Karen Bass: “I want to commend her for the courageous effort that she has made as a freshman Member of Congress to swim against a…”

“I want to commend her for the courageous effort that she has made as a freshman Member of Congress to swim against a tide of incumbency. I said many times during my campaign last year that there are really three parties in Washington, Republicans, Democrats, and incumbents, and the incumbents is the largest party of all. I think on November 8 many of us who did not take any significant amount of political action committee money showed that we can make a difference here in Washington. As one of those new Members of Congress who is here today, and proud to be here, I want to create a Congress that the American people can be proud of, a Congress that is elected by people and supported by people from Members of Congress' districts. I also want to commend the gentlewoman for standing up here tonight and bringing to the American people the need to reduce the influence of special interests, to require that campaign funds come from a candidate's own district.”