[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 28 (Thursday, March 6, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E400]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            SUPPORT OF ALEXIS HERMAN FOR SECRETARY OF LABOR

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. EARL F. HILLIARD

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 6, 1997

  Mr. HILLIARD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring to the attention of 
this Nation, a recent editorial I read in the largest Spanish-American 
newspaper in the Americas. Diario Las Americas, in their February 27, 
1997, edition, called for the confirmation of Ms. Alexis Herman as our 
next Secretary of Labor. I must agree wholeheartedly with its 
endorsement, and call on the Senate to confirm her, expeditiously.
  As the newspaper points out, Alexis Herman has a lifetime of positive 
public service, which highlights her efforts to improve the progress 
and lives of women, African-Americans, and Hispanic-Americans. As the 
President's Assistant and Director of the Office of Public Liaison, she 
has shown us her savvy, expertise, and experience. I am also proud to 
say that she is a native of one of the finest States in the Union, 
Alabama.
  The Senate Republican leader, Senator Trent Lott has endorsed her 
nomination after a series of meetings with Ms. Herman. With this fact 
taken into consideration, I can't think of any legitimate reason why 
the Senate can't complete its committee process and bring Ms. Herman's 
nomination to the floor for a vote. I am confident, that once the whole 
Senate reviews the record of Alexis Herman, they will confirm her.
  Mr. Speaker, I request that the whole text of the newspaper 
endorsement which I mentioned, be placed in the Record.

             [From the Diario Las Americas, Feb. 27, 1997]

       Alexis Herman for Secretary of Labor of the United States

       The nomination by President Clinton of Alexis Herman for 
     Secretary of Labor of the United States is the recognition of 
     her professional, humanitarian and civic merits, proven by 
     her intense public service career which began as Coordinator 
     of the crusade to train and find jobs for youths sponsored by 
     the Catholic Church in Mobile, Alabama, and most recently as 
     Director of the Office of Public Liaison of the White House 
     and Special Assistant to the President.
       Her life in public service has engaged her, after 
     graduating from Xavier University, in a rich and varied 
     number of activities devoted to the professional betterment 
     of Afro-American women, succeeding in her efforts as Director 
     of the Black Women's Employment Program to have companies 
     such as Coca-Cola and Delta appoint Afro-American women to 
     high ranking positions.
       In her efforts to improve women's progress in the work and 
     entrepreneurial ranks she has constantly maintained the 
     principle that the Hispanic minority must be recognized as a 
     vital part of progress in the United States, offering her 
     enthusiastic support to the programs sponsored by the 
     Hispanic Catholic Centers of the Washington Archdiocese. Mrs. 
     Herman has been the main line of communication between His 
     Eminence James Cardinal Hickey and President Clinton for 
     issues having to do with the development of vital social 
     programs for Hispanic and Afro-American minorities.
       At the time of the crisis brought about by the 
     assassination of the four ``Brothers to the Rescue'' pilots 
     by the totalitarian tyranny of Fidel Castro in February 1996, 
     from her post in the Office of Public Liaison of the White 
     House she collaborated with then UN Ambassador Madeleine K. 
     Albright, and others, in the formulation of President 
     Clinton's policy in reprisal to that attack.
       Alexis Herman has enough merits as a woman, as a prominent 
     member of the Afro-American minority and as a professional, 
     to be confirmed by the Senate as Secretary of Labor. This 
     would be good for the whole country. The Senate's Republican 
     leader Trent Lott has said that he will support the 
     nomination and DIARIO LAS AMERICAS considers that the Senate 
     should approve it as soon as possible.

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