Jan Schakowsky was elected to represent Illinois’ 9th Congressional District on November 3, 1998, after serving for eight years in the Illinois State Assembly.


Schakowsky, who serves on the House Democratic Leadership team as Chief Deputy Whip, is a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, where she will work to accomplish her top priority in Congress -- providing universal healthcare coverage for all Americans.


A citizen advocate, grassroots organizer, and elected public official, Schakowsky has fought throughout her career for economic and social justice and improved quality of life for all; for an end to violence against women; and for a national investment in healthcare, public education and housing needs.


In the House, Schakowsky has won major legislative victories to increase federal assistance for abused women and children and to protect the rights of battered immigrant women; to reform election laws guaranteeing that no registered voter is turned away at the poll; to expand housing opportunities for low-income people; and to assist small business owners and farmers.


A longtime consumer advocate, who in 1969 led the fight that put freshness dates on products sold in the supermarket, Schakowsky carries on that tradition in Congress with efforts to safeguard the rights of victims of identity theft and to protect consumers from predatory lenders. A champion for the nation’s seniors, Schakowsky is actively engaged in the campaign for seniors and persons with disabilities to access affordable prescription drugs. Schakowsky is also working to ensure that seniors receive quality home, hospice, and nursing care.


Schakowsky is an active member of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus and is a champion of expanding our nation’s hate crime laws. .


Prior to her election to Congress, Schakowsky represented the 18th District in the Illinois General Assembly for eight years. She served as a Democratic Floor Leader and as Secretary of the Conference of Women Legislators.


For twenty years prior to her election to the State House, Schakowsky fought for the public interest and rights of Illinois citizens. As Program Director of Illinois Public Action (1976-1985), the state’s largest public interest organization, she fought for energy reform and stronger protection from toxic chemicals. As Director of the Illinois State Council of Senior Citizens from 1985-1990, she organized across the state for lower cost prescription drugs and tax relief for seniors, financial protection for the spouses of nursing home residents and other benefits for the elderly. She has been deeply involved in the fight to protect women’s reproductive freedom.


Schakowsky resides in Evanston, Illinois with her husband Robert Creamer. She has three children, Ian, Mary, and stepdaughter Lauren Creamer, and four grandchildren, Isabel, Eve, Lucy, and William. She graduated from the University of Illinois in 1965 with a B.S. in Elementary Education.

Blog Entries by Rep. Jan Schakowsky

Protecting a Woman's Right to Choose

Posted November 10, 2009 | 04:33 PM (EST)


The health care bill passed in the House of Representatives on Saturday night makes many improvements to benefit women. It bans gender rating for premiums, prevents breast cancer survivors and domestic abuse victims from being denied coverage, and expands access to preventive care like cancer screenings.

Unfortunately, as a...

Read Post

Protecting a Woman's Right to Choose

32 Comments | Posted November 10, 2009 | 04:14 PM (EST)


The health care bill passed in the House of Representatives on Saturday night makes many improvements to benefit women. It bans gender rating for premiums, prevents breast cancer survivors and domestic abuse victims from being denied coverage, and expands access to preventive care like cancer screenings.

Unfortunately, as a...

Read Post

My Conversation with Goldman

196 Comments | Posted November 6, 2009 | 08:40 AM (EST)


This week I had an opportunity most Americans would relish, just as I did. I was able to unload on two top executives of Goldman Sachs who descended from on high to my office because I clearly needed some educating. One was a Vice President and the other their Chief...

Read Post

My Trip to Guantanamo: It Must Be Closed

57 Comments | Posted June 25, 2009 | 03:25 PM (EST)


I went to the prison at Guantanamo Bay on June 16 with a small bi-partisan group of House members. It was my third trip, and I came away thinking that those Congressional visits may not be helpful in generating support for closing the facility. (That conclusion, by the way, has...

Read Post

The Private Health Insurance Industry is Killing the U.S. Economy

329 Comments | Posted April 27, 2009 | 11:38 AM (EST)


Fifteen years ago the private health insurance industry told Congress and the nation that it could fix the health care mess if government got out of the way. The insurers said that they would control costs for American families and businesses and improve the quality of care. The American people,...

Read Post

Refuting the Self-Fulfilling Torture Prophecy: A Response to Hayden and Mukasey

Posted April 21, 2009 | 10:21 AM (EST)


No timid wimp is former CIA Director Michael Hayden. And he's not reluctant to tell you so. You can find out what a tough guy he really is by reading his opinion piece, written with former Attorney General Michael "Not sure waterboarding is torture" Mukasey in the April 17...

Read Post

Even if You Can't Schlep, Talk to Your Grandparents About Obama

Posted October 17, 2008 | 12:02 AM (EST)


YOUNG OBAMA VOTERS: TELL YOUR ELDERS "DO IT FOR ME!"

This message is exclusively for Obama supporters who: 1) Have grandparents who are planning to vote for John McCain or are undecided about their choice for President and 2) Know someone whose grandparents are voting for John McCain or are...

Read Post

Warning to Women: McCain-Palin are Dangerous to Your Well-Being

Posted September 12, 2008 | 10:39 AM (EST)


Women -- Stop, Look and Listen! Especially now that women and women's votes are front and center in this Presidential election, you need to have some facts at your fingertips. John McCain and Sarah Palin want to convince you that they offer something new. But on the issues that really...

Read Post

Why Hilda Needs Universal Health Care

Posted August 18, 2008 | 08:42 PM (EST)


A week doesn't go by in my district offices without some constituent, often several, calling in a panic about a personal health care crisis. These calls come not only from people who aren't insured, but increasingly from those who are -- or think they are. Most of the time, they...

Read Post

Time for a Special Counsel to Investigate Bush Administration Use of Torture

Posted June 9, 2008 | 06:20 PM (EST)


Last Saturday I sent a letter, along with Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Judiciary Subcommittee Chairman, Jerald Nadler and 53 other members of the House of Representatives to Attorney General Michael Mukasey asking him to "appoint a special counsel to investigate whether the Bush administration's policies regarding the interrogation of...

Read Post

We Must Renew, Restore, and Redeploy

Posted January 10, 2007 | 09:29 PM (EST)


My office has been flooded with letters and calls from constituents who want the President to begin bringing our troops home from Iraq. According to a new poll, an overwhelming number of Americans - 61 percent -- are opposed to any escalation. Instead of a plan to begin redeployment, Americans...

Read Post

Minimum Wage Increase in the First Hundred Hours

Posted January 4, 2007 | 10:11 AM (EST)


Nearly 15 million Americans go to their jobs every day caring for our children and frail old people, cleaning other people's mess, serving us food in restaurants, and for their efforts receive $5.15 an hour, the Federal minimum wage. If they work 52 forty-hour weeks, their annual income adds up...

Read Post

Encouraging Corporations that Commit to America and American Workers

Posted June 28, 2006 | 07:42 PM (EST)


If you want to make Americans of all stripes mad, tell them about the billions of dollars in subsidies and tax breaks our government gives to companies that outsource jobs and relocate to avoid giving back to the our great country. A recent poll in Foreign Affairs magazine reported that...

Read Post

The "Shocking" Funeral of Coretta Scott King

Posted February 8, 2006 | 09:42 PM (EST)


What a shock! Some speakers at the funeral of Coretta Scott King had the audacity and poor manners to bring up WAR (as in worshiping the Prince of Peace and the uncomfortable fact that there were no weapons of mass destruction), RACE (as in the faces of Katrina victims), and...

Read Post

A National Disaster

Posted September 2, 2005 | 07:57 PM (EST)


Hurricane Katrina has gone from being a natural disaster to a national disaster. Everyone must agree that the situation in New Orleans represents a failure of the federal government to meet its most basic function of effectively and promptly providing safety and security for the American people. The federal government...

Read Post

The DoD Money Pit

Posted June 16, 2005 | 12:50 AM (EST)


Republicans like to talk about government efficiency and wasted tax dollars. Our nation's most prominent MBA, President George W. Bush, spoke to wasteful spending in his 2004 State of the Union address. According to President Bush, "We should limit the burden of government on this economy by acting as good...

Read Post