US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi kicks off her Indo-Pacific tour in Singapore. While early indications suggested a visit to Taiwan- which would make her the first House Speaker since Newt Gingrich to do so- it finds no mention in her itinerary. After the two-day stay in Singapore, she moves to Malaysia, followed by halts in Japan and South Korea. Pelosi- leading a congressional delegation- is accompanied by House members, including the Illinois-based Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi.

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Krishnamoorthi is a bit of a polymath. As far as qualifications go, he has a bachelors in mechanical engineering from Princeton University and a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School. While at Harvard, he was also editor of the Harvard Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Law Review. After graduating, he worked on Barack Obama’s election campaign for the House of Representatives in 2000 and his Presidential Campaign in 2004. It was not his first brush with political campaigning, having licked “envelopes and planting yard signs for Bill Clinton, back in 1991”. He also founded Sivanathan Laboratories- which specializes in manufacturing infrared-based night vision military technology and solar technology based on similar techniques- in the Chicagoland area, stepping down as its President before joining Congress in 2016.

Born to Tamil parents in New Delhi, the Krishnamoorthis shifted to Buffalo, New York, when he was three months old. After a brief period of financial strain and hardship, the family moved to Peoria in Illinois, when his father secured a job as a professor at Bradley University. The 49-year-old counts among his friends ex-President Barack Obama. The two met in 1998 at a civil rights reception and have gotten along swimmingly ever since. Obama even visited the Krishnamoorthi family home for a vegetarian meal. Unsurprisingly, he was among three House candidates endorsed by Obama during the 2016 Congressional Race.

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Krishnamoorthi- or Raja, when on the campaign trail- was a vocal critic of the Trump presidency. Some of his notable actions include contesting the repeal of the Obama-era Affordable Care Act, introducing the Presidential Pardon Transparency Act, flagging various security failures of the Trump administration, calling for his impeachment, etc. Presently enjoying a second term in Congress, he is also a Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; Chair of the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. He is married to a doctor, Priya Krishnamoorthi. The couple has three kids, the last of whom was born before his Congressional campaigning in 2016.