O.C. Register - "Bipartisan cheer among O.C. House members"

By O.C. Register
January 11, 2012

Compliments across party lines seem all but forbidden in Congress these days – and that is particularly true among Orange County’s delegation. So when I heard that two of the county’s most polarizing House members – Dana Rohrabacher, R-Costa Mesa, and Loretta Sanchez, D-Santa Ana – joined forces for an Afghanistan mission, I was eager to see if that meant there was some mutual respect.

“She’s played a very positive role,” Rohrabacher said of his colleague. As I reported Monday, the pair – along with two other Congress members – met with Afghan opposition leaders to draw up a joint policy statement calling for election reform in that country and an end to any backdoor efforts to bring the Taliban into the government.

“She’s deeply involved with the issues and with withdrawing U.S. forces,” said Rohrabacher, who’s long been involved with issues in Afghanistan.

Rohrabacher is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight. Sanchez is ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee on Strategic Forces.