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Karen Bass
DCalifornia U.S. House, District 37 (2011 - Present)
Member, Congressional International Conservation Caucus (? - Present)
To be claimed
Member, Congressional Addiction, Treatment and Recovery Caucus, present
Member/Whip, Congressional Black Caucus, present
Member, Congressional Caucus on Black Men and Boys, present
Founder, Congressional Coalition on Adoption, present
Member, Congressional Creative Rights Caucus, present
Member, Congressional Diabetes Caucus, present
Member, Congressional Entertainment Industries Caucus, present
Member, Congressional Ethiopia Caucus, present
Member, Congressional HIV/AIDS Caucus, present
Member, Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, present
Member, Congressional Library of Congress Caucus, present
Member, Congressional Military Mental Health Caucus, present
Member, Congressional Multiple Sclerosis Caucus, present
Member, Congressional Progressive Caucus, present
Member, Congressional Social Work Caucus, present
Co-Chair, Foster Youth Caucus, present
Founder, Bipartisan Youth Caucus
Former Member, Congressional Professional Caucus
Founder, Foster Youth Caucus
Former Chair, Legislative Black Caucus
Former Vice Chair, Legislative Black Caucus
Former Member, Over Criminalization Task Force, United States House of Representatives
Former Chair, Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations, United States House of Representatives
Former Chair, Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, United States House of Representatives
Member, Congressional Addiction, Treatment and Recovery Caucus, present
Member/Whip, Congressional Black Caucus, present
Member, Congressional Caucus on Black Men and Boys, present
Founder, Congressional Coalition on Adoption, present
Member, Congressional Creative Rights Caucus, present
Member, Congressional Diabetes Caucus, present
Member, Congressional Entertainment Industries Caucus, present
Member, Congressional Ethiopia Caucus, present
Member, Congressional HIV/AIDS Caucus, present
Member, Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, present
Member, Congressional Library of Congress Caucus, present
Member, Congressional Military Mental Health Caucus, present
Member, Congressional Multiple Sclerosis Caucus, present
Member, Congressional Progressive Caucus, present
Member, Congressional Social Work Caucus, present
Co-Chair, Foster Youth Caucus, present
Founder, Bipartisan Youth Caucus
Former Member, Congressional Professional Caucus
Former Member, Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations Subcommittee, United States House of Representatives
Founder, Foster Youth Caucus
Former Chair, Legislative Black Caucus
Former Vice Chair, Legislative Black Caucus
Member, Committee on Foreign Affairs
Member, Committee on the Judiciary
Chair, Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Global Human Rights
Member, Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet
Member, Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security
— Awards:
— Father's Name:
— Mother's Name:
— Number of Grandchildren:
1. Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation?
- Pro-choice
1. In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket?
- Yes
2. Do you support expanding federal funding to support entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare?
- Unknown Position
1. Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions?
- Yes
1. Do you support the protection of government officials, including law enforcement officers, from personal liability in civil lawsuits concerning alleged misconduct?
- No
Do you support increasing defense spending?
- No
1. Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth?
- Yes
2. Do you support lowering corporate taxes as a means of promoting economic growth?
- No
3. Do you support providing financial relief to businesses AND/OR corporations negatively impacted by the state of national emergency for COVID-19?
- Yes
1. Do you support requiring states to adopt federal education standards?
- No
1. Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, geo-thermal)?
- Yes
2. Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions?
- Yes
1. Do you generally support gun-control legislation?
- Yes
1. Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")?
- No
2. Do you support requiring businesses to provide paid medical leave during public health crises, such as COVID-19?
- Yes
1. Do you support the construction of a wall along the Mexican border?
- No
2. Do you support requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship?
- No
1. Should the United States use military force to prevent governments hostile to the U.S. from possessing a weapon of mass destruction (for example: nuclear, biological, chemical)?
- No
2. Do you support reducing military intervention in Middle East conflicts?
- Unknown Position
Do you generally support removing barriers to international trade (for example: tariffs, quotas, etc.)?
- Yes
1. Abortions should always be illegal.
- No Answer
2. Abortions should always be legal.
- X
3. Abortions should be legal only within the first trimester of pregnancy.
- No Answer
4. Abortions should be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape.
- No Answer
5. Abortions should be legal when the life of the woman is endangered.
- No Answer
6. Eliminate public funding for abortions and public funding of organizations that advocate or perform abortions.
- No Answer
7. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Education (Higher)
- Greatly Increase
2. Education (K-12)
- Greatly Increase
3. Environment
- Greatly Increase
4. Health care
- Greatly Increase
5. Law enforcement
- Slightly Increase
6. Transportation and Highway infrastructure
- Slightly Increase
7. Welfare
- Slightly Increase
8. Other or expanded categories
- Greatly Increase
9. Alcohol taxes
- Greatly Increase
10. Capital gains taxes
- Greatly Increase
11. Cigarette taxes
- Greatly Increase
12. Corporate taxes
- Slightly Increase
13. Gasoline taxes
- Slightly Increase
14. Income taxes (incomes below $75,000)
- Maintain Status
15. Income taxes (incomes above $75,000)
- Slightly Increase
16. Inheritance taxes
- Slightly Increase
17. Property taxes
- Maintain Status
18. Sales taxes
- Maintain Status
19. Vehicle taxes
- Maintain Status
20. Should Internet sales be taxed?
- Yes
21. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
22. I believe it is essential that we keep public services in place. I will support creating new sources of revenue by taking such steps as closing corporate tax loopholes, putting in place and oil severance tax (as every other oil producing state does) and reinstating the top income tax bracket.
- oil severance fees
1. Do you support the current two term, eight year term limit for California governors?
- No
2. Do you support the current two term, eight year term limit for California state senators?
- No
3. Do you support the current three term, six year term limit for California assembly members?
- No
4. Individual
- Yes
5. PAC
- Yes
6. Corporate
- Yes
7. Political Parties
- Yes
8. Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information?
- Yes
9. Do you support partial funding from state taxes for state level political campaigns?
- Yes
10. Do you support imposing spending limits on state level political campaigns?
- Yes
11. Do you support adopting statewide standards for counting, verifying and ensuring accuracy of votes?
- Yes
12. Do you support prohibiting the reporting of media exit polling results until all polling locations in California are closed?
- Yes
13. Do you support providing human services (medical care, education, etc.) for legal immigrants and their children?
- Yes
14. Should California recognize civil unions between same-sex couples?
- Yes
15. Should California restrict marriage to a union only between a man and a woman?
- No
16. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Increase state funds for construction of state prisons and for hiring of additional prison staff.
- No Answer
2. Support the use of the death penalty in California.
- No Answer
3. Support programs to provide prison inmates with vocational and job-related skills and job-placement assistance when released.
- X
4. End parole for repeat violent offenders.
- No Answer
5. Implement penalties other than incarceration for certain non-violent offenders.
- X
6. Decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana.
- No Answer
7. Strengthen penalties and sentences for drug-related crimes.
- No Answer
8. Amend the three-strikes law so that it is applied only when the third offense is a serious or violent felony.
- X
9. Minors accused of a violent crime should be prosecuted as adults.
- No Answer
10. Increase state funding for community centers and other social agencies in areas with at-risk youth.
- X
11. Other or expanded principles
- X
1. Support national standards and testing of public school students.
- No Answer
2. Provide parents with state-funded vouchers to send their children to any public school.
- No Answer
3. Provide parents with state-funded vouchers to send their children to any private or religious school.
- No Answer
4. Increase state funds for school capital improvements (e.g. buildings and infrastructure).
- X
5. Increase state funds for hiring additional teachers.
- X
6. Support teacher testing and reward teachers with merit pay.
- No Answer
7. Endorse voluntary prayer in public schools.
- No Answer
8. Require public schools to administer high school exit exams.
- No Answer
9. Provide state funding to increase teacher salaries.
- X
10. Increase funding for Head Start programs.
- X
11. Provide state funding for tax incentives and financial aid to help make college more affordable.
- X
12. Support sexual education programs that teach about abstinence, contraceptives and HIV/STD prevention methods.
- X
13. Support abstinence-only sexual education programs.
- No Answer
14. Support funding for multilingual education.
- X
15. Other or expanded principles
- X
1. Increase funding for state job-training programs that re-train displaced workers or teach skills needed in today's job market.
- X
2. Reduce state government regulations on the private sector to encourage investment and economic expansion.
- No Answer
3. Provide low interest loans and tax credits for starting, expanding or relocating businesses.
- No Answer
4. Provide tax credits for businesses that provide child care for their employees.
- No Answer
5. Increase state funds to provide child care for children of low-income working families.
- X
6. Include sexual orientation in California's anti-discrimination laws.
- X
7. Create a 'living wage' standard for state employees and firms accepting state contracts.
- X
8. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
9. College and university admissions
- No Answer
10. Public employment
- No Answer
11. State contracting
- No Answer
1. Promote increased use of alternative fuel technology.
- X
2. Support increased production of traditional domestic energy resources (e.g. coal, natural gas, and oil).
- No Answer
3. Use state funds to clean up former industrial and commercial sites that are contaminated, unused or abandoned.
- X
4. Support reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
- X
5. Ban drilling for oil and gas in waters off the California coast.
- X
6. Support a bond for construction of a high-speed train linking the San Francisco Bay area to Los Angeles via the Central Valley.
- No Answer
7. Increase funding for open space preservation.
- X
8. Enact environmental regulations even if they are stricter than federal law.
- X
9. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Maintain and strengthen the enforcement of existing state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
- X
2. Ease state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
- No Answer
3. Repeal state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
- No Answer
4. Allow citizens to carry concealed guns.
- No Answer
5. Require manufacturers to provide child-safety locks on guns.
- X
6. Require background checks on gun sales between citizens at gun shows.
- X
7. Require a license for gun possession.
- X
8. Establish a database of ballistic 'fingerprints' to track guns used in criminal activities.
- X
9. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Ensure that citizens have access to basic health care through managed care, insurance reforms or state-funded care where necessary.
- X
2. Transfer more existing Medicaid recipients into managed care programs.
- No Answer
3. Limit the amount of punitive damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits.
- No Answer
4. Support patients' right to sue their HMOs.
- X
5. Support patients' right to appeal to an administrative board of specialists when services are denied by their HMO.
- X
6. Guaranteed medical care to all citizens is not a responsibility of state government.
- No Answer
7. Legalize physician-assisted suicide in California.
- No Answer
8. Allow doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes.
- X
9. Support stem cell research on existing lines of stem cells.
- X
10. Allow laboratories to create new lines of stem cells for additional research.
- X
11. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Support increased work requirements for able-bodied welfare recipients.
- No Answer
2. Increase funding for employment and job training programs for welfare recipients.
- X
3. Increase access to public transportation for welfare recipients who work.
- X
4. Limit benefits given to recipients if they have additional children while on welfare.
- No Answer
5. Redirect welfare funding to faith-based and community-based private organizations.
- No Answer
6. Use federal TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) funds to extend health and child care subsidies to the working poor.
- X
7. Support marriage promotion programs for welfare recipients.
- No Answer
8. Eliminate government-funded welfare programs.
- No Answer
9. Maintain current spending levels for affordable housing.
- No Answer
10. Other or expanded principles
- X
On an attached page, in a total of seventy-five (75) words or less, please explain what your two main legislative priorities will be if elected. Please explain how you would obtain any additional government funding needed to implement these priorities.
- No Answer
1. Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation?
- Pro-choice
1. In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket?
- Yes
2. In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing defense spending?
- Yes
1. Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions?
- Unknown Position
1. Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth?
- Yes
2. Do you support lowering corporate taxes as a means of promoting economic growth?
- No
1. Do you support requiring states to adopt federal education standards?
- No
1. Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)?
- Yes
2. Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions?
- Yes
1. Do you generally support gun-control legislation?
- Yes
1. Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")?
- No
1. Do you support the construction of a wall along the Mexican border?
- No
2. Do you support requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship?
- No
Do you support the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes?
- Unknown Position
1. Should the United States use military force in order to prevent governments hostile to the U.S. from possessing a nuclear weapon?
- No
2. Do you support increased American intervention in Middle Eastern conflicts beyond air support?
- Unknown Position
Latest Action: House - 06/20/2019 Referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor.
Tracker:Latest Action: House - 06/20/2019 Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.
Tracker:Latest Action: House - 06/19/2019 Referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor.
Tracker:
If the presidential nominating process is the weakest part of our political system -- and, perhaps not coincidentally, one not referenced by the founders -- the vice presidential selection process comes solidly in second place. Some might even argue it's a contender for the top spot. That's been particularly the case in the two most recent election cycles. The 2016 election, with Republican and Democratic nominees ages 70 and 69 on Election Day, respectively, elevated the actuarial odds of a vice president succeeding to the presidency to the highest level in history. This year, the Republican and Democratic nominees turn 74 and 78, and the actuarial odds are accordingly grimmer. With Vice President Mike Pence sure to be re-nominated, the focus is on Joe Biden's choice, delayed now from the promised "first week of August." Foreigners must consider it odd that 30 to 34 million people participate in selecting presidential nominees, but it's taken for granted that vice presidential nominees are selected by just one person. They may also consider it odd that Biden has limited his choice to women and, apparently -- he's not quite transparent on this -- to women who are nowadays called women of color. That limits the plausible picks to a very small percentage, and each of those mentioned seem to have at least one plausible disqualifying characteristic. Former national security adviser Susan Rice, for example, with more foreign policy and national security experience than the others mentioned, was the Obama administration's designated liar, going on five Sunday programs as U.N. ambassador in 2012 to spread a legend about Benghazi. Sen. Kamala Harris is regarded by many Democrats as having been too prosecutorial when she was district attorney in San Francisco. Rep. Karen Bass was a big fan of Fidel Castro (Florida has 29 electoral votes). Rep. Val Demings was a cop. Looking back, the two women previously nominated for vice president, former Rep. Geraldine Ferraro and former Gov. Sarah Palin, also had thin credentials and glaring weaknesses. But both, in my view, performed better in their fall campaigns than the men who selected them were entitled to expect. Maybe Biden's choice will, too. And there's historical precedent for nominees choosing from a sharply narrowed field. The Democratic Party has, from its beginnings, been a coalition of out-groups, capable of winning majorities when united. Keeping them together, however, can be hard work. Narrowing the VP list to women, or black women, rewards two decadeslong core constituencies, feminist-minded female college graduates and blacks. The prospect of a black female vice president, especially one with a non-negligible actuarial chance of becoming president, might maximize turnout of college females and blacks. Of course, Americans have already elected a black president and nearly elected a woman. The prospect of a black woman vice president might seem no big deal. After John F. Kennedy won the presidency with 78% of Catholic votes in 1960, Catholic VP nominees were chosen by Republicans in 1964 and by Democrats in 1968 and 1972. All three tickets lost. Democrats have had to choose from narrow fields of VP possibilities before. In the six decades after the Civil War, when the party's major constituencies were white Southerners and Catholic immigrants, it was considered unthinkable to put a Southerner or a Catholic on the ticket. During these years, Democrats -- and Republicans -- usually nominated Northern Protestants from New York, Ohio or Indiana, the three large marginal states in close elections. A VP nominee's local appeal, they hoped, might swing enough electoral votes to swing the election. We lack the polling evidence to indicate whether this was so. But between 1868 and 1920, every winning ticket and most losing tickets had at least one nominee from these three states, which were the home bases of the winning VPs in 10 of 14 elections. There's a stronger argument for ticket balancing, at least since former President Jimmy Carter and former Vice President Walter Mondale reinvented the vice presidency as a working part of the executive branch. All but one of the vice presidents selected then had a career path and a set of experiences significantly different from those of the president who selected them. Former Vice Presidents Walter Mondale, Dan Quayle, Al Gore, Joe Biden and Mike Pence have 12 to 36 years of congressional experience, compared with zero to four years for the presidential nominees who picked them. George H. W. Bush and Dick Cheney had years of foreign policy and national security policy experience, while the nominees who picked them had virtually none. Joe Biden, with tons of experience (36 years in the Senate, eight in the White House), is said to be wary of an ambitious VP and may be tempted to name someone with little or no experience. Balancing the ticket that way wouldn't be unprecedented but might be unnerving to voters with a sense of the actuarial odds. Source: https://www.realclearpolitics.com/
By Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Reps. Ayanna Pressley, Karen Bass, Robin Kelly and Barbara Lee The coronavirus pandemic is a crisis unlike any we've seen in our lifetime. In the United States alone, hundreds of thousands of people are confirmed sick, more than 20,000 people have died, and more than 16 million have filed for unemployment. Already, we are seeing the ways in which the pandemic is impacting communities unequally. The early data is alarming: The virus appears to be infecting and killing people of color at higher rates. This reflects the structural racism and systemic inequalities that existed in our country long before the outbreak began. People of color are more likely to live in neighborhoods exposed to environmental hazards like polluted air, which can cause respiratory diseases like asthma that increase the risk of complications from coronavirus. They are more likely to lack access to clean water needed for hand-washing. They are less likely to have health insurance and less likely to have their health concerns taken seriously, despite higher rates of heart disease, diabetes, and other underlying conditions correlated with coronavirus mortality. People of color are also more likely to work in low-wage jobs that cannot be done remotely. They are essential workers on the frontlines of this crisis. And because of generations of entrenched structural racism, they also have fewer financial resources to lean on in the event of health problems or economic disruption, making it more difficult to stay home and avoid exposure. To effectively slow the spread of the virus and ensure communities of color get equitable testing and treatment, we need data. We've already called on the federal government to expand the collection of racial, ethnic, and other demographic data on coronavirus testing and treatment. Today, we are introducing legislation to mandate it. While some states and localities have moved to publish data to better inform the public and our health care response, others have not. That's why we need a national approach, and our bill must be included in the next coronavirus relief package. While public coronavirus data on race and other demographic characteristics is limited, we are already seeing some clear trends. Early reporting suggests that black communities have been among the hardest hit. In Michigan, blacks account for 33 percent of confirmed COVID-19 cases and 40 percent of fatalities, despite making up only 14 percent of the state's population. In Louisiana, 70 percent of those who have died from COVID-19 so far are black, compared with 32 percent of the state's population. The pattern continues in Milwaukee, Illinois and North Carolina. Partial data from Boston shows that among people whose race was reported, more than 40 percent of people infected were black, compared with being only 25 percent of the population. In Chelsea, Mass., a community largely made up of Latinx families, we've seen a hot spot emerge with 400 cases newly reported. And it's not just the black community that is suffering: low-income communities, people with disabilities, immigrants, and tribal communities are on the frontlines of the coronavirus crisis. These patterns are alarming. We also know that the data we have so far is insufficient. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released some initial data and so have some states and cities. But we need to leverage all of the data available to us to take on this crisis. Our legislation would require the CDC to update its website daily with the number of individuals tested for COVID-19 and the number of positive tests, hospitalizations, ICU admissions, outcomes, and deaths by race, ethnicity, sex, age, socioeconomic status, disability status, county, and other demographic information. It would also authorize $50 million in emergency supplemental funding to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to conduct or support data collection on the racial, ethnic, and other demographic implications of COVID-19. Under our legislation, we also make sure that all necessary steps are taken to protect privacy, and to engage in meaningful tribal consultation, during this process. The bill requires a public summary of statistics and a report to Congress within 60 days of the end of this public health emergency. We also create a multi-agency Commission chaired by the National Academy of Sciences and made up of representatives from federal agencies; state, local, and tribal officials; and independent experts to identify barriers to collecting data on racial and other demographic disparities, and make recommendations for how to best use this data to promote health equity. This Commission must submit a report to Congress within 60 days, and every 180 days until the end of the public health emergency. We've already urged HHS to expand the collection of racial, ethnic, and other demographic data and release it. President Trump has also indicated that there are plans to begin making some of this data available. But we can't rely on the Trump administration to do this on its own. We need to make this law. We've introduced this legislation with Senators Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Edward J. Markey, Jeff Merkley and 14 of our Senate colleagues and over 80 of our colleagues in the House. In the coming days, we will be urging Congressional leadership to pass this bill in the next coronavirus relief package. We need this data to save lives. We have no time to waste.
Bass was identified as a potential vice presidential candidate in the 2020 presidential election. More than 300 delegates to the Democratic National Convention said in a statement, "We, delegates to the DNC for Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and others, believe Congresswoman Karen Bass is the best choice among vice presidential candidates under consideration to help unify our party and move our nation forward."
Wed 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM PDT
