Melissa Bean

Family safety has been a cornerstone of Bean's legislative career. In 2007, she helped expand the power and budget of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Millions of children's products were recalled that year and lawmakers jumped on the opportunity to mandate new safety testing, enforce stricter regulations and boost the CPSC's annual budget.

Internet Safety

Bean is a leading proponent for Internet safety. Existing legislation, she says, overemphasizes cyber-security and identity theft. It does little to prevent social networking sites from becoming "online catalogues" for child predators.

Bean co-sponsored 2008's PROTECT Act, which enhances law enforcement agencies' ability to track down known sex offenders on the Internet. She also co-sponsored the KIDS Act, requiring sex offenders to register their e-mail and instant messaging names to the National Sex Offender Registry. Both acts became law in October 2008. (

Financial Regulation

Bean and the New Democrats will play a key role in revamping the U.S. financial regulatory structure following the 2008-2009 economic crisis. The proposed overhaul includes the creation of a consumer protection agency and an extended oversight role for the Federal Reserve. President Obama's plan for regulatory reform included 13 of the suggestions offered by the New Democrat Coalition Financial Services Task Force, which Bean co-chairs.

"President Obama's plan aligns with key [coalition] priorities, balancing the need to monitor systemic risk with a structure that will allow risk-taking and innovation," said Bean. "Reforming our financial regulations is vital to preventing a repeat of [the crisis]."

Small Business

Bean is a four-time recipient of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Spirit of Enterprise award, which recognizes members of Congress for their support on key business issues. Her 2008 GROW Act calls for a doubling in small business tax deductions- language that was included in President Obama's February 2009 economic stimulus package.

Working with House Small Business Committee Chairwoman Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.) and Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), Bean - in her capacity as NDC vice-chair -requested in March 2009 that President Obama pump more money into the SBA loan market. The president responded by allocating $15 billion in Treasury funds to reenergize the SBA loan market and boost lender confidence. The program will provide $35,000 in interest-free, SBA-guaranteed bridge loans for struggling small businesses "to pay down high-interest debt . . . [and] cover operational expenses and payroll through these challenging economic times."

The Economy

Bean occasionally votes with Republicans on economic issues. But she voted for the fall 2008 financial bailout package which Republicans broadly opposed, citing the threat to the economy from bank closures and failing businesses and the need for urgent action ) as her reasons.

Bean voted for President Obama's $787 billion stimulus package, citing the need for urgent action to help state and local governments tackle their budget challenges.

"One of the indirect effects of the stimulus is the jobs that will be saved," said Bean. She added that the biggest challenge to economic recovery is small business' inability to keep the flow of credit alive, and cover things like payroll costs.

Aside from small business, though, Bean acknowledged that "what people really notice on a day-to-day basis is right under their tires." To that end, almost $40 million of federal transport and infrastructure funding in the stimulus has been programmed for shovel-ready road and transit improvements in Lake County, Illinois.

"There's no earmarks here," Bean said. "The funds were forwarded on to the state and all the decisions were made in Springfield."

Free Trade

In 2005, then-freshman Bean was one of only fifteen House Democrats to vote for the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). The vote won her the support of trade organizations and industry lobbyists, but caused the AFL-CIO to withdraw its endorsement of her in 2006. Chicago-area unions had campaigned for Bean in 2004, pumping in almost half of the PAC money that helped her oust an incumbent Republican; they viewed her alignment with the pro-trade bloc as a betrayal.

Bean felt that CAFTA would help local companies expand their business by easing their foreign tax burden. "My primary responsibility is to support the interests of my constituents," Bean said of her vote. "On balance, they will benefit from CAFTA."

Despite vowing retribution, the unions still contributed over $200,000 to Bean's 2008 re-election campaign, much of which came following the CAFTA vote - perhaps, in part, because of her 73 percent overall pro-labor voting record.

Bean's generally pro-business position did not keep her from supporting the House Democratic cap-and-trade bill in the summer of 2009, which capped carbon emissions from major U.S. sources and allowed them to trade emissions permits. It also provided economic incentives for industries that reduce their emissions.

The Network

Serving on the House Financial Services Committee has brought Bean close to Chairman Barney Frank and into the thick of efforts at financial regulatory reform. She sits alongside Small Business Committee Chairwoman Nydia Velazquez as the chairman of its subcommittee on Tax, Finance and Exports and has helped fellow Illinois lawmaker Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin expand the February 2009 stimulus' small-business loan programs.

Bean's relationship with Barack Obama dates back to the president's time in Senate, when the pair fundraised and worked together on legislation.

Bean also served as one of the co-chairs of Obama's 50-state voter registration effort, the foundation of his national grassroots strategy.

Her ties to the president have granted her direct access to key players like ex-Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, former OMB director Peter Orzsag, National Economic Council Deputy Director Jason Furman and Council of Economic Advisors Chair Austan Goolsbee.

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