In 2006, Sanchez was alerted to a budget shortfall in her office caused by a then-aide who was embezzling money. Three of Sanchez's staffers were briefly laid off that year and temporarily placed on the payroll of Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.), Loretta's sister who was elected to the House in 2002. In 2009, the House Ethics Committee began a review of whether Linda Sanchez broke any House rules. The probe began shortly after Caroline Valdez, the former Loretta Sanchez aide involved in the scandal, pleaded guilty in 2009 to the embezzlement of $5,000 to $10,000 from her boss' office.

Health-Care Reform

In an October 2009, Sanchez and Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) wrote an op-ed for the Sacramento Bee in which they diverged from the majority of Blue Dogs in arguing that reform must include a public option.

Homeland Security

In March 2009, Sanchez led a House Homeland Security Border, Maritime and Global Counterterrorism subcommittee meeting focused on drug-related violence pouring over the U.S.-Mexican border. Among the solutions she has broached is beefing up border screenings and examining U.S. gun sales and trade, which U.S. officials say accounts for 90 percent of the arms used by Mexican cartels.

Sanchez also said the legalization of drugs may stem some of the violence associated with trafficking, suggesting a pilot program beginning with marijuana in California would be a good start. She compared the Mexican cartel violence to crimes during Prohibition, claiming that as with legalizing alcohol, drug legalization " would lower the profits in it (drugs) and make some of this go away."

In 2006, most House Democrats supported a plan to inspect every container in American ports. But Sanchez joined Republicans in opposing it, backing a bill sponsored by Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.), that would install radiation-screening equipment and improve other technology to determine which containers would be opened or further inspected.Lungren's version was enacted later that year.

Vietnam

With a large Vietnamese population in Sanchez's district, the country has loomed largely in the Orange County Democrat's political vision.

Sanchez opposed a U.S.-Vietnam trade pact enacted in 2000, saying "The United States should normalize trade relations only when Vietnam takes measurable steps to promote economic and human rights for all its citizens."

In 2000, Sanchez joined a White House delegation to Vietnam, during which she met separately with leading dissidents without the aid of administration-provided security or a translator. In 2004, Vietnam denied her a visa after Vietnamese officials wrote a letter to the American Embassy in Hanoi, saying Sanchez "altogether lacks objectivity and good will toward Vietnam."

In 1997, Sanchez successfully led the House effort to disburse 20 years of back pay to the Vietnamese "lost commandos" who were dropped behind enemy lines by the military and CIA during the Vietnam War.

The Economy

Sanchez is a co-sponsor of the 2009 Employee Free Choice Act, which seeks to ease restrictions on the formation and joining of unions.

Sanchez voted for the $787-billion economic stimulus package in February 2009, claiming though the bill would help save jobs and protect local governments with budget shortfalls.

Sanchez voted against both versions of the fall 2008 financial bailout bill.

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