Executive Session
Floor Speech
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Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, this morning I rise to make a few remarks in support of the nomination of Tom Perez as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. Mr. Perez is an exceptionally qualified nominee. His nomination was reported out of the Judiciary Committee on a strong bipartisan vote of 17 to 2. He has the backing of a bipartisan group of former heads of the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, the backing of State attorneys general, and the backing of other elected officials. His varied experience will serve him well in many aspects of this position.
He was a career employee with the Civil Rights Division for 10 years and understands the importance of enforcing the law without regard to politics. He has taken on racially motivated crime through the prosecution of White supremacists who went on a fatal crime spree in Lubbock, TX, and the perpetrators of cross burning designed to intimidate an interracial family.
Mr. Perez served as Director of the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where he worked to expand opportunities for individuals with disabilities to receive care and treatment in community-based settings rather than institutions and helped develop landmark medical records privacy regulation. He was a special counselor to Senator Ted Kennedy. Currently, Mr. Perez serves as Maryland's Secretary of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation. In this position, he enforces workplace safety laws, protects consumers through the enforcement of a wide range of consumer rights laws, and collaborates with businesses and workers to address critical workforce development needs. It is hard to imagine anyone better prepared to serve as the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.
Mr. Perez has firsthand experience fighting racially motivated crimes. Mr. Perez has firsthand experience standing up for the disabled and patient privacy. He has firsthand experience protecting the rights of workers and consumers.
I urge my colleagues to move expeditiously to confirm this nomination and put a man of rare and extensive experience in charge of the Civil Rights Division for the benefit of all of our citizens.
Thank you, Mr. President.
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