The U.S. Senate is voting on a number of appointments to the new administration’s Cabinet, and on Tuesday, two Democratic senators voted against the nominees because of the lack of adequate Asian representation in President Biden‘s Cabinet. The White House said in the evening that it agreed to add an Asian American or Pacific Islander (AAPI) to the Cabinet for a key position.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement that Biden has made it clear that the new administration will reflect the country’s ethnic diversity, which has always been their goal, so an Asian American will be added to a key position to represent the voices of different communities. However, the White House did not disclose who will hold the position, or whether the position is newly created and other issues.
The decision was pushed by Senate Democrats Tammy Duckworth (D-CA) and Senator Keiko Hirono (D-CA). Recently, they rejected the “non-diverse” Biden cabinet list, asking the White House to face the problem. In the past few months, many lawmakers have been pushing the Biden Administration to add more Asians to key positions.
Currently, all 15 secretary-level positions in the Biden administration’s cabinet have been filled, with no Asian candidates, the first Time in more than 20 years that no Asians have been represented. Duckworth said that in the past six months, she has repeatedly provided the White House with suggestions for Asian representatives for cabinet positions, but no one has been invited to the cabinet. She stressed that she would only vote to confirm sexual minority LGBTQ, minority and other nominees; and after Keiko Hirono communicated with Duckworth, she also joined to the White House to fight for more minority representatives.
Earlier, Biden had nominated Neera Tanden, a second-generation Indian immigrant, to be director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, but Tanden later withdrew because she was convinced she would not get enough confirmation votes; Katherine Tai, sworn in as U.S. trade representative last week, was of Asian descent, but her position did not reach the secretary level in the Cabinet.
Biden responded to being “pushed” by party members by saying, “We have the most diverse Cabinet ever, with many Asian-Americans in the Cabinet and at the Cabinet level.” But some lawmakers argue that Asian-Americans have been excluded from the 15 Cabinet secretary positions, and Duckworth said Tuesday that she repeatedly raised the issue with the White House, only to be told that Biden’s choice of Kamala Harris, who is of African-American and Asian descent, as vice president was enough to make her feel even more angry: “Just because we’re proud of Kamala, doesn’t mean we don’t need other Asian-Americans. That doesn’t mean we don’t need other Asians in key positions.”
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