Members of Congress pressure Biden to select Asian American and Pacific Island

The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus sent the letter to Biden’s transition team sounding the alarm after fearing that none of the remaining Cabinet-level positions would be filled with an Asian American or Pacific Islander nominee. It was signed by more than 100 members of Congress, including non-caucus members.

A similar letter sent the previous week had been co-signed by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the Congressional Black Caucus.

“The need for diversity at the highest levels is not for the sake of optics. It’s about ensuring all experiences are reflected in our decision making,” the newest letter stated. “And . . . when we have diverse leaders in positions of power, it leads to more inclusive policies that better serve the entirety of our country.”

The letter followed conversations the transition had with Julie Su, California’s labor chief, about a position with the administration in the Labor Department, including possibly deputy secretary of labor, according to three people familiar with the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

A Su spokeswoman declined a request for comment Wednesday, and a spokesman for the Biden transition team would not discuss her. The transition team has had conversations with multiple candidates that can include the possibility of a number of positions within the departments for which they are being considered, according to a source close to the transition who spoke on the condition of anonymity because that person was not authorized to speak on the matter.

“President-elect Biden is working to build an administration that looks like America, starting with the first woman of South Asian descent and first Black woman to be Vice President-elect, as well as a historic slate of diverse nominees and appointees, to date. He will continue to deliver upon this vision over the coming weeks as he shapes the most diverse Cabinet in history,” transition spokesman Jamal Brown said in a statement.

While most of his Cabinet nominees have been selected, Biden has yet to announce his picks for labor secretary, commerce secretary and attorney general, and transition officials said Wednesday they did not expect additional Cabinet announcements until after the new year.

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, reportedly one of the leading contenders for labor secretary, told reporters Wednesday that he had “not been talking to anyone in the Biden Administration” but sidestepped the question of whether he would accept if offered the position, according to the Boston Globe.

When asked about the pressure to name an AAPI secretary, Biden transition officials have repeatedly pointed not only to Vice President-elect Kamala D. Harris, whose mother was from India, but also to the selection of Katherine Tai as U.S. trade representative and Neera Tanden as the nominee to head the Office of Management and Budget, both Cabinet-level roles. Vivek H. Murthy, whose parents, like Harris’s and Tanden’s, were from India, has been named Biden’s surgeon general-designate, though the role is not a Cabinet-level one.

Lorna Ho Randlett, who, along with her husband, is a Biden bundler who heads an AAPI public policy think tank called Leaders Forum, said her group sent a letter to the transition team on Nov. 24 in support of Biden’s choices, though very few Cabinet selections had been made at the time. The letter was also signed by “other prominent members of the national AAPI community, especially those who were among the earliest supporters of the Biden campaign,” she said.

Randlett stressed that they have been encouraging the transition team to choose as many highly qualified AAPI candidates as possible but also argued that Biden has already assembled a historic Cabinet.

“I am not at all saying that those three by any stretch of the imagination are somehow to be in a narrative about what is enough and what is not enough,” Randlett told The Washington Post, referring to Harris, Tai and Tanden. “What I think is the narrative is what is best for America. And we need to trust the leader that the people elected and the groundbreaking first-ever choices he has made.”

Other AAPI groups and lawmakers have pointed out that other constituency groups — Black, Hispanic, Native American, LGBT — are all represented in Biden’s 15 secretary-level Cabinet positions, but AAPIs are not, a departure from the past four administrations, regardless of party.

“It’s an important precedent that we have to maintain,” said Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.).

Further, they say that while Harris is first in the line of succession, the other roles rank lower than Cabinet secretaries and oversee departments with far smaller budgets. For example, the budget for the Department of Health and…