[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11449]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1930
                 ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Perlmutter). Under a previous order of 
the House, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Solis) is recognized 
for 5 minutes.
  Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the millions 
of Americans of Asian and Pacific Islander heritage. I would like to 
thank my good friend, Congressman Mike Honda, for leading the special 
orders tonight on Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and providing 
us with this opportunity to speak to you tonight.
  I represent a heavily, heavily populated Asia Pacific community in 
southern California, I think the second most populated in the country. 
The first group that makes up a large proportion is Taiwanese and 
Chinese. The second group is Filipino. I am very proud to have 
represented them for so many years.
  But I am here tonight to pay tribute to the many of them who provide 
us with public service in government, science, law and business, 
athletics and in the arts. These communities that I represent are the 
cities of Monterey Park, Rosemead, West Covina and the San Gabriel 
Valley. Well over 120,000 individuals represent that district.
  They are Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean and of 
Cambodian decent. As you know, they work hard, like many immigrants 
that come to this country. Nearly 30 percent of the minority-owned 
businesses are owned by Asian Pacific Islanders and African-American 
women. In recent years, a number of Asian and Pacific Islander women-
owned businesses has increased by 69 percent in the district.
  According to the Chamber of Commerce, Chinese Americans own at least 
two-thirds of Monterey Park's more than 5,000 businesses. I have long 
been a supporter of a program called PACE, Pacific Asian Consortium in 
Employment, which was founded back in 1976 to address the employment 
and job training needs of Asian Pacific Islanders. Believe it or not, 
there are many Asian Pacific Islanders who really do need the support 
of the Federal Government and our various forms of government to help 
them succeed in our country.
  Today it provides workforce development, housing services, business 
assistance and early childhood education in Los Angeles county. I would 
especially like to recognize a good friend of mine, Kerry Doi, with 
whom I have worked for a number of years, whom I am extremely proud of. 
Earlier this year, his program, known as PACE, and the Association for 
Enterprise Opportunity Women and Company, chose 10 prominent small 
business owners to give $1,000 checks to.
  You may think that's not a lot of money, but for first-time business 
owners of Asian Pacific descent, it meant a lot. I am proud of the work 
they are doing to help all small business owners, including those of 
API heritage, to succeed.
  I have also worked closely with the East San Gabriel Valley Japanese 
Community Center and the Monterey Park Langley Senior Center, 
predominantly of Asian descent. I am proud to have these organizations 
in my district because they are wonderful places where individuals from 
this community can gather and have social time, artistic time, 
recreational time and share their culture with each other.
  At the senior center, I meet often with them. They take language 
courses, computer classes and different exercise courses that help them 
to keep busy in our community. Many of the seniors and their families 
and others have been touched by the immigration process recently.
  In fact, I would say that the second largest case load in my district 
happened to be individuals of API descent. They, just as much as anyone 
else, want to become naturalized citizens, and they are stepping up to 
the plate. I was happy to host a citizenship forum that we held in the 
City of Irwindale recently, and I would say about 200 or more families 
of API descent came forward to become naturalized citizens. I am proud 
that is happening in our community and across the country.
  I am here to support, again, the efforts of the API caucus, which 
Mike Honda leads, and to work with my colleagues there on the tri-
caucus to help put forward disparities and treatment in health care 
issues regarding API, the Hispanic community and the African-American 
community. We are working together to bridge our gaps so that we can 
provide better services to all Americans in all residents of our 
country. I am happy and pleased to be able to put this forward tonight 
in support of the API caucus.

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