| Congresswoman Cori Bush is a registered nurse, community activist, organizer, single mother, and ordained pastor representing the people of Missouri's First Congressional District. Congresswoman Cori is in her second term in the United States House of Representatives, serving on the House Oversight Committee-including as Ranking Member on the Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs-and the House Judiciary Committee.
Cori is the first Black woman and first nurse to represent Missouri; the first woman to represent Missouri's First Congressional District; and the first activist from the movement to save Black lives elected to the United States Congress.
Cori was born in St. Louis, Missouri to Errol Bush, a union meat-cutter and local politician, and Barbara Blakney. Her family descends from people who were enslaved in South Carolina and Mississippi. She was raised in the Northwoods neighborhood with her 2 siblings. Growing up, Cori's father imparted on her the lessons of legendary Black leaders, whose photos hung on the walls of their house.
As a student, Cori excelled graduating from Cardinal Ritter High School in North St. Louis City. She dreamed of becoming a nurse, and helping to save lives in her hometown.
Cori went on to attend St. Louis' HBCU, Harris-Stowe State University, before taking a leave from her studies. She went on to attend the Lutheran School of Nursing to fulfill her childhood dream of becoming a nurse. She also became a faith leader in the community, becoming an ordained pastor and opening a ministry.
Like so many in St. Louis, Cori began her career by working minimum wage jobs to make ends meet. She lived paycheck-to-paycheck as a child care worker at a local preschool struggling through the predatory payday loan cycle while trying to keep a roof over her head and food on the table. Cori survived domestic violence and was evicted after being attacked by a former partner.
In 2000, Cori gave birth to her first child, a son, nearly 4 months prematurely after doctors ignored her severe pain. He survived after being placed on a ventilator for an extended period of time. One year later, Cori welcomed her second child, a daughter, after another tumultuous pregnancy. Her experiences helped shape her stances as an relentless advocate for Black maternal health.
Shortly after her daughter's birth, Cori became unhoused and lived out of her car with her partner and babies for a period of months. She used fast food restaurants to mix formula for her newborns and kept her belongings in trash bags in the back of the vehicle.
In 2014, following the murder of Michael Brown Jr. by a now-terminated Ferguson police officer, Congresswoman Cori spent more than 400 days protesting for justice leading on the Ferguson Frontline as a nurse and clergy member.
For the first five weeks following the murder, Cori spent her days working in the community that witnessed Mike Brown Jr's body laying uncovered for four and a half hours in the hot St. Louis summer sun, providing triage-medical care and resources.
In the years following, she continued her activism as a co-founder of The Truth Telling Project and as a leader of the protest group #ExpectUS.
Now in her second term in office, Cori has championed legislation that puts St. Louis front and center. A relentless advocate for racial, social, health care, and environmental justice, Cori has led the movement to guarantee housing for all introducing legislation to end houselessness by 2025, leading a national movement on the steps of the U.S. House of Representatives calling on the CDC to extend the eviction moratorium, as well as introducing legislation to permanently implement an eviction moratorium throughout the pandemic.
She's urgently prioritized issues that are affecting St. Louisans every day securing $700 million in COVID-19 relief for the St. Louis region through the American Rescue Plan, delivering an 8-week FEMA mass vaccination site, using her office as a vehicle to bring local leaders in the region together to coordinate a pandemic response, negotiating an EPA commitment to clean up Coldwater Creek, bringing home federal grant funding to create safer roadways and communities, and sending her constituent services team into local libraries to expand the accessibility of her office.
Cori serves on the House Judiciary Committee and on the House Oversight Committee. In her first term, she has become known for her catchphrase line of St. Louis and I, which she says at the beginning of any speech or question line in a hearing or on the House floor. She's used her position on these committees to advocate for stricter oversight of oil and gas companies, push for police reform, advocate for protester rights, and much more. Cori was also named to the prestigious Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission and appointed as Vice Chair of the Majority Leader Task Force on Poverty and Opportunity. |