May 8, 2013 - NHLA Condemns Latest Delay of Thomas Perez Confirmation

Washington, D.C. – On behalf of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA), a coalition of 34 of the nation’s preeminent Latino organizations, Hector Sanchez, NHLA Chair and Executive Director of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, released the following statement on today’s cancellation of the vote by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee on the nomination of Thomas Perez as Secretary of Labor:

“Once again, Thomas Perez is under attack. After his record of service was outrageously distorted in a joint subcommittee hearing yesterday in the House of Representatives and by the Senate Minority Leader this morning, the vote that was supposed to take place today on his nomination in the Senate HELP Committee was canceled. This comes after Committee Chairman Tom Harkin already extended a courtesy to Republicans on the committee to delay the vote from April 25th to today.

“It is time to end the fruitless partisan attacks and sham investigations that have been waged by some Senators and Representatives in the past weeks and have found no wrong-doing. Thomas Perez is a highly qualified nominee with a distinguished record of public service who should be confirmed without any further delay so he can get to work in helping create the decent jobs that our economy needs. While some Senators may never join us in supporting Mr. Perez, they should not stand in the way of the HELP Committee’s or the full Senate’s holding up-or-down votes on his nomination.”

NHLA launched an online action center at http://nationalhispanicleadership.org/confirmtom last month with information on Mr. Perez's nomination and tools for the public to get engaged in supporting his confirmation by contacting their Senators and organizing online via social media. On the site, Latino organizations across the nation can also co-sign a letter urging the Senate to swiftly confirm Mr. Perez as the nation's next Labor Secretary.

Established in 1991, the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA) brings together Hispanic leaders to establish policy priorities that address, and raise public awareness of, the major issues affecting the Latino community and the nation as a whole. NHLA's "Confirm Tom" campaign is part of the coalition's Latino Appointments Program that is dedicated to identifying and supporting Latino candidates pursuing political and career positions in the federal government. For more information, please visit www.nationalhispanicleadership.org and follow @NHLAgenda.

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