Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: “I would take a moment to thank Representative Velazquez for her precedent and her leadership as well. Before I was a…”

“I would take a moment to thank Representative Velazquez for her precedent and her leadership as well. Before I was a young Puerto Rican woman upending an incumbent, Velazquez was as well. Every single one of us, as women, have to stand on the shoulders and the efforts made by other women who had to fight--fight hatred, fight patriarchy, fight hateful men--in order to simply exist in bodies like this. So, Madam Speaker, I also thank not only Representative Velazquez, but Representative Lawrence, who is a leader in the Women's Caucus, ensuring that others and other women who will walk through these doors not just today but in generations to come, continue to be protected and amplified. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Michigan (Mrs. Lawrence).”