* In 1997 McDermott co-sponsored Congressman Matthew Martinez’s Job Creation and Infrastructure Restoration Act, which proposed to use $250 billion in federal funds for the establishment of union-wage jobs rebuilding infrastructure (e.g., schools, hospitals, libraries, public transportation, highways, and parks). Martinez had previously introduced this bill in 1995 at the the request of the Los Angeles Labor Coalition for Public Works Jobs, whose leaders were all supporters or members of the Communist Party USA.
* In June 2007 McDermott and John Conyers met in DC with representativesof The Second Agent Agent Orange Justice Tour, a project demanding restitution on behalf of Southeast Asians who continued to suffer ill effects from America’s use of that herbicide/defoliant during the Vietnam War.
* In 2010 McDermott honored Seattle Communist Party USA member Irene Hull for her 66 years of activism.
* In an April 2010 letter that was read aloud at the 90th birthday celebration of Communist Party USA member Will Parry, McDermott praised Parry for his efforts to promote comprehensive, universal health care. “We are indebted to you for your years of service,” wrote McDermott.
* In November 2010, McDermott and 15 other congressional Democrats met – either personally or through their respective staffers – with three supporters of the Marxist-Leninist Freedom Road Socialist Organization/FightBack (FRSO/FB). Those FRSO/FB supporters, representing the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, expressed their condemnation of “the FBI raids and grand jury subpoenas of people doing international solidarity work and anti-war organizing.” It was reported that McDermott and his 15 colleagues in Congress expressed “genuine concern” about the situation.
* In June 2013 McDermott penned a letter to FBI director Robert Mueller, expressing his “deep concern” that a “Faces of Global Terrorism” ad produced by the agency’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) “is not only offensive to Muslims and ethnic minorities, but it encourages racial and religious profiling,” “promotes stereotypes.” McDermott also predicted that the ad would likely “exacerbate the disturbing trend of hate crimes against Middle Eastern, South Asian, and Muslim-Americans.” The ad in question featured photos of 16 of the 32 individuals who were, at that time, on the FBI’s “Most Wanted Terrorists” list. Two of those 32 individuals were non-Muslims, but neither one was shown in the JTTF ad. Said McDermott: “The FBI’s ‘Most Wanted Terrorists List’ includes individuals of other races and associated with other religions and causes, but their faces are missing from this [ad] campaign.”
* In a March 2014 letter that was read aloud at a gathering at the University of Washington to honor the recently deceased social-justice activist and union organizer George Starkovich, a lifelong Communist Party USA supporter, for his work as a union organizer and social justice activist. In the letter, McDermott referred to Starkovich as the “salt of the earth.”
* McDermott’s biggest source of campaign funds by a wide margin is organized labor; one of his largest donors has been the American Association for Justice, formerly known as the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. Other major donors include the National Education Association, the United Food & Commercial Workers International Union, the American Federation of Teachers, the Service Employees International Union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, UNITE HERE!, and the J Street PAC.