Civil Rights Groups on Perez Confirmation: “We Have Not Yet Begun to Fight”

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Washington – Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement after Senate Republicans, for the second time, delayed a committee vote on Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez’s nomination for U.S. Labor Secretary. The delay also comes on the heels of a shameful speech from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell that distorted Perez’s record:

“Today’s delay and the shameful speech from Minority Leader McConnell have turned a routine executive branch confirmation into a naked partisan battle. The bipartisan coalition that has come together to confirm Tom Perez will only become stronger in the face of such brazen tactics to distort the record of Perez, the  most well-prepared public servant ever to be nominated to be Labor Secretary.

Perez’s distinguished career is being defamed because he has effectively enforced our nation’s civil rights laws.  In his tenure leading the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, he has shown an unwavering commitment to upholding the constitutional rights of all Americans. Perez has been a champion of voting rights, disability rights, and educational equity, and has prosecuted some of the most heinous hate crimes in recent memory, as well as ramped up efforts to prosecute police misconduct.

Tom Perez’s qualifications are second to none for this position. Throughout his career, Perez has consistently drawn praise from a bipartisan range of stakeholders. This praise has come from the business community, educational institutions, attorneys general, and others who have worked with Perez. His nomination even prompted the former chair of Maryland’s Republican Party to declare that he’d pick Perez to manage his estate.

We are not only a broad coalition, we are a strong one.  And we will not allow partisan obstruction to stand in the way of the confirmation of Tom Perez. 

We have not yet begun to fight.”

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its 200-plus member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.