Post-Congress life looks similar, yet dramatically different for Cheri Bustos

Paul Yeager: Hey everybody, it's Paul Yeager This is the MtoM Show podcast a production of Iowa PBS in the Market to Market TV show. We're going to Congress Well, former member of Congress Cheri Bustos represented Illinois in the House of Representatives and the 17th District for 10 years. She chose not to run for reelection. So on January 2, life changed dramatically for her, we'll find out what was the big change and also what she will miss and not miss about Congress. Sherry has been on Market to Market as part of a field hearing that she was holding as a member of the Agriculture Committee. We'll find out what she was doing with those learning sessions all across the country, those listening sessions, as they're called, What could may not be in the Farm Bill, as this is being written as we speak and has been under process for quite some time. Little disclaimer here, Cheri and I both worked in media in the Quad Cities for a few years together and have known each other since then. But it was a good chance to catch up with a member of Congress and now a former member, what can she do? And what can she do? In that role? In these first couple of years out of the halls of Congress? It might surprise you. New episodes of this podcast come out each and every Tuesday. But today, Cheri Bustos is our guest. I know life in Congress is busy. But after you leave Congress, are you just as busy? Cheri?

Cheri Bustos: Yeah, I am. It's just busy in a different way. When you're a member of Congress, your life is in 15 minute increments. So like literally everything is 15 minutes. And you think about what that does to your attention span, by the way. But so when you when you think about people who come out to Washington, DC, and meet with a member of Congress, those meetings are typically 15 minutes long. And you just, you know, you go through a lot of those all day long. And even with what you do between votes, it is just like a series of little things that come together. Now I am I left Congress, it's a little over a month ago now. And I'm doing a whole variety of things. But I can stay focused on one area a little bit longer. And I would say that's probably one of the biggest differences. Do

Paul Yeager: you still have somebody tugging at your elbow or saying, Congressman, we have to go?

Cheri Bustos: You know what's interesting, Paul, you go on January second, which was my last day in Congress, after a decade, you go from having 18 staff that make sure that you get everywhere you need to get on time that you are prepared, that you know what you're walking into, that you know who you're meeting with, why you're meeting with them, all of that is you're ready for everything that comes up over the course of the day. So you go from January 2 18 staff to January 3 out of Congress, zero staff. So it is that's been an adjustment. I've had somebody keep track of my schedule. And I you know, I'm a typical Midwestern er in that I do not like to be late to anything. And now all of a sudden, I'm keeping my own calendar. My husband's booking some of my travel. He just retired on November 30, as Sheriff of Rock Island County, Illinois. And so he's helping me with with arranging my flights when I need to be places. But yeah, it is it is an adjustment. I will tell you that.

Paul Yeager: For the record. Your husband never had to reprimand me for anything. We had conversations, but I was never in trouble with him. I just want to get that out of there. His boss, that's a different story. Mike Grchan and I, we had words one time, no. What is life? I mean, what did you want to do? You willingly said, I'm not running. But what did you want to accomplish? Post Congress?

Cheri Bustos: Well. So, you know, as I'll look back a little ways, I wanted to make sure first and foremost that I accomplished what I was there to do, which is the term representative is not only a job title, but it is a job description. And I looked at my most important function as being a member of Congress as representing the 711,000 people in our congressional district, which spanned 7000 square miles 14 counties up to the Wisconsin State Line over the Iowa state line into Central Illinois, almost 10,000 family farms. And I saw that as my number one job and and what happened is this last session, we were recognized by the by this group called the congressional leadership Foundation, which keeps an eye on every congressional office in the House and the Senate. We were honored as the top Democrat in the House or the Senate for our constituent services. So I would say that was I was very, very proud of that. Number two, I served on the Ag Committee for all 10 years I was in Congress, I worked my way up to chair a subcommittee, the general farm commodities and risk management subcommittee, and I come from a long line of band We farmers, we have my grandpa was a was a hog farmer, aunt and uncle's dairy farmers, my cousins have Angus, they all grow corn and beans, they still farm to this day multi generations later. So that's those are my family roots. And again, to know that we have one of the strongest agricultural congressional districts in the country. That was really important to me that I that I served on that committee, and, and did right by our family farmer that that didn't always go along with what my own party how they wanted me to vote, um, you know, think back to WOTUS, the Waters of the US, which was very contentious, I, you know, I wanted to make sure that I, I was very thoughtful about that vote, after listening to family farmers. Going into the 2023 Farm Bill, even though I'm not there right now, when I chaired that subcommittee, I did field hearings, and listening sessions all over the country, to make sure that I helped lay the foundation going into this congressional session when the 2023 Farm Bill will be debated. So you know, those are some of the things that are, are really, really important to me. I worked in health care before I went to Congress. So we passed some very meaningful legislation as it pertains to health care, setting up telehealth at hospitals and clinics all over the country during the pandemic, making sure that those hospitals and clinics and doctor's offices were reimbursed for a new kind of care, and that we can keep that up and running rural broadband, we're getting that in the right place. I was I was on the rural broadband Task Force, you know, so So I would say it's really a combination of looking out for rural America looking out for our family farmers looking out for the people that I represented. And I think while that's broad, that's those are some things I'm proud of,

Paul Yeager: well, the 17th has a long history, or at least what the geography has long been a Democratic stronghold for Illinois. I think Lane Evans represented that for a long time. So yeah, he had to balance those same party issues versus agricultural issues. When you talk about, I think you said, was it 7000 miles? square miles, 1000 square miles, you know, on a lot of farms, so when you're holding these hearings, and that's where we had you on Market to Market. I think back in July, you were in Minnesota, you talk about laying the groundwork, why is that not always understood by those outside of agriculture and why it takes so long to craft a legislation like the Farm Bill?

Cheri Bustos: Well, it's very, first of all, it's a bill that lasts for five years, we write these bills to be five year bills, I was actually involved with negotiating to farm bills. And now like I said, to helping to lay the foundation for a third, I actually served on the conference committee of the the last farm bill that we're you know, we're working under those that legislation right now. And what that means is, you take the differences from the house, and the Senate, you take them to conference committee, and you work out those differences before you send the bill to the President. So I was very closely involved with that as well. But that, Paul, why the why this is so important is it's there are 12 titles, as part of a single farm bill. It is a five year bill, it literally touches every part of agriculture. It from the nutrition program known as SNAP as supplemental nutrition assistance program that's in there, very important. We've got crop insurance that that is there, we have rural development. So again, looking at the looking at the congressional districts that are represented 85% of the towns in the 75th Congressional District of Illinois are 5000 people, or fewer, and 60% or 1000 people or fewer. So, you know, when you're looking at things like rural development, that is really, really important. I think of all these water projects and wastewater projects, in towns that just don't have the tax base to make those improvements, but are incredibly important, or we will see these small towns just die off and go away. If the federal government is not there to help. I know there's there's always kind of this balancing act about the government and how it's involved in our towns or our lives. But I'm I'm here to say having served 10 years in Congress, that if it weren't for programs like the USDA Rural Development, many of these towns just would not be able to make it through. So all of that is part of the Farm Bill. That's why it is incredibly important. And when we did these listening sessions, in places like Minnesota, and Ohio, in Arizona and at the Illinois State Fair, you know, we listened intently to the family farmers and to the groups that represented family farmers because they can't all go out to Washington. They will not all be invited. to testify in front of the Ag Committee. So that's why we did this roadshow. And it was very open ended. We just said, What do you want us to know, as we go into negotiations on the 2023 Farm Bill and and done?

Paul Yeager: You're not done with the bill, either. Right. You're doing some work still on it?

Cheri Bustos: Well, so the bill is, is actually the negotiations on this are just really getting started. The current Farm Bill expires in September. And so you're going to see some some rambunctious committee hearings that where the Democrats and the Republicans will talk this out, hash this out, where there will be people who will go out there and testify about the importance of the different titles within the Farm Bill. And but yeah, the legislation has yet to be written. And, you know, I would say from the perspective that I offered and that as we're having this conversation, crop insurance just is incredibly important for where we live. Right. I mean, the the safety net is incredibly important. And I would say as an outsider now looking in, I just want to make sure that that ends up in a good place

Paul Yeager: in but you're doing work though, with a different group. That's not a member of Congress, right? With Mercury. Yeah. Tell me what Mercury is.

Cheri Bustos: Yeah. So um, so I am working for a firm called Mercury Public Strategies. It's been around since the 90s. They have. They have offices in Texas, New York, New Jersey, Florida, Washington, DC, but they do not have a Midwestern office. And so they have hired me asking me to open an office in Illinois that would serve the Midwest and we're actually setting up an agricultural practice. We have actually four former members that were members of Congress who work for mercury, all of whom have an agricultural background. One, Toby Moffett out of the state of Connecticut, he worked for Monsanto. Vin Weber out of the state of Minnesota was from one of the most agricultural heavy districts, congressional districts in the country. He served on the Appropriations Subcommittee for agriculture, and then a guy named Danny rebirth out of Montana. He's a fifth generation rancher, and also served on the House Ag Committee. So so the former members who work there there, then there's a senator as well, who works there, out of Louisiana, named David Vitter. So but we all have agriculture in our background. So we think we're a pretty good firm to help represent agricultural interests. And but we do everything from public affairs, to public strategy to government relations, communications, grassroots organizing, digital strategy is a full service agency. I joined it for two reasons. Number one, it's one of the most bipartisan firms in the country. In fact, all those members I named only two of us are Democrats, the rest are Republicans. And it's also a full service agency. So if there's a need out there, we can handle it. We can handle issues and problems and a lot of different ways. Well, I

Paul Yeager: have to make sure I didn't hear the L word in there. But is that a lobby? Does that consider constitute as a lobby group, or I know there's always speak about what things really our strategy means this and

Cheri Bustos: yeah. So I don't use the word lobby, I use the word government relations. Now, I am allowed legally to talk with anybody in the administration, both at the state level. And at the federal level, by law, when you when a member of Congress leaves, I cannot go to my colleagues now all the rest of the members can because they've been out for a number of years, but I can't go to my colleagues and talk with them about policy, I can go to the administration. I'm fortunate in that I have very close relations relationship with with Secretary Vilsack at USDA, the person that President Biden just nominated this week to be the number two at USDA. So she's Torres small, she and I serve together in Congress. And I'm very close with her and I can have conversations with her about ag policy as much as as we need to. So yeah, so the answer is, you know, I don't call it lobbying. I, you know, I like to look at it more as advocacy for issues that are very important for our part of the country.

Paul Yeager: And yes, and I just wanted to make sure everybody knows what what your rules are not everybody was understands, I think, well, once that person leaves Congress, they're immediately over there. Well, yeah, but you have rules that you have to follow. And it's not that simple. Okay. Not that simple is the way the farm bill is because it's still 75% supplemental food nutrition and that 25% and a rough sense of the words of the definitions on those farm Title programs, but when you hear those who are not maybe not necessarily on the ground level of these discussions that you're having to have had in the past, saying we're going to cut it because we want work entitlements we want this. They're talking about, yes, the biggest portion of the bill. But it's not what's as important to the people that you represented. And now agriculture as a whole, it's always a tough balancing act. How do you now try to make sure that you're getting the right bill for crop insurance and helping farmers on a day to day basis, in addition to helping those who might need food assistance?

Cheri Bustos: Well, so it's really kind of the political side of how you get a farm deal done. And that is that Democrats historically have viewed the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program called Snap, they have viewed that as something that is incredibly important to the vast majority of the districts that Democrats represent. Politically, Democrats are more urban, they've this has trended differently over time, but, but a lot of the urban lawmakers are Democrats, where the SNAP program is by number is very, very important. By percentage, the nutrition program is incredibly important in rural America as well. We have a lot of poverty in rural America. And the way I like to look at that, Paul is, I don't think anybody listening to this or watching this would say that they want any child to go to bed hungry. And and really that that is the safety net, for our children and for our families. The political part of it is, is you aren't going to get a lot of urban lawmakers voting yes, for a farm bill and things like crop insurance, because a lot of times, it's just not their world, right? I've had people visit our district that just are in awe of the cornfields and the bean fields. As they look at your backdrop Right, right there. They're in awe of the beauty of that, because that's not what they're surrounded with. So in order to get those votes for something like crop insurance, and many of the other titles in the Farm Bill, that if you're an urban law lawmaker, it's just not your thing. You just don't get it, you don't talk about it. It's not that people come into your office, they will vote for that because the nutrition program is part of it. And vice versa. You have a lot of rural lawmakers who, for them, many are more Republican leaning, who want to make changes in the nutrition program. Politically, you've got Debbie Stabenow, now, Democrat from Michigan, who's the Chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, this is her last term, she is not running for reelection, she's going to want to pass a meaningful farm bill that it does, right by our family, farmers and by our families. She has already said that there's not going to be cuts to the nutrition program. So politically, you got a Democrat controlled Senate Republican controlled House to work out these differences, though. That's all what's on the table right now.

Paul Yeager: Well, you mentioned your time on the conference committee. It's uh oh, what a time to be on the conference committee. Because yes, sometimes those who, who I talked to outside of the show, you know, this oh, a split Congress, they can't get anything done. And I always like to say sometimes that's when the best work is done.

Cheri Bustos: Well, here's what's good about it, you got very narrow majorities of both the House and the Senate. And and then you've got Joe Biden in the White House, who lived his Senate career as a negotiator and, and as somebody who did compromise. So look, I think if we look at this, that the folks in the middle if they are the ones governing, and if you take the extremes, and there are extremes in both parties, and kind of thing, you know, what they're really the outliers. And so let's govern those of us in the middle of on the Democratic side, those of us in the middle on the Republican side, let's have this group, be the ones who are sitting at the negotiating table. And the ones who we have to get those votes. You bring that middle together, Paul, and you've got the votes that you need to pass a very painful Farm Bill. But I hope that that's what how we see government going going forth during this congressional session.

Paul Yeager: But let's put the reporter back in you for a minute, because it's still in me. There's no middle left and Congress is there. All I hear is extremes.

Cheri Bustos: Well, it is back to what you know, our profession. I was a journalist for 17 years of my career. And, you know, in your background in journalism, we both were in the Quad City market together for a number of years. It actually there are a lot more of those in the middle than there are on the extremes. Now. What happens as you know, reporters like to cover the unusual they'd like to cover the ones who are yelling and kicking and screaming the loudest the ones who give you the greatest soundbite, and that is typically those on the far right, and those on the far left, and so they get a disproportionate disproportionate The share of media coverage, but they are not the ones who are getting the the legislation passed I, I can tell you this, I'm going to speak broadly without naming names. But if you think of the loudest people in Congress, then you can think on both sides, and the ones who are good among the most coverage, not everybody, because there are some who get a lot of coverage who are just remarkable legislators. But But many of the loudest and the most obnoxious, are very unsuccessful legislatively. And, you know, I never went to Congress to be a yeller or a kicker or a screamer. But one who wanted to be able to get things done in almost every single bill I ever introduced. I'm a Democrat, but I had a Republican as a co sponsor on day one. And that is how that's how you get things done.

Paul Yeager: Yes. And that's why maybe I should have moved you to public media sooner. To say that's what is the enjoyable thing about the public side of, we don't really want to hear from the extreme, we really want to find out what the middle is, or find out what's what truly is going on. So we dive into policy. And that's what's been enjoyable. Let's get into policy of this farm bill in the last couple of minutes here. When you talk about crop insurance. Do you see major overhauls coming? Or are we just gonna I think the term is nip and tuck around the edges to improve things.

Cheri Bustos: Yeah, I think it's going to be more than nip and tuck approach. When we did our field hearings are listening sessions all around the country, out that out west waters, the biggest issue as it should, you know, that's, that's what you hear out there. And so we're gonna have to look at some innovative ways, whether it's drip irrigation, how we're going to look at conservation as part of agriculture, but in the midwest of crop insurance was almost the first thing that would come up at every one of the listening sessions. And it was don't mess with crop insurance. It's working. And so I would say we will make some adjustments. But But crop insurance, I don't see it changing substantially.

Paul Yeager: Okay. In your district, one of the largest ag manufacturers, former district I should say. Ag manufacturers John Deere wants to have good trade relations with China with Mexico with Brazil. That's very important in your times and conversations with those large companies. They have interest to what's the large agriculture looking for in a farm bill?

Cheri Bustos: Well, I think a company like John Deere conservation is really important because they have the technology like, you know, the precision, agriculture side of things, making sure that trade is in a good place. usmca the US? Canada Mexico trade agreement, I might have gotten a couple of days, it's been jumbled a lot. You're fine. MCA Mexico, Canada trade agreement. You know that that was great for agriculture. I still remember I convened a meeting in Illinois, I brought the Speaker of the House in to sit down with about 10 family farmers and those who represented the from the Farm Bureau, from University of Illinois, etc. And what was important about that meeting is she walked away knowing the importance of USMCA, the trade deal to our family farmers. And she walked away having more of a sense of urgency of why we had to get that done. And so it's that we that was a very important meeting for our family farmers. And it just I think emphasizes the importance of trade in agriculture. One of the other things I did while I was in Congress, I took a actually helped lead a trade mission to Canada. It was a bipartisan agricultural trade mission. We were hoping we've got, you know, we have billions of dollars that we're leaving on the table, because we're not trading with Canada that's 90 miles off of our coasts. And yeah, I was hoping that President Obama was willing to do more with trade with with Cuba, President Trump was not and it really hasn't emerged as an issue under President Biden. But you know, we have all kinds of trade opportunity, we always want to make sure that we're not getting left behind places like Brazil, and Argentina, where, you know, they they had stepped up agriculturally and trade and we want to make sure that we don't get left behind. So getting that in the right place is very important as we move forward.

Paul Yeager: So was USMCA better than NAFTA?

Cheri Bustos: It was the you know, what it was it was necessary to to update that. And NAFTA was was hard on our, you know, our blue collar workers and on manufacturing. We lost a lot of jobs. What what's good under President Biden, it's not so much a USMCA thing as it is. Under this chips act that we pass. This is where we're getting the semiconductor manufacturing Back home under the inflation Reduction Act, and under the transportation overhaul, we are bringing jobs back, you know, the old term onshoring reshoring. We're bringing those jobs back where manufacturing had gone overseas, we're starting to see that come home now, with multibillion dollar manufacturing plants that are being built in places like Michigan, that was just an announcement this week there for a semiconductor plant, places like Ohio, places like Arizona, you know, so we're starting to bring those jobs home. So I would say USMCA was good. It was an improvement over NAFTA. But what we've passed over the last two years, while I was in Congress, those are going to be even more meaningful as it pertains to manufacturing.

Paul Yeager: What are you gonna miss most about being in Congress?

Cheri Bustos: Well, you know, I already miss this probably sounds cliche, but I have some very, very close friends. And I still keep in touch with them. I have a group of women members that were there were six of us who were all elected this at the same time, now going on 12 years ago. And we would get together for dinner about, you know, once every week, every other week. And I'm still having those dinners with folks when I'm out in Washington. But you know, just the day to day interaction with some very good people. I know that that Congress has a bad image, nationally, and maybe even internationally. But if you drill down and look at the people who represent some of these districts around the country, there's some really remarkable and smart and accomplished individuals. And so I would say that's what I miss just the day to day interaction with some really great people who inspired me in a lick intellectually, and just from a friendship perspective.

Paul Yeager: Maybe in a few months, we'll talk again and I'll ask the question, What won't you miss? cuz that'll be a little more fun. You know, we always need click.

Cheri Bustos: I can answer that one, too. When we have more time. We'll get into that.

Paul Yeager: All right, Sherry, I appreciate it. Thank you so much enjoy life post Congress, but still advocating for America's farmers. Appreciate it.

Cheri Bustos: Thank you, Paul. Great to see you.

Paul Yeager: My thanks to Cheri for her time and insight, and she continues to work for the people of her district and this country, even after her time at Congress is through our time has done but we're back next Tuesday with a new episode of the empty om Show podcast. We'll see you next time.  

Contact: Paul.Yeager@iowapbs.org