Biden Appoints Erika Moritsugu as AAPI Senior Liaison, Deputy Assistant to the President

President Joe Biden has announced the appointment of Erika Moritsugu as Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Senior Liaison on Wednesday.

Vital voice: Moritsugu, who was also appointed as Deputy Assistant to the President, is set to “be a vital voice to advance the President and the Administration’s priorities,” a recent press release issued by the White House noted.

The appointment comes amid a rise in attacks against members of the AAPI community.
Politicians such as Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) and Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) called out the Biden administration earlier this year for its lack of AAPI representation in the president’s Cabinet.
Duckworth, who has previously worked with Moritsugu, shared on Wednesday: “I know first-hand that President Biden will benefit from her counsel, policy expertise and strong relationship-building skills, especially as his Administration seeks to make sure AAPI leaders are present at the highest levels of government.”

Noteworthy experience: Moritsugu has “diverse and deep experience on Capitol Hill and within governmental agencies,” the White House shared.

During the Obama administration, she was the assistant secretary for Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
She currently serves as vice president at the National Partnership for Women & Families and also leads its Economic Justice team, which works on “advancing public policies to achieve economic stability and security, particularly for women of color and other marginalized communities.”
According to Moritsugu’s National Partnership for Women & Families bio, she has also recently been appointed as the vice president of a new Congressional Relations team that aims to “provide an enterprise-wide advocacy strategy across all of the Partnership’s program areas.”

Feature Image via National Partnership for Women & Families

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