Dear Friends:

Every presidential and congressional election in the United States is important, but the election of 2008 comes at a particularly crucial time for our country. At home and abroad, we face many serious challenges, any one of which, if not addressed, could damage our nation’s well being.

One of our most urgent challenges is to find and implement a series of short- and long-term policies to breathe new life into a sputtering and shaky economy. After a record period of economic growth, stretching from 2003 through 2007, the economy is beginning to slow down significantly. For the fourth quarter 2007, our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 0.6 percent, down from 4.9 percent in the third quarter. The overall 2.2 percent growth rate for 2007 was the slowest since 2002. We must act quickly to prevent our country from falling into a full-blown recession and adopt far-sighted tax, trade and government spending policies that will put us on the road to a period of long-term, sustainable economic growth. Without a healthy economy, we are limited as individuals and as a country in how we can confront the many other challenges we face.

Another serious challenge that we are likely to face for many years—or even decades—is that of militant Islamic terrorism. Contrary to the belief of many, this is not a threat that suddenly appeared out of the skies on September 11, 2001. In reality, the Islamic extremists have been at war with the United States and its people for much longer than we have recognized this state of war. As far back as 1983 when Islamic extremists bombed the Beirut Embassy, killing, 241 U.S. Marines, the jihadists have been engaged in a war to “purify their lands” by doing whatever it takes to get westerners, and particularly Americans, out of the Middle East. Unless we are willing to give-in to their demands—get out of the Middle East, convert to Islam and abandon our “godless and immoral” culture—this is a war that we have no choice but to fight—and to win.

Closer to home, our great state of California and many other states in the union continue to grapple with a problem that, by all rights should have been solved many years ago by the national government. I am speaking, of course, about illegal immigration. Clearly, with 15-20 million people (no one really knows how many) living in our country illegally, the problem passed the critical stage a long time ago. Nevertheless, I believe that the government in Washington D.C. has finally heard what the people have been telling us for nearly a decade—enough is enough; it has to stop. And now that the government is listening, it is time to move forward with a forceful and long-term plan to secure our borders and make certain that the American dream is preserved for Americans— and for those who want to become Americans the good, old fashioned way of following the legal path to citizenship.

These three issues—the economy, Islamic terrorism (national security) and illegal immigration are the “Big Three” challenges that we as a nation face in 2008, but they are certainly not the only ones.

Another problem that we must solve sooner, rather than later, is our dependence on foreign energy sources. We cannot remain forever dependent on the oil-rich nations of the Middle East that also happen to be the breeding grounds for many of the radical Islamic terrorists who want to harm the United States and its citizens.

Closely tied to the energy issue—and to the health of our economy—are challenges involving transportation. Having millions of cars sit for hours in traffic jams each and every day exacerbates our reliance on foreign oil and keeps people and goods from moving in a timely manner. I am working with many people in the district and in Congress to help mitigate some of our worst traffic problems.

As we deal with current threats to our security and economic wellbeing, we must also look ahead to the future. How to provide our children with a high-quality education and how to make health care available and affordable for all citizens are perennial issues that we must continue to address. While “solutions” to these issues remain elusive, we have no choice except to continue to work with all people of good will to improve our schools and our health care delivery system.

It is an honor to represent the people of California’s 44th Congressional District, and I hope that you will give me the opportunity to continue working in Washington to help meet the many challenges that our state and nation are facing.


Sincerely,