Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2002, Sanchez is the first Latina to serve on the powerful House Committee on Ways and Means and the House Judiciary Committee. A lifelong progressive, Sanchez has devoted her career to helping working people get ahead- advocating for families, improving America's education system, and bringing jobs to Southern California. Sanchez was born in Orange, California, the sixth of seven children, to immigrant parents from Mexico. Her father Ignacio worked as an industrial machinist and mechanic at a plastics and rubber plant, and her mother Maria was an elementary school teacher who decided to further her education by attending school at night. Growing up in a proud Latino household, Sanchez's parents inspired her to take advantage of the opportunities they never had.

When reflecting upon the importance that her family and parents had in her life, Sanchez says, "In every Latino family, there's a sense of 'We need to stick together.' But I think in our particular family, that's even stronger because our folks expected great things from us. They wanted us to take advantage of all the opportunities they never had." Throughout her time in Congress, Sanchez has been a steadfast advocate for working people, including improving school safety; enabling more women, minorities, and veterans to establish small businesses; reforming the tax code to provide relief for long-term caregivers; bringing scrutiny to the misuse of arbitration that unfairly harms workers; and keeping families in their homes through changes to bankruptcy law. She has been a staunch advocate for Alzheimer's beneficiary and caregiver support, having lost her father and watching her mother suffer from the disease.

Sanchez currently serves on the House Committee on Ways and Means, where she advocates for the protection of Social Security and Medicare, fairness for U.S. workers and businesses in trade agreements, and an even playing field for the middle class through tax code reform. As an active member of that committee, the Congresswoman has championed many bills that have become law. Among her proudest achievements are a bill to assist small businesses in providing retirement benefits for their employees; enhanced customs enforcement; as well as bills to improve mental health coverage related to opioid addiction recovery. She has fought to improve childcare funding options for working parents and remains committed to shoring up pension funding for workers across the county. Sanchez also proudly secured a parcel of land in Norwalk, California that formerly served as a tank farm property for her local community to redevelop.

In addition to co-founding the Congressional Labor and Working Families Caucus, Sanchez has also served in several leadership positions. From 2011 to 2017 (112th-114th Congresses), she was the Ranking Member of the House Ethics Committee. In the 114th Congress, Sanchez served as Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC). During the 115th Congress (2015-2017), Sanchez served as Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus. She is the first Latina elected to a leadership position in the U.S. Congress.

In addition to Ways and Means, she has also served on the following committees- Judiciary, Ethics, Oversight and Reform, Small Business, Education and Labor, Veterans' Affairs, Foreign Affairs, and the Select Committee on Benghazi.

Prior to her service in the House of Representatives, Sanchez worked as an attorney practicing appellate law, civil rights, and employment law. After the 1998 election, Sanchez worked for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 441 and the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) as a compliance officer on public works and prevailing wage issues. In 2000, she was elected executive director of the Orange County Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO.

Sanchez attended the University of California, Berkeley, where she earned a BA in Spanish literature with an emphasis in bilingual education in 1991. After working her way through school as a bilingual aide and an ESL instructor, she went on to earn a law degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1995.

In 2002, Sanchez ran for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives from a new working-class district created after the 2000 Census. At 34 years old, she was the first woman IBEW member elected to Congress. She and her sister Loretta, who was in the House from 1997 to 2017, are the first women of any relation serve together in Congress.

Sanchez and her husband James are the proud parents of Joaquin, born in 2009. She is only the eighth woman in history to give birth while serving in Congress. They live with their dog Scully.