US Census: Leaked documents reveal plans to stop collecting race & ethnicity data

                                                                                                                      Pew Research Center

If they don’t count us, we don’t exist — and that’s precisely the point. Donald Trump and his followers would like nothing better than to have people of color disappear.

Leaked draft proposals reveal the Trump administration is pushing to erase race and ethnicity categories from the 2030 US Census, a move Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) leaders and civil rights advocates warn is a calculated strike to strip political power, gut federal funding, and force non-white communities into back to society's edges —uncounted and unseen.

Under the guise of streamlining government, draft proposals first reported by
Talking Points Memo frame the sweeping changes as routine administrative housekeeping:

Official rhetoric claims dropping race and ethnicity questions simplifies the questionnaire, cuts costs, and saves households a few minutes.

Administration allies argue that classifying residents by race promotes "racial stereotyping" and triggers reverse discrimination, pushing a rigid "colorblind" policy onto national data collection.

The regime's alleged proposal redirects government focus toward collecting strict legal status and citizenship metrics — a clear precursor to not counting noncitizens from congressional apportionment and redistricting counts.

A direct blow to AANHPI visibility

For AANHPI communities—currently the fastest-growing demographic in the country—stripping these metrics threatens to undo decades of progress toward data disaggregation, the vital process that exposes severe inequalities hidden beneath broad labels.

• Burying Subgroup Disparities: The "model minority" myth relies on aggregated data to paint a picture of universal success. Broad "Asian American" stats mask stark realities: while overall averages look prosperous on paper, disaggregated data shows groups like Burmese Americans face poverty rates as high as 39%. Scrapping ethnicity tracking leaves these critical needs completely undetected by policymakers.

• Gutting Language Access & Local Funding: Trillions in federal funding for public education, community health centers, and emergency services depend on hyper-local census counts. Without granular demographic data, local governments will lose both the funding and the legal mandate to provide crucial non-English language services.

Pew Research Center

Stripping away civil rights and political power

The stakes extend far beyond federal dollars — they strike at the core of legal protections and democratic representation for all communities of color. We've witnessed the regime's attack against inclusion and diversity, the lack of data would make it next to impossible to prove the need for equal rights.

• Eroding Voting Rights: If the historically disenfranchised  ever want  the Voting Rights Act back to spot gerrymandering and stop vote dilution, racial and ethnic data is the first step. Without baseline census figures, proving illegal district manipulation in court becomes almost impossible.

• Neutering Civil Rights Accountability: From fair housing audits to employment discrimination claims, establishing "disparate impact" requires statistical proof. Scrubbing racial categories deprives civil rights agencies and citizens of the evidence needed to hold institutions accountable under the law.

Corporations would be happy

Perhaps not too surprising but the elimination of racial and ethnic data would make corporations happy. For 60 years, in order to comply with federal regulations, the private sector begrudgingly installed DEI programs to improve their workforce representation. The corporations have also had to submit reports about the gender, racial and ethnic composition of their workforces

For 60 years, private businesses have had to submit their hiring data to make sure that the corporations are not discriminating by gender, race or ethnicity in their hiring or promotions. Without that data, it would be harder for employees or equal rights advocates to bring charges of discrimination.

And there's the bottom line to consider. Tracking and auditing demographic data requires dedicated software, time, and human resources. Many for-profit companies believe this requirement to be an unnecessary financial burden.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has already issued a proposal reflecting what the Trump regime wants to do with the federal workforce. The EEOC's Republican majority voted 2-1 last month to rescind the data collection requirement, submitting the proposal to a 30-day public commentary period before final approval. 

EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas, an outspoken critic of diversity and inclusion, argues that requiring companies to submit the annual demographic reports risks encouraging companies to justify discriminatory practices to diversify their workforce.

"It may promote racial stereotyping at work, and it may encourage employers to engage in discrimination," Lucas said during a hearing.

View from the edge

If you think you are seen, think again. The federal government is playing peek-a-boo with our community. Just when we thought we were finally getting counted, they pulled the rug out.

The quiet battle happening inside the Department of Commerce could completely change the 2030 Census. They want to stop collecting race and ethnicity data. They want to act like we do not exist. Conservative groups say these questions are too hard. But without this data, we cannot fight for our rights. Civil rights groups warn this will hurt our voting power.

For years, we have been lumped together as one huge group. That hides the truth. It makes us invisible.

Each group has different needs. When you mix us all together, you miss the high poverty rates in some communities. You miss the health struggles in others. You support the false idea that all Asians are doing great.

Last year, things looked good. The government passed Statistical Policy Directive No. 15 (SPD 15). It promised to make detailed subgroup tracking the standard.

Now, those plans are dead. The Census Bureau quietly cancelled these updates for the upcoming 2027 American Community Survey (ACS). They pushed the deadlines way back to 2029. Advocacy groups like SEARAC and AAPIData are sounding the alarm. They know that delayed justice is denied justice.

“Disaggregated data is not optional; it’s essential,” said Quyên Đinh, Executive Director of SEARAC. “Without it, Southeast Asian American communities remain unseen and underserved. The updated data standards in SPD 15 are necessary to ensure our communities are visible in the data that drive decisions on resources, services, and policies.

Advocates aren't buying the administrative excuses. This isn't about saving paperwork or streamlining government — it is a deliberate political attempt to advance a "colorblind" mandate that erases diversity, dilutes minority political power, and masks entrenched racial inequities. 

Community advocates emphasize that data collection is fundamental to equity, noting that a community cannot be served if it is not counted. Community groups are already mobilizing to oppose the proposal, vowing to fight any policy changes that threaten to render minority communities invisible in federal accounting.

If you do not count us, you cannot serve us. Without separate numbers for each group, our schools will not get money for language help. Our health clinics will not get tools to fight specific diseases.

We cannot let them make us invisible again. We have to stand up and demand to be counted.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news, views and chismis from an AANHPI perspective, follow me on Threads, on X, BlueSky or at the blog Views From the Edge. If you find this perspective interesting, please repost.

ICE on a rampage, arresting, detaining, deporting Asian American veterans

'We expect to see a dramatic increase in the number of Asians arrested in the latter half of 2025'

SEARAC

Southeast Asian Americans protest deportations targeting their community.

Its crazy. US military veterans who fought for their country are not immune from the out-of-control agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement trying to meet a "quota" mandated by Donald Trump officials.

A recent report from UCLA Asian American and Pacific Islander Policy Initiative. found that arrests of Asian immigrants by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) more than tripled between 2024 and mid-2025. Enforcement actions have included workplace raids, such as one at a Hyundai plant in Georgia where over 300 Korean nationals were arrested.

Recent news from ICE raises concerns regarding non-citizen military veterans and Southeast Asian refugees who served with US forces during the Vietnam War, or as the Vietnamese government calls the "American War."

The situation is worse for some AAPI than others. Hmong and Laotian allies, who aided US forces during that conflict, have come under scrutiny. 

Reports indicate detentions for deportation, with 16 individuals arrested in Michigan in July and August 2025 based on older criminal records. Advocacy groups and state legislators have highlighted their service, but the federal government's focus on immigration enforcement, no matter how harsh, appears to continue.

State Representative Mai Xiong, Michigan's first Hmong American legislator, said in a Facebook video that many of the detainees had never been to Laos, having been born in refugee camps in other countries, or had been brought to the US as children.

        RELATED: 

• Hundreds of highly-skilled South Koreans arrested by ICE
• Man hangs himself while in ICE detention
• Immigration is the wedge; ending democracy is the goal

Xiong is the wife of Wa Kong Lor, one of the detained immigrants, read a statement during a press conference: "This appeared to be a targeted operation, an easy way for ICE officers to detain people without going to their homes."

"My husband, like many others that day, was taken without warning," she said.

This issue is not new. Earlier this year, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) rescinded a policy that generally allowed pre-1995 immigrants to remain in the country, leading to a significant increase in deportations. The Trump administration previously increased deportations of Southeast Asian refugees, sometimes for offenses committed years prior.

With policies indicating military service does not automatically prevent deportation, ICE has continued to act on these cases. Many have lived with final removal orders for years, in uncertainty because their countries of origin initially did not accept them back. However, US pressure is reportedly leading these nations to change their policies, increasing vulnerability for these refugees.

Concerns also extend to non-citizen military veterans and their families, with increased detentions by ICE reported since 2025. Examples provided include:

• A veteran reportedly detained without a warrant during a raid.

• An Army veteran and U.S. citizen allegedly subjected to tear gas and pepper spray during a raid despite identifying himself.

• A disabled veteran with a green card reportedly detained during a routine citizenship interview.

The Department of Homeland Security highlighted an individual who falsely claimed US military service, which some view as an attempt to justify enforcement actions.

Advocates suggest that many veterans facing deportation are being targeted for long-past offenses, sometimes linked to untreated service-related trauma.

For now, groups like the Asian Law Caucus and the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC) are fighting on the front lines, and legislation like the Southeast Asian Deportation Relief Act (SEADRA) is in the works. It's a small spark of hope in an otherwise dark time. But it's not enough. We need to do more. And we need to hold our leaders accountable for this disgraceful treatment of those who once served this nation.

And it appears that the situation will get worse  for AAPI communities as the Trump administration feels emboldened on the issue. In the first half of 2025, nationals from China, India, Vietnam, Laos, and Nepal accounted for 80% of Asian arrests.

"We expect to see a dramatic increase in the number of Asians arrested in the latter half of 2025. This will be driven by the Trump administration’s e�fort to ramp up the number of ICE arrests exponentially to reach its target of one million deportations per year," concludes the UCLA study.

"So far, ICE arrests have disproportionately impacted and harmed Latino communities, who have been subjected to extensive racial profiling. This will likely change because Asians are 16% of the estimated number of undocumented immigrants and 25% of the non-citizen immigrants, but they made up less than 3% of those arrested during the first few months of the Trump Administration," the UCLA analysis concludes. "The predicted increase may very well be accompanied by a resurgence in anti-Asian xenophobia."

News reports say the Trump administration has set a quota system for ICE detentions and deportations. Initially Trump explained that his administration would target violent criminals for deportation but as in order to meet the reported quota, federal agents have been arresting legal residents as they report to immigration courts, rounding up suspects in church, schools and at their jobs. 

The recent Supreme Court ruling allowing racial profiling so that federal agents to arrest anyone that looks like, sounds like or suspected of being an illegal immigrant broadens ICE powers will broaden the pool of people that can be arrested.

Any belief by conservative Asians and Asian Americans who voted for Trump that they are immune to his administration's racist immigration policies is a fantasy and should be put to rest.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news, views and chismis from an AANHPI perspective, follow me on Threads, on X, BlueSky or at the blog Views From the Edge. 

Why the wage gap differs among Asian American women

April 5 marks AAPI Equal Pay Day; on average, AAPI women earn 80 cents for every dollar earned by White men. Under the AAPI umbrella, there are some of the highest earners among women — and the lowest. That obscures the economic realities of Southeast Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women.

By Chabeli Carrazana and Jasmine Mithani
Originally published by The 19th

Sparse economic data on Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women has painted an inaccurate reality of economic well-being and hampered communities’ efforts to address disparities. It’s an issue that AAPI Women’s Equal Pay Day on April 5 attempts to spotlight.

On average, AAPI women earn 80 cents for every $1 earned by White men when looking at both full- and part-time workers, more than any other racial group of women.

But that figure obscures the harsher realities faced by Southeast Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women, who see some of the largest wage gaps in the country. The 80 cent average captures an enormous range: Taiwanese women earn more than White men, about $1.08 for every White man’s $1, while Nepalese women earn 48 cents on the dollar. The AAPI umbrella encompasses the varied experiences of people across continents and oceans, missing the unique experiences of those communities in the United States.

Stereotypes about AAPI communities have undermined efforts to make the case for better data collection, said Yvonne Hsu, the chief policy and government affairs officer for the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum.

“The ‘model minority’ myth that has been assigned to our community — that Asians do well and Asians are successful — when you look at the numbers disaggregated by ethnic groups, you can just see that is just flat out not true,” Hsu said.

In reality, AAPI women are overrepresented in low-wage work. They are 3.8 percent of frontline workers though they are 2.9 percent of the overall workforce, according to a study by the National Women’s Law Center. They also work disproportionately in health care, service and retail jobs, salon and nail tech positions and as personal care aides, including as hairdressers and child care workers. And in those jobs, they typically earn less than their White male counterparts, said Jessica Mason, a senior policy analyst with the National Partnership for Women and Families.

“And on the other hand, they are underrepresented in a lot of higher paying jobs, or within those jobs, maybe they have some entry into STEM fields, but they really face a lot of barriers to advancing into higher levels of those fields,” Mason said.

Even when they do have access to higher paying jobs, discrimination — gender, racial or both — blocks them from advancing, Mason said.

But because sample sizes in national surveys are so small, it’s hard to disaggregate that data further to understand exactly which jobs, rather than larger job categories, communities are working in. It gets even harder to do when you layer gender, as well.

Part of the challenge is ensuring that surveys are in a multitude of languages and that community organizations and the US Census Bureau have the resources to do appropriate outreach. The other part, Mason said, is combating fear within those communities to interact with the federal government.

“The problems with discrimination and xenophobia that a lot of AANHPI women in their communities are experiencing [is part of it], because for communities that are being especially targeted right now for anti-Asian hate and and other forms of discrimination, being presented with an official survey might in itself be a little bit scary if you're not sort of sure what it is or whether it's trustworthy,” Mason said.

In the data that is available, it’s clear many AAPI women are also breadwinners who live in multigenerational households, responsible for both child care and elder care. About 56 percent of AAPI mothers are primary, sole or co-breadwinners in their families. But many work in jobs with little access to paid leave, health care or time off.

There is also some evidence that cultural norms and immigration status may play a role in depressing wages.

How communities arrive in the United States, what benefits they have access to and what the pathway to citizenship looks like helps determine their economic outcomes. Chinese and Indian immigrants who came to the United States after immigration laws loosened in the 1940s and 1950s under visas set aside for “high-skill” workers see close to no wage gap today. Vietnamese and Cambodian immigrants who came to the United States as refugees, many of whom were low-wage before moving, face significant gaps. And language matters, too: Indians and Filipinos had access to English education as former British and American colonies and now face fewer barriers, according to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute.

It bears out in the numbers. Chinese women earn 83 cents on the White man’s dollar, Indian women earn $1.07 and Filipino women earn 79 cents. Vietnamese women earn 56 cents and Cambodian women earn 63 cents.

“With immigrant communities often what opportunities or connections the first few groups of immigrants or refugees might have access to is sort of what they are then able to connect the next group of people to,” Mason said.

NEW YORK DEPT. OF LABOR

Nail salon workers are among the lowet paid AAPI women.

Nepalese women, who have one of the largest gaps of any group of AAPI women, are highly concentrated in nail tech positions. Overall, about 70 percent of manicurists and pedicurists are Asian American.

Pabitra Dash, a senior organizer at the Adhikaar Center in Queens, a community organization that represents about 1,400 Nepali-speaking nail salon techs, said part of the reason they work those jobs is existing networks and part of the reason is cultural. Husbands, boyfriends and partners are not threatened by nail tech jobs because the clientele is largely women, and that job is considered appropriate for women, a reflection of traditional gender norm culture in Nepal.

“My husband encouraged me to work in the industry because I’m working with women — he is so secure,” she said.

Many also don’t speak English, which relegates them to less desirable jobs at smaller salons where the pay and tips are lower. Language barriers also impact the quality of tips workers get from their clients, Dash said.

It’s part of why the Adhikaar Center led the charge to pull nail techs in New York City out from under a tipped wage classification that meant they were paid less than minimum wage with the expectation that tips made up the rest. Although they were successful, many salons have now reduced workers’ hours to comply with the $15 an hour minimum wage.

It’s common then, Dash said, for techs to work second jobs cleaning their clients' homes, for example, to make some extra income. Almost none of the positions they work in offer benefits, setting women back long-term.

“What is their retirement plan? Nothing. What is their health insurance? Nothing. What is their [access to] health and safety [regulations]? Nothing,” said Dash, who is working to pass a bill in New York that would create a council of nail salon workers to develop minimum standards for the industry.

It’s a similar story for Southeast Asian women, many of whom came to the United States as refugees and now work in low-paid sectors with few benefits, but where English language requirements are lower, such as manufacturing and service jobs, said Kham Moua, the national deputy director of the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center, a national civil rights organization advocating for Cambodian, Laotian and Vietnamese American communities.

Most immigrants from those countries came as refugees or as the families of refugees to the United States, typically very low-income and with little to no formal education or English-speaking ability. In particular, those who came after the Cambodian genocide in the 1970s, which targeted educated professionals, academics and largely men, were often single, low-income mothers who spoke little to no English, Moua said.

That history is part of the reason Southeast Asians also have some of the lowest rates of educational achievement among Asian Americans, while also facing significant mental health challenges.

“Populations that started in poverty and continue to live in poverty generally have a hard time getting out,” Moua said.

For those communities, culture also plays a role in the positions women take. Southeast Asian Americans have the largest average family size of any AAPI group at nearly 5 people on average, suggesting high rates of multigenerational living. Care work is still seen as traditionally women’s work, but women are also expected to hold jobs while caring for family. Because child care and elder care are so expensive and inaccessible to so many communities, that puts up guardrails regarding what types of jobs women can take.

“That is also seen with the way that the daughters in some of these communities are treated, as well — things like going to college close to the home so they can still continue to do some of the home care work,” for example, Moua said.

Creating pathways for those women workers to enter into other jobs and into higher-paying positions is a multi-pronged challenge. There is the underlying gender discrimination that has stagnated all women’s economic advancement. In 20 years, the gap has barely narrowed because gender discrimination in the workplace is still so pervasive.

RELATED: 

• The pandemic has widened the gender pay gap
• Equal Pay Day for AAPI Women 

But layer race, language and culture on top of that and solutions are even less clear. Businesses can’t address their pay gaps if they don’t know why the gaps exist in the first place.

That’s especially difficult for Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) women, said Estella Owoimaha-Church, the executive director of Empowering Pacific Islander Communities, a nonprofit that works to advocate for Pacific Islanders in the United States. The organization has been involved in designating a separate day for NHPI women to highlight how significant their gap is compared to other Asian American women.

“We don't have access to strong disaggregated data,” Owoimaha-Church said. “I actually can’t say anecdotally why our pay continues to be so much lower because I don't think in most professions or career spaces we are even seen as Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. If I ask a Fortune 500 company why you pay your PI women less than everyone else, I imagine the answer would be, ‘PI? Who's that?’”

A study of the 2020 census by the nonprofit Asian Americans Advancing Justice found that despite an overcounting of the AAPI community nationally, states and localities were still undercounting AAPI people. NHPI people, in particular, were likely undercounted in states in the upper Midwest, Northeast and the South, and in communities like Hawaii and Los Angeles where they are heavily concentrated. San Francisco Unified School District passed a resolution in 2020 to direct more services and staff to NHPI students after it was clear many students were being undercounted.

Owoimaha-Church herself is Nigerian and Samoan, and she said she doesn’t show up in the NHPI data, but rather in the multiethnic data.

Based on anecdotal evidence, many NHPI women work in service industry jobs, at airports, in nursing positions and in community advocacy, Owoimaha-Church said. They have limited access to higher education and many households are also multigenerational.

Immigration and country of origin plays a major role in access to benefits and citizenship. People from Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Hawaii are U.S. citizens with full access to benefits, while people from the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and Republic of Palau can work in the United States legally, but aren’t considered citizens and have limited access to benefits. American Samoans qualify for most benefits and can work legally in the United States, but must obtain citizenship to get access to full benefits. Other immigrants need to apply for legal permanent resident status to work and live in the states and have to wait five years to apply for public benefits.

Understanding what sets NHPI women back is understanding that they are facing “a multitude of layered oppressions,” Owoimaha-Church said. “We live these intersectional lives and it’s that stacked on or layered with not having language access to different resources.”

Unraveling those realities will be crucial to helping NHPI women prosper, she said. So will questioning why these groups of women are so far behind their Asian women counterparts in the first place.

“What happens when we frame the conversation differently? Not about chasing where a White man is” she said. “I struggle with justifying continuing to frame the conversation in this way. Since we are dealing with the lack of equitable data disaggregation, my first thought is, ‘PI women compared to Asian-American women and what is that disparity and how do we first remedy that?’”

EDITOR'S NOTE: Read more by The 19th, an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy.

FACT SHEET: How the Inflation Reduction Act helps Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities

President Biden hailed the Inflation Reduction Act as one of his major accomplishments.

The historic Inflation Reduction Act was signed by President Biden August 16. "The American people won, and the special interests lost," Biden said, noting that pharmaceutical companies had lobbied against measures to lower prescription drug costs for people on Medicare.

Voting along party lines. last week, the US Senate passed the historic Inflation Reduction Act with the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris. 

"Not a single Republican in Congress voted for the package," said Harris. "Not a single Republican voted to lower the cost of prescription drugs, reduce health insurance premiums, make investments to address the climate crisis, tackle inflation, or require the wealthiest corporations to pay their fair share."

Although the impact of the IRA might not be felt immediately by the general public, its passage was applauded by AANHPI leaders.

“Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander families face significant barriers to health care that were only exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic," said Juliet K. Choi, president and CEO of the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF).

"The Inflation Reduction Act will allow AA and NHPI families and elders to worry less about the high costs of insurance premiums and medication. For many, this means worrying less about choosing between paying for food or medicine. This law could not have come at a better time."

“By making healthcare coverage more affordable, the Inflation Reduction Act ensures that Southeast Asian American community members who depend on marketplace coverage can continue to access life-saving healthcare, particularly those with pre-existing conditions and chronic ailments," said Quyên Đinh, Executive Director.

"We also celebrate the IRA’s historic provision to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices for the first time. This will undoubtedly benefit Southeast Asian Americans elders who rely on Medicare by ensuring they have access to more affordable medications. The IRA is a step towards universal healthcare for all and eliminating health disparities.”

Following is the Fact Sheet provided by the White House and the impact the IRA will have for the AANHPI communities.

From the White House Briefing Room

By signing the Inflation Reduction Act, President Biden is delivering on his promise to build an economy that works for working families, including Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AA and NHPI) families. The Inflation Reduction Act lowers prescription drug costs, health care costs, and energy costs. It’s the most aggressive action we have taken to confront the climate crisis. It’ll lower the deficit and ask the super wealthy and corporations to pay their fair share. And no one making under $400,000 per year will pay a penny more in taxes.

President Biden and Congressional Democrats beat back the special interests to pass this historic legislation that lowers costs for Americans and their families, advances environmental justice while building a cleaner future, and grows the economy from the bottom up and the middle out.

LOWER HEALTH CARE COSTS

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) will lower health care costs, including prescription drug costs, and expand health insurance coverage for AA and NHPI families.

Lower Prescription Drug Costs for Seniors: Americans pay 2-3 times more for their prescription drugs than people in other wealthy countries. Nearly 1 in 4 Americans struggle to afford prescription drugs, and high prices contribute to racial and ethnic health inequities. The Inflation Reduction Act will help close the gap in access to medication by improving prescription drug coverage and lowering drug prices in Medicare. 

The law:

• Caps the amount that seniors will have to pay for prescription drugs they buy at the pharmacy at $2,000 a year, giving peace of mind to seniors who no longer have to worry about spending thousands and thousands more on prescription drugs.

• Caps the amount that seniors will have to pay for insulin at $35 for a month’s supply.

• Provides access to a number of additional free vaccines, including the shingles vaccine, for Medicare beneficiaries.

• Will further lower prescription drug costs for seniors by allowing Medicare to negotiate the price of high-cost drugs and requiring drug manufacturers to pay Medicare a rebate when they raise prices faster than inflation.

• Lowering Health Insurance Premiums and Expanding Coverage: Almost 1.5 million AA and NHPI people were uninsured in 2019 before President Biden took office and over 1.3 million people of color fell into the Medicaid “coverage gap” and were locked out of coverage because their state refused to expand Medicaid. Since President Biden took office, the uninsured rate has reached a new historic low: 8% and over 5 million Americans have gained health insurance coverage. The Inflation Reduction Act continues the American Rescue Plan’s more generous Affordable Care Act premium tax credits

• The Inflation Reduction Act locks in lower monthly premiums – about 197,000 AA and NHPI people became newly eligible for premium savings last year, with more than 150,000 uninsured AA and NHPI people having access to a plan with a $0-premium plan in 2021

• By continuing the improvements made through ARP, the Inflation Reduction Act will help keep free or low-cost health insurance available. About 120,000 more Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders will have health insurance coverage next year, compared to without the IRA.

COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE AND LOWER ENERGY COSTS

The U.S. Pacific Islands region includes more than 2,000 islands spanning millions of square miles of ocean. Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders are in every state, especially with concentrations on the West Coast and in Hawai’I, communities are vulnerable to rising sea levels or severe wildfires. And, Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders who live in large cities like New York City, Boston, Houston, Chicago, and Seattle are also feeling the impacts of climate change most acutely.

The Inflation Reduction Act takes the most aggressive action on climate and clean energy in American history. The legislation will bring down energy costs for families and create thousands of good jobs, all while reducing climate pollution and ensuring that we have a clean, secure future energy supply. It will:

Make Home Efficiency Upgrades More Affordable: The Inflation Reduction Act will make it more affordable for families to purchase energy efficient and electric appliances when they need to replace everyday home appliances and equipment. And, these appliances will save families money on their utility bills in the long run.

• When families need to replace air conditioners, water heaters, or furnaces, they can save up to 30% with tax credits for efficient furnaces, water heaters, air conditioners and more that will save them hundreds of dollars on utility bills.

• Households can save up to 30% with tax credits for home construction projects on windows, doors, insulation, or other weatherization measures that prevent energy from escaping homes and wasting money.

• If low- or moderate- income families need to replace or upgrade stoves or other home appliances, they can receive direct rebates when buying more energy efficient and electric appliances that can lower future utility bills by at least $350 per year.

• Families in affordable housing units will benefit from resources to support projects that boost efficiency, improve indoor air quality, make clean energy or electrification upgrades, or strengthen their climate resilience.

• Overall, families that take advantage of clean energy and clean vehicle tax credits can save more than $1,000 per year.

CREATE ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES & JOBS

The Inflation Reduction Act ensures that the clean energy opportunities reach all Americans as it:

• Spurs solar project development in environmental justice communities by providing a 20% bonus credit for solar projects on federally subsidized affordable housing projects and a 10% bonus credit for solar projects in low-income communities.

• Creates a new Clean Energy and Sustainability Accelerator that will seed state and local clean energy financing institutions, support the deployment of distributed zero-emission technologies like heat-pumps, community solar and EV charging, while prioritizing over 50% of its investments in disadvantaged communities.

• Expands clean energy tax credits for wind, solar, nuclear, clean hydrogen, clean fuels and carbon capture to include bonus credit for businesses that pay workers a prevailing wage and hire using registered apprenticeship programs – so that the clean energy we use creates good paying jobs.

Protect Public Health: The Inflation Reduction Act recognizes that climate change disproportionately impacts low-income communities and communities of color. The law:

• Creates Environmental Justice Block Grants, a dedicated program to tackle pollution in port communities – where air pollution is especially dense and deadly.

• Funds a range of programs to reduce air pollution, including for fenceline monitoring and screening near industrial facilities, air quality sensors in disadvantaged communities, new and upgraded multipollutant monitoring sites, and monitoring and mitigation of methane and wood heater emissions.

• Protects our children and young adults with investments to monitor and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollutants at public schools in disadvantaged communities.

Strengthen Resilience to Climate Change: The Inflation Reduction Act bolsters climate resilience and strengthens the Nation’s infrastructure and economy against natural disaster and extreme weather events by:

• Upgrading affordable housing to reinforce homes against climate impacts, and increase water and energy efficiency.

• Expanding USDA’s Urban and Community Forestry Program with tree-planting projects that help cool neighborhoods, with a priority for projects that benefit underserved communities.

• Advancing transportation equity and resilience with a new Neighborhood Access and Equity Grant program to improve walkability, safety, and affordability, including projects to protect against extreme heat, flooding, and other impact.

Lower Costs for Small Businesses: According to the Small Business Administration, 2 million Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander-owned small businesses in the U.S. generate more than $700 billion in revenues and create 3.6 million jobs. The Inflation Reduction Act includes a number of provisions that will save small business owners money.

• Small businesses can receive a tax credit that covers up to 30% of the cost of switching over to low-cost solar power – lowering operating costs and protecting against the volatile energy prices that are currently squeezing small businesses. 

• Businesses can deduct up to $1.00 per square foot of a commercial building for making qualifying high energy efficiency upgrades. The per square foot deduction is boosted if the efficiency upgrades are completed by workers who are a paid a prevailing wage and the project employs apprentices – helping businesses save money and providing good paying jobs.

MAKE THE TAX CODE FAIRER

President Trump and Congressional Republicans’ 2017 tax law only made an unfair tax system worse. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is a critical step forward in making our tax code fairer. It will raise revenue by:

• Ensuring that high-income people and large corporations pay the taxes they already owe.

• Cracking down on large, profitable corporations that currently get away with paying no federal income tax.

• Imposing a 1% surcharge on corporate stock buybacks that will encourage businesses to invest.

The legislation’s tax reforms won’t just raise revenue to finance critically needed investments to lower costs and combat climate change, they are also an important component of building an economy that rewards work rather than wealth and doesn’t let the rich and powerful get away with playing by a separate set of rules.

Millions of working families will have better access to the benefits they are entitled to under the tax code and be able to get their questions answered quickly and efficiently, thanks to the Act’s transformational investments in the Internal Revenue Service. And, no family making less than $400,000 per year will see their taxes go up by a single cent.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.