‘The system is rigged:’ Democrats drop corporate and PAC money amid pressure from progressives

“In order to return trust [to] our democratic institutions, we need to … allow for the voters to feel that their voices are heard and that they don’t have to write a big check in order to gain access into our congressional offices.”

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SOURCEDemocracy Now!

We look at the growing push for lawmakers to refuse money from corporate political action committees, as more than half of the Democrats newly elected to Congress have vowed not to accept such donations. We speak with Congressmember Nydia Velázquez of New York, a long-term legislator who has stopped taking corporate PAC donations. “In order to return trust [to] our democratic institutions, we need to … allow for the voters to feel that their voices are heard and that they don’t have to write a big check in order to gain access into our congressional offices,” she says.

Guests

  • Nydia VelázquezDemocratic congressmember for New York. She is the first Puerto Rican woman to be elected to Congress and the former the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

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