Our Mission

The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), founded in 1994 by then Congressman Norman Mineta, is comprised of members of Congress (both the House and Senate) who have strong interests in promoting Asian Pacific American (APA) issues and advocating the concerns of APAs.  CAPAC is bipartisan and bi-cameral.  The goals of the Caucus are:

• To ensure that legislation passed by the United States Congress, to the greatest extent possible, provides for the full participation of Asian Pacific Americans and reflects the concerns and needs of the Asian Pacific American communities;
• To educate other Members of Congress about the history, contributions and concerns of Asian Pacific Americans;
• To work with other Members and Caucuses to protect and advance the civil and constitutional rights of all Americans;
• To establish policies on legislation and issues relating to persons of Asian and/or Pacific Islands ancestry who are citizens or nationals of, residents of, or immigrants to, the United States, its territories and possessions; and
• To provide a structure to coordinate the efforts, and enhance the ability, of the Asian Pacific American Members of Congress to accomplish those goals.

In the past, the Caucus has been led by four prominent APA members of Congress: Congressman Norman Mineta, Congresswoman Patsy Mink, Congressman Robert A. Underwood and Congressman David Wu.  The Caucus is currently chaired by Congressman Mike Honda.  Under his leadership, the Caucus is working on the following issues:

• Promoting the leadership and visibility of Asian Pacific Americans in the political and civic processes;
• Advancing educational opportunities and advocating access to education;
• Advocating for the expansion of hate crimes legislations;
• Working to eliminate racial profiling within the federal workplace and other state and municipal government agencies;
• Advocating for the preservation and expansion of economic opportunities and access to legal protection for refugees/immigrations;
• Supporting minority health bills and veterans’ benefits.