Apr 16, 2013 - NHLA Urges Senators to Support Thomas Perez During Senate Confirmation Hearing

PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION April 16, 2013

National Hispanic Leadership Agenda Urges Senators to Support Thomas Perez During Senate Confirmation Hearing

Washington, D.C. – The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA), a coalition of the nation’s preeminent Latino organizations, sent a letter to Senators on the Health, Labor, Education, and Pensions Committee, urging them to favorably consider Perez’s nomination during this week’s confirmation hearing and to favorably report his nomination to the full Senate. The text of that letter follows below.

April 16, 2013

The Honorable Thomas Harkin, Chairman Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions 731 Hart Senate Office Building United States Senate Washington, D.C. 20510

The Honorable Lamar Alexander, Ranking Member Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions 455 Dirksen Senate Office Building United States Senate Washington, D.C. 20510

Re: Thomas Perez, Nominee for Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor

Dear Chairman Harkin and Ranking Member Alexander:

On behalf of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA), a coalition of the 34 leading Latino organizations in the country, we strongly urge you to favorably consider the nomination of Thomas E. Perez as U.S. Secretary of Labor during the upcoming confirmation hearing in the Senate Committee on Health, Labor, Education, and Pensions and to favorably report his nomination to the full Senate.

Mr. Perez has a distinguished career of public service at the local, state and federal levels, with a track record of working with various stakeholders in a pragmatic way to achieve meaningful results for the public good.

Mr. Perez is himself yet another example of the American success story. He is the son of Dominican immigrants who worked hard and focused on excelling in education, becoming the first in his family to graduate from law school. After achieving his own success, he focused his energy on helping others achieve the American Dream as well.

Improving the opportunity for workers to secure good jobs is a high priority for all Americans. As Secretary of Labor in Maryland, Tom Perez worked vigorously with businesses and labor unions to improve workforce development and adult education programs that made the programs easier to navigate and more likely to provide workers with the qualifications that the state’s employers needed. Perez also led efforts to ensure employees were properly paid, that employers who played by the rules were not undercut, and that workers had safe workplaces. This is the leadership we need at the U.S. Department of Labor in order to ensure that, together, we build a world class workforce in which those who work hard can provide for their families and achieve the American Dream.

Both as Maryland’s Secretary of Labor and as U.S. Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, Perez has taken a leadership role in helping those struggling during the foreclosure crisis. As Maryland Secretary of Labor, Perez prioritized the investigation and prosecution of fraudsters preying on desperate homeowners who were facing foreclosure. He also worked with banks, consumer advocates, state legislators, and the judiciary to make sensible reforms to foreclosure laws that gave homeowners more time to find a solution that would help them stay in their homes. As Assistant Attorney General, Perez worked vigorously to combat unfair and discriminatory lending, settling the three largest fair-lending cases in the history of the Fair Housing Act.

As chief of the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice, Mr. Perez has been an exemplary leader protecting the civil rights and human dignity of those who have suffered from human trafficking, hate crimes, bullying in school, racial profiling, and abuse of power by law enforcement. He has protected the right to vote, our veterans’ rights to jobs, and expanded access for people with disabilities.

We are confident that the experience and values Tom Perez will bring to the job will make him an effective Secretary of Labor dedicated to ensuring that all Americans continue to rise out of our recent economic crisis through access to quality jobs and a safe workplace.

For all these reasons, the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda respectfully urges you to support Mr. Perez’s nomination as our nation’s next Secretary of Labor.

Sincerely,

Hector E. Sanchez National Hispanic Leadership Agenda Chair

Brent Wilkes National Hispanic Leadership Agenda Vice-Chair

cc: Full United States Senate

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. For more information, please visit www.nationalhispanicleadership.org

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