WASHINGTON — D-N.Y. Rep. Grace Meng, D-Calif., who has held the position for more than a decade, said Wednesday. He will succeed Rep. Judy Chu as the new chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. Chu spoke to NBC News on Tuesday evening.
Meng, who has served in Congress since 2013, is running unopposed to succeed Chu as chairman of the caucus, known as CAPAC. Internal elections are scheduled for Wednesday.
Meng is CAPAC’s “first vice chairman, so he’s been put in a position to take on a key role, and I think he’ll do a great job,” Chu said.
CAPAC is the smallest of the Tri-Caucus, three minority caucuses that also include the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. He has been an important voice on issues such as combating xenophobia and anti-Asian hate speech (which has increased during the pandemic), pushing for immigration reform, and promoting language access in government programs for people with limited English.
CAPAC has no term limits, although Black and Hispanic caucus leaders are typically elected every two years. Chu — a former three-time mayor of Monterey Park and the first Chinese-American woman to serve in Congress — has led the group since 2011.
Chu said CAPAC members will soon consider whether to impose term limits of up to four years for future chairmen, given that there are now more members seeking opportunities to lead.
As speaker, Chu, 71, passed a resolution through the House of Representatives expressing regret over the lower house’s passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, a law that barred Chinese citizens from becoming American citizens or immigrating to the United States.
And under Chu’s leadership, CAPAC expanded and successfully pushed to elect its members to leadership positions. Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., was named chairman and ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. Rep. Ted Lieu, another Southern California CAPAC member, won the Democratic caucus vice chair position in 2022, becoming the first Asian American to be elected to the House leadership.
Chu noted that the number of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPI) in Congress has grown since coming to Washington.
“When I arrived, CAPAC had nine AANHPI members. After this election, with our additions, we will have 25, so this is a huge accomplishment,” Chu said on the floor of the House of Representatives. “And I would say that we fought to be seen and to be part of the leadership of this group of Democrats, and we succeeded.”
Meng, 49, is a close ally of House Minority Leader Judge Jeffries, a fellow Democrat from New York. He made history when he became New York’s first Asian American member of Congress and later went on to serve in a top position at the Democratic National Committee.
As one of CAPAC’s leaders, Meng sponsored the legislation, which was signed into law by President Joe Biden. created a commission Exploring the feasibility of a national museum that would preserve the history, culture, and contributions of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders.
Biden also signed Meng’s law The COVID-19 Hate Crimes Actwas intended to combat the rise in widespread anti-Asian hate crimes and incidents during the pandemic.
“We have been able to combat the challenges of racial profiling caused by the China Initiative and this anti-China rhetoric,” Chu said. Ministry of Justice program During the first administration of Donald Trump, it was aimed at preventing Chinese spying efforts.
“We certainly want to keep the United States safe, but what we don’t want is to do that at the expense of the civil rights of Asian Americans, and that’s what we’ve been seeing,” Chu added.