President, Vice President meet with AAPI Congressional leaders

SCREEN CAPTURE / CNN

AAPI Congressional leaders met Thursday with President Biden and Vice President Harris.

The leadership of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) met Thursday with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in the Oval Office to discuss critical priorities for the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. 

“Our meeting today was warm and addressed a number of urgent priorities," said Rep. Judy Chu, chair of the Caucus, "like the importance of passing the American Jobs Plan, combatting anti-Asian hate crimes, addressing COVID-19 disparities, fixing our broken immigration system, increasing AAPI representation in senior government roles, prioritizing data disaggregation and language access, reauthorizing the White House Initiative on AAPIs, and reaffirming the federal government’s commitment to advancing Native Hawaiian rights."

Besides giving the AAPI Congressional delegation a face-to-face meeting with Biden and Harris, it gave the President the opportunity to smooth over any ruffled feathers caused by not having an AAPI Secretary in his Cabinet,  the first time since 2000 that Asian Americans were absent among the President's top advisors.

Biden highlighted his recent Statement of Administration Policy that condemns in the strongest possible terms the increasing acts of anti-Asian bias, harassment and violence, and conveyed his ongoing support of the legislation introduced by Senator Mazie Hirono and Congresswoman Grace Meng, which moved forward in the Senate Thursday with overwhelming bipartisan support.

The President and Vice President Harris, the first Asian American in that post, shared their vision in the American Jobs Plan to invest in shared CAPAC infrastructure priorities, including care economy infrastructure and digital infrastructure.

A day earlier, Biden named Erika Moritsugu as Deputy Assistant to the President and AAPI Senior Liaison, a position the White House promised after Senators Mazie Hirono, D-HI, and Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill, threatened to withhold their votes on Biden's other non-diversity nominees that would prevent their appointments.

"I know first-hand that @POTUS will benefit from Erika's counsel, policy expertise & strong relationship-building skills as he seeks to ensure AAPI leaders are present at the highest levels of government," tweeted Duckworth, who employed Mortsugu as the senator's general counsel.

The CAPAC delegation included Chu, First Vice Chair Rep. Grace Meng, Second Vice Chair Rep. Mark Takano, Freshman Representative Kaiali‘i Kahele, Senators Duckworth and Hirono, and Rep. Doris Matsui. 

Chu listed the other topics discussed: “I am also pleased that we were able to discuss the importance of ensuring that AAPI history is included in educational curricula. We also underscored the importance of creating a Smithsonian Asian Pacific American History Museum to ensure that all Americans understand the rich history and contributions of the AAPI community. And we discussed the need to prioritize AAPI data disaggregation and language access as a critical component of the President’s strong commitment to advancing racial equity throughout the federal government."