WASHINGTON — Today, AAPI Victory Fund released a statement rebuking Senate Republicans for deploying unprecedented—and unconstitutional—procedural tactics to deliberately delay the confirmation of Dilawar Syed for Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration. 

AAPI Victory Fund Co-Founder and Chair Shekar Narasimhan issued the following statement: 

“Dilawar Syed is an exemplary public servant with a long history of ensuring that all small businesses have access to the support they need— regardless of who owns them. He has driven civic efforts at the federal, state, and local level focusing on economic growth and entrepreneurship. He has championed inclusive entrepreneurship from California’s rural heartland to under-served regions and communities around the country.

“The blatant attack on his immigrant background and his faith is unconscionable and highlights the discrimination Muslim Americans routinely face in America. Putting Dilawar Syed through a loyalty or religious test is unconstitutional and un-American.”

AAPI Victory Fund Co-Founder Bel Leong-Hong issued the following statement: 

“This sort of attack is meant to create division; it uses race-baiting rhetoric to create controversy where there isn’t any. The American people are just plain tired of these sorts of tactics. An assault on one of us is an assault on the entire population  of 23 million AAPIs in the United States of America —and there is going to be a price to pay for this.

“The RNC just opened its first Asian Pacific American center in Orange County, California ahead of the midterms to court AAPI voters—while they simultaneously block AAPI political representation in the highest levels of government. AAPI voters decide elections, and it’s time we saw more of them represented across every level of government.”

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The AAPI Victory Fund is focused on mobilizing Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) eligible voters and moving them to the ballot box.