Biden still hasn't named an AAPI Cabinet Secretary

SCREEN CAPTURE / NBC

President-elect Joe Biden may be making political blunder if there are no AAPI Cabinet Secretaries.

With only a few Cabinet Secretaries remaining, patience is running thin among AAPI political activists, leaders and their supporters who want President-elect Joe Biden to name an AAPI to fill one of the three remaining slots.

In fact, Biden's Cabinet could end up having more Republicans than Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

On Dec. 29, 116 current and incoming members of Congress, led by Rep. Judy Chu, Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), sent a bicameral letter to Biden urging him to name an Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Cabinet Secretary.

“We can assume that it’s because they don’t respect the AAPI community, they don’t think we have political power, we’re not making enough of a public stink,”said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-WA. “I mean, there are all kinds of assumptions that we could draw. We’ve been trying not to draw those assumptions, but it gets harder and harder, as we see our requests be ignored.”

Each of the last four administrations included at least one AAPI as a Secretary. So far, in a departure from the past four administrations, none of the 12 Cabinet Secretaries nominated thus far by the President-elect have been AAPI.

The remaining slots are for Labor, Commerce and Attorney General. The Washington Post reports that Biden is considering naming Republicans for Commerce and AG. Boston Mayor 

AAPI leaders have been lobbying for California's Labor Secretary Julie Su to be named as Labor Secretary but according to the Boston Globe Biden favors Boston Mayor Marty Walsh.

In the letter sent on Dec. 29, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus members said they are asking for a face-to-face an emergency meeting with Biden before another Cabinet is announced. 

“For too long, AAPIs have been overlooked in critical decisions pertaining to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and AAPIs continue to be left out of important policy discussions impacting communities of color. We see this in topics ranging from the disproportionate health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic to critical policy priorities like immigration reform,” wrote CAPAC. 

When pressed to name an AAPI secretary, Biden transition officials have appear to believe that Vice President-elect Kamala D. Harris, whose mother was from India, should mollify AAPI politicians. They also point to the selection of Katherine Tai as U.S. trade representative and Neera Tanden as the nominee to head the Office of Management and Budget, both Cabinet-level roles.

Vivek H. Murthy, whose parents, like Harris’s and Tanden’s, were from India, has been named Biden’s surgeon general-designate, though the role is not a Cabinet-level one.

The other nominations rank lower than Cabinet secretaries and oversee departments with far smaller budgets. For example, the budget for the Department of Health and Human Services is about $87 billion; for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, it’s $69 million.

AAPI leaders also say that when Black leaders ask for more Black representation, Harris, whose father is from Jamaica, is not thrown back at them.

CAPAC members reportedly met with Harris to express their concerns and she said that she would relay their worries to the transition team.None of the five co-chairs of the Biden transition team are AAPI and of the 15 transition team members, there are only two AAPI members, Felicia Wong, President and CEO of the Roosevelt Institute ad Vivek Murthy, who has been named as Biden's Surgeon General.

The CAPAC letter concluded: "The need for diversity at the highest levels is not for the sake of optics. It’s about ensuring all experiences are reflected in our decision making. As we know, ‘personnel is policy.’ And when we have diverse leaders in positions of power, it leads to more inclusive policies that better serve the entirety of our country. That is why we strongly believe there must be an AAPI Cabinet Secretary in your administration, just as there has been for over 20 years.”

 "We are thrilled that incredible Black, Hispanic, Native American, women and LGBTQ leaders have been named as Cabinet Secretaries, breaking abrriers for communities who have been left out for so long. But without an AAPI Cabinet Secretaryi, the inclusionary vision of this Cabinet is incomplete."

Enter email address

By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Washington Post. You can opt out at any time.