Free Republic

Rep. Dan Lungren is stepping up his re-election efforts this week, raising cash, recruiting volunteers and holding town hall meetings in his Sacramento County district. The Gold River Republican faces a rematch with his 2010 challenger, Elk Grove Democrat Ami Bera, in the newly drawn 7th Congressional District. A close voter registration split and high turnout in the presidential election are expected to make the race one of the most competitive congressional elections of the year. Lungren, who has trailed his opponent in campaign cash both this election and in 2010, got some help from Republican leadership for a Monday...

Republican Rep. Dan Lungren of Gold River is getting some early help for his re-election bid from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. A new television ad airing in the Sacramento area praises Lungren for "fighting to protect California jobs" and singles out his support for repealing the federal health care overhaul. A slight voter-registration edge for Democrats in the new 7th Congressional District and high turnout for the presidential election are expected to make Lungren a top target this year. He faces a rematch with Elk Grove Democrat Ami Bera, the doctor and medical educator who lost to Lungren by...

Wednesday Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) and Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) opened a hearing to examine the emerging threat to the military from homegrown terrorists within the U.S. and named the armed services as the "most sought-after" target for radical Islamist extremist groups. Rep. Dan Lungren (R.-Calif.) asked Paul Stockton, assistant defense secretary for homeland defense, whether "we are at war with violent Islamist extremism."

Rep. Dan Lungren has decided against challenging fellow Republican Congressman Tom McClintock and instead will run in what is a swing district that extends from Elk Grove to Folsom, his campaign manager said today. "Unless something changes, he will run in the 7th Congressional District and is confident in doing so," Lungren adviser Rob Stutzman told The Bee. Lungren had toyed with running against McClintock, the more conservative of the two, in the 2012 GOP primary for the 4th Congressional District.

After about a month in control of the House of Representatives, Republicans haven't managed to undo as many deeds of their Democratic predecessors as they'd like. They couldn't get rid of "Obamacare," and they haven't made much headway in slashing the president's $4-trillion budget. But the GOP has succeeded in short order in one critically important venture: getting rid of the "compostable" cornstarch-based knives, forks and spoons that were a universally — and bipartisanly — hated feature of the House cafeteria operation. The tableware, the color of mucus and as bendable as a pocket watch in a Salvador Dali painting...

But the GOP has succeeded in short order in one critically important venture: getting rid of the "compostable" cornstarch-based knives, forks and spoons that were a universally - and bipartisanly - hated feature of the House cafeteria operation. It turns out that the composting program not only cost the House an estimated $475,000 a year (according to the House inspector general) but actually increased energy consumption in the form of "additional energy for the pulping process and the increased hauling distance to the composting facility," according to a news release from Lungren. Lungren's stick-a-biodegradable-fork-in-it (if you can) stance toward a...

Republican Rep. Dan Lungren is using the power of his new leadership post to throw out a composting initiative started under former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's watch. Lungren, named chairman of the Committee on House Administration after Republicans gained control of the House last November, announced this week that he has asked the House Chief Administrative Officer to halt the waste disposal program, citing increased costs and unrealized energy savings. The program, part of the past Democratic leadership's "Green the Capitol" push, put compostable trays and utensils in House dining facilities in an effort to reduce landfill-bound waste. But the...

WASHINGTON -- The newly muscular House Republicans are poised to vote Wednesday to overturn President Obama's health care overhaul -- a move that is largely symbolic because the Democratic-controlled Senate is poised to ignore it while Obama is certain to veto it should it somehow pass through Congress. But that obstacle hasn't deterred Republicans who are determined to chisel away at the law through attempts to deny funding for parts of the legislation as they go into effect in the coming years. "The Congress can do better in terms of replacing Obamacare with common-sense reforms that will bring down the...

Republican Rep. Dan Lungren blasts a Democrat on the ballot in his new television ad. But the main target of his attack isn't his 3rd Congressional District opponent Ami Bera, it's House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. "Nancy Pelosi is a true reflection of the liberal ideas of San Francisco, but that's not where America has been or I think wants to go," the Gold River Republican says in the ad. "....I disagree with her on her on her spending policies, her taxing policies, her regulatory policy, her size of government." Lungren calls Bera, the first-time candidate challenging him in the 3rd...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- While some Democratic lawmakers have canceled town hall meetings after their colleagues endured criticism from health-reform opponents, GOP Rep. Dan Lungren (Calif.) has struggled to find a space large enough to accommodate the throngs of people showing up at his meetings. With two public healthcare forums under his belt since returning home for recess, the lightning-rod issue has shaken up thousands of his constituents, many of whom were unable to fit in the venues booked months ago by his staff. Spending a day with Lungren in the rural portion of his district southeast of Sacramento, it was...

The link goes to the CSPAN video of a recent town hall here in CA held by Congressman Dan Lungren (R-CA3). It's full length - about an hour and a half.

From the office of Congressman Dan Lungren: As your Representative, I strive to keep communication open so that I may better serve you. Town hall meetings are a wonderful way for constituents to ensure I am well-informed of local issues and concerns and for me to provide immediate answers to any questions you may have. This line of communication between citizens and their representatives is so important to me that I pioneered the use of the tele-town hall format, where I can reach several thousand constituents at once with a single phone call. I have encouraged the use of this...

The nation's largest group of atheists and agnostics filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to block an architect from engraving "In God We Trust" and the Pledge of Allegiance at the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington. The Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation's lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in western Wisconsin, claims the taxpayer-funded engravings would be an unconstitutional endorsement of religion. The House and Senate passed identical resolutions this month directing the Architect of the Capitol to engrave "In God We Trust" and the pledge in prominent places at the entrance for 3 million tourists who visit the Capitol each...

WASHINGTON -- Each year, an estimated 400,000 babies are born in the United States to mothers who are illegal immigrants. More than 25 percent of those babies are born in California. Although Congress has never passed a law saying so, no president has ever ordered it, and no court has ever ruled on the issue, each of these babies automatically becomes a U.S. citizen when it takes its first breath. That could change if legislation that Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Gold River, joined in sponsoring in April becomes law. Lungren, who served as California's attorney general from 1990 to 1998 and...

Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Calif., unveiled legislation he said was "an alternative to several of the large holes in the so-called Senate compromise." It would send home illegal immigrants who had been in the U.S. for fewer than five years and bar them from gaining lawful status. Those in the country five years or more would be able to get a "blue card" to live and work legally in the U.S. after paying a $1,000 fine and learning English and American civics, but they could not bring their families. Blue card holders would have to leave the country to apply for...

WASHINGTON - Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Gold River, is helping organize support in the House behind the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Among the pitches he is making to his colleagues is that McCain is the only Republican in the field so far who can put California in play in 2008. Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., said the argument has been persuasive among some members. "California is a pretty important state, and a monster state," Shimkus said. "For us to not even compete there is ridiculous. Dan makes that case." Lungren, Shimkus and a handful have been organizing breakfasts and...

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Dan Lungren's last-minute bid to become chairman of the House Republican Conference failed Friday when he came in fourth out of four members vying in the first round of balloting for the third-ranking leadership post. All of the Republicans' leadership positions were up for election Friday, and in the aftermath of the Nov. 7 congressional elections ousting the GOP from power, most were contested. Lungren was among those advocating reforms that would give rank-and-file members a stronger voice in the policy decisions. But when the balloting was over, the winners who will lead the conference when the...

After party's defeat, he wants a more inclusive House leadership. Rep. Dan Lungren, who earlier this year moved to force elections for all of the Republican leadership positions in the aftermath of the Jack Abramoff scandal, is seeking election to head the House Republican Conference.The Gold River Republican said it's essential that the Republican leadership adjust rapidly to the fact that the party was ousted from control of the House in the elections last week. He said he wants to see the assembly of House Republicans run more democratically, with members given more opportunities to shape positions on key policy...

Rep. Dan Lungren (R., Calif.) is getting set to introduce his own version of a constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman. It would read as follows: SECTION 1. Marriage in the United States shall consist only of a legal union of one man and one woman. SEC. 2. No court of the United States or of any State shall have jurisdiction to determine whether this Constitution or the constitution of any State requires that the legal incidents of marriage be conferred upon any union other than a legal union between one man and...

<p>Eight days after the primary election, former state Attorney General Dan Lungren finally emerged as the winner of the Republican nomination to succeed Rep. Doug Ose next year as the 3rd Congressional District's next congressman.</p> <p>"This was probably the most difficult contest I've ever been through," Lungren sighed after taking a call from Oller conceding the race. "It was a great lesson in patience and humility."</p>