Skip to main content

Meng Meets with President Biden and Vice President Harris at White House to Talk About Priorities of Asian American Community

March 7, 2022

Congresswoman discusses her efforts to combat anti-Asian hate and establish a national Asian Pacific American museum; Meng meets with President and V.P. as part of meeting with leadership of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus

WASHINGTON, D.C. – This afternoon, U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) met with President Biden, Vice President Harris and White House senior advisors to discuss pressing issues impacting the Asian American community. Meng met alongside other members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), of which she serves as the First Vice Chair.
"I was pleased to meet with President Biden and Vice President Harris today to raise issues impacting the AAPI community across the country," said Meng. "The AAPI community has battled the rising hate directed at us since the start of the COVID-19 crisis, due to being scapegoated for the pandemic by the former president. This hate has continued to increase as brutal attacks on AAPI individuals persist. However, we have excellent allies in the Biden-Harris Administration who have worked alongside us to pass my COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, and are continuing to invest critical resources into our communities. I also look forward to working with the President and Vice President on my efforts to establish a national museum dedicated to AAPI history and culture, and promoting the teaching of AAPI history. While we still have a long way to go, meetings like today are an important step toward lasting change."
Last May, President Biden signed Meng's COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act into law which directs the Department of Justice to expeditiously review hate crimes related to COVID-19 and work with community-based organizations to combat anti-Asian hate crimes and incidents, among other things.
In addition, Meng reintroduced her bill this year to establish a commission to study the feasibility of creating a national museum that would be dedicated to preserving the history, culture and accomplishments of AAPIs. She also reintroduced legislation to promote the teaching of AAPI history in schools.