Highlights from Joe Biden’s Agenda for the Asian American & Pacific Islander Community
joebiden.com/highlights-from-joe-bidens-agenda-for-the-asian-american-pacific-islander-community/

Joe Biden’s Agenda for the Indian American Community
joebiden.com/indian-americans/

See below for Biden’s positions on:
– Asian Pacific Americans the candidate has hired, appointed or supported for election
– Affirmative Action and Quotas
– Employment discrimination, glass ceilings
– Making English the official language of the U.S.
– Foreign Policy toward China, Taiwan, India, Japan, Korea, Vietnam .   Missile defense system to protect Japan, Taiwan, or South Korea
– Hate Crimes.  Legislation increasing penalties for hate crimes.
– Immigration
– Voting rights and providing ballots in different languages. 

Asian Pacific Americans the candidate has hired, appointed or supported for election

Kamala Harris: Vice President
nominated Julie Su to serve as Secretary of the Department of Labor.
Florence Y. Pan, judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
Lucy Koh, judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Jennifer Sung, judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Ms. Roopali Desai, judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Cindy K. Chung, judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Angel Kelley, judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts
Shalina Kumar, judge on the U.S. District Court for Eastern District of Michigan
Nusrat Jahan Choudhury, judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York
Kenly Kato, judge on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
Susan Kim DeClercq, judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
Rupa Ranga Puttagunta, judge on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia
Nominated Jasmine Yoon as judge for U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia
Dr. Vivek Murthy, U.S. Surgeon General
Vanita Gupta, Associate Attorney General
John Tien, deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security
Lina Khan, Chair of the Federal Trade Commission
Caroline Pham, a commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Kiran Ahuja, Director of the Office of Personnel Management
Katherine Tai, U.S. Trade Representative
Chantale Wong, U.S. Director of the Asian Development Bank
Glen S. Fukushima, a Director of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SPIC)
Michelle Kwan, ambassador to Belize
Mr. Dilawar Syed, deputy administrator of the Small Business Administration
First time in 20 years the Cabinet lacks an Asian American as secretary of a department.

Signed into law bill to establish a National Museum of Asian Pacific American History and Culture


Affirmative Action and Quotas

On February 3, 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice dropped a federal lawsuit alleging that Yale had violated Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act by discriminating against Asian-American and white applicants.

Supports affirmative action.  For example:

Promote diverse leadership for all federal agencies. The leaders of federal agencies make decisions that have a direct impact on the nature of our entire economic system. At present the leadership of those agencies do not reflect the diversity of our country. As President, Biden will promote diverse leadership in the financial regulatory agencies including the FTC, CFTC, SEC, OCC, and FDIC; work with all branches of government including the Senate and Supreme Court, to create best practices and standards for ensuring racial diversity among clerks, staffers and interns; and create a new post within the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers to focus on racial equity including the income and wealth gaps. And, recognizing the special importance of appointing Native Americans to play critical roles in upholding the government-to-government relationship, he will build on the Obama-Biden Administration to ensure tribal nations have a strong voice and role in the federal government. (joebiden.com/racial-economic-equity/)

 
Employment discrimination, glass ceilings

Empower the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to fulfill its mission and address workplace discrimination. A 2017 survey found that 1 in 3 Latinos, 1 in 4 Asian Americans, 1 in 3 Native Americans, and more than half of African Americans had experienced racial discrimination in the workplace. Under a Biden Administration, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) will be fully empowered to address discrimination in the workplace and help close the harmful and unjust gaps in wages and employment opportunities. To strengthen the EEOC, Biden will double funding for the agency, empower the EEOC to initiate investigations for all areas of discrimination under its purview, and continue the Obama Administration effort–halted by President Trump–to expand the agency’s information collection efforts to include data on earnings gaps by race and gender.  (joebiden.com/racial-economic-equity/)

Making English the official language of the U.S.

Eliminate language barriers for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities. Language barriers to vital services and resources can prevent AAPI’s with limited English proficiency from realizing their potential and the American Dream. Biden will build on the work of the Obama-Biden Administration, which ensured that members of the AAPI community who were limited English proficient had access to health care and other government services. For example, the administration produced outreach videos in Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Burmese, Hmong, Khmer, and Lao to ensure that members of those communities were able to take advantage of the Affordable Care Act’s benefits and coverage. Biden will direct his agencies to identify ways to increase access to federal programs for AAPI individuals and families, including those who have limited English proficiency. He will also create neighborhood resource centers or welcome centers to help all residents find jobs; access services and English-language learning opportunities; and navigate the school system, health care system, and other important facets of daily life. And, he will ensure that all public schools have sufficient English-language learning support to help all children reach their potential.

(joebiden.com/highlights-from-joe-bidens-agenda-for-the-asian-american-pacific-islander-community/)

Foreign Policy.  Like Americans of African, Cuban, Greek, Irish, Italian, Jewish, Mexican, and Polish descent, many APA’s are interested in American foreign policy toward the country of their ancestors.

U.S. policy toward China and Taiwan

For example, technology companies—which benefit from the fruits of democracy—should make concrete pledges for how they can ensure their algorithms and platforms are not empowering the surveillance state, facilitating repression in China and elsewhere, spreading hate, spurring people to violence, and remaining susceptible to misuse.

Lock in enforceable commitments that will reduce emissions in global shipping and aviation—and pursue strong measures to make sure other nations can’t undercut us economically as we meet our own commitments. This includes pressuring China—the world’s largest emitter of carbon—to stop subsidizing coal exports and outsourcing their pollution to other countries by financing billions of dollars of dirty fossil-fuel energy projects through their Belt and Road Initiative.

(joebiden.com/americanleadership/)

U.S. policy toward India

We will also strengthen our alliances with Japan, South Korea, Australia and other Asian democracies, while sustaining an ironclad commitment to Israel’s security.
(joebiden.com/americanleadership/)


U.S. policy toward Japan

We will also strengthen our alliances with Japan, South Korea, Australia and other Asian democracies, while sustaining an ironclad commitment to Israel’s security.
(joebiden.com/americanleadership/)


U.S. policy toward Korea

We will also strengthen our alliances with Japan, South Korea, Australia and other Asian democracies, while sustaining an ironclad commitment to Israel’s security.

In North Korea, President Biden will empower our negotiators and jump start a sustained, coordinated campaign with our allies and others, including China, to advance our shared objective of a denuclearized North Korea.

(joebiden.com/americanleadership/)

U.S. policy toward Vietnam

We will also strengthen our alliances with Japan, South Korea, Australia and other Asian democracies, while sustaining an ironclad commitment to Israel’s security.
(joebiden.com/americanleadership/)


Missile defense system to protect Japan, Taiwan, or South Korea

No information

Hate Crimes.  Legislation increasing penalties for hate crimes.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, we’ve heard increasing reports of the Asian American community being targeted with hate. These racist acts must stop. They are grounded in an impulse that is as ugly as it is dangerously ignorant. They are not who we are as a country. No one should be targeted for what they look like, where their ancestors come from, or who they are. Joe will provide the leadership we need to address every aspect of this pandemic—including the spate of racist incidents targeting Asian Americans—with urgency and seriousness.

Counter Rise in Hate Crimes. From grocery stores to workplaces to simply being in their community, many AAPIs, including Sikh, Hindu, and Muslim Americans, have continually faced discrimination and hate, which is further exacerbated by Trump’s dangerous rhetoric and fanning the flames of hate. When the rights and freedoms of some are threatened by hate, it threatens us all. The Obama-Biden Administration added “Anti-Sikh” and “Anti-Hindu” to the Department of Justice’s hate crime reporting categories. The administration also provided resources and worked with local leaders to combat bullying directed at the AAPI community. Joe will make clear that hate has no safe harbor in this country. And, his Justice Department will prioritize prosecuting hate crimes.  

(joebiden.com/highlights-from-joe-bidens-agenda-for-the-asian-american-pacific-islander-community/)

Immigration

Secure our Values as a Nation of Immigrants. Donald Trump has waged an unrelenting assault on our values and our history as a nation of immigrants. It’s wrong, and it stops when Joe is president. Joe will rescind Trump’s “Muslim ban” on day one and reverse the detrimental asylum policies that are causing chaos and a humanitarian crisis at our border. Joe will immediately begin working with Congress to pass legislative immigration reform that modernizes our system, with a priority on keeping families together by providing a roadmap to citizenship for nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants—including the 1.7 million from Asia.

He will support family-based immigration and preserve family unification as a core principle of our immigration system, which includes reducing the family visa backlog. He will increase the number of visas offered for permanent, work-based immigration based on macroeconomic conditions and exempt from any cap recent graduates of PhD programs in STEM fields. And, he will support first reforming the temporary visa system for high-skill, specialty workers to protect wages, then expanding the number of visas offered and eliminating the limits on employment-based visas by country. He will restore and defend the naturalization process for green card holders. And, he will increase the number of refugees we welcome into this country by setting the annual global refugee admissions target to 125,000 and seek to raise it over time commensurate with our responsibility, our values, and the unprecedented global need.  He will also work with Congress to establish a minimum admissions number of 95,000 refugees annually. Joe will remove the uncertainty for Dreamers by reinstating the DACA program and explore all legal options to protect their families from inhumane separation. As president, Joe will end workplace raids and protect other sensitive locations from immigration enforcement actions. No one should be afraid to seek medical attention, or go to school, their job, or their place of worship for fear of an immigration enforcement action.

(joebiden.com/highlights-from-joe-bidens-agenda-for-the-asian-american-pacific-islander-community/)

Voting rights and providing ballots in different languages. 

Eliminate language barriers for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities. Language barriers to vital services and resources can prevent AAPI’s with limited English proficiency from realizing their potential and the American Dream. Biden will build on the work of the Obama-Biden Administration, which ensured that members of the AAPI community who were limited English proficient had access to health care and other government services. For example, the administration produced outreach videos in Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Burmese, Hmong, Khmer, and Lao to ensure that members of those communities were able to take advantage of the Affordable Care Act’s benefits and coverage. Biden will direct his agencies to identify ways to increase access to federal programs for AAPI individuals and families, including those who have limited English proficiency. He will also create neighborhood resource centers or welcome centers to help all residents find jobs; access services and English-language learning opportunities; and navigate the school system, health care system, and other important facets of daily life. And, he will ensure that all public schools have sufficient English-language learning support to help all children reach their potential.

(joebiden.com/highlights-from-joe-bidens-agenda-for-the-asian-american-pacific-islander-community/)