[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 35 (Tuesday, March 18, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2411-S2412]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            IN SUPPORT OF THE CONFIRMATION OF ALEXIS HERMAN

  Ms. MOSELEY-BRAUN. Mr. President, today the Labor Committee is 
considering the nomination of Alexis Herman to be Secretary of Labor. 
Alexis Herman has been a friend and a colleague for many years. I 
believe she would make an outstanding Secretary of Labor. She has 
always shown the leadership, good judgment, and high principles that 
the job requires. Her commitment to improving the condition of 
America's working people is second to none.
  Alexis Herman has long dedicated her efforts to putting all Americans 
to work. She began her career by bringing together workers needing 
employment and employers needing workers. She did this by providing 
relevant, necessary training for potential employees so that they 
possessed the skills needed by employers.
  Through her work, companies across America had access to employees 
who had the specific skills necessary for each company's particular 
jobs, and the people she trained were able to obtain work because they 
were trained for positions that actually existed.
  As you know, she went on to head the Women's Bureau of the Department 
of Labor under President Carter. Her work there included helping 
displaced homemakers enter the work force, increasing opportunities for 
women to apprentice in skilled trades, and promoting women-owned 
businesses, something that has received strong bipartisan support in 
the Congress.
  I would like especially to highlight her efforts at the Women's 
Bureau to provide job training opportunities for welfare recipients. 
Now, more than ever, we need to promote practical policies for putting 
people to work. Last year's welfare bill will mean that a flood of 
untrained, unskilled people will be searching desperately for work, or 
their families will go hungry. Without skills and training, however, 
their prospects for finding a job are bleak. We need Alexis Herman's 
practical experience working with employers and employees in the coming 
years if we are to put over a million people to work.

  Alexis Herman's commitment to diversity will also enhance our work 
force. We, in this Nation, have the best work force in this world. Any 
time we retreat from providing equal opportunities to all of our 
citizens, however, we risk weakening our greatest asset, our workers. 
If we fail to utilize the talents of all of our people, we sell 
ourselves short as a nation. With her vast experience in increasing 
diversity in the workplace, Alexis Herman will ensure that no talent 
goes untapped.
  In addition, as public liaison for President Clinton, Ms. Herman 
worked with Americans across the country--Americans with diverse 
backgrounds and concerns. She has served as a liaison with these many 
diverse groups and the President so successfully, because she is 
interested in, sympathetic to, and able to work with, the full spectrum 
of the American people.
  I would also like to note Ms. Herman's commitment to continue the 
work of Secretary Reich in enhancing pension security. I have spent the 
last several years focusing on retirement security for all Americans, 
and for women in particular. Secretary Reich was a strong ally and we 
are beginning to make progress. Retirement security is one of the most 
important issues for our time, with baby boomers turning 50 every 9 
seconds. If we allow a generation to retire into poverty, the Nation

[[Page S2412]]

will lose a generation of consumers and gain a generation of 
dependents; an outcome that no one wants. I am confident that Alexis 
Herman's talent and experience will propel the efforts to improve 
retirement security forward and I would welcome the opportunity to work 
with her on this issue.
  I would like to emphasize that I believe that one of Ms. Herman's 
greatest strengths is that she has formed partnerships with both 
business and labor in her many years working on employment issues. She 
understands the kind of investment business must make in human capital 
to improve productivity, increase profits, and create new jobs. She 
understands how difficult it is for small businesses to start up, and 
also how important these small businesses are to the economy as a 
whole. She understands that people want to work, and that they need the 
opportunity to be trained so that they can become productive members of 
the work force. She understands that we are all in this together.
  Alexis Herman has spent many years serving the people and the 
country. I believe that there could be no better candidate for 
Secretary of Labor than Alexis Herman. She is an outstanding public 
servant. Her confirmation will make history; as Secretary of Labor she 
will make a difference in the lives of millions of Americans and 
workers throughout the world. I urge my colleagues to support the 
nomination of Alexis Herman to be Secretary of Labor and I look forward 
to her rapid confirmation.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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