Congressman Jerry Weller, 50, was first elected to Congress in 1994 and is serving
his seventh term representing the 11th district of Illinois. After graduating from the University of Illinois in 1979 with a degree in
Agriculture, Weller served as an aide to former U.S. Rep. Tom Corcoran
(1980-1981) and as an aide to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture John Block
(1981-1985). He served three terms in the Illinois General Assembly
before being elected to serve in Washington, D.C. Weller lives in
Morris, Illinois, with his wife Guatemalan Congresswoman Zury Rios
Sosa. On August 17th, 2006, they were blessed with the birth of
their daughter Marizú Catherine Weller.
Rep. Weller has used his seat on the powerful Ways and Means Committee to
make a strong positive difference for families in Illinois
and throughout the United
States.
In 2001, Weller earned national recognition as a leader for his
successful efforts to eliminate the Marriage Tax Penalty. Thanks to this legislation, now law, the
average married couple in Illinois
saves $1,700 on their joint tax return. Weller
has also successfully passed into law tax incentive legislation to promote
environmental clean up of abandoned Brownfield sites across the nation. In the 110th Congress, Weller was voted
ranking Republican member of the Income Security and Family Support
Subcommittee, which oversees welfare and unemployment programs.
In 1995, Weller successfully passed into law his top local priority, the
redevelopment of the former Joliet Arsenal.
Weller’s Arsenal redevelopment legislation ensured environmental
preservation by creating the nation’s largest national prairie, the Midewin
National Tallgrass Prairie, honored our local veterans by creating the Abraham Lincoln
National Veterans
Cemetery, and facilitated economic growth
and job creation through the development of North America’s
largest intermodal truck, rail, and freight facility. This important project created thousands of
good paying union jobs, both construction and permanent, and will eventually
replace the jobs lost when the Arsenal closed in 1977.
Other local priorities include Weller’s efforts to establish & expand
veterans’ outpatient health clinics in the 11th District, preservation of the Kankakee River and south suburban and urban
revitalization through Weller’s Brownfields tax incentive. He continues to work
toward improved transportation and increased job creation through the expansion
of METRA and I-355 and is a driving force behind the Illiana Expressway project
linking I-94 in Indiana to I-57 in Illinois. Weller
has also been instrumental in securing local control for the planned third
suburban airport in Will
County. Weller
successfully passed an amendment guaranteeing Will County
will have local control of the project, and that an open and honest procurement
process be followed in the awarding of airport construction contracts.
The needs of the 11th District have driven Weller’s legislative agenda. For example, when it was brought to his
attention in 1996 that an internet predator had targeted a constituent’s
daughter, he acted quickly to combat the technology-based threat. Weller introduced the Protecting Children from
Internet Predators Act of 1997. With some adjustment, this legislation was
included in the Child Protection and Sexual Predator Punishment Act, which made
it illegal to use the internet to transmit identifying information of a child
to encourage, offer or solicit sexual activity.
His long-term commitment to
reducing America’s
dependence on foreign petroleum has remained strong and consistent. He has worked to boost our nation’s use of
biofuels such as ethanol made from corn and biodiesel made from soybeans. Rep. Weller helped craft the 2005 Energy
Policy Act, which doubled the use of these renewable fuels. The resulting anticipated demand has boosted
crop prices for Illinois
farmers, and provided hundreds of millions of dollars in local investment – and
local jobs – in the form of biofuels production plants in the 11th
District.
