Indian-Americans become members of key House committees on China, intelligence and immigration
In another marker of the continued rise in influence of Indian-Americans in US politics, the five representatives from the community in House of Representatives — Raja Krishnamoorthi, Ami Bera, Pramila Jayapal, Ro Khanna and Shri Thandedar — will serve in key positions on some of the most sensitive Congressional committees dealing with China, intelligence, armed services, immigration, and homeland security.
In another marker of the continued rise in influence of Indian-Americans in US politics, the five representatives from the community in House of Representatives — Raja Krishnamoorthi, Ami Bera, Pramila Jayapal, Ro Khanna and Shri Thandedar — will serve in key positions on some of the most sensitive Congressional committees dealing with China, intelligence, armed services, immigration, and homeland security.
Krishnamoorthi, the elected representative from Illinois, has become the top Democrat on the newly formed select committee on strategic competition between the US and Chinese Communist Party. The committee will examine the assess and investigate the multidimensional political, security, technological, economic and strategic threat from China to American interests and make recommendations.
In a statement, Krishnamoorthi, whose family moved to the US when he was a child, said that the CCP poses serious economic and security threats to the US and to democracy and prosperity across the globe, “illustrated by its threats against Taiwan’s democracy, its weaponisation of Tik Tok, and its theft of hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of American intellectual property”.
In an acknowledgment of the concerns expressed by the progressive members of the Democratic caucus in the House, Krishnamoorthi said that at a time when anti-Asian hate violence was on the rise, it was essential that the committee focused on protecting Americans from the CCP threat “while avoiding dangerous rhetoric that fuels xenophobia” against Asian-Americans and Pacific Islander committees. Krishnamoorthi is also a member of the House Select Committee on Intelligence and had accompanied the then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on her visit to Taiwan last year.
Democrats have picked Bera, a representative from California, as a member of the House intelligence committee, charged with providing oversight of all intelligence activities. Bera, who is also a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and played an important role in leading Congressional efforts on the Indo-Pacific, said that this was a time of “increased threats, both at home and abroad”.
Jayapal, the head of the Democratic progressive caucus and a representative from Washington state, will take over as the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on immigration, integrity, security and enforcement, which has jurisdiction over immigration law and policy, naturalisation, border security, refugee admissions among other issues. She was the first South Asian woman elected to the US House of Representatives, is one of only two dozen naturalised citizens in the Congress, and will be the first immigrant to occupy the position in the committee.
“I came to this country when I was 16, alone, and with nothing in my pockets. After 17 years on an alphabet soup of visas to become a US citizen, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to live the American dream, a dream that is out of reach for too many immigrant families.” Jayapal said she would make it a priority to reshape America’s “broken immigration system”:
Khanna, representative from California, will continue to serve on the House armed services committee, agricultural committee and oversight and reform committee.
And Thanedar, the newest Indian-American Congressman in the House from Michigan, has become a member of two committees, on homeland security and small business.
Commenting on the significance of this pattern of Indian-Americans taking up sensitive positions on the Hill, Sanjeev Joshipura, the executive director of Indiaspora, an influential organisation that works with diaspora leaders in the US and beyond, said that Indian-origin leaders are advancing in their careers on both sides of the political aisle, as evidenced through many examples in the previous and current administrations, and certainly on Capitol Hill. “As they gain experience and seniority, this comes as no surprise. Their consistent track records are plain to see. Each member of the fondly, if casually termed ‘Samosa caucus’ on Capitol Hill, occupies key positions on important legislative committees that have a direct impact on America’s geopolitical relations with the rest of the world. Their global views are broad, nuanced and strategic, and I have no doubt that these views are shaped in part by their backgrounds and heritage.”
Joshipura also pointed out that from an American perspective, these leaders just happen to be of Indian-origin, “which is at it should be”. “We in the Indian diaspora take pride in their increasing clout in America’s most pressing foreign and domestic affairs.”
