[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 92 (Thursday, May 26, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2757-S2758]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SENATE RESOLUTION 653--RECOGNIZING THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ASIAN/PACIFIC 
     AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH AS AN IMPORTANT TIME TO CELEBRATE THE 
  SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS OF ASIAN AMERICANS, NATIVE HAWAIIANS, AND 
         PACIFIC ISLANDERS TO THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES

  Ms. HIRONO (for herself, Mr. Grassley, Ms. Baldwin, Ms. Collins, Mr. 
Blumenthal, Mr. Crapo, Mr. Booker, Mr. Wicker, Mr. Brown, Ms. Cantwell, 
Mr. Cardin, Mr. Carper, Mr. Casey, Ms. Cortez Masto, Ms. Duckworth, Mr. 
Durbin, Ms. Hassan, Mr. Markey, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Padilla, 
Ms. Rosen, Mr. Schatz, Mrs. Shaheen, Ms. Smith, Mr. Warner, Ms. Warren, 
and Mr. Wyden) submitted the following resolution; which was referred 
to the Committee on the Judiciary:

                              S. Res. 653

       Whereas the people of the United States join together each 
     May to pay tribute to the contributions of generations of 
     Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders who 
     have enriched the history of the United States;
       Whereas the history of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, 
     and Pacific Islanders in the United States is inextricably 
     tied to the story of the United States;
       Whereas the Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific 
     Islander community is an inherently diverse population, 
     composed of more than 45 distinct ethnicities and more than 
     100 language dialects;
       Whereas, according to the Bureau of the Census, the Asian-
     American population grew faster than any other racial or 
     ethnic group over the last decade, surging nearly 55.5 
     percent between 2010 and 2020, and during that same time 
     period, the Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander population 
     grew by 30.8 percent;
       Whereas there are approximately 24,000,000 residents of the 
     United States who identify as Asian and approximately 
     1,600,000 residents of the United States who identify as 
     Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, making up nearly 7 
     percent of the total population of the United States;
       Whereas the month of May was selected for Asian/Pacific 
     American Heritage Month because the first Japanese immigrants 
     arrived in the United States on May 7, 1843, and the first 
     transcontinental railroad was completed on May 10, 1869, with 
     substantial contributions from Chinese immigrants;
       Whereas section 102 of title 36, United States Code, 
     officially designates May as Asian/Pacific American Heritage 
     Month and requests the President to issue an annual 
     proclamation calling on the people of the United States to 
     observe the month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and 
     activities;
       Whereas 2022 marks several important milestones for the 
     Asian-American and Pacific Islander community, including--
       (1) the 140th anniversary of the enactment of the Chinese 
     Exclusion Act of 1882, which barred the entry of Chinese 
     immigrants to the United States for more than 50 years and 
     spurred a series of anti-immigrant policies targeting 
     immigration from the Asia-Pacific region;
       (2) the 40th anniversary of the murder of Vincent Chin, a 
     Chinese-American man who was beaten to death in Michigan by 2 
     white men angered by layoffs in the auto industry;
       (3) the 30th anniversary of the enactment of the Act 
     entitled ``An Act to designate May of each year as `Asian/
     Pacific American Heritage Month' '', approved October 23, 
     1992 (36 U.S.C. 102); and
       (4) the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the Asian 
     American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving 
     Institutions program, which was authorized under the College 
     Cost Reduction and Access Act (Public Law 110-84; 121 Stat. 
     784);
       Whereas Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific 
     Islanders have made significant contributions to the United 
     States at all levels of the Federal Government and in the 
     United States Armed Forces, including--
       (1) Daniel K. Inouye, a Medal of Honor and Presidential 
     Medal of Freedom recipient who, as President pro tempore of 
     the Senate, was the then-highest-ranking Asian-American 
     government official in the history of the United States;
       (2) Dalip Singh Saund, the first Asian-American 
     Congressman;
       (3) Patsy T. Mink, the first woman of color and Asian-
     American woman to be elected to Congress;
       (4) Hiram L. Fong, the first Asian-American Senator;
       (5) Daniel K. Akaka, the first Senator of Native Hawaiian 
     ancestry;
       (6) Norman Y. Mineta, the first Asian-American member of a 
     Presidential cabinet;
       (7) Elaine L. Chao, the first Asian-American woman member 
     of a Presidential cabinet; and
       (8) Kamala D. Harris, the first woman and the first Asian 
     American to hold the Office of the Vice President;
       Whereas the 117th Congress includes a record 21 Members of 
     Asian or Pacific Islander descent;
       Whereas, in 2022, the Congressional Asian Pacific American 
     Caucus, a bicameral caucus of Members of Congress advocating 
     on behalf of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific 
     Islanders, is composed of 76 Members, and other caucuses 
     working on Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific 
     Islander issues may be established;
       Whereas, in 2022, Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and 
     Pacific Islanders are serving in State and Territorial 
     legislatures across the United States in record numbers, 
     including in--
       (1) the States of Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, 
     Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, 
     Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, 
     Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New 
     Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, 
     Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, 
     Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming; and
       (2) the Territories of American Samoa, Guam, and the 
     Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands;
       Whereas, in 2022, Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and 
     Pacific Islanders honorably serve throughout the Federal 
     judiciary;
       Whereas Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific 
     Islanders represent more than 6 percent of Federal employees, 
     including hundreds of staffers of Asian or Pacific Islander 
     descent who serve as staff in the Senate and the House of 
     Representatives;
       Whereas, according to the Center for the Study of Hate and 
     Extremism, there was a 339 percent increase in anti-Asian 
     hate

[[Page S2758]]

     crimes in 2021, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation 
     recorded a 73 percent increase in such crimes in 2020;
       Whereas, since March 2020, there has been a dramatic 
     increase in reports of anti-Asian hate crimes and incidents 
     related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including approximately 
     11,000 hate incidents, including shunning, verbal and online 
     harassment, physical assault, and civil rights violations, 
     that were reported to Stop AAPI Hate from the start of the 
     pandemic through December 31, 2021, and countless other 
     incidents that have not been reported;
       Whereas, according to a survey conducted during September 
     and October of 2021 by Stop AAPI Hate, 1 in 5 Asian Americans 
     (21.2 percent) and Pacific Islanders (20.0 percent) reported 
     experiencing a hate incident in the past year;
       Whereas discrimination against Asian Americans, especially 
     in moments of crisis, is not a new phenomenon, and violence 
     against Asian Americans has occurred throughout United States 
     history, including--
       (1) the enactment of Page Act of 1875, which restricted 
     entry of Chinese, Japanese, and other Asian women to the 
     United States and effectively prohibited the immigration of 
     Chinese women, preventing the formation of Chinese families 
     in the United States and limiting the number of native-born 
     Chinese citizens;
       (2) the enactment of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, 
     which was the first law to explicitly exclude an entire 
     ethnic group from immigrating to the United States;
       (3) the issuance of Executive Order 9066 in 1942, which 
     authorized the forced relocation and incarceration of 
     approximately 120,000 individuals of Japanese ancestry during 
     World War II, the majority of whom were United States 
     citizens;
       (4) the murder of Vincent Chin;
       (5) the Cleveland Elementary School shooting on January 17, 
     1989, in which a gunman used an AK-47 to kill 5 children, 4 
     of whom were of Southeast Asian descent;
       (6) the rise in discrimination and violence against Muslim, 
     Sikh, and South Asian Americans following the September 11, 
     2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon;
       (7) the mass shooting at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, 
     Wisconsin, on August 5, 2012, in which a white supremacist 
     fatally shot 6 people and wounded 4 others;
       (8) the shooting of 9 people near Atlanta, Georgia, on 
     March 16, 2021, at 3 separate Asian-owned businesses, in 
     which 8 people were killed, including 6 Asian women; and
       (9) the shooting of 6 people in Laguna Woods, California, 
     on May 15, 2022, in which members of the Irvine Taiwanese 
     Presbyterian Church were targeted;
       Whereas, in response to the uptick in anti-Asian hate 
     crimes throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress passed the 
     COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act (Public Law 117-13; 135 Stat. 265), 
     which was signed into law by President Joseph R. Biden on May 
     20, 2021;
       Whereas the COVID-19 pandemic has deeply impacted the 
     Asian-American and Pacific Islander community;
       Whereas Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific 
     Islanders have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-
     19 pandemic, and Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders have 
     faced among the highest infection and mortality rates out of 
     any racial group in several States;
       Whereas more than 2,000,000 Asian-American, Native 
     Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander first responders, health care 
     providers, and frontline workers are among the unsung heroes 
     in the Nation's fight against COVID-19;
       Whereas there remains much to be done to ensure that Asian 
     Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders have 
     access to resources and a voice in the Government of the 
     United States and continue to advance in the political 
     landscape of the United States; and
       Whereas celebrating Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month 
     provides the people of the United States with an opportunity 
     to recognize the achievements, contributions, and history of, 
     and to understand the challenges faced by Asian Americans, 
     Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders: Now, therefore, be 
     it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) recognizes the significance of Asian/Pacific American 
     Heritage Month as an important time to celebrate the 
     significant contributions of Asian Americans, Native 
     Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders to the history of the United 
     States; and
       (2) recognizes that Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, and 
     Pacific Islander communities enhance the rich diversity of 
     and strengthen the United States.

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