On Friday September 17th, Muslim Advocates is joining forces with a diverse coalition of Jewish, AAPI, Muslim, civil rights, and other community organizations on Dilawar Syed’s nomination to be Deputy Administrator of the Small Business Administration. We are demanding that the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship give Dilawar Syed the courtesy of a vote.

President Biden nominated Dilawar Syed back in March — his confirmation would make him the highest-ranking American Muslim in the Biden administration.

Unfortunately, several senators have repeatedly not shown up to committee meetings and denied quorum — a first-ever in the history of the Small Business Committee — to stall Dilawar’s confirmation. They have offensively emphasized his national origin in memos and his connection and work in the American Muslim community all the while ignoring his record and qualifications.

This is un-American and unconstitutional.

Our National Day of Action has two goals:

1. Respectfully call on senators on the committee to show up for a scheduled vote on/around Sept. 23 on Dilawar Syed’s nomination to be Deputy Administrator of the Small Business Administration.
2. Respectfully call on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to, if a quorum is withheld,  discharge the nomination out of committee and bring it to the Senate floor.

Toolkit feat. Action Page And Email Templets

Organizations interested in joining the National Day of Action to support a vote for Dilawar Syed are welcome to sign up here. We are more than happy to add the logos of newly participating organizations to the enclosed banner and graphics.

If you need a social media macro, you may use these Facebook/Instagram and Twitter graphics.

To send an email (or share the action page) calling on senators on the committee to show up for the vote on Dilawar’s nomination, please click here.

To send an email (or share the action page) calling on Sen. Schumer to discharge the nomination out of committee and bring it to the Senate floor, please click here.

If you’re spreading these action forms on social media, you may include the hashtag #DilawarSyed

If you have any questions about organizationally co-sponsoring and participating, please contact [email protected]