- Pritzker Fellows
- Former Fellows
- Peter Roskam
Peter Roskam
Former U.S. Representative from Illinois
Biography
For twenty-five years, Peter Roskam has held office, uniquely serving in both the majority and the minority in each of three storied legislative bodies — the US House of Representatives, the Illinois Senate and the Illinois House of Representatives. He also served in the Leadership in Congress and the Illinois Senate.
As a six-term Congressman representing suburban Chicago, Roskam was ranked by Georgetown University’s Lugar Center among the top 25 most bipartisan members of Congress. Yet he has also played a central role in highly partisan activities such as the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act and the Select Committee on Benghazi.
He chaired three major subcommittees of the Ways & Means Committee. As Chairman of the Tax Policy Subcommittee he was a chief architect in the first major overhaul of the nation’s tax code in over three decades, offering much-needed tax relief to families and businesses in every income bracket resulting in globally competitive tax rates, record-high small business optimism and historically low unemployment rates.
As Chairman of the Ways & Means Health Policy Subcommittee, he led a series of hearings addressing the opioid crisis and authored several pieces of legislation which were included in landmark opioid relief legislation that was signed into law. Additionally, under his guidance the Subcommittee undertook to reduce regulatory barriers in healthcare through a bipartisan Red Tape Relief Program.
As Chairman of the Ways & Means Oversight Subcommittee, Roskam championed efforts to overhaul the IRS’ civil asset forfeiture program, receiving unanimous support in the House and resulting in important legislation to protect Americans from IRS overreach. He also probed the relationship between the rising costs of college and the tax code and sponsored the Truth in Tuition Act to aid families in planning for their children’s education.
He chaired the US House Democracy Partnership, a bipartisan commission supporting emerging democracies abroad and as such hosted dozens of in-bound foreign, parliamentary delegations as well as led or participated in over two dozen Congressional delegations throughout Asia, Africa, Europe and South America.
He sits on the Board of Directors for the National Endowment for Democracy.
In addition to elected service, Roskam practiced law, taught high school, served as a Congressional Assistant and headed a charity for disadvantaged students. He and his wife Elizabeth, an accomplished oil painter, have been married for thirty years. They have four adult children and a delightful dog named Max.
Seminars
“So You Think Congress Needs Fixing?”
This seminar will examine the Article One branch of the Federal Government - the United States Congress - with a particular view on the House of Representatives. Public opinion polls typically hold Congress in low regard regardless of the majority party. Yet there is often more going on in the House than meets the eye, and attributes of Congressional structure and practice might be more valuable than they are perceived. That said, constituents and others outside of the institution have far more influence than they think. At the end of this seminar, it is hoped that participants have a renewed appreciation of the legislative branch and are equipped with tools to engage it successfully.
Americans are an unsettled group. Whether it be restlessness from the left, the center or the right, there are very few satisfied voices in the public square. We will explore reasons for this and how it played out in the 2018 midterms. What are the implications for the next two years of legislation? How does this compare to other American historical experiences? We’ll also discuss remedies moving into the 2020 election and beyond.
Speaker, Majority Leader and now Whip (thanks to “House of Cards”) are the titles that most easily come to mind when discussing House leadership. Yet they are the tip of the iceberg. Party structures - both formal and informal, official and campaign - can impact the trajectory of legislation. As Chief Deputy Whip I was tasked with gathering votes to move the House agenda and learned hard lessons along the way. Passing a budget is essential for a majority party and yet becomes more difficult to attract votes. Seminar participants will gain insight into what levers leadership can use to find allies and overcome obstacles, and what obstacles remain.
The House of Representatives is divided into committees to delegate the work flow of the institution. Simply put, 435 Representatives cannot deal with every issue with the same level of attention. Some committees authorize, some appropriate, and some oversee. House Committees conduct their business under strict time limits to expedite the process. How does it all happen? Seminar participants will be assigned roles in this session and will simulate a House Committee hearing with all its time constraints and other hairpin turns.
The First Amendment guarantees us the right to petition the government. Today, the scope and scale of influencing federal policy has taken on an order of magnitude that our Founders could never have contemplated. What are the most effective ways the public has used First Amendment rights to impact legislation? What and who have been the most effective constituencies? We will discuss this with an eye toward effective lobbying and organizing techniques and strategies to positively influence policy.
Civil asset forfeiture is a law enforcement tool which was designed to go after the Mafia, drug dealers and human traffickers. But when the Internal Revenue Service turned civil asset forfeiture against a local dairy farmer and froze his assets for no good reason, Congress was outraged. I was joined by my colleagues on the Ways & Means Committee in uncovering a pattern of abuse by the IRS in wrongfully manipulating small businesses out of $20 million in fines. We will look at how we conducted the investigation from the Oversight Subcommittee, the obstacles we faced at the IRS and Justice Department and techniques we used to restrain the bureaucrats. We will discuss this case study with a view toward the nature of compromise in fashioning a response across party lines.
The old Internal Revenue Code had no defenders. Neither the left nor the right was particularly pleased with it, and its complexity was overwhelming. Last year’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was the first major update of the tax code in over thirty years. We will discuss the underlying assumptions which drove the debate, some of the behind-the-scenes negotiating and the impact on future tax discussions.
It’s one thing to slap a catchy phrase on the back of a vehicle and quite another to successfully enact a change in policy. We will examine the truth behind the phrase “Gee, does it take an Act of Congress to get that done?” Strategies include building a coalition, anticipating opposition and minimizing it, navigating around professional Congressional staff and Parliamentarians and other passive-aggressive forces on Capitol Hill.
Special Guest: Dean Thompson, former Deputy Chief of Staff to Peter Roskam
The U.S. House Democracy Partnership (HDP) is a bipartisan commission of the House of Representatives that partners with emerging democracies across the globe to support effective government and strengthen democratic institutions by assisting legislatures. This is particularly important in the face of authoritarian pressures. We will be joined by Congressman David Price (D-NC), HDP Chairman to discuss the US role in advocating for democracy on a global basis.
Special Guest: U.S. Representative David Price (D-NC)