WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): India and the US must work on making bilateral ties stronger and focus on collaboration on education and cultural fronts, Indian-American Congressman Shri Thanedar has said.
He expressed hope that the two sides will talk about cooperation in the education and business sectors and find ways to strengthen the bilateral relationship during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US this month.
“As an Indian American Congressman, I am excited to welcome him to the United States Congress and to this country as a leader of the largest democracy in the world,” Thanedar told PTI on Tuesday, June 6, ahead of Modi’s visit. Prime Minister Modi is visiting the US from June 21-24 at the invitation of President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden. The US president and the First Lady will also host Modi at a state dinner on June 22.
“Not only was I born there in India, but I also grew up in India. I believe that the United States and India, the two large democracies, need to have a much stronger relationship,” said Thanedar, who grew up in Belgaum.
“We should also talk about immigration issues, the visa issues, the Green Card backlogs. I think it’s about time that the two nations worked on making the relationship even stronger,” said the US representative from Michigan’s 13th congressional district.
He said the country is currently having a broken immigration system that needs to be fixed.
“We need a bipartisan resolution of this issue and our immigration system is broken. That needs to be fixed. We haven’t really worked on immigration reform for quite some time now .. since the mid-90s. It’s time that the two parties put their heads together and make a meaningful immigration reform including legal immigration,” he said.
Currently, some countries have a long backlog of 10-12 years that is creating a lot of hardship for families, Thanedar said.
“Businesses are looking for a skilled workforce. Our economy cannot grow without a skilled workforce. We need to train Americans as much as we can in terms of giving them the skills to get good-paying jobs,” he said.
“At the same time, we have a larger population of South Asians and other science graduates and postgraduates and they are essential for America’s economic growth.
“I want to do whatever I can to facilitate that, so the American economy can continue to grow, our GDP can grow even at a higher rate and we create more jobs for Americans,” Thanedar said.
(Source: PTI)
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India, US need to have much stronger relationship, says Congressman Shri Thanedar
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Indian American Congressman Ro Khanna bows out of Senate race
WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): Indian American House of Representative member Ro Khanna, who was considering a bid for the US Senate has announced he will not be running for the upper chamber next year.
Khanna, who represents Silicon Valley in the Congress is instead endorsing fellow Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee and will co-chair her campaign in the competitive race to replace Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
Khanna, who was considering his own bid for the US Senate seat that Feinstein will vacate at the end of her term, told media he decided the House was “the best place” for him at the moment.
“I have concluded that despite a lot of enthusiasm from Bernie [Sanders] folks, the best place, the most exciting place, action place, fit place for me to serve as a progressive is in the House of Representatives, and I’m honored to be co-chairing Barbara Lee’s campaign for the Senate and endorsing her today,” he said to media.
“We need a strong anti-war senator, and she will play that role,” he said. Lee is facing off against fellow Reps. Katie Porter and Adam Schiff, who have each already picked up key endorsements, from Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, respectively.
As a leader in the House Progressive Caucus, Khanna’s endorsement could help Lee shore up progressive support in what’s expected to be a competitive — and expensive — race, according to a report.
“I have respect for them,” Khanna said of Porter and Schiff, “but Barbara Lee is a unique voice. She was the lone vote against the endless war in Afghanistan. She stood up so strongly against the war in Iraq. She worked with me and stopping — trying to stop the war in Yemen and the war powers resolution.”
Khanna also noted that there are currently no African American women in the Senate, and Lee would fill that void. “Frankly, Jake, representation matters,” Khanna told the media. “The other two are formidable candidates, but I think Barbara Lee is going to be very, very strong.”
Feinstein, 89, the longest-serving woman in Senate history, announced her plans to forgo a 2024 bid last month.
California’s primary system allows the top two vote-getters to advance to the general election regardless of party, a system that’s likely to pit two Democrats against each other in November 2024 in a solidly blue state. -
US House votes to condemn Trump over his ‘racist’ tweets
WASHINGTON(TIP): In a rare move, the US House of Representatives has passed a resolution to condemn President Donald Trump’s “racist” tweets against four non-white Democratic congresswomen who have been critical of his harsh immigration policies.
The vote on Tuesday, July 16, came days after Trump’s tweets about four newly elected lawmakers — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan — triggered widespread uproar.
Trump, on Sunday, July 14, in a series of controversial tweets, said that four Democratic Progressive congresswomen should just “go back” to where they came from.
Moved by Congressman Tom Malinowski, the resolution was passed by the 435-member House of Representatives, the Lower House of the US Congress, on a partisan line of 240-184 votes.
The resolution also got support of four Republicans and an Independent in the House where the Democratic Party has a majority. Though the result carries no legal repercussions for President Trump, it was an embarrassing one for him.
Reproaching a sitting President on the record is an extremely rare in the US House. “It’s not who we are. It is playing with fire because the words that the president used are heard by people with disturbed minds who do terrible things, violent things, and a line needs to be drawn,” Malinowski told the House. “So that’s what we hope to do,” he said.
“These comments from the White House are disgraceful and disgusting and these comments are racist,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said during the debate. Trump had been accused of racism and xenophobia for telling the members of congress to leave the country. The President has since tweeted: “I don’t have a Racist bone in my body!”
Congresswoman Grace Meng said President Trump’s comments are “racist” and his vile rants on Twitter are beyond the pale and show his callous disregard for the office he holds.
Little political damage
Trump has a history of what critics consider race-baiting. He led a movement that falsely claimed Barack Obama, America’s first black President, was not born in the US
A Reuters poll this week showed little immediate political damage from his latest tweetstorm. Support among Republicans increased slightly, while he lost support with Democrats and independents after the comments.
(Source: Agencies)