Members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) leadership met with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday to discuss AAPI policy priorities.
CAPAC Chair Rep. Judy Chu (CA-27), CAPAC First Vice-Chair Rep. Grace Meng (NY-06), CAPAC Second Vice-Chair Rep. Mark Takano (CA-41), and CAPAC Whip Rep. Ted Lieu (CA-33) attended the meeting.
During the meeting, CAPAC leaders stressed the importance of disaggregating data to better address the specific needs of all the AAPI communities.
Pandemic relief was also a large topic of discussion. In addition to discussing continued efforts to stem the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes, CAPAC leadership asked the administration to include AAPIs in economic recovery plans.
According to a statement from Rep. Chu, CAPAC also thanked the administration for ending the China Initiative. During the Trump administration, the China Initiative targeted and racially profiled Chinese researchers under the guise of attempting to root out espionage.
“We had a productive conversation thanking President Biden for the steps his Administration has taken to address racial profiling of Chinese American researchers, like ending the China Initiative and issuing guidance from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) on federal grant applications,” Rep. Chu said in a statement. “We in CAPAC look forward to working with the Department of Justice, OSTP, and agencies implementing their guidance to ensure that these steps will, through implementation, mitigate racial profiling of Asian Americans.”
AsAmNews has Asian America in its heart. We’re an all-volunteer effort of dedicated staff and interns. Check out our new Instagram account. Go to our Twitter feed and Facebook page for more content. Please consider interning, joining our staff, or submitting a story, or making a contribution.