Five Indian Americans, hailing from a Minority Ethnic Community which is just 1 percent of the entire US population, have created history as they took oath as US Congress Members.
1.Kamala Harris: The 52-year-old Harris was sworn-in as the Senator from California on January 3, 2017, by the outgoing US vice President Joe Biden. She is the first Indian American to serve the Senate. She hails from a family where her mother is an Indian and her father is from Jamaica of African heritage.Before the appointed, Harris served as the Attorney General of California.
2.Ami Bera: He has been re-elected as the member of the US Congress for the third consecutive term. With this he has equaled the record of Dalip Singh Saundh who was the first Indian-American to be elected as the member of the US Congress 60 years ago.
3.Ro Khanna: 40-years-old Khanna representing Silicon Valley was sworn in on a bicentennial edition of the Constitution on loan from the rare books division of the Library of Congress.
4.Raja Krishnamoorthi: 42-years-old Krishnamoorthi, who contested elections from Illinois took oath on Gita. He is the second US lawmaker after Tulsi Gabbard from Hawaii to take oath on Gita. Tulsi Gabbard was the first Hindu to be elected as a member of the US Congress for three consecutive terms.
5.Pramila Jayapal: 51 year-old Pramila is the first Indian American woman in the US House of Representatives. As a member of the Democratic Party, she represented the 37th legislative district in the Washington State Senate from 2015 to 2017. She is also the first woman to represent the 7th District in Congress. She is also the first Asian-American to represent Washington in Congress.
Paul Ryan re-elected as the Speaker of US House of Representatives
American politician, Paul Ryan was re-elected on January 3, 2017 as speaker of the House of Representatives by the US lawmakers for the 115th session of the Congress.
- House members voted 239 to 189 to re-elect Ryan to the key post. Ryan will lead the incoming two-year session of the House.
- Ryan was first elected speaker on October 29, 2015, after his predecessor John Boehner retired following repeated revolts by House conservatives. Ryan is the first person from Wisconsin to hold this position.
- Ryan is an American politician who is the 54th and current Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. He is a member of the Republican Party who has served as the U.S. Representative for Wisconsin’s 1st congressional district since 1999.
Donald Trump Names Robert Lighthizer as Chief Trade Negotiator
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump named Robert Lighthizer as US Trade Representative on January 3, 2017.
- Robert Lighthizer, an official in the Reagan Administration in 1980 and harsh critic of China’s trade practices, would be responsible for better deals aimed at reducing U.S. trade deficits.
About Robert Lighthizer
Lighthizer is an American lawyer who served as deputy U.S. trade representative under former Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1980s. Nearly after three decades the US lawyer has been appointed as the chief trading negotiator.
- During his tenure, Reagan struck the 1985 Plaza Accord currency deal with Japan, Germany and other major trading partners that brought down the dollar’s value and encouraged more foreign companies to set up U.S. manufacturing plants.
- Lighthizer has argued that China has failed to live up to commitments made in 2001 when it joined the World Trade Organization and that tougher tactics are needed to change the system, even if it means deviating from World Trade Organization rules.
- Lighthizer is regarded as an experienced tactician with an intimate knowledge of trade tools that were widely used before the WTO was created in 1995, including “Section 301” tariffs used to stem a tide of imports of Japanese steel and vehicles in the 1980s.
- Trump, who is to take office on January 20, has also named Peter Navarro, an economist and adviser, as the head of a newly formed White House National Trade Council.