Does the end justify the use of all means? In the United States, two Democratic senators appear to have the answer to considerable political leverage. As French weekly Le Point reported, Tammy Duckworth and Mazie Hirono, an Asian from Hawaii, have pressured the Biden administration to appoint more politicians from their community to key positions. Duckworth is an Illinois Democrat, the first Thai American woman in Congress and the first American female double amputee from the Iraq War.
Earlier, the White House deputy chief of staff Jen O’Malley Dillon had claimed that Vice President Kamala Harris’ “South Asian American” heritage was Asian American representation in the Biden administration, but the senator called the reference “incredibly insulting”.
This effort at blackmailing Biden is all the more risky since the upper house of Congress currently has 50 elected Democrats and 50 elected Republicans.
On Tuesday, the two women, who had said that they might not approve the appointments of new US President Joe Biden, finally ended their threat. Because the White House had announced the appointment, within its administration, of a representative of the Asian community.
“As a result, [the Senator] will not stand in the way of President Biden’s qualified candidates – who will include more AAPI leaders,” from the Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders community, said Ben Garmisa, spokesperson for Tammy Duckworth.
“Based on the private conversation we had, I will continue to vote to confirm the historic and highly qualified nominees that President Biden has appointed to serve in his administration,” said Mazie Hirono, on Twitter, after having ” welcomed the appointment of a high-level White House liaison officer within the AAPI community to further strengthen our voice”.