Prior to his election to Congress in 1988, Rohrabacher was an editorial writer for the Orange County Register. He served as Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan. For seven years he was one of the President's senior speechwriters. During his tenure at the White House, Rohrabacher played a leading role in the formulation of the Reagan Doctrine. He also helped formulate President Reagan's Economic Bill of Rights, a package of economic reforms that the President introduced in a speech before the Jefferson Memorial.
Rohrabacher is Chairman of the Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee, of the House Science Committee. Rohrabacher is also a member of the Energy Subcommittee, overseeing research of the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
As a senior member of the International Relations Committee, Rohrabacher led the effort to deny Most Favored Nation trading status to the People's Republic of China, citing that nation's dismal human rights record and opposition to democracy. His subcommittee assignments are East Asia and Pacific, and Middle East and South Asia. Rohrbacher was the author of California's Proposition 187, which removes illegal aliens from the state's welfare and education rolls.