Asian-American and Pacific Islander members of Congress, along with outside advocates, have been complaining for some time about limited representation in Joe Biden’s office. Katherine Tai, the newly confirmed United States trade representative, is the only AAPI member in the Cabinet, but there are no AAPI Cabinet secretaries for the first time in decades.
Two Democratic AAPI senators, Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, filed the complaint with White House deputy chief of staff Jen O’Malley Dillon at a virtual conference on Monday night, as Axios reported for the first time. Among the defenses that O’Malley Dillon raised was that, well, Vice President Kamala Harris is the first Asian American woman to serve as Vice President, and that’s quite a big job.
It didn’t go well for Duckworth.
“Last night, that was the trigger for me,” she told reporters on Tuesday, describing O’Malley Dillon’s creation of Harris as “incredibly insulting.”
“I’ve heard it several times,” she said. “And this is not something you would say to Black Caucus – ‘Well, you have Kamala, we are not going to put more African Americans in the office because you have Kamala’ – why would you say that to AAPI?”
Duckworth informed the White House that he would vote against all of Biden’s “nominees for non-diversity” – those who are not racial or LGBTQ minorities – until the White House appoints another AAPI member to a prominent position or offers some sort of commitment for one on the road. Hirono joined Duckworth late Tuesday afternoon.
“Tammy’s position is that until she gets a commitment from the White House that there will be more representation of diversity in the Cabinet and advisory positions from the White House, she will not vote to confirm anyone who does not represent diversity,” said Hirono. “It is not a question of pitting one diversity group against another. I think this is a well-articulated and focused position. I am prepared to join her in this. “
According to Duckworth, she and Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus were first told by the White House that, although there were no AAPI cabinet secretaries, in their words, the White House considered “OMB business representatives and director as being At the cabinet level, because they sit around the table. But as soon as Biden’s appointment as director of the Office of Management and Budget, Neera Tanden, withdrew, there was an effort to put pressure on the powerful Democrats in the House – including the top three leaders, as well as the Black Congress of Congress – to put pressure on White House to promote Tanden’s vice presidential candidate, Shalanda Young, to the most important position in the OMB. Asian-American groups have tried to unite around Nani Coloretti, a former Obama administration official, as their preferred alternative. Duckworth, however, hinted that the momentum had rocked against her.
“And now we are hearing that the push is not for the AAPI candidate to be considered as head of the OMB,” said Duckworth. “To hear that, well, ‘You have Kamala Harris, we are very proud of her, you don’t need anyone else’ is an insult.”
The two senators’ action comes a week after a series of shootings in the Atlanta area that killed eight people, six of whom were women of Asian descent, and amid an increase in national violence against Asian Americans. The events generated long-standing frustrations among the AAPI community because their voices and concerns were being ignored. Hirono said The CNN that she also told the White House that she would like to “see, in a consistent way, the AAPI community being surveyed” when testing various policies across different demographic groups.
The ultimatum is the latest case of Democratic senators publicly using the individual advantage that comes with a 50-50 Senate. Until there is a resolution, the position of Duckworth and Hirono puts on hold the confirmations of heterosexual white nominees who cannot win Republican support – or condemn them. This means that the appointment of Colin Kahl as undersecretary for policy advocacy, which has been criticized by conservatives both for his history of tanden-style tweeting and for his political views on the Middle East, may be a toast.
In fact, this is a position that Duckworth is already looking for so that Biden can fill with an AAPI nominee.
“They have an assistant secretary of defense for policies in progress,” she said. “I already told them that I will be a no at this.” In addition or from the OMB, she mentioned the Federal Communications Commission – or, she said, the White House “could commit to a future Cabinet secretary, a true Cabinet secretary”.
“But they need it, right now, after six months, I gave them names of people, many well-qualified AAPIs who never received a call,” said Duckworth. “Right now, they can call me and tell me what the proposal is.”
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