In 2003, the President of the United States agreed to the request of Republican activist Dr. Piyush Agrawal of Florida to host Diwali celebration at the White House. On October 23, 2003, Diwali was celebrated for the first time at the White House in the presence of several invited Indian community leaders. Since then, Diwali festivities at the White House have become an annual tradition. The US Senate and the House of Representatives in October 2007 unanimously passed Resolutions 299 and 747 respectively, recognizing the “religious and historical significance of the festival of Diwali.” The passage of the resolutions may have been symbolic, but it is a testament to the increased awareness of the Indian community in America. In 2009, President Barack Obama became the first US president to light a "diya" oil lamp in a White House ceremony for the festival of lights. In communicating his warm greetings at the occasion, he remarked that Diwali marked the return of the Lord Ram from exile when small lamps lit his way home. In 2010, the Vice President led the commemoration. In 2011, President Obama again lit the White House Diya while a Hindu priest chanted Slokas, or prayers.

The U.S. Congress celebrated Diwali, for the first time, on October 29, 2013, amidst chanting of Vedic mantras by a Hindu priest. Over two dozen influential lawmakers along with eminent Indian-Americans gathered at the Capitol Hill to lit the traditional “diyas”. The event was organized by the two Co-Chairs of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, Congressmen Joe Crowley and Peter Roskam in recognition of increasing presence of the Indian American community. In 2015, Congressmen Ami Bera and George Holding, Democratic and Republican co-chairs of the Caucus on India and Indian Americans organized the Diwali celebrations. More than 30 members of US Congress and about 1,000 people from the community participated at the annual Diwali event on Capitol Hill.

In 2002, the Stamp Advisory Committee was requested to issue a commemorative stamp in honor of the first U.S. Congressman of Asian origin, the India born Dalip Singh Saund to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of Saund’s election to the Congress on November 6, 2006. A few thousand petitions were sent to the Committee. Some Congressmen also sent letters to the CSAC. It was a date bound request and when the CSAC did not respond by November 6, 2006, the request was not pursued any further.