Linda Sánchez


Linda Teresa Sánchez is an American politician and former labor lawyer who currently serves as the U.S. Representative for. She is a member of the Democratic Party and was first elected to Congress in 2002. She currently serves on the Ways and Means Committee and is the previous ranking member on the House Ethics Committee. In the 114th Congress, she served as the Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
In 2016, she was elected by her colleagues to serve as Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus for the 115th Congress, the fifth-ranking position in House Democratic leadership. She is the first woman of color ever to be elected to a leadership position in the history of the U.S. Congress. She is the younger sister to former congresswoman Loretta Sanchez and they are to date the only pair of sisters to have served in United States Congress.

Early life, education and career

Sánchez was born in Orange, California. She grew up with six siblings, raised by Mexican immigrant parents in Anaheim, where she attended Valencia High School. She earned her BA in Spanish in 1991 at the University of California, Berkeley and her Juris Doctor degree in 1995 at the UCLA School of Law, where she was an editor of the Chicano-Latino Law Review.
Sánchez was an attorney specializing in labor law prior to her public service career. In 1998, she joined the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 441 and became a compliance officer. In 2000 she was unanimously elected to the position of Executive Secretary/Treasurer of the Orange County Central Labor Council.

Political campaigns

39th Congressional District (2003-2013)

Sánchez started her political career in what was then the 39th District. That district had previously been the 38th, represented by five-term Republican Steve Horn. It already had a modest Democratic lean, but redistricting following the 2000 Census made it even more Democratic, prompting Horn to retire.
Sánchez finished first in a six-person primary for the Democratic Party nomination in March 2002. She won the primaries with 33.5% of the vote, with the second place candidate Hector de la Torre receiving 29.3%. She went on to win the general elections against Republican Tim Escobar by a 54.9% to 40.8% margin.
She ran unopposed in the Democratic primaries in 2004. She faced Escobar again in the general election, defeating him by a margin of 60.7% to 39.3%. For the 2006 elections, she defeated two challengers in the primary with 77.8% of the vote, and defeated attorney James L. Andion in the general election.
Linda and her sister, Loretta, became the first pair of sisters to serve together in the U.S. House of Representatives. Her sister served as a congresswoman from an Orange County district from 1996 until she announced her plan to run for U.S. Senate. She finished second in California's "top two" primary, and was defeated by fellow Democrat, state Attorney General Kamala Harris, in the general election in 2016.

38th Congressional District (2013–present)

After the 2010 census, Sánchez' district was renumbered as the 38th District. In the upcoming election she faced Republican Ryan Downing.

U.S. House of Representatives

Committee assignments

She has two committee assignments in the House: the Committee on Ethics and the United States House Committee on Ways and Means. In 2005, she was appointed Assistant Minority Whip. She is a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and is Co-Chair of the Congressional Labor and Working Families Caucus. She is also a Vice-Chair of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus.

Political positions

In 2014 Project Vote Smart, using public statements, voting records, and evaluations from special interest groups, was able to infer the major issues Sánchez would or not agree upon. Its conclusions, though not officially confirmed by Sanchez, were that Sánchez:
Sánchez supports a progressive tax system and voted against maintaining reduced tax rates for capital gains and dividends. In addition she was rated a "Big Spender" by NTU indicating she generally supports higher tax rates.

Budget

Sánchez voted against spending prioritizing in the event of the debt limit being reached. In 2009 she supported both a 192 billion dollar anti-recession stimulus package and an 825 Billion bailout fund. Additional to these, she supported a 15 billion dollar bailout for GM and Chrysler as well as a 60 Billion dollar stimulus package. She voted in 2011 to raise the debt limit to 16.7 trillion dollars. She opposes any move to privatize Social Security and supports keeping it strictly federally funded.

Energy

She opposes new exploration for oil drilling and would remove tax benefits for oil and gas exploration. She has also opposed permits and construction for new oil refineries. She supports tax credits and incentives for investments in renewable energy.

Government reform

Sánchez supports lobbyist disclosures for campaign finances as well as requiring full disclosure of campaign finances. She seeks to guarantee free and fair elections.

Gun control

Sánchez is pro-gun control and believes in background checks, no fly-no buy, gun control and gun violence research. She seeks to close the gun show loophole for firearm sales. She believes gun manufacturers and sellers are accountable and ought to be liable for misuse cases by users.

Healthcare

Sánchez opposes the privatization of Medicare in any form, and opposes spending cuts to Medicare. Instead she supports expanding healthcare coverage by a number of programs through federal funding. She has stated that she believes healthcare is a basic right. However, when asked whether she supports the universal health care bill HR 676 by Rep. John Conyers, she declined to vote in favor of it, citing the need to support the Affordable Care Act.

Abortion

Sánchez is pro-choice and has voted against repealing federal funding for abortions. She opposed legislation to bar transporting minors between states for abortions and making it a crime to harm a fetus in another crime. According to research done by Project Vote Smart, they were able to determine the following:
She was given a 100% rating by the NAACP, indicating a pro–affirmative action position. Sánchez is a gay rights supporter and opposes discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender. On October 4, 2011, Sánchez made a statement on the LGBT History Month, saying: "We must continue to strive to end discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation and fight so that all Americans have the right to marry and start families with those they love. I remain committed to supporting marriage equality, investments in HIV/AIDS care, treatment and research, and campaigns that take action against bullying in schools."
On a letter written on February 9, 2010 to President Barack Obama, then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senator Charles Schumer, Sánchez explained how "Currently, U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents may sponsor their spouses for immigration purposes. But, same-sex partners committed to spending their lives together are not recognized as "families" under U.S. immigration law and thus do not have this same right." and how "This is unacceptable, and we believe comprehensive immigration reform legislation must include a strong family reunification component inclusive of LGBT families."
After the Arizona State Legislature passed State Senate Bill 1070 and after Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed it into law, Sánchez claimed that the law, and similar laws throughout the United States, were the product of white supremacists: "There's a concerted effort behind promoting these kinds of laws on a state-by-state basis by people who have ties to white supremacy groups. It's been documented. It's not mainstream politics." Rep. Gary Miller called Sanchez's comments "an outrageous accusation." Her comments were also condemned by Steve Poizner.

Drug policy

Sánchez is pro-drug reform and supports allowing people with drug-related convictions to receive student loans if they are deemed to be rehabilitated. She also seeks to expunge records of first-time drug offenders after probation.

Environment

She opposes legislation that would bar the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating emissions. Sánchez is in favor of higher emission standards and establish tradable allowances. She supports the cash-for-clunkers program and seeks to increase public transportation and trains through federally funded projects.
Sánchez supports the addition of several species to the IUCN Red List and promotes more extensive nature conservation.

Davis-Bacon Act

Following Hurricane Katrina in late August 2005, President George W. Bush suspended the Davis-Bacon Act, a 1931 law that requires government contractors to pay prevailing wages. Sánchez was a very vocal critic of the suspension, and led the fight to reverse it. Sánchez eventually won, as Bush reversed himself on October 26, 2005.

Cyber-bullying prevention

In 2009 and again in 2009, Sánchez introduced the "Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act," H.R. 1966, a bill which would criminalize the use of electronic communications if "the intent is to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person." This bill is a response to the suicide of Megan Meier, a 13-year-old girl whose 2006 suicide was attributed to cyber-bullying through the social networking website MySpace. The bill has drawn criticism from members of the on-line community, legal scholars, and others who have contended that the bill would infringe the constitutional right of freedom of speech.

Personal life

Sánchez married Jim Sullivan on April 13, 2009, in the district office of Congressman John B. Larson, who introduced the two about two years prior to the wedding. The marriage is the second for Sánchez, and Sullivan has three sons Brendan, Jack and Seamus from a previous marriage. On May 13, 2009, she became the 8th woman to have given birth while serving in Congress when she gave birth to her first son, Joaquin Sánchez Sullivan.
Sánchez's father, Ignacio, suffers from Alzheimer's disease, which Sánchez has cited as a motivation for finding a cure for the disease.
She is the younger sister of former Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, who is nine years her senior, making them the first and to date only sister pair to serve in Congress. Linda Sánchez is considered somewhat more liberal than her older sister. While Loretta began her political career as a moderate Republican before becoming a Democrat, Linda has always been a Democrat. Also, while Loretta was a member of the Blue Dog Coalition and the New Democrat Coalition, Linda is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Stephen Colbert interviewed Sánchez for his 434-part series "Better Know A District" on The Colbert Report. The segment was aired on Comedy Central on March 9, 2006.
Sánchez delivered the Spanish version of the Democratic Radio Address on May 6, 2006.
In September 2006 Sánchez won the contest "Funniest Celebrity in Washington" during a charity fundraiser.

Works

In 2008 sister congresswomen Loretta Sánchez and Linda Sánchez published the joint memoir Dream in Color: How the Sánchez Sisters Are Making History in Congress. Publishers Weekly reviewed the book and wrote: "Linda and Loretta Sánchez present their compelling story—noteworthy not only for their history-making achievements but also for its "American Dream" aspect—their parents immigrated from Mexico and despite lacking a formal education managed to send their seven children to college. Interweaving childhood vignettes with accounts of serving in Congress, both from California, this refreshing book evades many of the tropes of the typical political memoir—perhaps because these two women are not typical politicians."