Bill Foster

George William Foster (born October 7, 1955) is an American businessman, physicist, and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Illinois's 11th congressional district since 2013. He was the U.S. representative for Illinois's 14th congressional district from 2008 to 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

Foster was born in 1955 in Madison, Wisconsin. As a teenager, he attended James Madison Memorial High School. He received his Bachelor of Science in physics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1976 and his Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University in 1983. The title of his doctoral dissertation is "An experimental limit on proton decay:

{\displaystyle p\rightarrow \mathrm {positron} +\pi ^{0}}

When Foster was 19, he started a company with his younger brother, Fred. The company, Electronic Theatre Controls, has become a manufacturer of theatrical lighting fixtures and control systems.

After completing his Ph.D., Foster moved to the Fox Valley with his family to pursue a career in high-energy (particle) physics at Fermilab, a Department of Energy National Laboratory. During his 22 years at Fermilab, he participated in several projects, including the design of equipment and data analysis software for the CDF Detector, which were used in the discovery of the top quark, and the management of the design and construction of a 3 km Anti-Proton Recycler Ring for the Main Injector.

In 1998, Foster was elected a fellow of the American Physical Society. He was a member of the team that received the 1989 Bruno Rossi Prize for cosmic ray physics for the discovery of the neutrino burst from the supernova SN 1987A. He also received the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' Particle Accelerator Technology Prize and was awarded an Energy Conservation award from the United States Department of Energy for his application of permanent magnets for Fermilab's accelerators. He and Stephen D. Holmes received the Robert R. Wilson Prize for Achievement in the Physics of Particle Accelerators in 2022 for "leadership in developing the modern accelerator complex at Fermilab, enabling the success of the Tevatron program that supports rich programs in neutrino and precision physics."

On November 26, 2007, former House Republican Speaker J. Dennis Hastert resigned as the Representative from Illinois's 14th congressional district. Foster announced his candidacy to fill the vacancy on May 30, 2007. In the March special election, Foster defeated Republican nominee and Hastert-endorsed candidate Jim Oberweis, 53%–47%.

In November, Oberweis ran against Foster again. Foster won reelection to a full term, 58%–42%.

Foster was challenged by Republican nominee State Senator Randy Hultgren and Green Party nominee Daniel Kairis. Despite being endorsed by the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times and The Daily Herald, Foster lost to Hultgren, 51%–45%.

In May 2011, Foster sold his home in Geneva, moved to Naperville and announced plans to run for Congress in the 11th district, which encompasses Aurora, Joliet, Lisle in addition to Naperville. It also includes roughly a quarter of his former district. The district had previously been the 13th, represented by seven-term Republican Judy Biggert. Although Biggert's home in Hinsdale had been shifted to the Chicago-based 5th district, Biggert opted to seek election in the 11th, which contained half of her old territory.

On November 6, 2012, Foster won the election for the 11th district with 58% of the vote.

Foster voted with President Joe Biden's stated position 100% of the time in the 117th Congress, according to a FiveThirtyEight analysis.

Foster supported allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire. During a debate with his opponent in the 2012 election, Foster said, "The tax cuts were promised to generate job growth, but did not. If you follow the money, when you give a dollar to a very wealthy person, they won't typically put it back into the local economy." He said the tax benefits ended up in overseas accounts and spent on luxury purchases.

Foster has opposed efforts to repeal the estate tax. On August 31, 2005, U.S. Newswire reported that Foster said, "The proponents of estate tax repeal are fond of calling it the 'death tax'. It's not a death tax, it's a Rich Kids' tax." In 2009, just before the estate tax was scheduled for a one-year repeal, Foster voted to permanently extend the then current estate tax rate of 45%.

According to the official Thomas website, Foster co-sponsored the Employee Free Choice Act of 2009, which would enable unionization of small businesses of less than 50 employees. On February 25, 2012, the Daily Herald reported, "Foster pointed to his support for the Employee Free Choice Act while serving at the congressman in the 14th District as proof of his union support."

Foster voted for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Foster and his wife, Aesook Byon, live in Naperville, Illinois. He has two adult children from his first marriage to Ann Foster. When Bill and Ann Foster divorced in the mid-nineties, they remained on good terms and agreed to live within blocks of each other. Their children lived at both of their houses. Foster is a grandparent.

Foster is among the few U.S. representatives not to identify with any religion.