[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 205 (Wednesday, December 20, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H15262-H15263]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO AARON FEUERSTEIN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Kennedy] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KENNEDY of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, as we face a kind of 
conflagration in Washington, a meltdown, a fire storm that seems to be 
taking place both on the House floor and in Washington in general 
tonight, the truth is that there was a real fire that took place in the 
State of Massachusetts last week that I think can act as kind of a 
moral for all of us in this Chamber to take some advice and some 
lessons from.
  I rise today to pay tribute to a remarkable man in Aaron Feuerstein. 
Aaron is the owner of the Malden Mills in Methuen, MA. He saw his 
family business go up in flames last week. Over 2,400 families worked 
in that company.
  Against all odds, Aaron Feuerstein built up a company in 
Massachusetts that has for the last several decades lost tens of 
thousands of mill jobs to other countries. Tens of thousands of mill 
jobs have moved down to the South and have left Massachusetts because 
of high wages, because of the high cost of energy. But while others 
were abandoning the State, Aaron Feuersten was building up the State. 
He pays union wages. Ron Alman, the head of the International Ladies 
Garment Workers, has nothing but kind words to say about Mr. 
Feuerstein.
  Mr. Feuerstein, at a time when his company and his life savings were 
burning, stood and made a commitment to his workers that he would 
continue to pay them through the Christmas season, would continue to 
pay them on into next month and committed himself to rebuilding that 
plant. Maybe the Congress, maybe the President, maybe the House and 
Democrats and Republicans can learn a little something about Mr. 
Feuerstein's commitment to this country, to his community.
  This is an individual who employs immigrant workers as well as people 
that have lived in this country for generations. He has invested in 
their education. He spent millions of dollars of his own funds to teach 
people English, to give people job training. He has worked with the 
Government. It is through that kind of partnership and commitment that 
he has built up his company. He has made a recommitment to making 
certain that we in this Nation can have the kind of high wage, high 
skilled jobs that mean the future of America is going to be safe.
  Yet, as that goes on in Methuen and Malden and other parts of the 
State of Massachusetts, what we see is divisiveness and name calling 
and a tearing apart of the future of this country. We are saying, as 
this guy is standing in Boston making certain that his workers, when he 
has no income, are going to get paid. We are saying, we are going to 
cut off the workers in this country today.
  There should be a lesson that we all take about how we can try to get 


[[Page H15263]]
along, how we can try to make this country grow and prosper in the 
future by recognizing that these companies do not have to just line 
their pockets with their profits. We do not have to measure our degree 
of growth in our country just by how Wall Street does, but we can look 
at how American workers do and how families do and whether we build up 
communities. That is what this individual is doing.
  That is why I hope that the Congress of the United States would join 
with me in honoring Aaron Feuerstein and his legacy to the company that 
he has built, that his workers have helped him build. That means that 
there is going to be a happy Christmas, a happy Chanukah, a happy 
holiday season for so many families in Massachusetts that last week 
looked like they were burned out and had no hope and no future. His 
commitment means they do have hope, they do have a future, and all of 
us can learn something from his example.
  Mr. VOLKMER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. KENNEDY of Massachusetts. I yield to the gentleman from Missouri.
  Mr. VOLKMER. Mr. Speaker, I want to join with the gentleman and his 
words, as one who is not even close to Massachusetts, but I saw it on 
the news. The gentleman stood up and said: All of my employees are 
going to continue to receive their wages, even though the plants are 
not operating, and we are going to start up some of those plants--I 
think it was--within 30 days.
  Mr. KENNEDY of Massachusetts. That is exactly right.
  Mr. VOLKLER. Then soon thereafter they were going to be in full 
production. It is such a positive mode, just the opposite of what we 
have here today. This is a negative mode that we have here that we are 
going to reduce the Federal Government. We are going to shut it down if 
we do not have our way. He did not have his way. He got burned out.

  Mr. KENNEDY of Massachusetts. The gentleman is exactly right.
  Mr. VOLKMER. I think it is a very good example of the differences in 
the way we just think about things.

                          ____________________