By: Renato “Sonny” Vinuya
President, Las Vegas Asian Chamber of Commerce
I was disappointed to read in the Asian Journal an op-ed attacking Dr. Joe Heck and his record as our representative. Not only were the attacks untrue, the writer clearly is not an engaged member of our community. If she were, she would know that there is no greater champion for Filipino Americans living in Nevada or for Philippine-U.S. relations than Dr. Joe Heck.
As a member of the House of Representatives, Dr. Heck pays close attention to the issues important to us and then takes action to fix problems and improve quality of life for Asian Americans.
First, he has been a tireless advocate and Nevada’s strongest voice in support of our denied Filipino-American World War II veterans. Not only has Dr. Heck spent time with these brave men and listened to their heroic stories of service, he introduced the only bill that will allow them to be recognized and compensated for their service to the United States once and for all. He even pressured the chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee to hold a hearing on the issue, giving our community hope that this bill will advance. He was also the lead Republican sponsor of the bill to award our Filipino veterans the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor given by Congress.
Next, he has repeatedly called for Congress to fix our broken immigration system, especially the current legal immigration process. The Philippines has the second highest visa backlog, surpassed only by Mexico, thus denying opportunities for Filipinos to come to this country and achieve their American dream. He also supports cutting family reunification wait times. Dr. Heck is the only candidate running for Senate who actually understands what needs to be done to fix our immigration system so it works for America and extends more opportunities to our friends and relatives.
Finally, Dr. Heck grasps the strategic significance of the situation playing out in the South China Sea and the dispute between the Philippines and China over the Spratly Islands. Due to weak foreign policy and an absence of leadership from President Obama, the president of the Philippines recently announced he was going to more closely align with China. Dr. Heck rightly sees this situation as potentially devastating to the U.S.- Philippine relationship and as our next senator will work to hold China accountable to the recent Hague decision and protect Philippine sovereignty, something his opponent simply cannot say.
On these important issues, Dr. Joe Heck stands with our community. If we want a senator who will fight for us, we need to elect him to the United States Senate. Dr. Heck has my full support and I ask you to give him your support as well.
