Top 111 Tom Perez Quotes

Every president since Nixon has embraced a policy of ‘self-determination without termination’ – the idea that Native Americans are best equipped to govern themselves. Trump is breaking with this position.

What my parents taught me was that the hallmark of a thriving democracy was an effective and respectful police force.

Civil rights activists and union activists shared not just common values and objectives but also common enemies.

Donald Trump, you don’t stand for our values.

Americans should be able to enjoy a secure retirement after a lifetime of hard work. But too many Americans reach retirement without enough savings to supplement their Social Security benefits.

I’ve memorized ‘Hamilton.’

The best way to promote and protect opportunity is through collaboration, consensus-building, and pragmatic problem-solving. Throughout nearly 30 years in public service, I have approached tough challenges by making room for as many people as possible around the table in search of common ground.

Companies are recognizing that paid leave reduces training and turnover costs, that it’s a formula for recruiting and retaining good workers.

When you put more money in the pockets of working families, they spend it on groceries, gas, school supplies, and other goods and services. And that helps businesses grow and create jobs. So many forward-looking employers, large and small, understand this.

Donald Trump has shown no interest in working toward increasing the minimum wage, no interest in doing anything but immigrant baiting, no interest in doing anything but filling the swamp with a band of billionaires who are simply trying to help the wealthy.

If Donald Trump wants to acknowledge that we have a pay gap for women and we need to address it, I would work with Donald Trump.

I believe we’re making a mistake if we regard job creation and job safety as mutually exclusive or inherently in conflict; they can and they must go hand-in-hand.

For many people, and particularly in communities of color, the basic bargain of America – that if you work hard and play by the rules, you can share in the nation’s prosperity – has become a raw deal. That’s what President Obama’s opportunity agenda is all about – making good on our country’s half of the basic bargain.

Raising the minimum wage to $10.10 will benefit about 28 million workers across the country. And it will help businesses, too – raising the wage will put more money in people’s pockets, which they will pump back into the economy by spending it on goods and services in their communities.

Employers have recognized for some time that it’s smart business to have a diverse workforce – one in which many views are represented and everyone’s talents are valued. Well, disability is part of diversity.

We have to bake labor provisions into the core of an agreement. TPP would do that. Under NAFTA, countries had to simply promise to uphold the laws of their own nations.

I’m often accused of hiring people with civil rights experience, and I do plead guilty to that.

To reward work, to grow the middle class and strengthen the economy, to give millions of Americans the respect they deserve… It’s time to raise the minimum wage.

The most important family value of all is time with your family.

I am proud of our diversity, and when you attack the federal workforce, you are having significant impact on women – many of whom are single moms working to support their family – and you’re having a significant impact on communities of color.

If the opponents of an increase in the minimum wage were correct, then every time you fly to Seattle, you’ve got to bring a bagged lunch because there shouldn’t be any restaurants because they should have all have gone out of business as a result of raising the minimum wage.

If you’re going to be a big tent party as we are, and you’re going to help elect democrats who have generated support in their communities… the will of those voters is the will that we must respect.

Our message of opportunity and inclusion is, I think, a very powerful message that does indeed speak to Americans, but we’ve got to do a better job of listening.

Too many jobs don’t pay enough to get by, let alone get ahead.

Our message has been muddled, especially in 2016. Voters in Ohio heard from Trump, ‘I’m going to save your coal jobs.’ And while that was a lie, what it told them is, ‘I’m going to feel your pain.’ What they heard from the Democratic side was, ‘Vote for us because Donald Trump is crazy.’

Each year, Labor Day gives us an opportunity to recognize the invaluable contributions that working men and women make to our nation, our economy and our collective prosperity. It gives us a chance to show gratitude for workers’ grit, dedication, ingenuity and strength, which define our nation’s character.

Full-time workers earning the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 only earn about $14,500 a year in wages – below the poverty line for a family of two. That’s unacceptable.

On July 2, 1964, President Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act. Its enactment, following the longest continuous debate in the history of the U.S. Senate, enshrined into law the basic principle upon which our country was founded – that all people are created equal.

Nobody who works 40 hours a week should have to live in poverty.

We are indeed a nation of immigrants. People who choose to come to America have always been one of our greatest sources of national vitality. They keep our economy strong and our communities dynamic. They are some of our greatest patriots.

You can’t eat cake and lose weight.

The King Holiday is a celebration of many things – his pursuit of racial justice, his commitment to non-violent resistance, his belief in service and doing for others. But you might also call it the other Labor Day.

Mandatory arbitration clauses I think, more often than not, work to the detriment of working people.

I’ve had jobs that allow me the flexibility to achieve work-life balance, to be there when one of the kids sinks a jump shot or for the parent-teacher meetings. I can move tasks around. If I don’t get something done at the office at 4:30 in the afternoon, I can go back to it at 10:00 in the evening.

The politics of division are not what we want in New Jersey and Virginia and elsewhere.

Our universal message of access to economic opportunity resonates with the ironworker in northeastern Ohio and the immigrant in South Florida. And we sometimes have a relationship deficit with our voters, because we’re not communicating that message.

Smart growth is having the courage to say yes and having the courage to say no.

I’ve said that we need to elect Democrats from the school board to the Senate.

Helping veterans isn’t just a part of my job. For me, it’s personal. It’s in my blood.

We have to invest in people if we’re going to have a country where every person can participate in our economy and share in our prosperity, and we have to break down the many barriers that stand in their way.

You can’t show up at a church every 4 October and say, ‘Vote for me,’ and call that persuasion.

We’re building a movement. It’s undeniably a work in progress, but there’s a fundamental desire to see capitalism to do something different.

We have a long and proud tradition as a nation of investing in our human capital so that we can build a thriving middle class. You look at the G.I. Bill after the war – it was an investment in our service members who had served this nation with distinction.

In the wealthiest nation on Earth, no one who works a full time job should have to live in poverty. That’s a fundamental value proposition, an article of faith in our country that I know an overwhelming majority of Americans agree on.

Our message in rural America is just as powerful as it is in urban America. But because we haven’t been a physical presence there in any sustained way, we have a lot of voters there who no longer believe that the Democratic Party is working for them.

When I taught a civil rights class at the University of Maryland Law School, I would do an exercise with my students. I’d write ‘civil rights’ on the board and ask them to tell me what immediately came to mind.

I was in the U.K. and Germany and went to Volkswagen and learned about their apprenticeship model – young people become paid apprentices in trades. It’s not a coincidence that youth unemployment is far lower in Germany than the United States because there are paid opportunities for young people to get experience.

The overtime rule was frankly diluted in 2004 by a regulation put in place by the Bush administration.

We’re at our best when we put hope in front of fear.

When we lift the wage floor, it not only betters the lives of those whose wages are directly affected, it also lifts the economy as a whole.

Progressives believe in making progress, which is why I’m proud to endorse Hillary Clinton, who I know will continue fighting to ensure our children and grandchildren can achieve their highest and best dreams.

I share the skepticism that my friends have about NAFTA. It was woefully weak in protecting workers and on the enforcement side. The question is can we meaningfully build a trade regime that has as its North Star protecting American workers and American jobs through meaningful enforcement? I think we can.

The Democratic Party and DNC have to be a very conspicuous face of the opposition to Donald Trump and all his divisiveness. At the same time, we have to communicate our, I think, positive and inclusive message to everyone.