privilege. I support Medicare for All because it would guarantee care for every person in the United States, regardless of income, immigration status, employment, or zip code. A universal system is the most fiscally responsible and effective way to control costs, end disparities, and ensure people receive care before crises occur. There is a reason Americans pay far more for healthcare than people in other developed countries. A for-profit insurance industry sits in the middle, extracting profit and spending millions lobbying to block reforms that would actually serve patients. My campaign will not take that money.

At the same time, people are suffering right now. Families are rationing medicine, delaying care, and skipping mental health treatment because they cannot afford it. We cannot ask them to wait. As an immediate step, Congress must create a robust public option that anyone can buy into. This is the fastest way to expand coverage and lower costs for millions.

Senator Bernie Sanders and others have advanced a tiered approach that allows people to opt into public coverage, driving down prices and improving quality through competition. I support that pathway. The public option must be affordable, comprehensive, and designed to become a bridge to universal coverage. We do not have the luxury of delay when people are already being harmed.

Is the CDC a trustworthy, qualified source of information under RFK Jr.? How should public health policy be managed?

Public health must be guided by evidence, expertise, and the best available science. It should be led by doctors, epidemiologists, and researchers, not by ideology or misinformation. The CDC was once a gold standard for public health worldwide. Its credibility has been undermined by leadership that elevates conspiracy over consensus and politics over proof.

A nation’s health infrastructure cannot function if people are taught to distrust vaccines, data, and basic medical guidance. That erosion of trust costs lives. It leaves communities vulnerable to preventable disease and weakens our ability to respond to future crises.

As a member of Congress, I will use oversight to demand that public health agencies return to rigorous, science-based standards. I will investigate the spread of misinformation from within the government itself, and I will be vocal in rebutting false claims that endanger the public. Restoring trust in institutions like the CDC requires transparency, accountability, and leadership grounded in fact.

Public health policy must be managed by professionals, insulated from political interference, and rooted in evidence. The role of government is to protect people, not confuse them. We owe Americans clear guidance, honest data, and leadership that values human life over ideology.

How should Congress regulate artificial intelligence, if at all?

Artificial intelligence is being rolled out at a breathtaking pace, without public consent or meaningful guardrails. Data centers are appearing across the Great Lakes region to power these systems, consuming vast amounts of fresh drinking water and energy. Most people never chose to have their data harvested by AI, yet participation in modern life now makes that unavoidable. This expansion is driven by one thing: corporate profit. Meanwhile, communities like mine bear the environmental cost. Once water is used to cool these facilities, it cannot be returned to public use. Our most precious natural resource is being diverted while tech companies grow richer.

Congress has a responsibility to step in. I will reintroduce the Artificial Intelligence Environmental Impacts Act to empower EPA researchers to study AI’s full lifecycle environmental footprint. The bill would require AI companies to disclose water and energy use, fund independent research, and give the EPA authority to make policy recommendations based on real data.

We cannot allow emerging technology to strip communities of clean water and environmental security. The next frontier of environmental justice is protecting drinking water, especially in low-income areas, from exploitation by powerful tech interests. My constituents will never have to wonder where I stand in that fight.

Unfortunately, commandeering our natural resources is not the only way AI profiteers are exploiting Americans. What about AI-powered dynamic price gauging that makes everything from transportation to toilet paper more expensive when people need it most? What about AI-created music that steals airtime from human artists? Congress must put an end to this madness and outlaw both those products entirely. This is an obvious action to take for a chamber that has utterly failed to protect us from the negative ramifications of AI thus far.

If Democrats win the House in 2026, how do you feel about calls for impeaching President Trump?

I support them. Launching military strikes without congressional authorization is an impeachable abuse of power. Whether in Iran, Venezuela, or anywhere else, the Constitution is clear: only Congress can authorize acts of war. We already have more than enough evidence of unlawful, unilateral action to warrant articles of impeachment. Impeachment is not symbolic. It is a constitutional responsibility. When a president disregards the rule of law and concentrates power in the executive, Congress has a duty to act.

If Democrats win the House, what issues should oversight committees investigate first?

I will have a long list of issues to investigate when I arrive in Washington, D.C., but these should be among the first priorities for House oversight committees.

1. Unconstitutional military actions: Any use of force abroad without express congressional authorization, including unlawful strikes or detentions, must be examined to uphold the separation of powers.
2. Tariff impact: How much money unconstitutional tariffs have taken from American households and businesses as prices rise due to taxes imposed without congressional approval.
3. Corporate influence and conflicts of interest: Which corporations have financially benefited from White House projects or policy decisions, and whether any actions by the president or his family have created conflicts between public duty and personal gain.
4. Congressional stock trading: This is a flagrant conflict of interest. Members of Congress should not be allowed to trade stocks. When weighing how to vote, they should not be swayed by the potential impact each vote will have on their own stock portfolios.
5. Federal immigration enforcement abuses: Human rights violations in ICE and CBP custody, particularly in high-profile cases where U.S. residents were harmed or sent to facilities with documented abuses.

These investigations are about defending the rule of law, restoring accountability, and ensuring that no person or institution is above oversight. A new era of accountability begins as soon as I take office.

What issues, if any, do you agree with Republicans on?

I agree with many Republican lawmakers on the urgent need to release the Epstein files in full. Many of President Trump’s allies have called for transparency, and they are right. The only morally defensible position is to make these records public without redactions that shield powerful people. We owe that to the victims and survivors of Jeffrey Epstein. Accountability cannot be selective. No matter who is implicated, the truth must come out.

Many Republican lawmakers share my concern for making trade school and community college more accessible. I believe that both should be tuition-free. Making it easier for people to learn practical information and build their skill sets will give the economy a prolific boost. This would be a win for both parties.

Finally, there’s no reason why infrastructure should not be a bipartisan issue. Both parties have an interest in making sure our roads, bridges, trains and buses are in good shape. Infrastructure spending has been bipartisan in the past, and it should be again. Every state needs infrastructure funds, no matter which party is in power there. I will have no issue working with Republicans to pass robust infrastructure appropriations.

Should private equity and hedge funds be allowed to purchase so many homes?

No. Private equity and hedge funds are buying up homes at scale, driving up prices, creating artificial vacancies, and hollowing out neighborhoods. Decisions about who gets to live in our communities are being made by executives who have never set foot in them. Housing should be for families, not financial instruments. Congress must intervene. I will reintroduce Sen. Warren’s and Rep. Pocan’s Stop Wall Street Looting Act, which closes loopholes, raises accountability, and ends the preferential tax treatment that lets hedge fund managers pay lower rates than working people. Homes should be places to live, not assets to flip.

Do you support or oppose the expansion of work requirements for SNAP recipients? Why?

Oppose. This issue is personal for me. I grew up relying on SNAP, grateful that the social safety net ensured my family had enough to eat. Now that H.R. 1 is law, millions of people, including thousands in my district, are being pushed toward food pantries or forced to go hungry. This crisis is unnecessary and entirely avoidable.

My top priority will be rolling back every SNAP cut and removing the red tape that stands between hungry people and food. Forty-one million Americans, about 12 percent of the country, rely on SNAP. Another 6.7 million depend on WIC, which is also under attack. These programs exist to feed people, not to punish them.

After restoring benefits to everyone who lost access, I will eliminate work requirements that block people with disabilities, caregivers, and those facing unstable employment from receiving help. Hunger is not a moral failing. It is a policy choice.

Families are also struggling because food itself has become more expensive, in part due to this administration’s tariffs on imports. I will challenge those illegal and unconstitutional tariffs in Congress and fight to repeal them. We should be making it easier for people to eat, not harder.

Who are your top donors? How often do you speak with them?

My campaign is powered by people, not PACs or corporations. I do not accept corporate or special interest money, and I never will. My largest contributions come from neighbors and community members who believe in the change I am fighting for.

I speak regularly with many of these supporters, not to trade access for influence, but to build coalitions, recruit volunteers, and strengthen a grassroots movement. They help connect me to new communities and networks, but they do not set my agenda. I only accept donations that align with my values and strengthen this campaign. No contribution will ever buy a vote or compromise my independence.

How would you reform U.S. trade policy so that farms don’t need repeated bailouts from tariff impacts?

Farmers do not want bailouts. They want stable markets, predictable rules, and a fair chance to succeed through their own work. The reason they keep needing emergency aid is simple: Trump’s tariffs function as taxes that collapse export markets overnight. When Congress allows one president to weaponize trade, farmers become collateral damage.

Tariffs are taxes, and only Congress has the authority to levy them. Reclaiming that power is the first reform. I will move immediately to repeal these unilateral tariffs, which have driven up input costs, triggered retaliatory trade wars, and left American crops with nowhere to go. No policy has done more to raise prices, shrink demand, and destabilize farm income.

But reform cannot stop at repeal. We need a trade policy that is strategic, not impulsive. That means negotiating fair agreements that open markets for U.S. agriculture, enforcing labor and environmental standards so farmers are not undercut by exploitation abroad, and investing in domestic supply chains so producers are not trapped by monopolies. It also means strengthening antitrust enforcement in agribusiness so farmers are not squeezed by a handful of dominant processors and distributors.

The goal is simple: a trade system where farmers earn their living from selling what they grow, not from emergency checks after political damage. Stability beats bailouts. Farmers deserve policy that works for them, not chaos imposed from Washington.