Politics briefing: Biden moves to expand environmental protections in Pacific atolls

? 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 Shawna Chen

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The Biden Era

? RECOGNIZING THE PACIFIC ATOLLS’ CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: President Joe Biden has directed his administration to consider initiating a sanctuary designation to expand protections around the Pacific Remote Islands southwest of Hawai‘i. The move would allow the U.S. to protect previously unaddressed islands, atolls, and reefs in its jurisdiction and help the Biden administration achieve its commitment to conserving 30% of lands and waters by 2030.

• If established, the new national marine sanctuary would conserve about 770,000 square miles, including the existing Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, and currently unprotected submerged lands and waters.

• “The process for a potential sanctuary designation would allow the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to further explore the area’s scientific, cultural, and ancestral linkages, and tailor its management accordingly,” according to the White House.

• Biden has also instructed the Commerce and Interior Departments to work with regional Indigenous leaders to rename the monument, and potentially the Islands themselves, to honor the region’s cultural significance, which encompasses heritage, ancestral pathways, and stopping points for Pacific Island voyagers.

• Of note: The process will serve an additional purpose in providing posthumous recognition for young Native Hawaiian men sent to secure U.S. territorial claims in the run-up to World War II.

? NEW DOE PROPOSAL SEEKS TO RESTRICT TRANS ATHLETE BANS, WITH A CATCH: The Department of Education (DOE) announced last Thursday a proposed change to Title IX regulations that would prevent broad, categorical bans of transgender athletes in school sports. 

• Under the proposal, any school that receives federal funding would be barred from enacting a “one-size-fits-all policy that categorically bans transgender students from participating on teams consistent with their gender identity,” per the DOE.

• The catch: The rule would still allow schools to “develop team eligibility criteria that serve important educational objectives, such as ensuring fairness in competition or preventing sports-related injury.”

• Though the DOE emphasizes that these criteria cannot be “premised on disapproval of transgender students or a desire to harm a particular student,” the controversial and divisive issue of “fairness in competition” harkens back to rhetoric used by Republicans to implement state-wide bans targeting trans athletes. 

• The backlash: Several prominent trans and LGBTQ advocates criticized the Biden administration for allowing what they called a loophole that would enable schools to still restrict trans students’ ability to participate in sports, which studies have shown to promote academic achievement, positive body-image perceptions, self-esteem, and the development of interpersonal skills and relationships.

• At least 19 states have passed laws broadly banning trans students from participating in sports teams that don’t align with their sex assigned at birth, according to the nonprofit think tank Movement Advancement Project.

SOUTHERN BORDER RECORDS A SURGE IN CHINESE MIGRANTS: The number of Chinese migrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border has seen an increase in the first two months of 2023, Axios’ Han Chen and Stef Kight report. The trend in part reflects backlash to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s domestic policies and concerns about losing rights and freedoms.

TWO YEARS SINCE ATLANTA: Asian Americans all across the country commemorated the deadly Atlanta spa shootings on March 16 last month. Two years out from the attacks, in which a white gunman targeted Asian-operated spas in the Atlanta area, Asian Americans continue to live in a state of hypervigilance and heightened fear, even as they mourn those lost to the rise in anti-Asian violence.

• “To the families of the victims, though the grieving never truly ends, we hope you find purpose in what will never be lost: the love you had for them and the love they had for all of you,” Biden said in a statement. 

• “I want you to know that I see you,” he added. “My administration sees you. And we are determined to end the scourge of gun violence, anti-Asian hate, and all forms of racism and extremism in this Nation.”

? 2023 EQUAL PAY DAY FOR AANHPI WOMEN: April 5 marked the day that wages earned by Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander women “caught up” to those earned by white, non-Hispanic men in 2022. AANHPI women earn 80 cents on average for every dollar earned by white, non-Hispanic men—and the wage gap is much wider for Southeast Asian and NHPI women.

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On The Hill

? JAYAPAL PUSHES FOR TRANS BILL OF RIGHTS AMID WAVE OF ANTI-TRANS LEGISLATION: Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington) has launched an awareness campaign after re-introducing a bill to guarantee protections for trans and nonbinary people. The bill, a version of which was also introduced in the Senate, would amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to explicitly prohibit discrimination against trans students in schools and ensure trans and nonbinary people have access to “medical care, shelter, safety, and economic security.”

• Democratic lawmakers say they are pushing for a Transgender Bill of Rights in part because “the right of transgender and nonbinary people to seek lifesaving, gender-affirming care and counseling is under threat across the Nation,” according to the bill’s text. 

• “[I]t’s very difficult, when you have Republicans saying they want to eradicate trans people. And we already know that rates of suicide, depression, anxiety, are so much higher for trans people, and trans kids in particular,” Jayapal, whose daughter is transgender, told The 19th’s Orion Rummler.

• House Republicans have introduced a slate of anti-trans measures over the past year, including a bill that would ban transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports. The bill, called the Protect Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023, stipulates that “sex shall be recognized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”

• What we’re watching: In Kentucky, Republican state legislators recently voted to override a veto on a bill banning gender-affirming care for transgender youth.

?ASIAN AMERICANS WARN AGAINST XENOPHOBIA IN TIKTOK BAN DEBATE: With federal agencies, state officials, and some colleges issuing bans against TikTok, the billion-user large video-sharing platform owned by Chinese company ByteDance, Asian Americans and Democratic lawmakers are raising the alarm that careless rhetoric could add to the rise in anti-Asian hate. 

• Setting the stage: Last month, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, who was born in Singapore, testified before Congress to address rising concerns among lawmakers who say the Beijing-based app poses a threat to national security. Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee grilled Chew for five hours about sharing user data and the app’s ties to the Chinese government.

• Rep. Doris Matsui (D-California) is the only Asian American lawmaker who sits on the panel, and she asked Chew about how the app intends to prevent young users from engaging with potentially harmful content, such as extreme fitness. Chew said the company is “working on it.”

• After the hearing, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) tweeted that Chew should be “deported immediately and never again allowed to re-enter our country.” TikTok COO Vanessa Pappas countered that the hearing “felt rooted in xenophobia.”

?️ “TOO NICE” — U.S. TRADE REP SHUTS DOWN GOP LAWMAKER: U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, the first Asian American to hold the top post overseeing U.S. trade relations, recently shut down a Republican Congress member’s remarks that she is “too nice” to do her job.

• What he said: “I don’t know you very well … I personally think you’re too nice a person to be in the job that you’re in,” Rep. Greg Murphy (R-North Carolina) told Tai in a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on the Biden administration’s 2023 trade policy agenda.

• “I think you’re handicapped because of administrative folks that you have to report to,” he continued. “Negotiators are usually very, very tough and sometimes mean people and not nice people like you are.” 

• Tai’s response: “Congressman, I can assure you I know to be nice to the members of the Ways and Means Committee, and I’ve never been faulted for being too nice,” the Chinese American said. “I also don’t need you to feel sorry for me, so please don’t do that.”

• Why this matters: Though he insisted his remarks were well-intentioned and later added that Tai has a “nice smile,” Murphy’s comment echoed decades-long rhetoric that painted Asians, especially Asian women, as submissive and lacking leadership. For many, it reiterated the fact that federal lawmakers remain entrenched in outdated stereotypes even as they increasingly attempt to seek the Asian American vote.

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Campaign Watch

?️ RISING CRIME, A TOP ISSUE FOR ASIAN AMERICANS, COULD PUSH VOTERS FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: In San Francisco, a historically liberal city that saw violent attacks against Asian residents jump during the pandemic, Asian American voters are flocking to more moderate candidates. The shift in a city where a third of the population identifies as Asian American is set to shake up a traditionally blue voting bloc and could spell trouble for Democrats in other cities with prominent Asian American communities.

• “San Francisco, the most liberal place in America, is saying: ‘Enough, we want safe streets, we want good schools,’ so that should tell anyone, ‘Pay attention,” San Francisco Supervisor Joel Engardio, who ran a campaign promising public safety, told CNN’s Kyung Lah. The moderate Democrat became the first non-Asian person to represent the Sunset district in two decades after unseating incumbent Gordon Mar (D), a Chinese American. 

• One Asian voter said she used to vote for candidates just because they were Asian, but told CNN that school board decisions have made her pay more attention to candidate policies and as a result support more moderate politicians.

RO KHANNA CHAMPIONS FELLOW DEMOCRAT BARBARA LEE’S SENATE RUN: Rep. Ro Khanna (D-California) announced last week that he would not enter the race for retiring Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s seat and plans instead to endorse Rep. Barbara Lee (D-California) and co-chair her campaign. 

• Yes, but: In an interview, Khanna noted that one of Lee’s opponents—Rep. Adam Schiff (D-California)—is the current “favorite” to win. Schiff, who announced his campaign last month, has Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s (D-California) endorsement.

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