Ihad the pleasure and privilege of meeting US Congresswoman Grace Meng at a meeting of the Mayor’s Commission on Asian American Affairs in Philadelphia last January 30, 2015. She was attending a Democratic Party meeting in Philadelphia and was invited to say a few words during our meeting. It was there that I mentioned to her about AsiaAmericana asked if I could interview her, She graciously agreed. She said in that interview, that the new publication AsiaAmericana is very important to the Asian American community especially to the younger generation who were born here and grew up here. The publication could be an educational tool for this younger generation on history, culture, and heritage as well as issues relevant to the Asian American community. Congresswoman Meng shared with us below her biography and the Asian American community initiatives she is currently working on.

 

U.S. Congresswoman Grace Meng is serving her second term in the United States House of Representatives. Grace represents the Sixth Congressional District of New York encompassing the New York City borough of Queens, including west, central and northeast Queens.

 

Grace is the first Asian-American Member of Congress from New York, and the only Representative of Asian descent on the entire east coast. She is also the first female Member of Congress from Queens since former Vice Presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro.

 

She is dedicated to fighting for the hardworking families of Queens by protecting Medicare and Social Security, spurring economic growth, creating jobs, ensuring access to a quality education, and increasing funding for transportation and infrastructure projects.

 

Grace is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and its Subcommittees on the Middle East and North Africa as well as Asia and the Pacific. The Foreign Affairs Committee oversees United States foreign policy towards all nations around the world, and has jurisdiction over foreign aid, the State Department and key international organizations such as the United Nations.

 

Grace also serves on the House Small Business Committee, where she sits on two subcommittees: Contracting and Workforce – of which she is the Ranking Member – and Agriculture, Energy and Trade. The Small Business Committee, which was established to protect and assist small business owners, has oversight of financial aid, regulatory matters and the Small Business Administration (SBA), issues critical to Queens and New York City, since small businesses are the economic engine of the region.

 

Grace is also a founder and Co-Chair of the Kids’ Safety Caucus, the first bipartisan coalition in the House that promotes child-safety issues.

 

During her first term in the House, Grace scored several legislative victories, an unusual accomplishment for a new Member of Congress. Her bill to make the desecration of cemeteries a violation of religious freedom was signed into law by President Obama, as was her legislation to study the viability of the making Queens historic sites part of the National Park Service.

 

Her first major legislative effort, to allow federal disaster funds to be used for rebuilding houses of worship damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Sandy, passed the House just six weeks after she was sworn in as a Member of Congress.

 

She also secured passage of several other important measures she authored including:

 

Legislation to reduce the massive backlog of veterans’ disability claims

Legislation, in the wake of the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, that seeks to better protect American diplomats serving overseas

 

In addition, Grace secured additional small-business resources for Queens; helped convince the Small Business Administration (SBA) to improve entrepreneurs’ access to capital, and was instrumental in establishing a community roundtable to address increased airplane noise over Queens.

 

Prior to serving in Congress, Grace was a member of the New York State Assembly, where she was a dedicated bridge builder and a fighter for equality. She passed laws that extended unemployment coverage during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, fought human trafficking, cracked down on those who abuse women and children, and protected seniors from rising property taxes.

 

Born in Corona, Queens, and raised in the Bayside section of the borough, Grace graduated from Stuyvesant High School and the University of Michigan. She then earned a law degree from Yeshiva University’s Benjamin Cardozo School of Law. Prior to entering public service, she worked as a public-interest lawyer.

 

Grace resides in Queens with her husband, Wayne, two sons – Tyler and Brandon – and her dog, Bounce.

 

 

Asian-American Community Initiatives

– Congresswoman Meng is a cosponsor the immigration reform bill in the House and has vigorously lobbied for its passage. In fact, she joined House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and others to unveil it. She also demanded answers from the head of the United States Citizens and Immigration Services (USCIS) about the steep increase in processing times for I-130 petitions, which are green-card applications for immediate relatives of U.S. citizens.

– Congresswoman Meng introduced a measure last year that aims to create a school holiday for Lunar New Year for schools serving a substantial Asian-American population. She also championed the new law in New York requiring NYC to consider closing schools on Lunar New Year.

 

– Congresswoman Meng fought for improved language access for Asian-Americans. The House passed her measure that aims to create translations for college financial aid applications known as Free Application For Student Aid (FAFSA) forms, and she urged the Obama Administration to improve language access to the new health-insurance law.

– Congresswoman Meng convinced the Department of Labor to issue disaggregated data on the Asian-American community as well as seasonally adjusted data on the AAPI labor force.

– Congresswoman Meng sponsored legislation that passed the House to crack down on con artists and devious telemarketers who use phone scams to rip off millions of Americans, particularly seniors and those from immigrant communities. Many victims of the schme, known as called ID spoofing, are Asian-Americans.