Mike Honda
Encyclopedia
Michael Makoto "Mike" Honda (born June 27, 1941) is an American
Democratic Party
politician. He currently serves as the U.S. Representative
for , encompassing western San Jose
and Silicon Valley
. He has been serving since 2001.
, Honda was born in Walnut Grove, California
in 1941 and spent his early childhood in Granada War Relocation Center
, an internment camp
in Colorado
. After spending a decade in Chicago, Illinois following their release, the family returned to California in 1953, where they became strawberry
sharecroppers in Blossom Valley in San Jose
.
Honda first attended Andrew P. Hill High School, then transferred to and graduated from San Josė High Academy
. He entered San Josė State University
, but interrupted his studies from 1965 to 1967 to serve in the United States Peace Corps in El Salvador
, where he learned excellent Spanish
. He returned to San Josė State, where in 1968 he received a Bachelor degree degree in biological sciences and Spanish
. He continued at San Josė State, earning a Master's degree
in Education
(1974).
In his 30-year career as an educator, Honda was a science teacher, a school board member, and a principal at two public schools, and he conducted educational research at Stanford University.
appointed Honda to the city's Planning Commission. In 1981 Honda was elected to the San Jose Unified
School Board. He was elected to the Santa Clara County
Board of Supervisors in 1990, and to the California State Assembly
in 1996, where he served until 2001.
Honda won the Democratic nomination for the 15th District, which had once been represented by Mineta, in 2000 after Republican
incumbent Tom Campbell made an unsuccessful bid for the United States Senate
. Campbell had won the seat in a 1995 special election and held it for two full terms, all by fairly convincing margins, despite the fact the district leaned Democratic. However, the district reverted to form in 2000, as Honda won by a convincing 12-point margin. He has been re-elected four times with no substantive opposition.
From 2001 to 2006 Honda served on the Science Committee and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. In 2007, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
appointed Honda to the influential Appropriations Committee. Honda also serves as Regional Whip
for Northern California
and Chair Emeritus of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus
.
Rep. Honda has consistently supported
the causes of civil rights groups, such as the NAACP and Human Rights Campaign
.
In November 2004, Honda was among those invited to spend the evening with Presidential candidate John Kerry
in Boston, Massachusetts on election night. In February 2005 Honda was elected a vice-chair of the Democratic National Committee
under the chairmanship of Howard Dean
.
Honda has close ties with the Chinese-American community. In May 2007 he was initiated into the San Francisco Lodge of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance
. He is the first regular member of the organization who is not of Chinese ancestry.
During the 2008 electoral campaign, Honda made a Spanish-language appearance in a political advertisement on television which endorsed the re-election of Puerto Rico
Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá
, who would go to trial after the November 2008 elections for a 24-count federal Grand Jury indictment for corruption.
On 3 October 2008, Honda voted in favor of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act.
In 2009, Rep Honda was re-elected for a second term as DNC vice-chair, now under the chairmanship of former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine. Honda continues to serve as a member of the House Appropriations Committee, Chair Emeritus of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, Co-chair of the Democratic Caucus’ New Media Working Group, House Democratic Senior Whip and is the original author of the Equity and Excellence Commission now housed in the US Department of Education.
Honda’s legislative efforts have focused on education, civil rights, national service, immigration, transportation, the environment, and high-tech issues.
and nanotechnology
policy for many years. In 2002 he introduced one of the first nanotech bills in Congress, the Nanocience and Nanotechnology Advisory Board Act of 2002, which sought to establish a Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Advisory Board to advise the President on a range of policy matters. Such a board was recommended by the National Research Council in its review of the National nanotechnology Initiative, Small Wonders, Endless Frontiers.
In 2003, he worked with then-Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert
(R-NY), to introduce the Nanotechnology Research and Development Act of 2003 This bill authorized federal investments in nanotechnology research and development, restructured the National Nanotechnology Initiative to improve interagency coordination and the level of input from outside experts in the field, and laid the path to address novel social, ethical, philosophical, legal, environmental health issues that might arise. H.R. 766 was passed overwhelmingly by the U.S. House of Representatives on May 7, 2003 and was ultimately signed into law on December 3, 2003.
Congressman Honda continued his interest in nanotech by convening the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Nanotechnology with then-controller Steve Westly in 2005. This group met numerous times to discuss and develop strategies to promote the San Francisco Bay Area and all of California as the national and worldwide center for nanotechnology research, development and commercialization. Under the direction of Working Chair Scott Hubbard, then-Director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Ames Research Center, the Task Force spent a year developing recommendations that would assure California a leading position in what could be a trillion-dollar economic sector. The recommendations were included in the BRTFN report, Thinking Big About Thinking Small.
Rep. Honda developed two pieces of legislation based on the report: 1) the Nanomanufacturing Investment Act of 2005 and 2) the Nanotechnology Advancement and New Opportunities Act. Many provisions of these bills were included in larger pieces of legislation, the National Nanotechnology Initiative Amendments Act of 2009 and the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act, that passed the House of Representatives in the 111th Congress.
Congressman Honda’s accomplishements in the field of nanotechnology policy has been recognized by the Foresight Institute
, which awarded him its Foresight Institute Government Prize in 2006.
families. He is a cosponsor of H.R. 4321 the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act, which addresses border security, visa reforms, a pathway to legalization, reuniting families, and immigrant integration.
On March 21, 2010, Rep. Honda spoke at the March for America, a rally for comprehensive immigration reform on the National Mall. Tens of thousands of activists and immigrants gathered at the March for America in support of comprehensive immigration reform legislation.
In the 111th Congress, Rep. Honda introduced H.R. 2709, the Reuniting Families Act which includes provisions to allocate visas more efficiently, alleviate wait times that keep legal immigrants and their families separated for years, and decrease obstacles that prevent family members from obtaining visas. The bill includes the Uniting American Families Act
, which eliminates discrimination in immigration law against same-sex, permanent partners and their families who are seeking to reunite.
Mike Honda is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus
Immigration Taskforce. In February 2010, Mike Honda and Rep. Jared Polis spearheaded a letter to President Obama, Majority Leader Reid, and Speaker Pelosi urging the inclusion of LGBT families in any comprehensive immigration reform legislation.
Rep. Honda also introduced H.R. 3249, the Strengthen and Unite Communities with Civics Education and English Skills Act of 2009, which provides assistance to immigrants seeking to integrate into the U.S. through English language and civics education classes.
was attacked. "We were taken in a vehicle with windows covered, we had no idea where we were being taken." Because of that episode in his life, the congressman explained that he understood what the Muslims could be going through in America after the attack on September 11.
In the Quran Oath Controversy of the 110th United States Congress, Rep. Virgil Goode
(R-VA) issued a letter to his constituents stating his view that the decision of Representative-elect Keith Ellison (D-MN)
to use the Quran in his swearing-in ceremony is a threat to "the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America... I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States if we do not adopt the strict immigration policies”.
In a letter to Rep. Goode, Rep. Honda wrote:
, in 2007 Honda proposed United States House of Representatives House Resolution 121
, which stated that Japan should formally acknowledge, apologize, and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner, refute any claims that the issue of comfort women never occurred, and educate current and future generations "about this horrible crime while following the recommendations of the international community with respect to the 'comfort women'." Honda has stated that "the purpose of this resolution is not to bash or humiliate Japan."
On 30 July 2007 the House of Representatives passed Honda's resolution after 30 minutes of debate, in which no opposition was voiced. Honda was quoted on the floor as saying, "We must teach future generations that we cannot allow this to continue to happen. I have always believed that reconciliation is the first step in the healing process."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
politician. He currently serves as the U.S. Representative
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
for , encompassing western San Jose
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
and Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
. He has been serving since 2001.
Background
A Japanese AmericanJapanese American
are American people of Japanese heritage. Japanese Americans have historically been among the three largest Asian American communities, but in recent decades have become the sixth largest group at roughly 1,204,205, including those of mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity...
, Honda was born in Walnut Grove, California
Walnut Grove, California
Walnut Grove is a census-designated place in Sacramento County, California, United States. It is part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area...
in 1941 and spent his early childhood in Granada War Relocation Center
Granada War Relocation Center
The Granada War Relocation Center was a Japanese American internment camp located in southeast Colorado about a mile west of the small farming community of Granada, south of US 50....
, an internment camp
Japanese American internment
Japanese-American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on...
in Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
. After spending a decade in Chicago, Illinois following their release, the family returned to California in 1953, where they became strawberry
Strawberry
Fragaria is a genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, commonly known as strawberries for their edible fruits. Although it is commonly thought that strawberries get their name from straw being used as a mulch in cultivating the plants, the etymology of the word is uncertain. There...
sharecroppers in Blossom Valley in San Jose
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
.
Honda first attended Andrew P. Hill High School, then transferred to and graduated from San Josė High Academy
San Jose High Academy
San José High School is the second oldest public high school in California and was founded in 1863. The school mascot is the Bulldog.In 1985, the school was renamed San Jose Academy as part of the federal magnet schools concept, but on March 25, 2010, it returned to its original name, San José...
. He entered San Josė State University
San José State University
San Jose State University is a public university located in San Jose, California, United States...
, but interrupted his studies from 1965 to 1967 to serve in the United States Peace Corps in El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
, where he learned excellent Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
. He returned to San Josė State, where in 1968 he received a Bachelor degree degree in biological sciences and Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
. He continued at San Josė State, earning a Master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in Education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
(1974).
In his 30-year career as an educator, Honda was a science teacher, a school board member, and a principal at two public schools, and he conducted educational research at Stanford University.
Political career
In 1971 San Josė Mayor Norman MinetaNorman Mineta
Norman Yoshio Mineta, is a United States politician of the Democratic Party. Mineta most recently served in President George W. Bush's Cabinet as the United States Secretary of Transportation, the only Democratic Cabinet Secretary in the Bush administration...
appointed Honda to the city's Planning Commission. In 1981 Honda was elected to the San Jose Unified
San Jose Unified School District
San Jose Unified School District is a K-12 school district in Santa Clara County, California. It serves a large portion of the city of San Jose, California with a student population of approximately 32,000.-List of schools:...
School Board. He was elected to the Santa Clara County
Santa Clara County, California
Santa Clara County is a county located at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 it had a population of 1,781,642. The county seat is San Jose. The highly urbanized Santa Clara Valley within Santa Clara County is also known as Silicon Valley...
Board of Supervisors in 1990, and to the California State Assembly
California State Assembly
The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature. There are 80 members in the Assembly, representing an approximately equal number of constituents, with each district having a population of at least 420,000...
in 1996, where he served until 2001.
Honda won the Democratic nomination for the 15th District, which had once been represented by Mineta, in 2000 after Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
incumbent Tom Campbell made an unsuccessful bid for the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
. Campbell had won the seat in a 1995 special election and held it for two full terms, all by fairly convincing margins, despite the fact the district leaned Democratic. However, the district reverted to form in 2000, as Honda won by a convincing 12-point margin. He has been re-elected four times with no substantive opposition.
From 2001 to 2006 Honda served on the Science Committee and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. In 2007, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi is the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives and served as the 60th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011...
appointed Honda to the influential Appropriations Committee. Honda also serves as Regional Whip
Whip (politics)
A whip is an official in a political party whose primary purpose is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. Whips are a party's "enforcers", who typically offer inducements and threaten punishments for party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy...
for Northern California
Northern California
Northern California is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The San Francisco Bay Area , and Sacramento as well as its metropolitan area are the main population centers...
and Chair Emeritus of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus
Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus
The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus founded on May 16, 1994, by former Congressman Norman Mineta, is a bicameral caucus consisting of members of the United States Congress who have a strong interest in promoting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders issues and advocating the concerns of...
.
Rep. Honda has consistently supported
the causes of civil rights groups, such as the NAACP and Human Rights Campaign
Human Rights Campaign
The Human Rights Campaign is the United States' largest LGBT advocacy group and lobbying organization; according to the HRC, it has more than one million members and supporters...
.
In November 2004, Honda was among those invited to spend the evening with Presidential candidate John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
in Boston, Massachusetts on election night. In February 2005 Honda was elected a vice-chair of the Democratic National Committee
Democratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee is the principal organization governing the United States Democratic Party on a day to day basis. While it is responsible for overseeing the process of writing a platform every four years, the DNC's central focus is on campaign and political activity in support...
under the chairmanship of Howard Dean
Howard Dean
Howard Brush Dean III is an American politician and physician from Vermont. He served six terms as the 79th Governor of Vermont and ran unsuccessfully for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. He was chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009. Although his U.S...
.
Honda has close ties with the Chinese-American community. In May 2007 he was initiated into the San Francisco Lodge of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance
Chinese American Citizens Alliance
Chinese American Citizens Alliance is a non-partisan Chinese American fraternal, benevolent non-profit organization founded in 1895 in San Francisco, California to secure equal rights for Americans of Chinese ancestry and to better the welfare of their communities...
. He is the first regular member of the organization who is not of Chinese ancestry.
During the 2008 electoral campaign, Honda made a Spanish-language appearance in a political advertisement on television which endorsed the re-election of Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá
Aníbal Acevedo Vilá
Aníbal Salvador Acevedo Vilá is a Puerto Rican politician and lawyer. He served as the eighth Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, a Commonwealth of the United States, from 2005 to 2009. He is a Harvard University alumnus and a graduate of the University of Puerto Rico School of Law,...
, who would go to trial after the November 2008 elections for a 24-count federal Grand Jury indictment for corruption.
On 3 October 2008, Honda voted in favor of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act.
In 2009, Rep Honda was re-elected for a second term as DNC vice-chair, now under the chairmanship of former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine. Honda continues to serve as a member of the House Appropriations Committee, Chair Emeritus of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, Co-chair of the Democratic Caucus’ New Media Working Group, House Democratic Senior Whip and is the original author of the Equity and Excellence Commission now housed in the US Department of Education.
Honda’s legislative efforts have focused on education, civil rights, national service, immigration, transportation, the environment, and high-tech issues.
Committee assignments
- Committee on AppropriationsUnited States House Committee on AppropriationsThe Committee on Appropriations is a committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is in charge of setting the specific expenditures of money by the government of the United States...
- Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related AgenciesUnited States House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related AgenciesThe United States House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies is a standing committee of the U.S. House subcommittees and is within the United States House Committee on Appropriations.-Members, 112th Congress:...
- Subcommittee on the Legislative BranchUnited States House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative BranchThe United States House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch is a standing subcommittee within the House Appropriations Committee.-Members, 112th Congress:-External links:**...
(Ranking Member)
- Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies
- Committee on the BudgetUnited States House Committee on the BudgetThe U.S. House Committee on the Budget, commonly known as the House Budget Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives, the lower house of Congress...
Party leadership and caucuses
- Democratic National CommitteeDemocratic National CommitteeThe Democratic National Committee is the principal organization governing the United States Democratic Party on a day to day basis. While it is responsible for overseeing the process of writing a platform every four years, the DNC's central focus is on campaign and political activity in support...
(Vice Chair) - House Democratic Senior Whip
- Congressional Asian Pacific American CaucusCongressional Asian Pacific American CaucusThe Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus founded on May 16, 1994, by former Congressman Norman Mineta, is a bicameral caucus consisting of members of the United States Congress who have a strong interest in promoting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders issues and advocating the concerns of...
(Chair Emeritus) - Democratic Caucus New Media Working Group (co-Chair)
Silicon Valley, technology and nanotechnology
As the Representative covering the heart of Silicon Valley, Honda has been intimately involved in technologyTechnology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
and nanotechnology
Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is the study of manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Generally, nanotechnology deals with developing materials, devices, or other structures possessing at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometres...
policy for many years. In 2002 he introduced one of the first nanotech bills in Congress, the Nanocience and Nanotechnology Advisory Board Act of 2002, which sought to establish a Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Advisory Board to advise the President on a range of policy matters. Such a board was recommended by the National Research Council in its review of the National nanotechnology Initiative, Small Wonders, Endless Frontiers.
In 2003, he worked with then-Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert
Sherwood Boehlert
Sherwood "Sherry" Louis Boehlert is a retired American politician from New York. He represented upstate New York in the United States House of Representatives from 1983 until 2007. Boehlert, a Republican, was considered to be a member of the party's moderate wing. In 2003, Utica Union Station was...
(R-NY), to introduce the Nanotechnology Research and Development Act of 2003 This bill authorized federal investments in nanotechnology research and development, restructured the National Nanotechnology Initiative to improve interagency coordination and the level of input from outside experts in the field, and laid the path to address novel social, ethical, philosophical, legal, environmental health issues that might arise. H.R. 766 was passed overwhelmingly by the U.S. House of Representatives on May 7, 2003 and was ultimately signed into law on December 3, 2003.
Congressman Honda continued his interest in nanotech by convening the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Nanotechnology with then-controller Steve Westly in 2005. This group met numerous times to discuss and develop strategies to promote the San Francisco Bay Area and all of California as the national and worldwide center for nanotechnology research, development and commercialization. Under the direction of Working Chair Scott Hubbard, then-Director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Ames Research Center, the Task Force spent a year developing recommendations that would assure California a leading position in what could be a trillion-dollar economic sector. The recommendations were included in the BRTFN report, Thinking Big About Thinking Small.
Rep. Honda developed two pieces of legislation based on the report: 1) the Nanomanufacturing Investment Act of 2005 and 2) the Nanotechnology Advancement and New Opportunities Act. Many provisions of these bills were included in larger pieces of legislation, the National Nanotechnology Initiative Amendments Act of 2009 and the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act, that passed the House of Representatives in the 111th Congress.
Congressman Honda’s accomplishements in the field of nanotechnology policy has been recognized by the Foresight Institute
Foresight Institute
The Foresight Institute is a Palo Alto, California-based nonprofit organization for promoting transformative technologies. They sponsor conferences on molecular nanotechnology, publish reports, and produce a newsletter....
, which awarded him its Foresight Institute Government Prize in 2006.
Immigration
Mike Honda believes that comprehensive immigration reform will lead to a stronger economy and has publicly called for a comprehensive immigration reform plan that reunites families, including LGBTLGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
families. He is a cosponsor of H.R. 4321 the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act, which addresses border security, visa reforms, a pathway to legalization, reuniting families, and immigrant integration.
On March 21, 2010, Rep. Honda spoke at the March for America, a rally for comprehensive immigration reform on the National Mall. Tens of thousands of activists and immigrants gathered at the March for America in support of comprehensive immigration reform legislation.
In the 111th Congress, Rep. Honda introduced H.R. 2709, the Reuniting Families Act which includes provisions to allocate visas more efficiently, alleviate wait times that keep legal immigrants and their families separated for years, and decrease obstacles that prevent family members from obtaining visas. The bill includes the Uniting American Families Act
Uniting American Families Act
The Uniting American Families Act is a U.S. bill to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to eliminate discrimination in the immigration laws by permitting permanent partners of United States citizens and lawful permanent residents to obtain lawful permanent resident status in the same manner...
, which eliminates discrimination in immigration law against same-sex, permanent partners and their families who are seeking to reunite.
Mike Honda is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus
Congressional Progressive Caucus
The Congressional Progressive Caucus is the largest caucus within the Democratic caucus in the United States Congress with 83 declared members, and works to advance progressive issues and positions....
Immigration Taskforce. In February 2010, Mike Honda and Rep. Jared Polis spearheaded a letter to President Obama, Majority Leader Reid, and Speaker Pelosi urging the inclusion of LGBT families in any comprehensive immigration reform legislation.
Rep. Honda also introduced H.R. 3249, the Strengthen and Unite Communities with Civics Education and English Skills Act of 2009, which provides assistance to immigrants seeking to integrate into the U.S. through English language and civics education classes.
Support of American Muslims
Honda has been a defender of the civil rights of American Muslims. Soon after the September 11 attacks in 2001, Honda spoke at a convention of the American Muslim Alliance (AMA) on October 2001. He told those in attendance not to change their identity or name. "My last name is Honda. You cannot be more Japanese than that." The congressman remembered what he and especially his parents had to go through when Pearl HarborPearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
was attacked. "We were taken in a vehicle with windows covered, we had no idea where we were being taken." Because of that episode in his life, the congressman explained that he understood what the Muslims could be going through in America after the attack on September 11.
In the Quran Oath Controversy of the 110th United States Congress, Rep. Virgil Goode
Virgil Goode
Virgil Hamlin Goode, Jr. , is an American politician, last serving as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives. He represented the 5th congressional district of Virginia from 1997 to 2009...
(R-VA) issued a letter to his constituents stating his view that the decision of Representative-elect Keith Ellison (D-MN)
Keith Ellison (politician)
Keith Maurice Ellison is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2007. He is a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. The district centers on Minneapolis. He was re-elected in 2010. Ellison is a co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.He is the first Muslim to be elected to the...
to use the Quran in his swearing-in ceremony is a threat to "the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America... I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States if we do not adopt the strict immigration policies”.
In a letter to Rep. Goode, Rep. Honda wrote:
I was surprised and offended to hear about a constituent letter you wrote in response to Representative-elect Keith Ellison's intention to use a Koran during his ceremonial swearing in ceremony... it is outrageous to cast aspersions on Representative-elect Ellison purely because of his religious background. Following the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks, Muslims have been the subject of profoundly warped stereotypes in this country; stereotypes that are largely derived from a small percentage of extremist practitioners. An entire religious group has become scapegoats for the actions of a few fanatics whose beliefs they do not subscribe to. As one of the many Japanese Americans who were interned during World War II because of war hysteria and racial prejudice, I find it particularly offensive that you are equating Representative-elect Ellison’s beliefs with those of radical extremists and condemning him based on their actions. In your letter, you suggested that all Muslims in this country are immigrants and that immigration laws must be changed to "preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America" by stopping Muslims from entering. Representative-elect Ellison was born in the United States, and his family has lived here since 1742. He was raised Catholic before becoming a Muslim during college. The spread of ideas and philosophies cannot be stopped by barricading our borders, nor should it be.... Instead of fearing our diversity, Americans, and Members of Congress in particular, must embrace it. America became a great nation through the collaboration of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and other religious and ethnic groups working together to advance our culture and economy.
Comfort women
On the issue of comfort womenComfort women
The term "comfort women" was a euphemism used to describe women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II.Estimates vary as to how many women were involved, with numbers ranging from as low as 20,000 from some Japanese scholars to as high as 410,000 from some Chinese...
, in 2007 Honda proposed United States House of Representatives House Resolution 121
United States House of Representatives House Resolution 121
United States House of Representatives House Resolution 121 is a resolution about comfort women which Japanese-American Congressman Mike Honda of California's 15th congressional district introduced to the American House of Representatives in 2007...
, which stated that Japan should formally acknowledge, apologize, and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner, refute any claims that the issue of comfort women never occurred, and educate current and future generations "about this horrible crime while following the recommendations of the international community with respect to the 'comfort women'." Honda has stated that "the purpose of this resolution is not to bash or humiliate Japan."
On 30 July 2007 the House of Representatives passed Honda's resolution after 30 minutes of debate, in which no opposition was voiced. Honda was quoted on the floor as saying, "We must teach future generations that we cannot allow this to continue to happen. I have always believed that reconciliation is the first step in the healing process."
Electoral history
External links
- U.S. Congressman Mike Honda official U.S. House site
- Mike Honda for Congress official campaign site
- Profile at SourceWatchSourceWatchSourceWatch is an internet wiki site that is a collaborative project of the liberal Center for Media and Democracy...
- Mike Honda official blog (invited readers only)
- Peace Corps biography of Mike Honda
- Congressman Mike Honda To Visit China
- Is Foolishness a Duty of Congress? Marion Edwyn Harrison, Esq., FreeCongress.org, February 15, 2007
- Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact