Doug Ose - Congressional Career

Congressional Career

Ose was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1999 to 2005, representing the 3rd Congressional District of California. When he was first elected to Congress in 1998, Ose promised to serve three consecutive terms, then retire to private life.

During his work in Congress, Ose was named a “Hero of the Taxpayers” by Americans for Tax Reform, a “Guardian of Small Business” by the National Federation of Independent Business and earned a “Tax Fighter” award from the National Tax Limitation Committee. Ose voted for a $1.35 trillion tax reform package that ended the marriage penalty tax, lowered the estate tax and increased child tax credits for American families. He served as Chairman of a House Government Reform Committee, where former President Bill Clinton and former First Lady Hillary Clinton were exposed for failing to properly report over $190,000 in jewelry, furniture and other personal gifts. This act led to legislation expanding presidential disclosure requirements. In addition, to combat illegal immigration, Ose voted to use new technology and additional agents to secure America’s borders, and fought efforts to block construction of a border fence. Ose also authored a resolution in keeping the phrase “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance and he supported legislation against defiling the American flag .

Ose was one of the few Members of Congress to honor his pledge of serving no more than three terms. Therefore, in 2004, he did not stand for re-election and was instead briefly a candidate in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate. However, Ose returned to the private sector as a businessman and land developer. In the race to succeed the 3rd Congressional District seat left vacant by Ose, his sister, Mary Ose, lost the Republican nomination to former state Attorney General and former Congressman Dan Lungren. Lungren later won the General Election.