📢 OCA Applauds Build Back Better Framework, Reiterates Support for Bipartisan Infrastructure Package

Washington, D.C. — OCA-Asian Pacific Advocates, a national member-driven organization dedicated to empowering Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities, applauded the White House’s framework that will guide the drafting of legislative text for the Build Back Better Act.

“This framework has the potential to support and broaden opportunity for millions of Asian American and Pacific Islander families,” said OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates National President Linda Ng. “While it does not contain everything we would have hoped, it is important to keep things in perspective. After months of negotiations with Congress, this landmark agreement represents one of the most consequential pieces of legislation in modern history. It promises critical protections for our people, our economy, and our climate. It represents the largest expansion of health coverage since the Affordable Care Act. And it supports the most vulnerable within AAPI communities through transformational investments in affordable housing, poverty reduction efforts, education, and childcare. There is much more work to be done, but this framework moves us towards a brighter, fairer, and more just future.”

“Over the past year, we’ve seen the importance of institutional support for working-class families and students,” said OCA’s Deputy Executive Director Thu Nguyen. “The Build Back Better Act marks a key step forward in supporting underserved and overlooked AAPIs, and we urge Congress to swiftly pass this legislation along with the much-needed vote on the bipartisan infrastructure package.

“Both of these bills should be considered as just the beginning. We urge lawmakers to preserve draft provisions that address the U.S. visa backlog by recapturing unused green cards. And while it is reassuring to see the Biden administration’s focus on families, we must not forget the families who remain separated by the threat of deportation of undocumented loved ones. We will also continue to fight for items left out such as paid family leave, which is essential to not only new parents and children of elderly individuals, but to anyone who must care for a family member impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.”