Mike Honda: “I rise today to honor the contributions of Asian Pacific Islander Americans, APIA. I would like to thank my colleagues…”

“I rise today to honor the contributions of Asian Pacific Islander Americans, APIA. I would like to thank my colleagues for recognizing Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Thanks to the late Representative Frank Horton from New York and my good friend, Secretary Norman Mineta, along with Senators Daniel Inouye and Spark Matsunaga, May is designated as Asian Pacific American Heritage Month to celebrate and honor the contributions of the APIA community. In the past year, the APIA community has lost extraordinary community activists, advocates, leaders, and long time friends, such as Fred Korematsu, Dr. John B. Tsu, K. Patrick Okura, Iris Chang, and my colleague and friend Congressman Bob Matsui. As Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), I feel privileged to represent a community that is growing exponentially and exceedingly diverse in culture, ethnicities, and language. Today, there are over 12 million APIAs living in the U.S. and representing 4.5 percent of the total U.S. population. By the year 2050, there will be more than 33 million APIAs living in the U.S. My home state of California has both the largest APIA population--4.6 million--and the largest numerical increase of APIAs since April 2000. I am proud to be a member of the APIA community, because we continue to serve as positive contributors to our many communities by investing in education, business, and cultural opportunities for all Americans.…”