Compiled by Staff
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Joe Biden
Local AAPI supporters: Former WA Gov. Gary Locke, former Seattle Deputy Mayor Hyeok Kim
The Obama-Biden Administration re-established the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to improve the lives of AAPIs in the United s through federal programs, interagency coordination, and outreach to AAPI stakeholders. And, Biden helped secure the votes to finally deliver long-awaited compensation payments for Filipino American World War II veterans.
On the Issues:
Education:
Invest in all children from birth to 12th grade by tripling Title I funding, which goes to schools serving a high number of children from low-income families.
Provide two years of community college or other high-quality training program without debt for any hard-working member of the AAPI community looking to learn and improve their skills to keep up with the changing nature of work.
Double the maximum value of Pell grants, increasing the number of middle-class AAPIs who can participate in the program and increasing the grant value for individuals already eligible for Pell. Halve the payments on undergraduate federal student loans by simplifying and increasing the generosity of today’s income-based repayment program.
Rectify the funding disparities faced by minority-serving institutions, including Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-serving institutions (AANAPISIs).
Immigration/Immigrant rights:
Rescind Trump’s “Muslim ban” on day one and reverse asylum policies.
Work 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.
Increase the number of visas offered for permanent, work-based immigration based on macroeconomic conditions and exempt from any cap recent graduates of Ph.D programs in STEM fields.
Rein the DACA program and explore all legal options to protect their families from separation.
End workplace raids and protect other sensitive locations from immigration enforcement actions.
Small Business Ownership:
In 2010, the Obama-Biden administration created the Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) to support small businesses. The program transfers funds to small business lending initiatives, driving $10 billion in new lending for each $1 billion in SSBCI funds. Biden will extend the program through 2025 and double its federal funding to $3 billion, driving close to $30 billion of private sector investments to small businesses all told, especially those owned by women and people of color.
He will also establish a competitive grant program to provide $5 billion in funding to s for new business startups outside of the biggest cities.
Data disaggregation:
The Obama-Biden administration released best practices for the disaggregation of federal data on AAPIs. Biden will build on this work and ensure that his administration recognizes and serves the myriad of challenges facing diverse AAPI communities.
Tulsi Gabbard
Numerous attempts for a response from the Tulsi Gabbard campaign went unanswered.
Bernie Sanders
Local AAPI supporter: Sen. Bob Hasegawa
The Sanders campaign has AAPI leaders in key roles, including National Campaign Co-Chair Rep. Ro Khanna, Campaign Manager Faiz Shakir, Constituency Organizing Director Yong Jung Cho, National AAPI Constituency Organizer Supreet Kaur, California Political Director Jane Kim, Nevada Campaign Co-Chair Dr. Zaffar Iqbal, Nevada Communications Director Bianca Recto, and many more.
Bernie 2020 has made campaign materials accessible in Mandarin Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Karen, Punjabi, Urdu, Arabic, Nepali, Thai, Bengali, and Burmese.
On the Issues:
Healthcare:
Guarantee health care to everyone in this country through Medicare for All, which will ensure the 7.8% of uninsured Asian Americans in the United s will receive coverage.
Education:
Guarantee universal childcare to all parents and high-quality pre-k to all kids. Only 35% of Asian American children are currently enrolled in early childhood education programs. Sanders’ plan would ensure all children, regardless of family background or socioeconomic status, would have the opportunity to receive critical early childhood education.
Jobs and the economy:
9.6 million Asian American workers, which accounts for 14.9% of all Asian American workers, will receive a raise when Sanders raises the minimum wage to a living wage.
Small Business Ownership:
AAPI constituents own more than 1.1 million small businesses. Sanders will expand that number by creating a $20 billion grant program within the Minority Business Development Agency to provide grants to entrepreneurs of color from all communities.
Immigration/Immigrant rights:
Expand DACA and DAPA. Asian immigrants constitute about 11% of the undocumented immigrants that would benefit from DACA reinment and new pathways for citizenship.
Preserve and expand traditional family-based visas to address the lengthy family visa backlog.
Rein the Filipino Veteran families reunification program and work with Congress to exempt the families of Filipino WWII veterans from per-country visa caps and expedite their applications.
Elizabeth Warren
Local AAPI supporters: Toshiko Hasegawa, executive director of the Washington Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs
Elizabeth Warren made history last year by hiring the first Asian American campaign manager for a major presidential campaign. Chinese American Roger Lau has worked with Warren since her senatorial campaign.
On the Issues:
Immigration/Immigrant rights:
Decriminalize migration, significantly reduce detention and end private detention facilities, provide rights and due process for all immigrants, and reaffirm asylum protections for those fleeing violence.
Remake Customs and Border Protection and ICE and hold immigration enforcement to the same due process standards as other law enforcement agencies — no more warrantless arrests or stops.
End the Muslim ban on day one, rein Temporary Protected Status designations and Deferred Enforced Departure, and raise the refugee cap to at least 175,000 by the end of her first term.
Rein the DACA program and protections for Dreamers and their families, and expand the program to cover more young people.
Roll back the Trump administration’s Public Charge rule change.
Make it easier to become a citizen or apply for legal status by removing unnecessary legal, administrative, and financial barriers.
Establish an Office of New Americans dedicated to supporting new immigrants as they transition into our society and economy.
Affordable housing:
Invest $500 billion over the next 10 years to build, preserve, and restore millions of units that will be affordable to lower-income families.
Expand funding for the Native Hawaiian Housing Block Grant program and reauthorize the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act with the full inclusion of Native Hawaiians.
Strengthen fair housing law and enforcement.
Secure tenants’ rights nationwide and fight exploitation by corporate landlords.
Withdraw HUD’s “mixed status rule” and extend protections to end housing discrimination based on tenants’ immigration status and source of income.
Tackle the growing cost of rent.
Invest in safe, healthy, and green public housing.
Jobs and workers rights:
Strengthen organizing, collective bargaining, and the right to strike.
Raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour for all workers. Warren’s plan would also provide more overtime pay and protect pensions and other retirement savings.
Increase worker choice and control by requiring large companies to let workers elect board members.
Increase funding for the EEOC, OSHA, the DOL Civil Rights Center, and the wage and hour division of the Labor Department, which are crucial to protect the safety, wellbeing, and rights of AAPI workers.
Strengthen protections for home care workers, including ensuring equal treatment under labor laws, guaranteeing that all home care workers can join a union or other worker organization.
Enact key protections for gig workers. Research suggests that AAPIs, especially AAPI part-time workers, are disproportionately likely to work in the so-called “gig economy,” where they’re vulnerable to being misclassified as independent contractors, rather than employees — denying them rights like the minimum wage or protections against sexual harassment.
Open up promotion pathways. AAPI workers are the least likely group to be promoted into leadership positions. Warren will require every federal agency to incorporate diversity as part of their core strategic plan and create support networks through a government-wide mentorship program that centers employees of color.
Require employers to give two weeks’ advance notice of work schedules and empowering workers to ask for schedules that work for them, without fear of retaliation.
Guarantee workers 11 hours between shifts and compensating them with higher pay for hours voluntarily worked within that window.
Fight to make paid family and medical leave available to all workers. Nearly one in five AAPIs are caregivers for young children, elders, or loved ones who are sick or disabled, and many can’t afford to take unpaid leave.