WASHINGTON: Indian-American Lawyer Kiran Ahuja To Lead US Office Of Personnel Management

WASHINGTON: US Vice President Kamala Harris
has cast her tie-breaking vote in the bitterly divided Senate to confirm the
nomination of Indian-American Kiran Ahuja as the head of the Office of
Personnel Management, a federal agency that manages the country’s more than two
million civil servants.

An
American lawyer and activist, Kiran Ahuja, 49, is the first Indian-American to
serve in this top position in the US government. Kamala Harris announced to
cast her vote in favour of Kiran Ahuja on Tuesday after the Senate vote on this
resulted in 50-50 votes on party lines.

“The
Senate being evenly divided, the Vice President votes in affirmative,”
Kamala Harris said. With this, she has so far cast the 6th tie-breaking vote as
the Vice President this year.

Senator
Dianne Feinstein said Kiran Ahuja has more than two decades of experience in
public service and the philanthropic sector, including a senior role in OPM
under former president Barack Obama.

“She
has a breadth of knowledge and experience that will serve her well in the
role,” she said.

“In
particular I’m looking forward to working with her to resolve a critical pay
disparity issue between state and federal wildland firefighters. State
firefighter salaries can be as much as double that of their federal
counterparts, making it difficult to hire and retain skilled federal wildland
firefighters,” she added.

Representing
the view of the opposition Republicans, Senator James Lankford said he did not
believe the head of HR of the federal government should be so outspoken in
favour of abortion and pushing the need for critical race theory training.

“OPM
has been plagued with paperwork backlogs, survivor benefit delays,
cyber-security issues, and more. The leader of OPM should focus on addressing
those issues, not divisive social justice policies and abortion,” he said.

Kiran
Ahuja served as the Chief of Staff to the Director of the US Office of
Personnel Management from 2015 to 2017. She currently serves as the CEO of
Philanthropy Northwest, a regional network of philanthropic institutions.

She began
her career as a civil rights lawyer at the US Department of Justice, litigating
school desegregation cases, and filing the department’s first student racial
harassment case. From 2003 to 2008, Kiran Ahuja served as the founding
executive director of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, an
advocacy and membership organisation.

During
the Obama-Biden Administration, she spent six years as executive director of
the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, leading
efforts to increase access to federal services, resources, and programs for
underserved Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs).

Kiran
Ahuja grew up in Savannah, Georgia, as a young Indian immigrant in the wake of
the civil rights era, and earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from
Spelman College and a law degree from the University of Georgia.

“Throughout
her career, Kiran Ahuja has built a tremendous record of championing federal
personnel matters & remains a strong advocate for women of color,”
said Senator Raphael Warnock.