Ed Royce

Member For

33 weeks 2 days

Website:

U.S. Representative Ed Royce (CA)

Contact:

2185 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-4111

BIOGRAPHY

U.S. Representative Ed Royce (R) is serving his ninth term in Congress representing Southern California's 40th District, based in Orange County. He and his wife, Marie, are longtime residents of Fullerton, CA.

Royce's priorities in Congress are: protecting our homeland, supporting our troops and veterans, providing meaningful tax relief for workers, protecting the budget and cutting excessive government spending, fighting crime and supporting victims of crime, strengthening education for all students, and preserving Social Security and Medicare.

Royce has a strong history of public service. In 1982, he was elected to the California State Senate where he began his fight for victims' rights. He authored the nation's first anti-stalker law and versions of his bill have been adopted in all 50 states. He was also the legislative author and campaign co-chairman of California's Proposition 115, the Crime Victims/Speedy Trial Initiative, approved by the voters in 1990. In Congress, Royce continues his fight for victims' rights. He wrote and passed the Interstate Stalking Punishment and Prevention Act in 1996. This law makes it a federal crime to pursue a victim across state lines and enables law enforcement to intervene before violence occurs. Royce was active in passing AMBER Alert legislation in 2003, and legislation in 2004 to enhance rights for victims of crime.

For the 111th Congress, Royce serves as a senior member of two important Committees in the House: Foreign Affairs and Financial Services. As a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Royce has been named Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade; member of the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and the Global Enviornment and the Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia.

As Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade, Royce is at the forefront of some of the most important issues facing our country. The Subcommittee explores issues including the threat posed by Islamist terrorism, especially the al-Qaeda network; terrorist financing; terrorist sanctuaries and failed states; and capacity building of foreign forces to fight terrorism. The Subcommittee's jurisdiction over nonproliferation issues is crucial given the severity of the threat of weapons of mass destruction falling into terrorist hands.

Within the Financial Services Committee, Royce sits on three Subcommittees: Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises; Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit; and Oversight and Investigations. Royce has served on the conference committees for some of the most significant legislation in the financial services arena. For more than a decade Royce has called for a stronger federal regulator to limit Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's excessive risk taking at the expense of taxpayers. In 2003, he offered the first legislation that sought to bring Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Bank System under a strong federal regulator.

Royce has consistently earned honors and awards from the National Taxpayers Union, Citizens Against Government Waste, National Federation of Independent Businesses, Watchdogs of the Treasury, Americans for Tax Reform, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, United Seniors Association, 60 Plus, American Share Holders Association, Citizens for a Sound Economy and the Small Business Survival Committee.

A California native, Royce is a graduate of California State University, Fullerton, and School of Business Administration. Prior to entering public service, his professional background includes experience as a small business owner, a controller, a capital projects manager, and a corporate tax manager for a Southern California company.

COMMENTARIES

"Reset Button" Turns Off Cuba Democracy Ticker

By Rep. Ed Royce | 07/28/09

A few years ago, the U.S. interests section in Havana, Cuba - operating out of the fifth floor of the Swiss Embassy - got creative. They installed a Times Square-style news ticker in the windows to send messages to the Cuban people. Not exactly normal procedure when it comes to the diplomatic "don't rock the boat" playbook. Castro responded. He tore-up the parking lot in front of the building, erected 138... read more »

4 Comments | Related Topics »National | Orange County (CA) |

Kremlin Calls Vice President Biden's Comments "Perplexing"

By Rep. Ed Royce | 07/27/09

If you're a White House or State Department official and see that Vice President Biden has an interview scheduled, you get nervous. Coming on the heels of his trip to former Soviet republics Ukraine and Georgia, the Veep in a Wall Street Journal interview ("Biden Says Weakened Russia Will Bend to U.S.") predicted that Russia's weakening hand will force it to bend to U.S. interests in that region and beyond. Here is Biden on... read more »

4 Comments | Related Topics »Orange County (CA) | National |

Surrogate Broadcasts: Giving Us a Fighting Chance

By Rep. Ed Royce | 07/23/09

I admit it. I'm a bit fanatical when it comes to "surrogate broadcasts." Today, a Foreign Affairs Subcommittee held a hearing featuring Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a US government-backed media operation based in Prague. My interest in these broadcasts stems from a trip to East Berlin long ago, where a man told me about the damage they were inflicting on Soviet tyranny. My legislation has created Radio Free... read more »

2 Comments | Related Topics »Orange County (CA) | National |

Hugo Chavez and Family Tighten Grip

By Rep. Ed Royce | 07/22/09

"This is what anarchy looks like, at least the type of anarchy where the family of [Hugo] Chavez accumulates wealth and power as the rest of us fear for our lives." Words of a cattleman living in Hugo Chavez's home state of Barinas, Venezuela. The governor of Barinas is Hugo Chavez's oldest brother, Adan. As the New York Times reported yesterday, ("A State in Grip of Kidnappers and the Family of Hugo Chavez")... read more »

5 Comments | Related Topics »National | Orange County (CA) |

Clinton's Characterization of North Korea Downplays Threat

By Rep. Ed Royce | 07/21/09

Secretary Clinton has taken a bit of deserved heat for her comment this week that North Korea is acting out like a child, seeking attention. Her unfortunate quote hopefully doesn't reflect her true views of North Korea. Obama Administration policies will tell. We struggle with characterizing North Korea, needless to say. In May, I posted ("Crazy Not?") that the often-heard view that Kim Jong-il is crazy is well,... read more »

4 Comments | Related Topics »Orange County (CA) | National |

Battle Lines Drawn Between Congressional Democrats and CIA

By Rep. Ed Royce | 07/17/09

Battle lines have been drawn once again in Washington's on-again, never quite off-again war against the CIA. Congressional controversy has erupted over revelations that the CIA was developing a secret plan to kill al-Qaeda terrorists. According to press reports, "the goal of the program was to assemble teams of CIA and special-operations forces 'and put bullets in [the al-Qaeda leaders'] heads,'" stated a former... read more »

3 Comments | Related Topics »Orange County (CA) | National |

Pyongyang Trumpeting the 'Greatness' of Kim Jong Un

By Rep. Ed Royce | 07/16/09

Today's Washington Post has a good investigative piece ("Who Will Succeed Kim Jong Il") on Kim Jong Un, the Dear Leader's third and youngest son and favorite to succeed the ill North Korean dictator and of which little is known. The reporting comes from Switzerland, where the boy spent about two years in boarding school, starting in 1998. The central question the Post asks: did Kim's time there, "open his horizons... read more »

3 Comments | Related Topics »Orange County (CA) | CALIFORNIA |

Two Somali-Americans Indicted on Terrorist Charges

By Rep. Ed Royce | 07/14/09

Four months ago, I posted ("Somali immigrants disappear - destination jihad?") on alarming accounts of Somali-American youths disappearing from Minneapolis to join the jihad in Somalia. News now comes that the FBI unsealed indictments yesterday in Minnesota charging two young Somali-Americans with providing material support to terrorists. According to court documents, the two have been charged in a conspiracy to provide... read more »

2 Comments | Related Topics »National | Orange County (CA) |

Obama Makes Trip to Africa, Message is Surprisingly Encouraging

By Rep. Ed Royce | 07/10/09

President Obama makes his first trip to Sub-Saharan Africa today and tomorrow. Ghana, in West Africa, wins bragging rights amongst the field that was hoping to score this diplomatic coup. The President's trip puts Africa in the media spotlight for a couple of days. When I chaired the Africa Subcommittee, we pushed hard to explain the strategic importance of the continent, efforts that culminated in a landmark trade agreement that... read more »

2 Comments | Related Topics »Orange County (CA) | National |

Go Navy! Kang Nam Unable to Deliver Cargo

By Rep. Ed Royce | 07/08/09

Score a point for the good guys (we'll take them when we can). Last week, I posted ("High Stakes on the High Seas") on the North Korean freighter steaming in the South China Sea, believed to be headed towards Burma, maybe carrying really nasty cargo, and being tracked by the U.S. Navy. Given the Kang Nam's past role in North Korean proliferation operations, antennas were raised. I called it a test case of the new... read more »