May 26, 2017
Week 12: 23 Million
Dear DNC Member,
This week’s report from the Congressional Budget Office confirmed what we already knew about Trumpcare: It’s a cruel betrayal of the people Republicans were elected to serve.
Remember when Donald Trump and House Republicans threw themselves a party for passing Trumpcare earlier this month? Now we know exactly what they were celebrating: 23 million Americans potentially losing their care—including 14 million who would lose it thanks to their more than $800 billion cut to Medicaid. They were celebrating higher costs for older Americans and people with serious illnesses. They were celebrating higher profits for corporations and health plans without critical benefits like maternity care and life-saving opioid addiction treatment. But most of all, they were celebrating a big fat tax cut for millionaires and billionaires like Trump.
As if taking people’s health care away wasn’t enough, Trump also released his budget this week. But instead of offering up a blueprint that will lift up middle class and working families, Trump’s budget would devastate the very Americans he promised to help during his campaign. Trump’s plan makes massive cuts to Medicaid, college loans, public schools, middle and working class tax credits, and other programs that help working parents and families – all to fund his massive tax giveaway to the wealthy. As someone who used to work on a trash truck, I know garbage when I see it. And this budget is nothing short of dumpster fire.
Our team at the DNC has been pushing back hard against these Republican assaults on working families. Last week, Deputy Chair Keith Ellison and Vice Chair Michael Blake hosted our Resistance Summer partners at the DNC to discuss our new organizing efforts. It was a great turnout of progressive allies, including: #AllofUs, AFL-CIO, AFSCME, AFT, America Votes, American Family Voices, Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF), Bold Progressives, Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), Brady Campaign, Center for American Progress - Generation Progress Action, Center for American Progress (CAP), Civic Engagement and Leadership Institute for Everyone (CELIE), Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC, DCCC, Democracy for America, Democracy Partners, Democratic GAIN, Democratic Municipal Officials, DLCC, Emerge America, EMILY'S List, Equality Federation, Flippable, For Our Future, Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, Grassroots Campaigns Inc (GCI), Hub Action, Human Rights Campaign, Indivisible - North Side Action & Resistance, Jamie Raskin for Congress / Democracy Summer, League of Conservation Voters (LCV), Make It Work, Mi Familia Vota, Moms Demand Action, National Action Network, National Democratic County Officials, National Education Association (NEA), National People's Action (NPA), New Leaders Council, NIAC, NOBEL Women, Patriotic Millionaires, People Demanding Action (PDA), Planned Parenthood, Population Connection Action Fund, Progressive Congress / Progressive Congress Action Fund, Progressive Global Strategy Project, Run For Something, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Sierra Club, Sister District, Social Security Works, Spread The Vote, State innovation exchange, Stronger US, Sunrise, The Collective, Public Interest Network, Truman National Security Project, UltraViolet, United State of Women, Voices for Progress, Voto Latino, WNDC, and Young Democrats of America.
On Tuesday, Deputy Chair Keith Ellison, Vice Chair Grace Meng, and I met with the House Democratic Caucus to discuss the Resistance Summer program and how we’re working to restructure the DNC to get more Democrats elected up and down the ballot.
On Wednesday afternoon, I spoke to NowThis about Trump’s unconscionable train wreck of a budget, and how his education secretary, Betsy DeVos, is threatening to dismantle our public school system and make it harder for students to achieve the American Dream. My parents always taught me that education is the great equalizer, and Secretary DeVos might want to learn a thing or two about our education system before she tries to cut more than $9 billion from education funding. You can watch the videos here and here.
That evening, I went on Late Night with Seth Meyers to discuss the GOP’s disastrous health care bill and how Democrats are fighting back. You can watch my interview here.
Meanwhile DNC Deputy Chair Keith Ellison was back in DC hosting Representative John Lewis and activist Heather Booth for a Special Episode of Democrats Live to discuss our efforts to organize the resistance to the Trump agenda, including the upcoming Resistance Summer, launching nationwide on June 3rd. You can watch their discussion here.
Folks from across the country are submitting tens of thousands of questions and hundreds of thousands are viewing the DNC’s live broadcasts. Follow Democrats Live on Facebook and YouTube, or at live.democrats.org.
On Thursday, the DNC launched a commission to combat the Trump administration’s voter fraud misinformation campaign and voter suppression task force. When I ran for chair, I pledged to make voting rights a priority. That’s exactly what we’re doing. We created the Commission on Protecting American Democracy from the Trump Administration in response to the real threat to democracy posed by President Trump’s sham voter suppression commission.
The commission will debunk the Trump administration’s myth of widespread voter fraud in America and demonstrate the difficulty of voting in areas affected by voter suppression. The commission will also highlight and promote best practices for making voting easier and dismantling obstacles to casting a ballot. I’m thrilled to have Jason Kander, President of Let American Vote and former Missouri Secretary of State, and Congresswoman Terri Sewell (D-AL) serving as chair and vice-chair, respectively.
Throughout the week, the DNC has also continued to hold Congressional Republicans accountable for their inaction in the face of Trump’s blatant interference in the Russia investigation. We’ve highlighted these Republicans in our ongoing Profiles in Cowardice series.
As we head into Memorial Day weekend, we are also paying tribute to all of the brave Americans in uniform who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Their patriotism reminds us that we should never take our liberties for granted. We are grateful to the families of these fallen heroes and to all those who have served in our armed forces.
Let us continue to be inspired be their courage and recommit ourselves to the values they died protecting: freedom, equality, justice, and opportunity for all.
Best,
Tom
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Tom Perez
Chair
Democratic National Committee
May 12, 2017
Dear Fellow DNC Members,
I am excited to inform you that after an extensive search and interview process, Jess O’Connell has accepted the position of CEO of the Democratic National Committee. Jess joins the DNC from EMILY’s List, the largest political organization dedicated to women running for office in the United States, where she served as Executive Director. She has an impressive progressive track record and I am honored that she will lend her talents to rebuilding and strengthening our Party.
We interviewed more than 20 candidates for CEO, working closely with all of our officers to ensure that we identified the most qualified, effective, and energized candidate for the role. I am confident that Jess’ experience as a grassroots organizer and as a leader who has helped hundreds of Democratic candidates win up and down the ballot will be invaluable as we gear up for critical elections in 2017, 2018, and beyond.
Under her tenure, EMILY’s List provided some of the biggest electoral victories for Democrats in recent years, including helping to elect the most diverse Congress in history. She’s managed campaigns and large organizations, from the Center of American Progress to the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, and she’s driven culture change while translating movements into votes. She will also be the first openly LGBT person to serve in the CEO role.
Jess understands our current political landscape, and I am thrilled that she will be joining our leadership team and working with all of us to jump-start Democratic victories in every territory and state. This includes overseeing the innovative restructuring efforts we discussed earlier this week, including:
- Making grassroots organizing part of the fabric of the DNC by standing up a new Mobilization Department, staffed by full-time organizers whose mission is to engage directly with grassroots movements across the nation.
- Continuing to build out and fortify the DNC’s technology infrastructure, including by recruiting a new Chief Technology Officer and Chief Information Security Officer who will overseeing an expanded team of engineers and analytics staff.
- Standing up a Voter Protection and Empowerment unit at the DNC to play offense on voting rights and redistricting.
- Bringing together the first truly multi-channel grassroots fundraising effort to ensure a thriving small-donor base and a party accountable only to the people.
Jess will be transitioning over to the DNC in the coming weeks. Please join me in congratulating Jess and welcoming her to the Party.
Sincerely,
Tom
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Tom Perez
Chair
Democratic National Committee
May 5, 2017
Week 9: The Resistance is Growing
Dear Fellow DNC Member,
This week I rallied with Democrats in front of the U.S. Capitol just before House Republicans cast their shameful votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Ultimately, our efforts to stop them fell short, but our fight is far from finished.
The 24 million who could lose access to health care is not just a number—it represents fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers and even newborn babies with heart diseases or cancers that are too costly to treat without affordable insurance. Worse still, the GOP plan would also decimate women’s health care in particular and defund Planned Parenthood. As the bill heads to the Senate, the DNC is firing on all cylinders, organizing Democrats and our allied groups to fight back. Regardless of whether or not Trump and the GOP succeed in repealing the ACA, they will face the consequences for their assault on our health care on Election Day.
On Democrats Live Wednesday night, DNC Deputy Chair Keith Ellison hosted Congressman Dan Kildee who represents Michigan’s 5th congressional district. They discussed the Flint water crisis, the Republican effort to roll back consumer protections and repeal the ACA, and how Democrats are fighting to help people who are still hurting in the aftermath of the financial crisis. You can watch their conversation here.
Folks from across the country have been submitting tens of thousands of questions and hundreds of thousands are viewing the DNC’s live broadcasts. Follow Democrats Live on Facebook, or at live.democrats.org.
Today we kicked off our inaugural meeting of our Unity Reform Commission. The Commission was established at our convention last summer to review our presidential nominating process, make recommendations to increase participation and inclusion in our primary and caucus process, and encourage more voters to participate. Veteran strategist Jen O’Malley Dillon and labor leader Larry Cohen have graciously agreed to serve as our chair and vice chair. You can find out more information about the commission and share your feedback here.
One of the most effective ways we can bring more people under the big tent of our party is to make sure we’re always telling the story of what it means to be a Democrat. We need to take our message into communities we've neglected for too long—whether they're urban communities we've taken for granted or rural states we've written off. We can't just talk about how Trump and Republicans are moving us backwards. We also have to share our vision for how Democrats will move us forward.
As our Party grows and changes to better serve the people we represent, our resistance against Trump and the GOP is growing too. From the Women’s March on January 21st to last weekend’s Climate March and the surging opposition against ACA repeal, millions of Americans are standing up and fighting back against an administration that is anathema to the values we hold dear. That energy shows no signs of waning, and we’re working every day at the DNC keep it growing.
We all succeed only if we all succeed.
Best,
Tom
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Tom Perez
Chair
Democratic National Committee
April 28, 2017
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April 22, 2017
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April 18, 2017
Week 7: Come Together & Fight Back
Dear Fellow DNC Member,
This week we officially announced the details of our Come Together and Fight Back tour. Senator Bernie Sanders will be our special guest along with DNC officers and local elected officials in key states around the country where we’ll connect with diverse groups of voters, energize the growing grassroots resistance against the Trump Administration, and share the Democratic Party’s vision and values. We’ll be rallying support for raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, pay equity for women, rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, combating climate change, making public colleges and universities tuition-free, criminal justice reform, comprehensive immigration reform, and tax reform and expanding access to affordable health care. For more details about the Come Together Fight Back tour, please visit https://fightbacktour.com.
On Monday night, I was honored to share the stage with Rev. Dr. William Barber and USW President Leo Gerard to speak to our brothers and sisters at the United Steelworkers’ annual constitutional convention in Las Vegas. The theme of the convention was “The Power of Unity” – something our country deeply craves right now. As we work toward earn back the trust of working families, labor unions will be among our most important partners. You can watch my remarks to the steelworkers here.
I also had the honor this week of delivering the Democratic Party’s weekly video address. I highlighted President Trump’s assault on working families in his first three months in office, his administration’s efforts to roll back protections for student borrowers, and a preview of our upcoming tour. You can watch the address here.
On Democrats Live Wednesday night, I hosted Rep. Jamie Raskin who represents Maryland’s 8thdistrict – my home district – in Congress, and Heather McGhee, president of Demos. We talked about the failures and broken promises of the Trump Administration as we approach the milestone of his first 100 days. We discussed the dangers of having Judge Neil Gorsuch, someone who has gone out of his way to side with big money over ordinary citizens, on the Supreme Court. And we talked about what Democrats can do to stand up, fight back and make government work again for working families.
Follow Democrats Live on Facebook, or at live.democrats.org.
It’s almost Tax Day, so in Washington and cities everywhere this Saturday, voters will be out in full force participating in Tax Marches. We’re demanding that Trump come clean about what he’s hiding in his tax returns, and calling on Congress to reform the tax code to make wealthy and large corporations start paying their fair share. We’ve been encouraging our state and local parties to get involved to help keep up the pressure, and I hope you will find a way to participate as well. You can find more information about participating here.
This past Monday was the day that one of the important retirement security reforms we wrote at the Department of Labor under President Obama was supposed to take effect. The rule simply states that financial advisers must put the interests of their customers first when it comes to investment advice. Unfortunately, Donald Trump sided with the big banks, took steps to halt the rule, and hopes to roll it back entirely. But progressives aren’t backing down. Some of the good public servants that I used to call my colleagues at the Department of Labor are resisting and refusing to turn their backs on Americans saving for the dignity of a secure retirement. You can read about their resistance here. You can also read a recent op-ed I wrote with my former DOL Chief of Staff Matthew Colangelo about the GOP’s broader assault on retirement savings here.
Our resistance is working and our unified movement against the Republican Party is growing. We’re in the middle of Congress’ recess, and in states across the country, Republicans are running scared from their own town halls and their constituents’ demands for answers. We’re on offense for the first time in a long time. We’ve got Republicans’ on their heels. Now we need to knock them on their ass! I look forward to keeping up the pressure and marching forward with you shoulder to shoulder.
We all succeed only if we all succeed.
I hope you have a safe and happy Easter weekend,
Tom
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Tom Perez
Chair
Democratic National Committee
April 10, 2017
Week 6: Transition and Travels
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