Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, it is Thursday afternoon, and it is the time of the week when I usually come down to talk about one of my constituents or some Alaskan who is doing a great thing for their community or the State or the country. I call that our Alaskan of the Week. I am going to suspend that this week because, to be perfectly honest, I think every one of my fellow Alaskans deserves a shout-out. Maybe they are all Alaskans of the Week this week for what happened and, then, their reaction to what happened in Alaska last Friday. The country read about it, but it is the earthquake--the very significant earthquake--that my State and my hometown of Anchorage just went through.

Mr. President, as you know, last Friday morning, at 8:29 a.m., the citizens of Southcentral Alaska, which includes Anchorage and the Mat- Su Valley, were doing what they always do on a Friday morning. People were in their offices, driving to work, drinking coffee at home, or maybe taking a run on many of the paved trails throughout our wonderful city. Students were either in school or almost getting to school, sitting at their desks with pencils and pens in hand, and then the shaking began. It felt like it went on forever.

I was here in DC. My wife was at our home in Anchorage. She sent me a text and said: We are having a big, massive earthquake. And we did. It was 7.0 on the Richter scale, which is a big earthquake--a big earthquake even for Alaska. Moments later, another earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale hit. The epicenter was very close to downtown Anchorage, about 7 miles north.

People all across the area ran out of their houses, their offices, and dove under their desks. Roads collapsed, pipes broke, and ceiling tiles came crashing down. Household goods cracked. Kitchens all across the State looked like they had been invaded by violent giants. Thousands of people lost power, including my home in Anchorage.

Senator Murkowski and I and Congressman Young were here in DC. I am going to talk about that a minute. We went home soon after to see what happened, to see the damage.

You saw the previous slide there. Senator Murkowski and I were out reviewing and assessing some of the damage. This is a photo of an on- ramp to Minnesota Avenue, actually leading to the airport. That collapsed completely. That is how people get to the airport.

Vine Road in the Mat-Su Valley, a major thoroughfare there, completely, essentially, imploded. Houses and businesses were shook dramatically. There is another picture of Vine Road there. That is the road that you just saw. It was rush hour in Alaska.

Unfortunately, we are having a lot of problems with homes and businesses. This is a photo of just one of the hundreds of businesses, ceilings collapsing, entire offices ruined, and schools. The schools throughout the State suffered a lot of damage. In libraries, there were not just shelves collapsing. Books fly off the shelves when you have a 7.0 earthquake. There is another photo of some of the schools with ceilings collapsing and rebar coming out. This is a classroom.

In my view, just having been out there for a couple of days back home, there is at least hundreds of millions of dollars of damage that we saw, and it is still happening. When you have an earthquake of this magnitude, you have aftershocks, which are also very stressful and can be big and can do more damage.

We have had over 2,700 aftershocks in the Anchorage Ball. This is the Anchorage Ball right here. Twenty of them have been over 4.0, and five have been over 5.0. That is a big earthquake--a 5.0 earthquake. So we have had five more of those. That is stressful, as you can imagine.

People are tired. The first night after the earthquake, nobody was sleeping because of the number of aftershocks.

When I was home, I felt a number of these, but Alaskans are resilient. They have grit. They have spirit. They are tough. The phrase going around to describe the State right now is ``shaken''--certainly, still shaken, still going on today--``not broken.'' There is frustration, and the country is going to need their help to rebuild. I have no doubt that is going to happen here.

Here is the amazing thing. I think it is a Christmas miracle. You saw that destruction. You saw that at rush hour--kids in all of these classrooms, and there were no fatalities, not one death. You can rebuild a road, and you can rebuild a school, but if we were burying our kids right now, this would be a very, very different tragedy.

Remember, just going to work, it was dark. It is dark in Alaska in the morning. It is dark during a lot of the day now in Alaska. It was cold, and yet there were no fatalities and very few injuries.

So what happened? How did that happen? Somebody asked: Where is the positive story here?

Well, we get a lot of earthquakes in Alaska. This is just a chart that shows, from a couple of years ago, what kind of earthquakes we get. The Presiding Officer knows I come and talk about my State a lot, but here are just a few stats on earthquakes.

Alaska is home to the second largest earthquake ever recorded in history--the 1964 Great Alaskan Good Friday earthquake, registering a magnitude of 9.2 on the Richter scale. It lasted almost 5 minutes, if you can imagine that. Then we had a huge tsunami that killed dozens and dozens of people.

Eleven percent of all of the world's recorded earthquakes are in Alaska. Three of the eight largest earthquakes the world has ever seen have been in Alaska, and 7 of the 10 largest earthquakes in the United States were in Alaska. One earthquake registering a magnitude of 7 to 8 on the Richter scale happens every year in Alaska, but they don't normally happen in big, populated areas. There have been six earthquakes registering a magnitude from 6 to 7 on the Richter scale, but, again, not near the major cities. Our State is so big that we have a lot of these, and nobody gets hurt.

Speaking of getting hurt, earthquakes of this size--a 7.0, even a 6.0, even a 5.0--when they are near population centers, normally, in other parts of the world, they do a lot of damage--and they certainly did a lot of damage in Alaska--but, unfortunately, they also take lives.

For example, last year in Indonesia, there was an earthquake registering 6.9

on the Richter scale that killed almost 500 people. It is not just in developing countries. In New Zealand in 2011, there was an earthquake registering 6.3 on the Richter scale that killed over 150 people.

As I said, we were fortunate that there were no deaths. So what is part of the reason for that? Given how many earthquakes we have had over the years, we have learned a lot. The first thing we learned is about building codes. Fortunately--again, thank God--we had no buildings collapse. We have a lot of structures--homes, businesses, schools--that have severe structural damage, but a collapsing building is where you get a lot of deaths. With strong, strict building codes, particularly after the 1964 earthquake, that helps to prevent that.

It is also people who are resilient, tough, and trained. I want to talk a little bit about this because I have no doubt this is why we had no fatalities.

The group I really want to do a shout-out to--and I am just so proud of them--are the students and the teachers who were there in the beginning of the morning. I went through some of the schools just in the last few days, such as Houston Middle School and the elementary school in Eagle River. These schools just look like someone had completely exploded them inside. Yet these kids--young men and women-- acted calm, heroic, and, most importantly, they did what they have been trained to do.

In Alaska, because we have so many earthquakes, the kids go through earthquake training all the time. They duck and cover under their desks.

There is a video that has kind of gone viral because I know other kids in the country are looking at it. It is actually from Mr. Benice's class, right when it happened. He is a teacher at the Mears Middle School in Anchorage. The video was on because he was supposed to capture his lesson Friday morning. He is a grad student, and he had to film the class and what he was teaching for his studies.

What the video captured, instead, were the students who are trained to react in ways that it is remarkable how automatic it was. After they saw this in Alaska, one reporter called these kids in this classroom ``a well-oiled machine.''

What am I talking about? If you watch it, the kids are sitting in their class. The teacher is talking, and you see a little bit of shaking. Boom. Then, every kid, without being told, knew exactly what to do. They were under their desks. Then, you see a lot of shaking, and, then, you see debris starting to come down. If you are not under a desk, you could be seriously injured or even killed by some of what is coming from the ceiling or worse.

In Houston Middle School, when Senator Murkowski and I were touring, there were cinder blocks that were broken and shot out from the ceiling and the wall in these classrooms. Students are in there, but they were trained, and they were ducking and covering.

In the video from Mr. Benice's classroom, after the shaking was over--it was about a minute, which seems like an eternity when you are in it--a student can be heard asking: ``Will they cancel school today?''

Mr. Benice replied: ``Well, that is probably not the first thing we need to be worrying about right now.''

Yesterday, a niece of one of my staff members here in DC said that the video of Mr. Benice's class was being shown in schools in Iowa, including her school, Prairie View Middle School, in Waukee, IA, because the teachers are telling their students: Hey, this why we train, and this is what you do when there is some kind of natural disaster.

Literally, I have no doubt that the training that happened in Alaska saved lives. I want to thank those kids, those students. I am so proud, and I really, really, want to thank the teachers of Anchorage and the Mat-Su Valley for doing this training for the kids, month after month and year after year. It obviously paid off.

In terms of the reaction that you see, this why, again, I think all of my constituents are the Alaskans of the Week.

The first responders, as they do in so many emergencies, our local heroes, reacted immediately. Civil engineers and city and State workers immediately checked on all of these highways and bridges and off-ramps, some of which collapsed, and essential infrastructure, such as hospitals. The Port of Anchorage has had all kinds of structural damage, which is very dangerous in terms of the supply chain for my entire State. The U.S. Geological Survey and NOAA--the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration--gave us real-time information about the earthquakes and, importantly, the potential tsunamis. There were tsunami warnings all over Alaska because of how worried we were, being next to the ocean, that that may have triggered a tsunami. Thankfully, that did not happen.

The State and local officials and the Anchorage Fire Department received hundreds of calls about damaged gas lines. We did have some house fires because of it. We did lose some houses because of it. Our utilities jumped into action. ENSTAR, which is a natural gas company, went to over 700 houses that had reported gas leaks. For the thousands who lost power, they got power back on in a relatively short time. This is very important because when it is 20 degrees in Alaska and we lose power in the winter, it is not as though we can borrow power from Illinois or Kentucky. We are there, alone and unafraid. We have to produce our own power. Yet our utility companies got power back on in my house in a few hours.

Ken Bearman worked for ENSTAR for 46 years before retirement on November 9. Guess what he did as a utility guy. He suited up and came back to work on the job, to just go out and help people.

That is the other thing. Alaskans went door-to-door checking on their neighbors. Shelters were immediately opened. Hospitals prepared for what they thought were going to be massive injuries and potentially deaths. Churches and nonprofits were available. That is what Alaskans do. When you live out and alone in part of a State that is pretty remote and communities are remote, that is what you have to do.

The other group that kicked into gear--and I do want to thank my colleagues here--was the Federal Government. FEMA launched people almost immediately from the west coast, and we heard from senior Federal officials almost immediately. I want to commend the Trump administration and the rest of the Federal Government for their quick reaction. So many of them are in Alaska now.

Almost within an hour, the President of the United States, who was down in Argentina at the G20, tweeted:

To the great people of Alaska, you have been hit hard by

the big one. Please follow the directions of the highly

trained professionals who are there to help you. Your Federal

Government will spare no expense. God bless you all.

That was from the President.

The Vice President, who was also traveling, called me and Senator Murkowski within a few hours. The Chief of Staff of the White House, General Kelly, called. Every one of them wanted to know: What can we do? How can we help? Who do we need to send?

The Secretary of Transportation--I want to give a special shout-out to Elaine Chao. She has already checked in with me three different times, and they have people on their way up to help with major infrastructure damages. The same with our FEMA Administrator, who has been a busy man, let's face it. Brock Long did a conference call with me, Senator Murkowski, and Congressman Young.

I also want to thank my Senate colleagues. A lot of the press likes to report that we are always battling, that we are always fighting. I don't think that is true, by the way. It is absolutely not true. We have certain things on which we have principled differences, but a lot of action here is bipartisan, and the relationships matter. Within just a few hours, I had several of my colleagues, Democrats and Republicans, calling, texting, emailing: Hey, Dan, we heard about Alaska. We are seeing these images on TV. We got your back. We are praying for you. And that means a lot.

I was talking to Senator Pat Leahy, the Senator from Vermont--a Democrat from Vermont--this morning about this very issue. He has seen a lot here in the Senate. He has been in the Senate for a long time-- over four decades. Do you know what he said to me? It is important to remember that when these kinds of things happen, it reminds everybody in this body that we

are the United States of America--the United States of America. We take care of each other when we know bad things are happening in different parts of the country.

Kind of related again to this reaction, Senator Murkowski and I had the opportunity to go out to the Incident Command Center. Yes, there are times when you don't feel like the different levels of government are working or coordinating. By the way, our first responders include our military, our National Guard, which does such a great job. This Incident Command Center would give any American pride because they were all there, almost like a battle, like a war, like an op center, for the military people watching. It was FEMA, it was Federal, it was the military, it was the State, and it was local, all working like this, literally working together, hand in glove.

So to my constituents, we are going to have a long road to recovery, there is no doubt about that, but people are already getting on it. There are going to be frustrations, and we have to work through those. I know people are still scared and nervous and wondering how they are going to pay for all the damage, but we are going to work through that together.

For my colleagues here in the Senate, you know, we have had a lot of natural disasters over the last few years--at least since I have been here in the Senate--throughout the country. There were hurricanes in Florida, Louisiana, and Houston, TX. California just went through horrendous wildfires that killed so many of our fellow Americans. This body acts. This body has acted with disaster relief funding.

I remember saying to a number of Senators here and to my constituents that when those big--some of those packages have been big in terms of the funding, in terms of the dollars. Colleagues said: Hey, Dan, we need your vote on this.

None of that money was going to Alaska, but I remember saying each time: You know, I am voting for these packages. Why? I think it is the right thing to do.

Also, let's face it, but for the grace of God go I and my State and my constituents. I live in a State where there are all kinds of natural disasters, such as wildfires, earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis. But I think that is the attitude here in general. When bad things happen-- particularly natural disasters--to other parts of the country, the vast majority of this body says: Hey, I am going to help. I am going to help.

So I am already getting the sense that my colleagues here will make sure that help comes to Alaska as we continue to assess the damage.

I also want to just mention to the American people who are watching, including Alaskans or folks from the lower 48, Senator Murkowski and Congressman Young and I held a press conference on Friday afternoon after talking to the Federal Government, working closely with our State leaders, to give people information. It was a national press conference--actually national media coverage--so I took the opportunity--a lot of this was still going on, including aftershocks, and we didn't know. We didn't know if there were 200 people killed. So I asked people watching to pray for their fellow Americans up in Alaska.

As I mentioned, yes, we were prepared. Yes, the building codes in Alaska are probably some of the strongest on the planet. I am so proud of our students, who were trained by great teachers. Our first responders were out there in the cold within minutes, let alone others working, and are still doing it, by the way.

I have no doubt that part of the reason we had zero fatalities, zero deaths with a 7.0 earthquake in a city of almost 300,000 people--in most parts of the world, there would not be zero deaths; there would probably be thousands. I have no doubt that part of the reason is because of those prayers. So I want to thank anyone and everyone who was praying for Alaska that day because I guarantee you, it mattered.

To my fellow Alaskans, I again want to thank you. I think that on Friday and even continuing up to today, you represent the best of America, the best of what we as Americans love to see in our fellow Americans: resilience, toughness, preparedness, and helping each other. That was on display and has been on display, and I couldn't be prouder to represent the great State of Alaska, particularly now.

We have a lot of work to do. There are going to be frustrations. It is going to take time. But be assured that we will be working here and at home--Senator Murkowski and I but also with our colleagues--to make our recovery from this massive earthquake as speedy as possible.

God bless.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, it is Thursday, and that means it is typically time for me to recognize somebody in my State who has made a big difference for Alaska, sometimes someone who has made a big difference for America. We like to call that person the Alaskan of the Week.

For the pages, I know this is your favorite time of the week because these are usually great stories about great Alaskans, great Americans. Today, I guarantee you I am not going to disappoint you talking about another great Alaskan.

I like to brag about Alaska--its beauty, its mystique, its great people, its vastness, its welcoming communities, its tough people, and its tough environment. Everybody should visit.

If you are watching, come on up, and come on up in winter, by the way, not just the summer. The northern lights are out. You can see them. They are beautiful. We actually get a lot of tourists in the winter, believe it or not.

There is something else that is very unique about my State, very special, and it is this: It is one of the most patriotic States in the entire country. There are more veterans per capita than any State in America. We like to brag about that. I certainly like to brag about my constituents who serve in the military and their families' sacrifice. So many of these veterans--like they do throughout the country, so many of our Alaskan veterans devote time, energy, and resources to giving back to the community but to also helping with other veterans.

We all know that a few weeks ago we celebrated Veterans Day. As part of that celebration and as part of our ``Alaskan of the Week'' series, I want to recognize today's Alaskan of the Week, Mr. Ron Travis, along with his wife Linda, and what they have done in terms of spending years making a difference for American veterans--Alaskan veterans--hundreds, if not thousands.

Let me tell you a little bit about Ron. He came from a patriotic family. His father fought in World War II. His mother was a member of the VFW Auxiliary. In 1961, Ron joined the Navy, where he served from 1960 to 1964 as a machinist's mate, third class, on the USS Providence. This was a guided-missile cruiser and was the first U.S. Navy ship to travel up the Saigon River and park in front of Saigon during the Vietnam war. So he is a Vietnam vet. We love our Vietnam vets.

After he got out of the military, he used the GI bill to go to college at what was then Eastern Washington College in 1967. There was a lot of turmoil during that time in our country, particularly on college campuses. This was during the height of the Vietnam war. There were a lot of protests.

When he was in college, like so many Vietnam veterans, he was certainly upset to see a lot of the protests. He was particularly infuriated to see his professors canceling class so they could join the protestors. He said: ``A lot of the teachers we had didn't even know what Vietnam was,'' but they went out and protested.

However, there was a rule on campus that even if one student showed up for class, the professor couldn't cancel the class to join the protestors. So Ron and other veterans formed a club. They organized a club at their university to make sure there was a veteran in every classroom. It was a pretty good idea--keep the professors doing what they were supposed to be doing, teaching.

They also helped veterans pay for books they needed and got them help with their classes. Again, veterans helping veterans is what Ron has been doing his whole life. It turned into the biggest club on campus.

There was another club on campus--it is kind of infamous--the Students for a Democratic Society, better known as the SDS. It was not necessarily the most pro-military group in the country at the time, to say the least. At one point, they tried to take over the veterans club's canteen, but that didn't work. As Ron said, ``They forgot one thing. We would fight for what we believe in.'' We had already done that.

Now, fortunately, it never came to blows. He is quick to point that out, but the SDS certainly backed down to Ron's veterans club.

Eventually, Ron made his way up to the great State of Alaska to work on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. Like so many people who come up to our State, he fell in love with it. He brought his

wife Linda to Alaska to settle. They settled in a wonderful community called Big Lake--it is about an hour's drive from Anchorage--and they made a wonderful life for themselves. They built a cabin off the grid. They raised their kids in Alaska.

Ron worked as a mechanic all across the State, then as a parole officer. Eventually, he realized he had health issues associated with the service in Vietnam--exposure to Agent Orange.

The American Legion advocated for him to get help, so he joined the American Legion--Post 35, in particular--in Wasilla, AK, and began to get more and more involved in veterans' issues, eventually becoming the commander of the post.

Then, again, duty called another time for Ron to help with regard to our veterans.

I say to the Presiding Officer, no doubt you and most other people watching have heard about this great network of Americans called the Honor Flight Network. This network has chapters in individual States that bring veterans to Washington, DC, at no cost to the veteran so they can visit the memorials that, in many ways, they have dedicated their lives to--the World War II Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial.

It is an outstanding program that started with bringing World War II veterans here who haven't seen the wonderful World War II Memorial on the Mall that was built for them and finished in 2004.

Because of Alaska's distance--literally thousands of miles from DC-- we did not have a program. Despite having all of these veterans, we did not have an Honor Flight Program. Well, guess who changed that. Ron and his wife Linda.

They were at a veterans facility when they were down in Washington State visiting Ron's mother in a rest home. At that facility, they met another veteran. He told him all about the Honor Flight Program and showed him pictures of a recent trip. He said: Do you know what? Alaska needs to do this. Alaska needs to do this. Ron said: Someone should start one. Someone should start one of these programs. He looked at his wife, and they realized they were going to start it, and the Last Frontier Honor Flight Program was born.

Two times every year, since 2013, they organize a trip for up to 25 veterans, their escorts, a photographer, a doctor, and two staff members. They come to Washington, DC, to visit the different memorials for our veterans living in Alaska--World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. All told, they have organized trips for 286 veterans. One hundred fifty-five of them fought in World War II just from Alaska.

It is not an easy flight, especially for some of our older veterans, but they are all doing it through Ron's and Linda's love and care and dedication.

His goal is to try to reach out to as many World War II veterans as they can while they are still with us. Of course, it is a trip of a lifetime for so many of these veterans. A ``wonderful gift,'' one veteran called it. Others have referred to it as their ``final mission.''

Ron says, the veterans often shed tears in front of the World War II Memorial. ``It takes them by surprise,'' he said. ``They often don't realize how much they feel'' until they see it. It is a healing mission and trip for them. They do a lot of things during these trips. ``It's an honor to be part of it.''

I try to see Ron and his team every time they come to Washington, DC. We usually greet them with a couple dozen doughnuts when they are out looking at these wonderful memorials.

Ron recalls one particularly wonderful moment with one of the World War II veterans he brought from Alaska when he was in front of the World War II Memorial. He was approached by a woman who was also visiting the memorial. He saw them talking. Then they hugged. Then they cried--total strangers. What was going on there?

This woman's parents had been at the concentration camp, Dachau. The veteran--the World War II veteran, the Alaskan veteran--had been part of the unit that liberated the camp. Her parents, she said, were in some ways alive because of what he and his unit did to liberate them. That happened right here on the Mall--powerful.

Ron credits the community in Alaska for making these trips possible. Of course, he and Linda are being humble. There has been great community involvement. Alaska Airlines pays for the flights for the veterans and offers discounts for the escorts. Various community organizations and veterans groups and businesses help pay for the hotel rooms and all of the food. Volunteers and board members come together to raise money.

The community that helps with these trips includes our Active-Duty and Reserve Forces in Alaska. Back home, when they come home--many of whom are in wheelchairs--hundreds of Alaskans come out to greet them in the airport. It is great. It is wonderful.

It is the community of my State and really the community of this great country coming together, but it needs leaders. It needs leaders, and Ron and Linda have been those leaders, founding the Alaska Last Frontier Honor Flight.

I thank Ron and Linda for their great service to Alaska, great service to their country, great service to our veterans, for all they have done, and congratulate them on being our Alaskans of the Week.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that my defense fellow, Amy Williams; my Coast Guard fellow, Thomas Mansour; and my State Department fellow, Mary Eileen Earl, be granted floor privileges for the remainder of the Congress.

Mr. President, today, on the occasion of his retirement, I would like to honor Lawrence P. ``Larry'' Cotter, a very special Alaskan who, for years, has given his heart and soul to our fishing industry, one of Alaska's most vital cultural and economic industries.

Larry began working in Alaska's commercial fishing industry in 1974, when he was a seafood processing worker in Juneau. He then spent 8 years as a labor organizer and representative for seafood processing workers and longshoremen. Additionally, Larry served on the advisory panel to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council for 6 years and then as a voting member of the council for an additional 6 years. The time of Larry's service on the council was during the transition years when foreign fishing was being phased out, our U.S. domestic fishing and processing capabilities were stepping up to replace the foreign fleets, and allocation issues among U.S. fisheries interests were first coming to the forefront.

These were difficult, challenging, and exciting times in Alaska's fishing industry, and Larry was on the frontlines for all of it, helping to shape the most sustainable, best managed fisheries in the world.

Until recently, Larry has served as founding CEO of the Community Development Quota--CDQ--Group, known as the Aleutian Pribilof Island Community Development Association, or APICDA, which has provided jobs and scholarships for thousands of Aleutian and Pribilof Island residents, and has helped develop the workforce and build infrastructure throughout the region.

Larry is my friend and a great Alaskan. His leadership in the seafood industry has helped make Alaska the ``superpower of seafood.''

Thank you, Larry, for your tremendous contributions to our sustainable fisheries. Enjoy your retirement, and best of luck in your continuing endeavors.

Mr. President, I want to echo what my colleague from Tennessee just mentioned about a lot of bipartisan accomplishments on the Senate floor over the last several weeks. They are really important ones.

He led the charge on the opioid bill which is going to help our entire country and so many others. They don't always get reported in the press, but it is important to make sure our fellow Americans, our constituents, know that is happening.

This afternoon, I want to talk about another one that is a really important accomplishment that we were able to achieve on the Senate floor a couple of hours ago; that is, the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2018.

A number of Senators have already been down on the floor to talk about this: John Thune, the chairman of the Commerce Committee, which is where the oversight and responsibility of the Coast Guard lies; Senator Wicker from Mississippi; Senator Carper--so many Senators contributed to this important piece of legislation that we just passed today by almost a vote of over 90 Senators.

It is a very bipartisan piece of legislation that we were able to get through the Senate floor today. As you know, this has taken some time. For almost 2 years, we have been working on the Coast Guard bill. A number of us put a lot of time and effort into it.

I do want to do a shout out to my staff: Eric Elam, my legislative director; Tom Mansour, a Coast Guard fellow in my office; and Scott Leathard. All of them worked literally for the last year and a half, night and day, on this bill.

Again, it is important for America and certainly important for my great State of Alaska. It raises a broader issue. We just celebrated Veterans Day. Our country was rightfully focused on our veterans. There was a lot of focus on the centennial of the Armistice of World War I, the ending of World War I. Often when there is a focus on the armed services, it focuses on the armed services at the Pentagon--Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines--and sometimes the brave men and women in the Coast Guard can be overlooked. They shouldn't be. We all know that.

One of the things I tried to focus on in my time in the Senate is making sure they are not. Prior to 9/11, the Coast Guard was probably the only service in the entire U.S. military--because they are a member of the services of the U.S. military--whose members were risking their lives every single day on the job. Post-9/11, with the national security challenges we have, every member of our military--all the services--are risking their lives every day, but the Coast Guard does it day in and day out.

Pre-9/11 and post-9/11, men and women in that wonderful service undertake a heroic mission with actions that we see saving American lives and defending our national security.

What do they focus on and what does this bill focus on? Well, the bottom line is, this bill is focused on making sure the men and women of the Coast Guard have the resources to do their job. Their job is varied and extremely important.

We have all seen the Coast Guard coming out of the sky to rescue us-- rescue Americans on seas when they are in trouble; with the hurricanes we have seen over the last couple of years; the heroic pictures of the men and women in the Coast Guard doing thousands of rescues. We see that as part of their mission. They have been described as angels in helicopters. When they show up, it is certainly witnessing America at its very best. We have seen a lot of that. The mission of the Coast Guard also includes ice-breaking, marine environmental protection, port security, and international crisis response. Many members are deployed overseas in places like the Middle East, combating illegal fishing by other nations, protecting American fishermen, protecting Alaskan fishermen, readiness to support the Department of Defense operation. It is a long list. The Coast Guard does it very well.

Importantly, the bill we just passed today will significantly help the men and women with this important mission. You and I serve on the Armed Services Committee. Again, what my colleague from Tennessee was talking about is another one of these bipartisan areas of achievement that we have seen in the Senate in the last year, year and a half, consensus on issues like rebuilding our military. We are doing that on the Armed Services Committee through the National Defense Authorization Act that passes the Senate and the House every year.

I am certainly honored to be on the Armed Services Committee, where we are working on rebuilding from the cuts of 2010 to 2015. They were almost 25 percent of the Department of Defense budget while national security challenges were increasing all over the world.

The other thing we are rebuilding--and it doesn't always get a lot of attention--we are rebuilding the Coast Guard. In essence, this bill we passed today is the NDAA for the U.S. Coast Guard. The recapitalization and rebuilding of the Coast Guard is a core element of the bill we just passed.

Let's run through a couple of examples. Like what we just did in the NDAA, increasing the end strength of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines, this bill today works to increase the end strength of the U.S. Coast

Guard. Importantly, it starts to really accelerate what we are doing in terms of recapitalizing the Coast Guard fleet. For example, this bill authorizes the building of six more fast response cutters--these are critical cutters for the U.S. Coast Guard--and three more national security cutters for the U.S. Coast Guard. These are incredible vessels. They are huge--400-plus feet.

I had the honor to go out to a commissioning of the Douglas Munro, one of the new national security cutters. These ships can do it all. They look like big Navy ships that can do it all. That is what these national security cutters are doing.

This legislation also helps to streamline the building of Navy ships, which is important as we recapitalize the fleet. It directs the Coast Guard's overall policies.

Now I want to talk a little bit about some of the more specific provisions in this bill that relate to my great State, the great State of Alaska, where the Coast Guard and the people of Alaska have a very special relationship. We love the men and women of the Coast Guard. We see them in action all the time, doing heroic missions. We had the largest Coast Guard base in the country in Kodiak, AK, and District 17--that is the Coast Guard district in Alaska--is the largest geographic district in terms of square miles in the entire Coast Guard area of responsibility. There are close to 4 million square miles and over 47,000 miles of coastline just in the State of Alaska. That is more coastline than in the rest of the lower 48 States combined. So the Coast Guard has a huge mission in Alaska--a really important mission in Alaska--and it covers all kinds of territory.

Let me just give you, again, a sense of the importance that District 17 and the men and women of the Coast Guard in Alaska have to my constituents, to their fellow Alaskans--a snapshot from District 17's website. It reads, just in an average month in Alaska, that the Coast Guard saves 22 lives, performs 53 assists, and conducts 13 security boardings and 22 security patrols throughout this gigantic area of District 17, just to name a few of its duties, in addition to making sure that illegal fishing in this part of our Nation doesn't occur.

I am also grateful that as we look at the recapitalization of the Coast Guard's fleet, the former Commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral Zukunft, recognized how important Alaska was and sent me a letter, as I am the chairman of the subcommittee in the Commerce Committee that is in charge of the Coast Guard. My team and I put in a lot of effort with Chairman Thune and others in writing this bill and in working on it for the last 2 years.

In a letter to me prior to his retirement, the former Commandant of the Coast Guard said that we know there are challenges and that there is a growing mission, from the Coast Guard's perspective, in Alaska. In terms of this recapitalization, we see a lot of these vessels coming to Southeast Alaska. For example, six fast response cutters that are being built and that are part of this bill are slated for Alaska, and two additional patrol boats are for Petersburg and Juneau. The FRCs will be home-ported--two of them--in Kodiak, one in Seward, one in Sitka, and two previously commissioned FRCs will remain stationed in Ketchikan. So those are a lot of assets coming, and I believe there are going to be more. We are going to continue to work on that.

I thank the former Commandant and the current Commandant, Admiral Schultz, who has been on the job for about 6 months and has already been to Alaska three times. That is just another testament to recognizing how important the Coast Guard is to the great State of Alaska. I can't thank enough the men and women of the Coast Guard nationally and in my State for the great work they do.

There are a number of provisions in this legislation, in addition to the national areas of recapitalizing the Coast Guard, that are actually focused, not surprisingly, on Alaska, given how important the Coast Guard is to Alaska. Let me just highlight a few of them.

There is a provision that says the Coast Guard must position assets to respond to any incidences given the national security and economic significance growing in the Arctic region. The Department of Defense is starting to focus on the Arctic region, and, certainly, the Coast Guard is.

The provision further states that it requires the Coast Guard, in consultation with the Department of Defense, to report to Congress on the progress being made in implementing the Coast Guard's Arctic strategy and to provide an assessment of the placement of additional Coast Guard assets and cutters in light of meeting those strategic objectives in the Arctic.

We know that the demands of a more strategic Arctic are putting a strain on the Department of Defense and the Coast Guard. We believe--I believe--that the provisions in this bill state that the Coast Guard needs to look at that and provide more assets to do the mission if need be.

As we are recapitalizing the fleet, it also talks about moving bigger cutters in for smaller ones in region 17 because the Coast Guard must continue to have adequate coverage. You don't want to move one ship out and another ship in and have a gap in coverage. This bill focuses on that--no gaps in coverage.

The bill also requires the Coast Guard to deliver a plan to extend the life of the Polar Star, which is the heavy icebreaker that is home- ported in Seattle and has a critical mission. Again, in the NDAA this year, we received authorization for six additional heavy icebreakers-- three heavies, three mediums. Yet we need to make sure that we still have coverage with the icebreakers we have as we look to build and deploy the new Coast Guard icebreakers that were authorized in the NDAA this summer. This provision focuses on that.

It directs the Coast Guard to conduct persistent, aircraft-based surveillance in terms of monitoring illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing in the Western Pacific. This is a huge problem. We have our 200-mile limit where American fishermen and Alaska fishermen can fish off the coast of Alaska and other States, but we often have pirate fishing going on. We have countries such as China that come and illegally take fish that should be in our economic zone or on the high seas. The Coast Guard does a great job in monitoring and catching this illegal fishing, which harms the oceans and harms our fisheries. This bill underscores how important that mission is and directs the Coast Guard to make sure there is persistent, aircraft-based surveillance in monitoring what we call IUU fishing--illegal, unreported, unregulated fishing--in the Western Pacific.

The bill requires the Coast Guard to have tested the capability of oilspill vessel response plans in Alaskan waters and to report to Congress on these capabilities.

It also, importantly, focuses on funding to update and maintain the Nation's nautical charts with there being an emphasis on the Arctic, where there is growing vessel traffic. Yet we have nautical charts that are 70 or 80 years old, and some places have never been charted.

This bill facilitates the construction of a viable home port for the NOAA research vessel Fairweather in Ketchikan, AK, which is an issue that is important to my constituents, and to be perfectly honest, with regard to NOAA, it has been hanging out there for too long. This bill helps to make sure that the vessel is going to be home-ported where it should be legally home-ported under the law, and that is in Ketchikan.

Those are just a few examples of the national aspects of this bill for the Coast Guard's recapitalization effort and of some of the more important provisions that focus on the Coast Guard's special relationship with Alaska.

This act also contains many important items for our fishermen and fisheries and our maritime industry throughout the United States, whether in the oceans, whether on the Great Lakes, whether in the rivers that we have. It is very, very important to our fishing community, to our fishermen, and to the maritime workers throughout the country.

Of course, this is important to my State. I often refer to Alaska as the superpower of seafood. What am I talking about? Almost 60 percent of the commercial and sport fish that is harvested in the United States of America comes from Alaska. It is billions of dollars in terms of the economic impact for our State. So included in this legislation is important language to permanently address issues that have plagued Alaskan fishermen, American fishermen, and

commercial vessel owners and operators of maritime fleets and, importantly, the workers in these important industries for decades-- regulatory problems and challenges that these important industries and the important men and women who work in these industries have been struggling with for decades with no long-term solutions. At long last, this bill addresses these--the long-term, permanent solutions.

What am I talking about?

Currently, our fishing fleets throughout the entire country, as well as vessel owners and operators--again, throughout the entire country in rivers, lakes, and oceans--are forced to comply with a patchwork of burdensome Federal and State regulations that are well-intentioned but often conflicted for incidental discharges off the decks of these ships and for ballast water. Let me start with the incidental discharges.

Again, it is very important to my State but very important to any State with regard to the fishing industry and fishermen who work hard every day. If you are a commercial fisherman on a fishing vessel and you have caught some fish and you want to hose down your deck--because let's face it; fishing can be a bit of a messy business--through a long history of requirements and lawsuits, you are forced to report to the EPA these incidental discharges, and you need to get a permit to hose down your deck of a fishing vessel or you will face a fine.

Now, you don't have to be a fisherman to recognize that this is ridiculous and that people--Democrats and Republicans in this body-- have been trying to address this issue for decades because it creates inefficiency, and it certainly doesn't help the environment. It adds to costs, inhibits economic prosperity, and hurts fishermen and the vessels they operate. This body has introduced short-term fixes for years to try and address this. Those have not been sufficient. So this bill addresses it for good.

Let me talk about another provision that tries to cut through the patchwork of burdensome State regulations--again, well-intentioned but often conflicted for ballast water and vessels. Currently, ballast water is regulated by both the Coast Guard and the EPA. They both have separate, inconsistent, and sometimes directly conflicting sets of Federal requirements that are interdispersed with requirements from States. This is literally a patchwork of requirements for vessels that move through different State waters. Let me give you an example.

You are the owner-operator of a commercial vessel that is going up the full length of the Mississippi River. You are moving commerce and keeping a strong economy stronger. As you do that, not only must you comply with inconsistent Coast Guard and EPA requirements, but you also will likely have to comply with different and separate requirements regarding ballast water for Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri. You get the picture. It is a patchwork of regulations--all well-intentioned--that has the impact of inhibiting commerce and, most importantly, of inhibiting job opportunities for the men and women in this commerce. Twenty-five States have been regulating ballast water under separate, inconsistent, and sometimes directly conflicting sets of requirements. This has not only inhibited U.S. economic growth, but it also actually makes it more likely that invasive species will accidentally be introduced into this ballast water because the requirements are so different, it is hard to keep up with them.

So, again, what this bill does at long last, working across the aisle--and trust me, we worked on this for over a year, on these provisions, Democrats and Republicans rolling up their sleeves, in good faith, getting to work. Because we know how important this is to our constituents, we looked at and focused on getting permanent solutions, not quick fixes--the way these issues have been handled in the past, for over a decade--to these significant challenges.

This bill will provide a permanent exemption on incidental vessel discharges for all commercial fishing vessels and commercial vessels under 79 feet in length. This is very important to the American fishing industry, the men and women in that industry, and it is something that they have been advocating for and Members of this body, of both parties, have been trying to get for well over a decade. Well, we did it today. That is important. As I said, without this exemption, small vessel owner-operators would be required, as they have been for years, to get an EPA permit to hose off their decks--not a good use of the EPA and not a good use of the hard-working time of American fishermen.

Similarly, this bill provides a comprehensive solution to this patchwork ballast water challenge that I just described, establishing a single, nationally uniform standard for the regulation of ballast water and other vessel discharges, and the EPA and the Coast Guard, with input from the States, will work together. This uniform standard will have the impact of helping our environment and our maritime industry and fishing industry workers and the U.S. economy all at the same time. That is an important accomplishment, and that is why over 90 Senators voted for this bill today.

In conclusion, the men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard do heroic work day in and day out. I am honored to chair the subcommittee of the Commerce Committee in charge of the Coast Guard. This bipartisan bill will support them and their incredibly important mission, and it was long overdue. It was long overdue, but we got it done.

The Coast Guard's motto, ``Semper Paratus''--``Always Ready''--is a motto I think we can learn from here in the U.S. Senate. It is so appropriate for what they do for us. I want to make sure that the members of the Coast Guard who are watching or learning about this bill know that it is a signal that they have strong bipartisan support from the vast majority of the Members of the U.S. Senate.

Hopefully, this bill will get over to the House quickly. We have been working closely with the House on a number of these provisions, and they are going to pass it, we hope, and we will get it to the President soon for his signature.

Going forward, we have to work to make sure there is not an almost 2- year delay in getting the Coast Guard Authorization Act passed in the U.S. Senate. When we work together, we can see that it is very bipartisan.

As a member of the Armed Services Committee, the Presiding Officer and I both know that the National Defense Authorization Act moves every year. What I think we need to do is make sure, when we start debating the NDAA in late spring, early summer every year, as we do, that we reserve time to move and debate and pass the Coast Guard bill as well. This is an issue I have raised with the leadership on both sides of the aisle, with the chairmen of the Commerce Committee and the Armed Services Committee, and I am hopeful that we can make some progress on that so we are moving a Coast Guard Authorization Act, as we should be, with the other services in the NDAA. But that is for tomorrow. For today, we have an important accomplishment for our country, an important accomplishment for the State of Alaska, and most importantly, an important accomplishment for the men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard who continue to undertake heroic actions day in and day out on our behalf.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to legislative session for a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m., Thursday, November 15; further, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day; further, that following leader remarks, and notwithstanding the provisions of rule XXII, the Senate be in a period of morning business with Senators permitted to speak therein for up 10 minutes each until 11 a.m.; further, that following morning business, Senator Paul be recognized under the order of November 13 in relation to S.J. Res. 65; further, that the time in relation to the motion to discharge be equally divided between proponents and opponents until 12:15 p.m. and the Senate vote in relation to the motion at that time; finally, that following the disposition of the motion, the Senate proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the Bowman nomination, with all postcloture time on the nomination expiring at 1:45 p.m.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Thereupon, the Senate, at 7:23 p.m., adjourned until Thursday, November 15, 2018, at 10 a.m.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, as the Presiding Officer knows, I have been coming down here nearly every week--usually Wednesday or Thursday--for the last 2 years to talk about somebody who is making a big difference in my State, the great State of Alaska. I call this person our Alaskan of the Week.

Most of the people who visit Alaska do so in the summer--I was honored the Presiding Officer and his family came up to visit this summer--and we know that is understandable, to come up when the Sun is high in the sky, but this time of year is truly magnificent in my great State. To borrow a phrase that is no doubt familiar to many, including some of the pages: Winter is coming. Winter is coming.

Every day, the Sun comes up later and sets earlier. Snow is already on the ground in some places in Alaska. In some places in the State, the mountains are dusted--termination dust, we call it--and that dust is quickly turning into deep snow and making its way down the mountains. It will not be long before it spreads out all throughout our communities in Anchorage and other cities. The whole State is crackling with energy to get ready for the long winter, like we do every year.

For some, though--particularly for the hungry and the homeless-- winter in Alaska can be incredibly difficult and incredibly challenging. Actually, as we all know here, for the hungry and the homeless any time of the year can be incredibly difficult and challenging.

In Anchorage, there is a place where everyone, no matter who you are, is greeted with dignity, respect, and a hot meal. The place is called Bean's Cafe, and the person who makes sure it all happens and comes together is Lisa Sauder, the executive director of Bean's Cafe, and Lisa is our Alaskan of the Week.

Let me tell you a little bit about Lisa. She was born in Anchorage and moved to the west coast with her parents when she was a young teenager. When she graduated from Pepperdine University with a degree in communications and political science, she was on her way back home to Alaska. ``Alaska always calls you when you leave it,'' she said. ``It's always the place that feels most like home.''

She worked at a local bank and the Anchorage Convention and Visitors Center, where she was able to travel all around the country to talk people into visiting our great State, particularly in the off seasons like fall, like now. Then her husband's job took them to the east coast, where they stayed for some time, but, once again, Alaska beckoned, and they returned.

Shortly after coming back home again, Lisa saw an ad to help run Bean's Cafe, and she knew she had to go for it. She knew that passion was in her heart. The fact that it is completely local and completely community supported was a huge lure to her, she said but so was helping and working with the homeless throughout the State.

Lisa's uncle, for example, was a Vietnam veteran with mental health challenges after serving in Vietnam. For decades, he lived on the streets in Seattle. She saw the pain that her uncle's homelessness caused her mom and the rest of the family, and of course her uncle, but then he got help at a place like Bean's Cafe, and she also saw the positive impact that not only had on her uncle but the entire family, the entire community.

Bean's is an Anchorage institution. It serves breakfast and lunch every day--about 950 meals a day--to the hungry and the homeless. This requires the work of about 120 volunteers a day. People from all across the community come to help out. On any given day, you will see a business executive, maybe a pastor, a construction worker, politicians--so many, from all walks of life--serving food to the homeless and hungry. We have also seen the recipients of that generosity of food volunteering themselves, all of them--such a supportive community--working together to help one another.

Bean's is so much more than a place for a meal. It serves as a mailing address for their clients. It is a place where you can call a loved one, a place to get some dry socks, a hat and a coat, warm clothing for the cold winter. You can get help with your VA benefits. You can get help finding a job or it is a place to get out from the cold for a few hours.

Lisa said:

Oftentimes, the day that someone walks into Bean's Cafe is

the worst day of that person's life. And we're there to greet

them with compassion and respect.

Lisa has also expanded the program to include a very popular program now in Anchorage called Children's Lunchbox, which provides after- school and weekend meals for children. All told, between the meals served at Bean's and for the Children's Lunchbox, under Lisa's guidance, leadership, and passion, more than 700,000 meals were served last year.

Lisa loves her job. She loves how supportive the community is. She loves watching people grow and helping them get the help they need--and then their coming back to help others. She said:

We're all very fortunate here. We get to help people,

[which is a passion]. Not everybody can say that.

Lisa's work extends far beyond Bean's Cafe and the Children's Lunchbox. She is also very involved in Alaska's recovery community-- recovery from addiction, particularly in the past few years.

Anchorage, AK, like the rest of the community, isn't immune to what is happening all across the country with regard to the opioid and heroin crisis. The good news is, we are working in the Senate and in the House on this issue. We just passed a bill, a very important bill, that will help States and communities address this, but we have a long way to go.

Too many young people--people of all ages--are being lost to us because of this horrible epidemic, and, unfortunately and very tragically, Lisa's son

Tucker, 23 years old, was one of those we lost. She has put the pain-- the deep pain of losing her son--to good work. She has turned into a fierce advocate for those suffering from addiction. She talks about Tucker often, wanting people to know that this can happen to anyone. That is why we need to continue to focus.

Through her work and the work of so many advocates across the State, people are finally getting the help they need. Lisa said:

The peer mentorship that is going on right now is saving

lives. So much progress has been made. There are so many

people who have really helped to shine a light on the issue.

Lisa is such a force for good in my State. She has tenacity, grit, courage, and a huge heart. She is doing so many things. For that, we want to thank Lisa for all she is doing.

Congratulations on being our Alaskan of the Week.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, like so many of us here, I have been watching and listening to my colleagues speak on the floor about the Judge Kavanaugh nomination for several days.

Like so many of my colleagues, I want to commend Senator Collins of Maine for her thorough, detailed, and eloquent remarks yesterday. Sometimes a Member gives a speech that we know will always be remembered because of its thoroughness, its seriousness, its thoughtfulness, and statesmanlike quality. I think we all are in agreement that that happened yesterday with Senator Collins. I also want to highlight the remarks of my very good friend Senator Murkowski last night. While we voted differently yesterday and we will most likely do so again in a few hours, she made some important points, particularly regarding some of the issues surrounding this confirmation process as it relates to our great State of Alaska. I very much appreciate her friendship, and, like so many, I know this process has been difficult for her, and she talked about that last night. In fact, for millions of Americans and, no doubt, for thousands of Alaskans, the process to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court has been a searing one--certainly for Judge Kavanaugh and his family and for Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and her family, and for this Senate family, it has been a difficult period. It has also evoked very traumatic memories of experiences that far too many women in Alaska and America have had--far too many. I am hopeful that in the aftermath of all this, we can go through a much needed period of healing.

As you know, the advise and consent responsibility of the Senate is a solemn one, one of the most important responsibilities we have here. The process I went through in order to cast my vote for Judge Kavanaugh has been extensive and thorough and, I believe, fair, which is what I believe my constituents back home in Alaska demand of me.

After the President announced Judge Kavanaugh's nomination, I read hundreds of pages of decisions that he authored. I listened to the views of Alaskans and continued to do so up until yesterday, those who we were in favor, those who opposed.

In my first meeting several weeks ago with Judge Kavanaugh, we discussed at length and in great depth his viewpoint on a variety of national and Alaska-focused legal issues.

Now that wasn't the first time I had met Judge Kavanaugh. In fact, I had known him back when we served together in the Bush Administration. I knew him as an honest and dedicated public servant, and I actually followed his career as a judge on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals.

The lengthy meeting in my office convinced me that he is someone who will interpret the law and the Constitution as written. He understands the importance of separation of powers and federalism and holds a healthy skepticism regarding the expansive power of Federal agency, and he is a strong protector of the Second Amendment. These are all issues that are very important to my constituents and that they care deeply about, which is why I focused on these issues in my discussions with Judge Kavanaugh in my office several weeks ago. I was convinced then and remain so that he is well qualified to be a Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

As we all know, after a number of these meetings--several weeks, in my case, after meeting with Judge Kavanaugh--two issues arose that I took very seriously. The first was a claim that, if confirmed, Judge Kavanaugh would not fully recognize or respect the rights of Alaskan Native people and the U.S. Government's trust responsibilities to them. This is very important to constituents of mine. The Alaska Federation of Natives, a very important group back home in Alaska that represents the Native people of my great State, wrote a memo speculating how Judge Kavanaugh, if confirmed, would threaten unique laws and programs for the Alaskan Native people.

The second issue that arose, of course, which we have been debating here and the country is fully aware of, was the allegation that Judge Kavanaugh sexually assaulted Dr. Ford in 1982 when she was 15 and he was 17. Like many Senators, I put my heart and soul investigating such claims, particularly given how important both of these issues were to my constituents, and I want to address each of these in turn.

The memo of the Alaska Federation of Natives, or AFN, as we call it back home, was focused on concerns stemming from an amicus brief written by Judge Kavanaugh 18 years ago, when he was a private attorney, in a case dealing with indigenous Hawaiians before the Supreme Court called Rice v. Cayetano, in which the U.S. Supreme Court in a 7-to-2 opinion essentially agreed with Judge Kavanaugh's position.

Alaska Natives make up roughly 20 percent of my State. They are incredible Americans--patriotic, hard-working, a beautiful culture--and their legal and sovereign rights, which are based on the U.S. Constitution and Federal statutes, have been extremely hard-fought, including in this body, over decades. Such rights are fundamental to the health and well-being of Alaska Natives in my State.

After the AFN legal memo and similar letters and op-eds were published back home, in Alaska, I sent them to the White House for Judge Kavanaugh's review. I then spoke directly to him about these issues. He reiterated to me in a thoughtful and thorough discussion that the legal rights of Alaska Natives, to include Tribes and regional and village corporations, are very clear and well established in the law, which is actually different from the situation of indigenous Hawaiians. Therefore, the views expressed by the Supreme Court in the Cayetano opinion, which limit the rights of Native Hawaiians, do not extend to Alaska Natives and are not applicable legally in any way in Alaska. This is because Congress has repeatedly and explicitly recognized the rights and the Tribal status for Alaska Natives, including the Federal Government's trust responsibility, while, unfortunately, in my view, Congress has not done the same for Native Hawaiians.

Senator Murkowski was on the floor last night. I am going to talk a little bit about that, but I think the Alaska delegation has always tried to be supportive of the Hawaiian Nation in this regard, and we continue to be, but, legally, they are very different.

In response to a question for the record to Judge Kavanaugh released by the Senate Judiciary Committee, Judge Kavanaugh unequivocally endorsed this point. He stated--this is his language:

The Supreme Court has recognized that Congress has the

ability to fulfill its treaty obligations with Native Alaskan

Regional and Village Corporations and American Indian

Tribes through legislation specifically addressed to their

concerns. Unlike indigenous peoples of Hawaii, Congress

has explicitly recognized in statute that ``Indian Tribe''

includes any recognized Indian or Alaska Native tribe,

band nation, pueblo, village or community. . . . Native

Alaskans are Indian Tribes and therefore enjoy all the

relevant rights and benefits that come in their trust

relationship with the United States.

In my conversations with Judge Kavanaugh about Alaska Native legal issues, he also reiterated a point emphasized by Chief Justice Roberts in the recent Supreme Court case called the Sturgeon case that because of Federal statutes like the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, Congress has repeatedly made clear that Alaska is different in many

ways from the lower 48, and he recognized and told me as part of this confirmation process that many legal issues involving my State need to be viewed through that lens.

To be perfectly clear, if I believed or saw evidence that Judge Kavanaugh's views were somehow opposed to or hostile to Alaska Natives--a very important population of my State that happens to include my wife and my three daughters and my mother-in-law--I would not support his confirmation. I told Judge Kavanaugh this directly, but that I was also satisfied with his response after we had this discussion--a deep, detailed discussion about these issues.

Importantly, Senator Murkowski came to the same conclusion in her discussions with Judge Kavanaugh and she said as much in her remarks last night.

Of course, there is another allegation, a claim that I want to talk about this afternoon--the allegation that has been the focus of much attention here in the Senate regarding sexual assault, which I likewise took extremely seriously.

I respect very much Dr. Ford's bravery and sincerity in coming forward to testify in front of the Judiciary Committee. I am convinced that she went through a traumatic experience that has left deep wounds. I also applaud the bravery of the men and women who have called and written and visited my office to share their experiences in this regard. So much of this has been very painful for so many to revisit these episodes.

As I repeatedly stated, any allegation--all allegations--of this kind of conduct should be seriously looked at. So I undertook the due diligence that my constituents expect of me and that is required in the Senate's important advise and consent role. I watched the Senate Judiciary hearing on this issue gavel to gavel. I read every piece of information available, including all of the interviews conducted under the penalty of perjury by the Senate Judiciary Committee investigators. I read text messages, threads, witness statements, letters between the Committee and lawyers who have been involved, and confidential committee documents. I supported and read the professional and thorough supplemental FBI report recently submitted to the Senate which looked deeper into this allegation and spoke to additional witnesses in relation to it. Most importantly, I met with and heard from hundreds of Alaskans who have suffered from sexual abuse and domestic violence. Many flew thousands of miles--most on a moment's notice--to come to my office to meet with me and Senator Murkowski. I applaud their bravery and their passion. So much of this process has been painful for them.

Alaska is an amazing State. I come down to the floor all the time to talk about its majesty and beauty and our wonderful people, and I believe that in my soul. But one area where we are not so great or wonderful or majestic is this. My State has the highest rates of sexual assault and domestic violence in the country, by far, in almost every category. It is a horrible, horrible thing, and it impacts so many families in the Last Frontier, horribly.

Throughout my public career in Alaska, I have worked to combat sexual assault and domestic violence by putting more offenders in jail, bringing more resources to survivors, including much needed legal services, and raising awareness of this heinous problem by working to change the culture of violence, which is too pervasive in my State. We have a lot more work to do on this issue in Alaska and across America, including on our college campuses, and I applaud Senator Gillibrand for her leadership in this area and many other Senators as well.

The allegations by Dr. Ford have been difficult and wrenching here in the Senate to address. One thing is clear to me. Her allegations had been taken seriously, as they should have been.

Mr. President, I have a summary from the Judiciary Committee on its investigation into these and other allegations that I would ask unanimous consent that it be printed in the Record.

This report shows a staff of over 20 members of the Judiciary Committee literally working around the clock for weeks on all leads--any lead that came in on these serious allegations. These investigators have the authority of the law. When people speak to them, if people speak to them and lie, they commit perjury. They spoke to more than 35 individuals, pursuing any and all substantive leads. This is in addition to the FBI report.

I want to commend Chairman Grassley for this serious and diligent work in this regard and the work of the Committee. It wasn't highlighted a lot, but it is very serious work. A lot of it is detailed here.

Two important points stand out from this work. First, the Committee has not obtained or received any evidence that would corroborate the claims made by Dr. Ford. They talked to and tried to pursue leads in so many different areas. Dr. Ford's allegations were investigated respectfully and thoroughly by this Senate Judiciary staff and the FBI. As I mentioned, she certainly had courage in coming forward. Nevertheless, these allegations were not corroborated.

Four people Dr. Ford claims were present had no knowledge or memory of any such event, and the others the FBI asked about the alleged incident had no knowledge either. One of them was a lifelong friend of Dr. Ford's. Leland Kaiser said she didn't even know Judge Kavanaugh. As you know, all these statements were made under the penalty of perjury.

Another important point from the Judiciary Committee summary--again, I would suggest people take a look at it given the seriousness of the allegations and the seriousness of the investigation--that has not been picked up on is that the minority staff of the committee, those representing my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, refused to participate in most of these investigations, sometimes not attending any interviews at all, and when they did, they refused to ask questions. This is truly a mystery to me.

One of the constant refrains and arguments--and I am saying it has been in good faith from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, which continues today--is the need for more investigations into the allegations against Judge Kavanaugh. They have been making that argument very regularly. Yet when you read what happened in the committee, they have refused to take part in almost any part of the intensive ongoing investigations from the Judiciary Committee staff investigators of which there are 20. They have been working on this diligently.

I am not a member of the Judiciary Committee, but it is my understanding that this is a very significant break from past bipartisan investigations that have almost always occurred on the Judiciary Committee for every other previous Supreme Court nominee, so I am not sure why this happened. Perhaps one of my colleagues can explain it, but it does make one wonder. Where does this leave us?

As Alaska's former attorney general and now as a Senator, I strongly believe in ensuring perpetrators of sexual assault pay a very serious penalty. I oversaw prosecutors who put such criminals away for decades and even indicted an alleged rapist according to his DNA sequencing in order to hold the statute of limitations for such a crime when we couldn't physically locate the alleged perpetrator.

I also believe in the presumption of innocence, the sacrosanct and fundamental American principle, whether in a criminal trial, a Senate committee hearing, or the court of public opinion.

I am convinced due process should apply as much to the Senate's advice and consent responsibility as it should in a court of law. If we lose this basic concept of fairness, then we risk doing irreparable damage to the very foundation of our democracy and core conceptions of American justice and even liberty. We do not want a system of guilty until proven innocent in America. Such a principle can lead to incentivizing false accusations that do lasting damage, especially when coupled with breathless media reports that repeat verbatim such charges.

Unfortunately, we have seen this phenomenon during this confirmation process. Now, I am not referring to the allegations of Dr. Ford, which were taken seriously, but in the aftermath of her allegations, some horrendous, and what appear to be patently false, claims were made against Judge Kavanaugh. Such false allegations do tremendous damage to the accused and his or her family, but just as bad, they also risk undermining the credibility of true victims and true survivors of sexual assault. This is something that has been overlooked, I believe, in these discussions.

One of the most disheartening aspects of this confirmation process has been how some of my Senate colleagues and members of the media were so quick to publicly embrace some of the most outrageous and incredible claims made against Judge Kavanaugh, like, for example, he participated in the drugging and raping of women as a teenage boy. A senior Member of the Judiciary Committee referenced this sickening allegation in her opening statement in one of the hearings. The immediate damage to the accused and to his family by such a charge which reverberated across the Nation was obvious. Less obvious but perhaps more damaging--as so many are in the long run--is how such false claims undermine the ability of true victims and real survivors with real claims of sexual assault to get justice, to be believed.

I certainly hope this is not one of the outcomes of this dysfunctional confirmation hearing process, but it underscores how and why the entire system of American justice and fairness can be undermined if we abandon the presumption of innocence.

Finally, I again want to thank and applaud so many of the women in particular, including so many Alaskans, who flew to DC, who have spoken out about this nomination, and have shared stories about their very difficult experiences with assault. I know from being in meetings with them and hearing from them and listening and reading, that this process has brought fresh and painful and difficult memories for so many. I want them to know that from the bottom of my heart, I am committed more than ever to work on combating these horrible crimes in domestic violence and trying to change the culture in our Nation to one of respect.

Indeed, if there is a silver lining to come out of this contentious confirmation process, it is that the awareness and commitment to do more to combat these horrible crimes has been heightened. I have heard this from many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in the past few days--including Senators Murkowski, Collins, Harris, and

Klobuchar--and I am certainly committed to working with all of them to make this happen.

At the same time, I do not agree with some of the comments made on the floor that a vote in favor of Judge Kavanaugh is somehow condoning sexual assault or somehow not believing all survivors. As Senator Collins stated yesterday, nothing could be further from the truth. A bipartisan majority of Senators, men and women, are likely to vote for Judge Kavanaugh in a few hours. To mark all of them as somehow not caring about the broader issue of sexual assault in America is not only untrue and an affront to them but undermines the larger cause of working together to combat this issue.

I do not believe this is a binary choice. This is not and should not be a Republican-versus-Democratic issue. This is actually an American epidemic, and, frankly, it should be viewed more as an American male issue. The men are the ones who are committing the vast majority of the abuse, and we need to work together in this body and across the country to be united to stop it.

I will be voting to confirm Judge Kavanaugh as the next Associate Justice on the Supreme Court, but on this broader topic that I have been discussing this afternoon, our country has a lot of healing and a lot of work to do. I am certainly ready to do my part in that regard with all of my Senate colleagues, Republican and Democratic.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, the Senate is debating right now, obviously, a really important issue. It is the confirmation of Judge Kavanaugh. It is a very serious and important debate. It is a contentious debate. There are a lot of emotions out there, and it is going to continue to be that way, but I want to talk about something that is not actually related to that. In some ways, it is actually related to something very different.

I heard in the news this morning--actually, I hear this in the news all the time. I say to our friends in the media, this speech that I am going to give has a little bit about something I want you to focus on and to try a little harder in certain ways to report. There is a conventional wisdom out there that the Senate is the most contentious it has ever been--that there is hyperpartisanship, that nobody talks to each other, and that nobody likes each other. I have heard people talk about 1850, the Civil War, and that nothing gets done.

Now, I am not a media basher. I walk out, and I do my interviews. I am very open. Back home in the great State of Alaska, I am open to the media all the time. I am respectful. I don't see the media as the enemy of the people or anything like that. They certainly have their biases, but I will say that I believe, to some degree, this narrative of ``hey, this place is so partisan; I haven't seen this since the 1850s; nothing gets done here'' is driven by the media.

Conflict sells. We know that. Senators fighting and bashing each other is kind of interesting to sell newspapers or to have a place on social media, but bipartisan, hard work--the good work for the Nation-- let's just admit, can be a bit boring. It can be a bit boring.

People say: Wow, these guys are working together. These men and women are working together.

That is a little boring in the media space. So it doesn't get written about nationally and, certainly, a lot of times, locally in some of our home States. I think this is a shame. I think it is a shame.

Of course, the media can write about the contentious issues. We are seeing a really important one right now, and it deserves a lot of print and a lot of press. It is getting it. That is for sure. It is a shame because this can be a bit dispiriting, not only for the Members of this body but much more importantly for the people we represent, for the Alaskans I represent.

They see this when they read the newspaper, and they think: Jeez, is this the only thing going on there?

So tonight what I want to do is something that is a bit of a shocker to some watching back home, and we still have people in the Galleries. It is going to be a bit of a shocker, and I am almost sure no one is going to write about it or do a story about it, but, nonetheless, the Alaskans I represent and the American people whom we all represent need to hear about it.

In the past few weeks--heck, in the past few hours--this body right here, the U.S. Senate, has gotten some important, bipartisan work done for America. You might not read about it back home, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen.

Some of these bills are big, important bills. Some of them are smaller, maybe less important bills, but they

all have something in common: hard work, good work, serious work, and bipartisan--actually, very bipartisan--work that will help America to address challenges and take advantage of opportunities. Yes, it is being done right here, today, and in the last 2, 3, or 4 weeks.

What might some of these accomplishments be just in the past few weeks? Maybe our friends in the media will write about it. I hope they do. Let's get started. Let's get started and talk about some of these.

Mr. President, as you know, we just had a bill that overwhelmingly passed the Senate dealing with the opioid crisis. This is going to the President's desk, and he is going to sign this. This is a huge issue for all of us. It is a really important issue in my State, the great State of Alaska.

The numbers are staggering--staggering. There are 72,000 Americans-- rich, poor, Black, White, Native, non-Native, young, old, but, actually, mostly young--who have died of drug overdoses last year. This is hard to comprehend. In my view, this body is finally waking up to this challenge.

I am not going to go through each one of these bills, but there is going to be significant funding--billions of dollars--in this bill we just passed. This bill has the STOP Act, which is the bill of my good friend from Ohio, Senator Portman. He has been such a leader on this. I was an early cosponsor of the bill. The bill focuses on stopping the killer drug fentanyl, which is coming from China and Mexico and killing all of our people. That is the STOP Act.

This bill has a provision that I authored that gets 5 percent of the funding to Native health organizations. Some of the Native organizations in the lower 48 and in Alaska have really strong and far- reaching access to some of our rural citizens. So these organizations are going to see a lot more funding.

There is a hugely important amount of good policy. We are not going to get there and we are not going to fix this opioid-heroin addiction problem for years, but at least we are focused on it. It is good legislation, and it was very bipartisan legislation that just passed the Senate and is going to go to the President's desk for his signature. That happened today. That is newsworthy.

If you are going through recovery, like so many good people I know in Alaska are, this is encouraging news. Hopefully, someone is going to write about it. This is encouraging news.

OK, what else happened today? The FAA reauthorization happened. Some people will say: Well, that sounds like a yawner. But this is basic infrastructure. This is basic aviation security infrastructure and improvements in weather reporting systems. For my State, the great State of Alaska, this bill is enormously important--enormously important.

I am not going to read all of the provisions in there that are going to benefit Alaska, such as essential air service, like more funding for airport infrastructure, and improvement programs such as streamlining permitting, so you can actually build airport infrastructure. This is a bill that is going to really help the whole country.

Again, we are starting to get work done. From 2008 to 2012, there were 23 extensions of the FAA bill, or the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act--23 extensions. What does that mean? Well, essentially, it means the Senate wasn't doing its job.

This is a 5-year extension. People back home in Alaska and other places can now plan for 5 years on infrastructure for airports. There are no more of these extensions. There were 23 in 5 years. That is the Senate not doing its job. We did that today.

For some people, this is a really big deal. I hope the media will report on it. I am not holding my breath. What about this very bipartisan legislation and a lot of hard, important work to keep America at the cutting edge of drum technology and of aviation technology?

We are the home and the most innovative place in the world for aviation and aircraft. This will help us to stay that way. That happened today also. That is going to go to the President's desk for his signature. It is a bipartisan bill, important for the country.

Related to that--and I know the Presiding Officer has been a leader on this issue on our budget and appropriations process--with the enactment of the Department of Defense appropriations bill, this Senate has had more spending bills enacted on time since at any time since 1997--20 years. I know a lot of people are like: Well, that is really boring. And isn't that what you are supposed to do, pass appropriations bills and get them to the President's desk so you don't have these giant omnibuses? That is Washington speak for a bill that is $1.5 trillion, 2,400 pages that nobody reads because nobody knows what is in it. I don't vote for those, by the way. That system was broken. A lot of us ran on that in 2014 because the system was so broken. So we are going to start to work on it, and we are doing it--success.

We have a long way to go, and, again, you are watching, and the American people are saying: Well, big deal, you are funding the government the way you are supposed to. They have a really good point, but we hadn't been doing that for almost two decades, and we are starting to do it in a serious way. By the way, it has to be bipartisan here in the Senate because we need 60 votes for these appropriations bills to pass.

So the Appropriations Committee has passed out every bill, as I mentioned, at a pace that we haven't seen since 1998. Almost 90 percent of the discretionary spending that runs our Federal Government is done through the regular order--the process by which most Americans think we should be doing things, but we haven't been. We are starting to do it now. Bipartisan, important, get our budgeting process back in order--we are doing that. That is good news. You are probably not going to hear about it in the media, but that is good news.

Let me tell you about another one that is related that we did about 5 weeks ago--a little bit further back--the National Defense Authorization Act, the NDAA. I sit on the Armed Services Committee with the Presiding Officer. This is a really important bill. The President signed it about a month ago. It rebuilds our military, which the vast majority of Americans--certainly the vast majority of Alaskans-- support.

People forget that from 2010 to 2016, the budget of the Department of Defense was cut by almost 25 percent. Despite serious national security challenges all over the world, we were cutting defense spending dramatically. Readiness plummeted.

This bill the President just signed significantly rebuilds our military and implements the national defense strategy of the Pentagon, written by Secretary Mattis. That is a whole new strategy for America. Yes, we still have the threat from al-Qaida and international terrorism from 9/11, but this strategy starts to focus on our big challenges, such as the rise of great power rivalries like China and Russia. We need to focus on them primarily, and that is what we are doing.

Guess how many Senators voted for that--a hugely important piece of legislation. Eighty-five. It was very bipartisan--one of the most important things this body does. I check most major newspapers; they didn't even write about it when the President signed it. That is really important. It is bipartisan, rebuilding the military, new strategy, so that is good news. In my State, that is really good news. The vast majority of Alaskans love our military, support our military. We have a lot of military bases. They think this is great news.

So I hope our friends in the media will write about that. I know it is about 4 weeks late, but I didn't see any articles on it. That is important.

Let me give a few other examples. They are not like the NDAA--huge in terms of their importance or the size of the bill--but they are important. They are bills that I authored, so I like to highlight those; when you get a bill that you work on with your colleagues here on both sides of the aisle, you pass it, you get it over to the President, and he signs it.

This week, the bill Senator Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island, and I have been working on for, gosh, almost 2 years--the Save Our Seas bill is all about addressing the challenge that we have not only in America but globally, with ocean debris, ocean pollution, ocean plastics littering our oceans, hurting our wonderful, sustainable fisheries, potentially posing health risks to humans. That bill

passed this week. It is going to be signed by the President, hopefully this week or next week.

I want to thank Senator Whitehouse and Senator Booker. It is a very bipartisan bill. It passed here, passed the House--a really important issue.

By the way, the Trump administration is doing a good job on this issue. Even the U.S.-Mexico-Canada NAFTA agreement has a provision, and we are pressing for that, on this ocean debris problem. This bill is going to do a lot to help with this challenge. It passed. A bipartisan group of Senators strongly supported that. It passed this week and is being signed into law here soon by the President. That is good news.

I am pretty sure no one wrote about it, but if you look at global challenges for the environment--the ocean pollution, plastics, ocean debris challenge is a big one.

Again, I want to thank Senator Whitehouse, in particular--great leadership on this issue. We are taking important strides on this. He and I are already working on SOS 2.0, and I guarantee that is going to pass.

That is a bipartisan achievement, protecting our oceans, getting the world to clean up plastics, ocean debris. That is not bad for 1 week in the Senate, right? Hopefully someone will write about that. It was very bipartisan, that is for sure.

Another one that was signed into law 3 weeks ago is a bill that is really important to me, and it is one of the first bills I introduced as a Senator when I came here 3\1/2\ years ago, called the Pro bono Work to Empower and Represent Act--the POWER Act. That is what it is called, the POWER Act.

This is a bill that I worked on very closely with Senator Heitkamp, a Democrat from North Dakota. She and I worked on this bill for over 2 years. It passed the Senate and finally passed the House and came back, had a couple more elements to it. We got it passed again, and the President signed it 3 weeks ago.

What does the POWER Act do? Well, we all know America has big challenges with regard to sexual assault and domestic violence. My State has huge problems with this horrible, horrendous issue. The POWER Act, through getting lawyers to step up and help victims and survivors of domestic violence, is going to provide more legal resources and services to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. That is a pretty important topic, a pretty important issue for America.

Think about this: If you are an accuser--if you are someone who is a perpetrator of one of these horrendous crimes, a sexual assault crime-- you get a Sixth Amendment right to counsel. That is under the Constitution. If you are the victim, you get nothing--nothing. Well, our bill, which is now the law of the land, is going to help change that. We envision an army of lawyers all over the country helping these survivors. So that passed. It is bipartisan. It passed 3 weeks ago. It is an important issue, certainly, for Alaska but also for the country. We all know that we can do much better in this area, so that is going to help. I think it is going to help thousands of survivors personally as we work to implement it. That is good news. It is bipartisan.

What else? NAFTA. This isn't in the Senate yet, but it will be coming our way. The President and his team announced that they have reached agreement with Mexico and Canada on an updated NAFTA agreement. I think most Americans think that is very important. We will see if it is bipartisan. I certainly have been one who has been encouraging the President and his team. I am working hard on making sure we get there and address some of our other economic challenges and trade challenges. But that was announced a couple of days ago. That is good news.

We have to get to the details of it. We will debate it here on the Senate floor. It is important for the country, for our allies, for the American worker and American families. That is positive.

Then, related to NAFTA, of course, is bipartisan good news that should make every American smile; that is, finally we are once again unleashing the might of the U.S. economy--something I know the Presiding Officer cares a lot about, and certainly it is a bipartisan issue. We would rather have 4.2 percent GDP growth like we had last quarter than 1.5 GDP growth, which was the average over the last 10 years. There is a debate here--it is a healthy debate--on what is causing this robust economic growth. I think it is tax reform and regulatory reform and unleashing the promise and power of American energy. So there is a debate here, but there is no debate on the fact that everybody in this body, I hope, thinks that 4.2 percent GDP growth, thinks having the lowest unemployment rate in almost 50 years, thinks having wages finally start to go up after being stagnant for 20 is good news. It is good news, and everybody here should have bipartisan agreement on that. We will debate how we sustain it, how we keep it going, but nobody debates that it is bipartisan good news.

So I am just going to ask my friends in the media--it is not 1850; sorry, I know conflict sells. We are not on the verge of civil war. We don't all hate each other; we actually like each other. We work together. I certainly respect my colleagues here. Yes, we have our tough debates; we are having one right now. But for my friends in the media, it is OK to report on bipartisan successes. I just gave examples of a number of bipartisan initiatives that occurred over the last 4 to 5 weeks that are actually really good for the American people. They are good for the people I represent back in Alaska.

But even if you are not going to read about this or see it on TV, for anyone watching, for the people in the gallery, for my constituents back home, there is a lot going on here that is bipartisan, that is significant, that helps us address challenges like opioids, helps us take advantage of industries like the aviation industry which, for Alaska, is so important. So keep the faith.

Again, to my friends in the media, it is OK to report on bipartisan successes. The American people care about them. You might not care about them, but the American people do. So let's work together and try to make sure everybody is understanding that there is some important work being done here, and a lot of it is going to help the people we represent.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate engage in its routine legislative wrapup as in morning business during today's session of the Senate.

Mr. President, I would like to honor the memory of Wister ``Pug'' Edwin Williams--a patriot, an Alaskan pioneer, a loving husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and a role model to so many. Pug passed away on September 25, 2018, at the age of 92 in Anchorage, AK.

A member of the Greatest Generation, Pug was born on October 28, 1925, in Baltimore, MD, and grew up in Daytona Beach, FL. He enlisted in the Army Air Force when he was 17 years old and served in the World War II Pacific Theatre in New Guinea and the Philippines. He was awarded a Purple Heart.

After recovering from his injuries, in 1946--13 years before Alaska became a State--he headed to Alaska and got to work building a State that he loved. He worked for the Alaska Railroad until he could get on with the Federal Road Commission, building the then nonexistent highways Alaskans drive on today.

After the road commission, he field-apprenticed into becoming an engineer with the Corps of Engineers, again instrumental in building Alaska's infrastructure where none had existed. He worked at the Corps of Engineers for 25 years, including during the disaster recovery of the 1964 earthquake. At the time of his retirement, he was chief executive assistant at the Corps of Engineers, the highest civilian position at the Corps.

Pug met his wife Yvonne O'Brien early on in his life in Alaska. They enjoyed 42 years of marriage until her death. Together, they had 8 children, 22 grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren. They were the love of each other's lives, and that love is reflected in the values passed on to multiple generations of Alaskans.

Pug was in awe of Alaska and worked all across the State, including in rural Alaska. His door was always open to rural Alaskans who did not have a place to stay when they came to Anchorage.

He loved to hunt and fish, a passion he passed down to his children and grandchildren. Pug also loved listening to the opera, playing piano, and listening to people's stories. He was funny, kind, and generous, particularly to those in need. His faith in God never wavered.

Pug lived a good, long life. He helped build and shape the character of our great State, and he served our country valiantly. For this, we celebrate his life, honor his memory, and will keep his family in our thoughts and prayers.