About the Author
Congresswoman Loretta Sánchez has been a Democratic member of the United State House of Representatives since 1997. Previously a Republican, Sánchez changed parties in 1996, feeling that the Republican Party had lost touch with its constituency. She is the second-ranking Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee and is a member of the Armed Services Committee. Loretta Sanchez is perhaps most known for her controversial 2007 withdrawal from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, alleging the caucus chairmen treated female members with disrespect. Their very public fight was covered thoroughly in the media, including being parodied on The Colbert Report.
Congresswoman Linda T. Sánchez has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representative since 2003, when she joined her older sister Loretta, making them the only sisters to ever serve in Congress. She earned her BA in Spanish at the University of California in Berkley and her JD at UCLA, where she was an editor of the Chicano-Latino Law Review. She was an attorney specializing in labor law prior to her public service career.
She is the chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law, a member of the US House Committee on Education and Labor, and a member of the US House Committee on International Relations. In 2005 she was appointed Assistant Minority Whip. She is the Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Congressional Labor and Working Families Caucus. Stephen Colbert interviewed Sánchez for his series, “Better Know a District”, on the Colbert Report in 2006. Sánchez delivered the Spanish version of the Democratic Radio Address on May 6, 2006 and in September 2006 Linda won the title “Funniest Celebrity in Washington.”
