Politics briefing: Asian American Democrats re-up bid for Julie Su as Labor Secretary

? Good morning, and welcome to The Yappie’s AAPI politics briefing — your guide to the policy news and activism affecting Asian Americans + Pacific Islanders. Send tips and feedback to [email protected] and support our work by making a donation. 

— Edited by Mary Yang and Shawna Chen

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The Biden Era

?  JULIE SU AS THE NEXT LABOR SECRETARY—Deputy Labor Secretary Julie Su and flight attendant union president Sara Nelson are currently the top contenders for a post that is soon to be vacant, reports The Washington Post’s Lauren Kaori Gurley and Jeff Stein. Many Asian American Democratic lawmakers pushed for Su to be Labor Secretary as President Joe Biden was first assembling his Cabinet, but they fell short, writes POLITICO’s Marianne Levine, Nicholas Wu, and Nick Niedzwiadek.

• As of now, Biden’s Cabinet is the first without an Asian American or Pacific Islander Secretary in more than two decades. U.S. Trade Rep. Katherine Tai and Dr. Arati Prabhakar, who is the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, are members of the Cabinet but not secretaries. If nominated and confirmed, Su would be the first Asian American to serve at the secretary level and lead an executive department in the Biden administration.

• In a recent letter, 34 Democratic members of Congress urged Biden to nominate Su for the post, which Labor Secretary Marty Walsh announced he is leaving in mid-March to lead the National Hockey League Players' Association, the union for NHL players.

• Asian American advocates have also thrown their support behind the deputy secretary, who previously served as Secretary of California’s Labor and Workforce Development Agency and got her professional start as a staff attorney for the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, now Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Los Angeles. There, she was the lead attorney in a case that helped expose a Los Angeles County sweatshop for exploiting trafficked Thai garment workers and later pushed Congress to create visas for victims of trafficking and forced labor.

• ?️ Worth noting: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) is among the lawmakers supporting Nelson, and he has also pushed for former Labor Secretary Robert Reich (D), who held the post during the Clinton administration. Meanwhile, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-California) is backing former New York Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D), the first out gay person to chair the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. 

? FORMER MASTERCARD CEO AJAY BANGA IS BIDEN’S WORLD BANK PICK: Days after World Bank President David Malpass, a Trump-appointee, announced he is exiting in June, Biden tapped Indian American business leader Ajay Banga to replace him.

• Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called Banga a “renowned executive” who is well-equipped to lead the World Bank’s agenda that is newly focused on climate change, reports POLITICO’s Ben White and Zack Colman.

• Banga’s swift nomination comes as climate leaders are pushing to overhaul the institution, writes AP’s Ellen Knickmeyer. The World Bank has faced criticism for not adequately responding to less-wealthy nations’ efforts to curb climate change, charges that came as Malpass refused to agree that fossil fuels were changing the world’s climate in a 2022 interview.

• No stranger to Washington: Banga previously served on former President Barack Obama’s Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity and was a founding trustee of the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum.

• Banga was born in India, where he was raised Sikh. He became a U.S. citizen in 2007, writes Axios’ Ben German.

?️ UPDATE — SENATE CONFIRMS CHUNG TO 3RD CIRCUIT: Judge Cindy K. Chung was confirmed by the Senate to serve on the 3rd Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals after Biden nominated her last July. 

• Chung is the first Asian American judge to sit on the 3rd Circuit, creating an even number (7-7) of Democratic and Republican appointees on the court. It hears cases from New Jersey, Delaware, parts of Pennsylvania, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

• Chung’s appointment was Biden’s 99th since entering office. The president has since reached 100 judicial confirmations, outpacing the rate of both the Trump and Obama administrations.

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING—Earlier this month, the Federated States of Micronesia became the third Pacific Island country to sign a cooperative deal with the United States that allows U.S. access to areas in the Pacific for defense purposes in return for continued economic assistance, reports Reuters’ David Brunnstrom.

• The deal, called a Memorandum of Understanding, follows similar agreements with the Marshall Islands and Palau.

• Expiration dates loom over the Compact of Free Association, a legal agreement between the U.S. and the three Pacific Island nations dating back to 1980, which is up for renewal this year for Micronesia and the Marshall Islands and in 2024 for Palau.

• What Pacific Islanders stand to lose: The agreements allow citizens of the three nations to enter the United States without a visa, permitting them to live and work in the U.S. indefinitely as permanent residents, a provision left in limbo as negotiations stall, writes Caitlin Mitchell for Honolulu Civil Beat.

• Remember: In 2022, Biden tapped former U.S. ambassador Joseph Yun to serve as a special envoy for compact negotiations after lawmakers pushed for the post to recognize island nations’ strategic importance to the U.S. military.

ICYMI — Feb. 19, 2023 marked 81 years since President Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) signed an executive order that led to the wrongful incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II.

• “The incarceration of Japanese Americans reminds us what happens when racism, fear, and xenophobia go unchecked,” said Biden in a statement. “We reaffirm the Federal Government’s formal apology to Japanese Americans for the suffering inflicted by these policies.” 

• Survivors and their families have in recent years advocated for reparations for the descendants of enslaved Africans. The federal government issued redress to impacted Japanese Americans in the form of payments after making a formal apology in 1988.

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On The Hill

KHANNA CALLS FOR “ECONOMIC PATRIOTISM” WITH EYE ON CHINA: Rep. Ro Khanna (D-California) told The Guardian in an interview that he wants to push Democrats toward “investing in American industry and ensuring fair pay and benefits for all workers,” which came as he took on House committee assignments dealing with China and India trade relations and sized up a potential Senate run for the seat held by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California), who is retiring.

• House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) named Khanna a member of the bipartisan Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party earlier this month, a position from which he said he plans to “be tough on the Chinese Communist Party while unequivocally condemning anti-Asian racism and the increase in hate crimes targeting the Asian American community.”

• Chip trip: Khanna led a bipartisan delegation to Taiwan last week to explore potential partnerships to bolster the U.S. semiconductor industry.

• Khanna will also be the next chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, the first Indian American to hold the position. He said he will push issues related to Indian diaspora members in the U.S. into the caucus’ focus amid rising reports of Hindu nationalism, Islamophobia, and caste discrimination on college campuses, writes NBC News' Sakshi Venkatraman.

? DEMS BLAST GOP LAWMAKER FOR QUESTIONING CHU’S LOYALTY: House Democrats denounced comments by Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Texas) in a Fox News interview suggesting that Rep. Judy Chu (D-California) isn’t loyal to the United States and should be stripped of security clearance. Those comments came after Chu, along with three other Asian American lawmakers, defended Biden’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation council appointee Dominic Ng from accusations of ties to the Chinese Communist Party by Gooden and five other GOP lawmakers, who also called for an FBI investigation into Ng.

• “Lance Gooden’s slanderous accusation of disloyalty against Rep. Chu is dangerous, unconscionable and xenophobic,” said Jeffries in a statement.

• The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, which Chu chairs, issued a statement condemning the comments as “fear mongering [that] only further endangers our communities.” Caucus member Ted Lieu (D-California) added on Twitter: “Attacking the loyalty of Asian Americans like @RepJudyChu is a racist trope that has harmed Asian Americans throughout US history.”

• In 2009, Chu became the first Chinese American woman to be elected to Congress after serving as a Monterey Park city councilmember, mayor, and California state Assemblymember.

AFTER MONTEREY PARK, CHU SPOTLIGHTS MENTAL HEALTH FOR AAPIS: One month after a shooting in the majority Asian American city that claimed 11 lives, Chu and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, who owns a home in Monterey Park, met with San Gabriel Valley politicians and community leaders to discuss how Congress and the Biden administration can help improve mental health access for AAPIs.

• Community members at the meeting asked for culturally competent staff and resources, reports the Pasadena Star-News’ Anissa Rivera.

• “Will I see someone who looks like me when I do reach out?” one meeting attendee said.

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Campaign Watch

?️ ELECTION 2024 — BIOTECH BARON VIVEK RAMASWAMY LAUNCHES LONGSHOT PRESIDENTIAL BID: Multimillionaire and biotech company founder Vivek Ramaswamy, who in recent years has made a name for himself as a right-wing activist and conservative TV pundit, announced he is running for president in 2024, joining what is shaping up to be a crowded Republican primary. The son of Indian immigrants, Ramaswamy would be the first Asian American president of the United States. 

• Though Ramaswamy, 37, made no mention of his party affiliation during a three-and-a-half-minute announcement video, he entered as a Republican in a filing with the Federal Election Commission, notes POLITICO’s Sam Stein.

• If successful, Ramaswamy has said he would “end affirmative action” and “dismantle the climate religion that shackles the United States,” as well as pursue a decoupling from “Communist China,” which he bills as America’s long-running enemy. 

• The political newcomer, who left his executive post at Roivant Sciences, the company he founded, in the weeks after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol to pursue his writing interests and political ambitions, briefly considered a run for the Senate seat in Ohio, writes The New Yorker’s Sheelah Kolhatkar.

• The “Woke, Inc.” author has appeared dozens of times as a guest on conservative media outlet Fox News’ primetime shows where he frequently slams critical race theory and corporations prioritizing social good, a practice known as environmental, social, and governance investing.

• Ramaswmay isn’t the only Asian American in the GOP primary so far: Former South Carolina Gov. and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, who is Indian American, became the first candidate to challenge former President Donald Trump in the Republican race, reports The Yappie’s John Camara. 

?️ ELECTION 2024 — DAVE MIN SEEKS ORANGE COUNTY HOUSE SEAT: California state Sen. Dave Min (D) has announced he is running to represent California’s 47th district in the House after Rep. Katie Porter (D), the district’s current lawmaker, declared her 2024 Senate bid earlier this month. Porter, who won re-election with 51.7% of the vote compared to Republican challenger Scott Baugh’s 48.3% in November, endorsed Min in what could be another close race.

• Min, who is Korean American and a former business law professor, was recently named chair of California’s Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water. Min also serves as the vice chair of the state’s Asian and Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus.

• About 19% of voters in California’s 47th congressional district identify as AAPI, according to Min. Baugh and Rep. Harley Rouda (D) have also said they will vie for the seat in 2024.

HIRONO SEEKS THIRD SENATE TERM: Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawai‘i) announced she is running for a third consecutive term. Hirono has held the seat since 2013, when she became the first Asian American woman elected to the Senate.

• Hirono, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has spearheaded the fight to close down Red Hill, a World War II-era fuel storage facility that was responsible for leaks affecting more than 93,000 residents in 2021, reports Spectrum News’ Michelle Broder Van Dyke.

• Both the Democratic primary and general election are set to be easy wins for Hirono, who won her 2018 re-election in a landslide, beating challenger Ron Curtis (R) with 71.2% of the vote.

? KEEP ON YOUR RADAR — Helen Gym leads donor fundraising in Philly mayor race: Gym, a progressive former city councilmember and activist who has focused on education, labor, and abortion rights issues, raised more than $966,000 from donors in 2022, the most in a crowded Democratic field in which four candidates have raised more than $800,000.

• If elected, Gym, who is Korean American, would be the city’s first Asian American and first woman to serve as mayor. Gym became Philadelphia’s first Asian American city councilmember when she was first elected in 2015.

• In a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans 7-1 in voter registration, the race will likely be decided in the May primary. The field of nine prominent Democrats vying for nomination, including five former city councilmembers, is the largest the city has seen since the 70s.

• High levels of violent crime have been a dominant issue in the race. Gym, along with other candidates, has said that the city government, including police, should do more to address crime, but also emphasized that “under my watch we will not roll back the clock on civil rights.”

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