Sydney Kamlager-Dove: “I thank Representative Moore for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise with all of these other fabulous women in Congress to…”

“I thank Representative Moore for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise with all of these other fabulous women in Congress to celebrate female trailblazers in Congress. I am going to speak to many of those trailblazers who hail from California. This is a shout-out to some bad sisters. I am here to honor former Representative Karen Bass, the now-mayor of Los Angeles. Mr. Speaker, you have to love the people if you want to lead people, and Mayor Karen Bass loves Los Angeles. Stepping into her shoes in Congress has been an incredibly humbling journey. Ms. Bass has a long history of public service working in the California State Assembly before coming here to Congress. In fact, she was the first female speaker--let alone the first Black woman--but the first female speaker of the California State Assembly--an incredibly powerful body. California, after all, is the fifth largest economy in the world. When she was first elected to the assembly, she was the only Black woman in the entire State legislature. She then came to Congress and eventually served as the chair of the mighty, moral Congressional Black Caucus from 2019 to 2021 before launching her mayoral campaign. Mayor Karen Bass is a champion for the people in every single way, leading the charge on foreign diplomacy, criminal justice reform, foster youth, and environmental justice. Karen Bass worked and works in a quiet, forceful, and bipartisan way, and Ms. Bass found results for the people while she was here in Congress.…”