Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 3359 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Murkowski amendment at the desk be agreed to; that the Johnson substitute amendment, as amended, be agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 608, S. Res. 435.

Mr. President, I ask further that the resolution be agreed to; that the committee-reported amendments to the preamble be agreed to; that the preamble, as amended, be agreed to; and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Armed Services Committee be discharged from further consideration and the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 412.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to; that the preamble be agreed to; and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, it is Tuesday, and normally I come to the Senate floor on Thursdays, and I do what is the favorite part of the week for me. I do our series called the ``Alaskan of the Week.'' So we are going to talk about the Alaskan of the week, which is a great opportunity for me to talk about somebody in the great State of Alaska who has done something good for their community, their town, their State, or maybe their country, and I get to brag a little bit about what I think makes my State the best State in the country. It is the people. It is the community. It is people who are doing wonderful things and are an inspiration.

Today I want to transport you to a village called Anaktuvuk Pass in Alaska's North Slope Borough. It is about 500 miles north of Anchorage, way up north, beyond the Arctic Circle. It is smack-dab in the Brooks Range, surrounded by beautiful, rugged, majestic mountains. It is Alaska's real-life version of the mythical Shangri-La. Anaktuvuk Pass is the place that Stanley Riley, an amazing young Alaskan, calls home.

Stanley made his village proud recently by bringing home a gold and two second place finishes from his first World Eskimo-Indian Olympics. Let me spend a minute or two talking about the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics, another Alaskan institution. The games began in 1961. They test the skills, strength, ability, agility, and endurance of Alaskan Natives, who for millennia have needed to be able to survive in some of the harshest conditions in the world.

The games leave no part of the body untested. There is the seal hop, the four-man carry, the ear pull--that one is really popular--the high kicks, and the muktuk eating contest, which is whale blubber. They also reflect what is very unique about the great State of Alaska. Stanley won a gold for the head pull. It is another competition at these incredible World Eskimo-Indian Olympics.

Let me describe the head pull. You lie down on the ground, facing your competitor. Both of you are up on your hands, and you share a strap looped around each other's necks. Whoever is able to use enough neck and shoulder strength to pull the other over wins. That is the head pull.

He almost won the four-man carry, where you walk for as long as you can with four people clinging to all sides of you. That is the four-man carry. He spent all summer training for it, climbing up the mountains that surround his

village and hauling game back down the mountains that he had shot. It is a good way to train in Alaska. That honor went to Sido Evans from Fairbanks, Riley's best friend. He called him a ``mountain of a Koyukon man.''

Riley has his sights on gold for next year's World Eskimo-Indian Olympics. It seems like when he wants something badly enough, he gets it, particularly now, since he has found his calling.

What is his calling, you ask? His calling is to be a role model for his people, especially the young people.

Stanley has overcome incredible odds to get to where he is now. That is the inspiration part I was talking about. He had some rough times as a youngster, and he has overcome them and is now an example for so many Alaskans in his community and beyond.

As is the case for too many children across my State and across the country, Stanley grew up in a single-parent household without a father around. That took its toll. When he was 12, he left Anaktuvuk Pass and got bounced around in the foster care system. He had almost 20 foster care parents, he said, until he emancipated at 16 years old.

Then, he started to succeed. He was able to get his GED, and he had enough internal drive that along the way he had some good-paying jobs, but then again he had setbacks, as happens in the life of our young people, whether in Alaska or across the country, when drugs and alcohol get in the way.

Finally, about 4 years ago, he looked in the mirror and didn't like the person staring back at him. He was unhealthy, unfit, and had gained all kinds of weight--over 400 pounds. He lacked a purpose. He packed up and moved back to Anaktuvuk Pass, intent, he said, on changing his life for the better and on becoming a positive role model for his community, especially the youth in his community. He started to do this. Slowly his mind cleared, his soul brightened, and he began to get in shape.

Now he spends his summers climbing the mountains around his village and hunting. He guesses he has climbed up about 1,000 miles this summer. The man is in shape. He has lost all kinds of weight, and he works as a tour guide and is an inspiration to so many members of his community, including his nephew Jacob, who is a talented basketball player and the light of Stanley's life. He said:

When you're with your community, it's easier to keep

yourself together. You don't want to let those people [who

you live with and are part of your community] down.

That is a great sentiment. Stanley is now a full-time student, and he is studying to be an Inupiak language and culture teacher. He wants the next generation to know where they came from and how strong they are and have pride in their culture and their heritage. He said:

I want them to know that even though you have had a hard

upbringing, you can do anything [you set your mind to].

He is also an amazing chef, mixing the old and new in Alaska. For instance, one of his signature dishes is fettuccini Alfredo with muktuk--whale blubber. People should try that. I am sure it is really good. I look forward to it.

His next goal is to compete in the Arctic Winter Games, something he has been training for every day. In Alaska, we certainly are rooting for him.

Stanley, thank you for being an inspiration, especially among the young people, showing them that when you have hard times, you can get up, brush yourself off, set high goals and standards, and then achieve them. Thank you for being our Alaskan of the week.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, it is Tuesday afternoon, and although I usually come to the floor of the Senate on Thursday to talk about an individual in Alaska who makes my State such a great place--what we call the Alaskan of the Week--we haven't been able to do that for a couple of weeks, so I thought I would just move up the timeline today and talk a little bit about some people in my State who really have made an incredible difference. It is one of my favorite speeches I give throughout the year and throughout the week because it is about people who help their community, help their State, help their country, and oftentimes they are not always recognized.

So today we are going to talk about two--not one but two--individuals who are our Alaskans of the Week. We actually made our poster board today to be a little bit more specific on what just transpired in our great State a couple of weeks ago.

The two Alaskans are Jon Rowan and Aaron Isaacs.

As I mentioned, we have a beautiful, incredible State, and recently I was reminded again of just how awe-inspiring the great State of Alaska is. I have been home pretty much every weekend this summer. I had the opportunity to visit 12 villages in the western part of our State, where I was able to meet with my constituents--some of the most generous, resilient, and, very important, patriotic people in our great Nation.

Jon Rowan and Aaron Isaacs are part of that tradition. Alaska has more veterans per capita than any State in the country, and Alaska Natives serve at higher rates in the military than any other ethnic group in the country. So this is very special patriotism, particularly with regard to the Alaska Native population in our great State.

So what have they done? What did Jon Rowan and Aaron Isaacs do? They live in a wonderful community in Southeast Alaska, Klawock, and this

community now has a 37-foot totem pole dedicated to those who have served our country in the military. That totem pole now stands tall because of the dedication and skill of Jon, who is the carver, and Mr. Isaacs, a highly respected Alaska Native elder who had the idea and the vision and raised the money to make it happen.

Let me talk a little bit about both of these Alaskan patriots. Jon was raised in Klawock. When he was in the eighth grade, he saw an ad featuring a group of men in uniform on Zodiacs at night, recon marines on a mission, and he was very struck by that. He said he wanted to be a marine. He wanted to be like them.

Shortly after he graduated from high school, he contacted a recruiter whose name he still remembers, Gunny Joins, and 2 weeks after graduation, in 1982, he left his village to become a U.S. marine.

Four years later, he was back home and met his future wife Patricia. They were soon married, and he and Patricia have been happily married ever since and have raised two fine daughters.

Along the way, Jon worked as a logger, then got a job as a janitor in the local high school. John had a passion for carving. In the Native tradition, carving was something he had done since he was a child. He continued it throughout his life, and he became the Native artisan teacher and a master carver at his local high school.

At about this time--and remember, this is about 30 years ago--he was approached by Mr. Isaacs, who talked to him about his plans to carve a giant totem pole in tribute to our servicemembers. Now, totem poles in Southeast Alaska Native culture are revered, and they are often carved and raised in ceremonies commemorating significant people or significant events. They are very special.

As my colleagues can see in the pictures we have, this is what they were working on. A Smithsonian researcher once wrote that such totem poles in Alaska are ``as beautiful and interesting as the Parthenon of the [ancient] Greeks.'' They are truly awe-inspiring pieces of art and pieces of culture.

So 30 years ago, Mr. Isaacs and Jon, my fellow brother marine, talked about this. Jon liked the idea, but he kind of shrugged it off. He knew all the work that went into building a totem pole. He knew how expensive it was. He didn't know where the funds would come from, but Mr. Isaacs was determined. He had a dream. He had a vision.

So Mr. Isaacs, who is now 80 years old, but he doesn't look it--we can see him in some of these photos--also grew up in Klawock. His father served in the storied Alaska Territorial Guard during World War II. These were the Alaskan Natives who signed up by the thousands to defend Alaska, which a lot of Americans don't realize was actually the site of major battles during World War II against the Japanese.

Mr. Isaacs had two brothers who also served in the military, one in the Army and one in the Marine Corps. In 1961, he was drafted and became a paratrooper in the storied 82nd Airborne Division.

So my colleagues are starting to get a sense of what I am talking about when it comes to Alaska Natives and serving in the military, an unbelievable tradition and special patriotism.

When Mr. Isaacs got back from his duty with the 82nd Airborne, he turned to carpentry--something he was trained in--and he built many of the buildings in Klawock. He married Betty, his wonderful wife, and in October--just next month--they will be celebrating 52 years of marriage. They raised a family and built a wonderful life.

Over the years, he became more involved in helping his fellow veterans. He and a handful of other veterans began talking about this idea of creating a totem pole as a tribute to the so many veterans in Southeast Alaska. He knew that if it was going to be done right, he and the community had to do it themselves, so they began to raise money 30 years ago, dollar by dollar, quarter by quarter. He held his first fundraising breakfast at his wife's restaurant, where fellow veterans would donate the bacon and eggs and pancake mix. It was slow going, but he didn't stop. He said: ``We had been struggling and struggling, and it was a handful of veterans who kept us going, and we had the vision.''

He began to put more energy into raising funds. He sent letters. His fundraising efforts began to spread throughout Southeast Alaska. He reached out to companies, corporations, the Department of Defense even. Eventually, his efforts began to pay off. The funds started to come in and, all told, he raised $61,000. ``It was a labor of love,'' he said, ``but I loved every bit of it.''

Think about that--$61,000 over almost 30 years of fundraising. Talk about perseverance for one idea and vision.

So after many setbacks, Mr. Isaacs and the Prince of Wales Veterans Association were able to procure a giant--and I am talking giant--red cedar tree, with the assistance of the U.S. Forest Service, and Alaska Specialty Wood helped to carve and transport this massive log.

Jon, with the help of his students, got to work on the log.

About a year ago, I was in Klawock, and we saw the hard work they were doing. They were carving. It was unbelievable. When I was invited to come to the raising of this totem pole, I said: ``I wouldn't miss it for the world.''

So just 2 weeks ago, in this wonderful town of about 800 people on Alaska's Prince of Wales Island, hundreds--hundreds--gathered after a 3-day ceremony to raise this massive and lovingly carved totem pole that pays homage to our veterans--all of our American veterans.

Let me give my colleagues a little description of the totem pole we are seeing here. At its base is a folded flag, which is a flag that a family receives at a veteran's funeral. As we progress up the totem pole a little bit more, there are two soldiers on either side. One is an ancient warrior holding a double-headed dagger and a pick, the other is a 1960s-era U.S. Army soldier complete with a pack of Lucky Strikes tucked in his helmet.

Going further up, we can see the emblem for our POWs and Missing in Action military members, and then further up is the insignia for the five different branches of the U.S. military positioned so you have to walk around the entire totem pole. At the very top are an Eagle and a Raven. Now, of course, there is Alaska Native cultural significance here, but also Jon, the carver, wanted the Eagle and the Raven back-to- back on the totem pole.

``For the veterans, this is us watching each other's backs,'' he said. Mr. Isaacs praised Jon's work: ``It's beautiful and it's perfect.''

You get a sense of just how massive this totem pole is--37 feet but several tons. It is not easy raising one of these totem poles. You see the ropes here. It involves ropes and pulleys and dozens of people pulling this giant totem pole up into its place of honor in this wonderful community.

I had the honor of being there. I also had the honor of bringing our new Commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral Schultz, with me.

There is the Admiral.

There is Jon, my fellow marine.

There is the totem pole being raised.

It was an unbelievable ceremony. Several hundred were there watching something, the vision of which began 30 years ago by two veterans who wanted to honor all American veterans. Jon was there with his wife and two daughters--a master artist, a veteran, a proud Tlingit, an Alaskan, an American, a marine--filled with gratitude for the part he played in helping Mr. Isaac's dream--a Native elder, an Army veteran, an airborne soldier--helping that vision come true.

Mr. Isaac's family was also there with him, including his son, who is a paratrooper in the Army. This community is so patriotic, they serve their country generation after generation in the military.

``I don't care who sees me,'' Mr. Isaacs told a friend next to him, a Korean war combat veteran, ``I'm going to cry when that [beautiful totem] pole goes up.'' For all of us, it was very emotional.

I once again congratulate Jon Rowland and Aaron Isaacs. Thank you for all you have done. Thank you for your vision. Thank you for your hard work. Thank you for your military service for your country and for your community.

Veterans not just in Alaska but all across America, when you come to Alaska, when you come to Southeast

Alaska, come to Klawock and see a massive totem pole that these two wonderful men spent 30 years putting together, raised in the honor of every American veteran and military member who has defended freedom in our great Nation.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I am standing at a different desk this evening to give my remarks because I want to be actually behind this desk in front of me, which is Senator McCain's desk draped in black, with beautiful flowers, signifying the loss that we are all feeling here in the U.S. Senate.

As we have heard from so many in this Chamber all week--this evening in particular--Senator John McCain's passing represents an incalculable loss not only to his family, his dear wife Cindy, his friends, and a legion of admirers across the world, but also to his colleagues here in the U.S. Senate--Democrats and Republicans--and to the institution of the Senate itself, where he served as a model of honor and integrity and character for 31 years.

There are so many people who served with him much longer and knew him much better than I did. I have been watching the speeches, the wonderful, passionate, and emotional words from my colleagues like Senator Graham--Lindsey Graham--his best friend here in the Senate this afternoon; Senator Whitehouse, a good friend of Senator McCain's, a good friend of mine whom I met through many trips with Senator McCain; Leader McConnell; Senator Sasse--so many have been coming to the floor.

The tributes on the Senate floor and in the newspapers across the country have been inspiring, and they have been true, talking about a man of courage, a steadfast patriot, an American hero, a warrior of indomitable spirit, who not only believed in American exceptionalism but inspired millions of Americans and millions of people across the globe to believe in it as well.

As I have watched and listened, sometimes I have started to wonder what more there is to add--there has been a lot said--especially from a freshman Senator who hadn't served with John nearly as long as most in this august Chamber. But if Senator John McCain taught us anything, it was to speak when you feel compelled to speak, and when it comes to him, I certainly feel compelled to speak, particularly as a newer Member of this body who thought the world of this man and learned so much from him.

John McCain was a leader. There is no arguing about that. One of the qualities of leadership that is so important and sometimes gets overlooked and that was a huge quality of this great Senator was his ability to focus on and give his time and willingness to mentor newer Members of the Senate.

If you look at the arc of his three decades of service in the U.S. Senate, one thing he always took the time to do was to take newer Members under his wing, show them the ropes, travel with them, teach them, coach them. Of course, this takes time, effort, energy, and initiative. We are all busy here in the U.S. Senate, but this was and is a truly important hallmark of the McCain legacy--critical--and it is a bipartisan legacy.

Just look at the Senators who have come to the floor to speak about Senator McCain. Look at some of the newer Senators who have come to the floor: Senators Whitehouse, Klobuchar, Ernst, Sasse, and Graham, of course--so many who had that privilege, the great privilege, of having John McCain actually take an interest in them and spend his precious time and energy on their well-being and careers in the Senate.

One of the true honors of my life was having John McCain as a friend and a mentor in the Senate. At the time this was happening, I didn't always think about it too much, but now, as we look at his desk, I am so grateful that I had these experiences.

Like most things with John McCain, it wasn't a subtle experience. In fact, a lot of the time I didn't feel I had a choice in the matter. My first month in the Senate, in January 2015, like a lot of the new Senators, I was pretty clueless here, quite clueless--rules, faces, names, votes. This lion of the Senate, John McCain, pulled me aside on the floor of the Senate on two different times in the first month I was a Senator.

On one occasion, he was talking about an institution that really mattered to him--the U.S. Naval Academy. He said to me: Dan, do you know what? Under Federal law, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee--which he was--sits on the boards of all the service academies, or his designee. He asked me if I was interested in sitting on the Board of Visitors for the Naval Academy. This was from John McCain, who went to the Naval Academy. His dad went to the Naval Academy, and his grandfather went to the Naval Academy. The name McCain and the Naval Academy are almost synonymous. He is going to be buried there, in fact.

I looked at the Senator, and I said ``Yes, sir.''

Another time, in the Armed Services Committee, he mentioned to me that he had always taken a very strong interest in the Asia-Pacific and our force posture out there, what was happening in places like Okinawa, and he wanted the newer Members of the Senate to be part of it. Reaching out to new Senators--I want you to do this. I am going to travel the region, and I want you to come with me. I mean, it was unbelievable. And I said ``Yes, sir'' to that.

Like so many here who have talked about it, we went to these places. Just

a couple of months later, I had the incredible honor of traveling to Vietnam with Senator McCain, with Senator Reed from Rhode Island, Senator Ernst from Iowa, and that is a trip I will never forget.

We actually went to the Hanoi Hilton, which has been talked about a lot this past week, where John McCain suffered and was tortured. There is a tribute in that place of torture. It is not really a tribute, but it has pictures of him. We walked in, and we looked at this, and there were a couple of Americans in front, reading about this. They turned around, and they saw John McCain, and two of them just started crying.

By the way, when you were in Vietnam with John McCain, he was treated like a hero--the hero that he was--by the Vietnamese people, which was amazing. These codels--and Senator McCain has led them all over the world with Senators--have gotten a lot of attention. Of course, they are very important. Senator Graham was talking about them recently in the Senate. We focus a lot on foreign policy and national security. You can't learn that from watching cable TV, but you can learn when you go out into the world and travel and meet with leaders and meet with people and see the suffering, see the opportunities, and see the challenges.

John McCain took so many of us, through his leadership and mentorship, on these congressional delegations all over the world.

There has been some joking now about how, with his energy and his focus, some Members called these forced marches. By the way, nobody could keep up with him--even the newer Members. They certainly were tense.

Back to the idea of mentorship, on a codel with John McCain, he once again showed that leadership. He would be leading it. He would be in a room with a world leader, and then he would take the time to name and introduce every Member of the Senate on the codel and have them ask questions, have them engage. He could have dominated every one of these conversations. He never did. He was always asking the Members: What do you think? Do you have a question?

These codels were also a great opportunity to bring Senators together--Democrats and Republicans. When you are traveling overseas, partisan differences fade if you are in a war zone or in a poverty- stricken country or dictatorship. You see that what unites us is a lot more important than what divides us.

The bottom line is that he clearly saw that part of his mission was to work with and mentor the next generation of Senators on responsibilities that he clearly cared so much about, particularly on foreign policy and national security.

I would like to talk a little bit about my class, the class that was elected in 2014. We had 13 new Senators in that class. The Presiding Officer is a Member of that class. It is a great class. There is a lot of energy and a lot of youth. Of the 13 Members of the class of 2014 who joined the Armed Services Committee, if you look at it right now, there are 8 who are on it. That is John McCain in action as the former chairman of that committee, taking newer Senators and getting them on that committee to focus and learn about the world.

There have been numerous articles and commentary--particularly in the realm of foreign policy and national security--saying that the passing of this great Senator has left a huge void in the Senate, and I couldn't agree more. The combination of service, sacrifice, moral authority, military and combat experience, and a deep, abiding conviction about America's role in the world makes him a unique Senator, unmatched by anyone in this body.

One of the things I believe Senator McCain knew about leadership and one of the reasons he focused so much on the issue of mentoring other Senators over the years was to prepare this body and the next generation of Senators, whether on the Armed Services Committee or as part of another institution he led for many years, the International Republican Institute--making sure and being ready so that when this day happened, other Senators who were taught and mentored and encouraged by John McCain would be focused on issues that he cared so much about, like the indispensable role of America and the Senate in making the world a better place.

A mentor is, almost by definition, a teacher. Many of us have learned so much from him. Much has been said about this, and I am sure that over the years, we will learn more about what Senator McCain taught us. I would like to highlight two areas where I personally learned so much from John McCain.

The first was how to fight for what you believe in. When you look at the arc of John McCain's whole life, whether in the Hanoi Hilton or on the Senate floor, it was about fighting for what he believed in. Pretty much everybody in this body has had a scrap with John McCain, and when you did, you had to be ready to fight with all you had because he was so passionate and intense.

On the Armed Services Committee, I had a bit of a tradition with him. Prior to the markup of the National Defense Authorization Act, I would go and have a one-on-one meeting with him on some provisions that he might not like that I was trying to get in the bill. These were mostly behind-closed-door battles, some of which got a little heated, fingers pointed, voices raised. I won a few, lost a lot more than I won, but it was never personal for John McCain. He was a warrior, and as he often said, ``A fight not joined is a fight not enjoyed.''

When he took a stand, he could be unwavering, but he was always willing to listen to reason and to compromise when the reasoning was convincing and the principle sound, regardless of who was making the case--a Democrat or a Republican.

``We are Americans first, Americans last, Americans always,'' he once said. ``Let us argue our differences. But remember we are not enemies, but comrades together in a war against a real enemy.''

He always fought with honor, and he always kept his word. In his final memoir, ``The Restless Wave''--which I recommend everybody read; it is a great book--he has a chapter called ``Fighting the Good Fight.'' It recounts a lot of his battles on the floor of this body, but when the fight was over, he emphasized the importance of keeping your word--what he called the Senate's principal virtue. He always did that, and he taught others to do that.

Another thing I learned early on from Senator McCain was how to have fun and not take life too seriously here in the Senate. Senator McCain's good friend John Lehman, who was President Reagan's Secretary of the Navy, recently wrote an op-ed about Senator McCain's life entitled ``A Life of Service, Lived With Good-Natured Irreverence.'' I think for those of us who knew and loved John McCain, that was a great description of him. His wit was legendary. After a while, I learned that if you were a target of it, it was ultimately a term of endearment, although it could take some getting used to. Senator Sasse was just on the floor talking about some of the barbs, some of his first engagements with the Senator.

I first met John McCain 4 years ago. I remember the meeting like it was yesterday. I was a huge fan. I had read books about him. I read books by him. I was here as a candidate for the Senate and had recently won my primary, and I was meeting Senators at one of our lunches. Senator Murkowski, my colleague from Alaska, was taking me around and introducing me to a number of Republican Senators, and she said: Dan, have you ever met John McCain?

I said: No. I would be honored to meet him.

I walked up to Senator McCain. Of course I was a bit nervous. My colleague from Alaska, Senator Murkowski, was introducing me and telling him about my background--that I was in the Marine Reserves commanding a battalion--and Senator McCain looked at me very seriously and said: Well, that is interesting, Dan. I almost joined the Marines.

I said: Really, Senator?

He said: Yeah. I almost joined the Marines, but the Marines told me I wasn't qualified.

I said: Really? Why weren't you qualified?

As I was asking this question of him, I noticed other Senators gathering around, all smiling.

He said: Why wasn't I qualified? Because I knew who my parents were.

Of course everybody laughed. Senator McCain laughed. I realized I and my beloved Marine Corps had just been assaulted by John McCain in the first of what would be many jokes. Only later did I know--and Senator Graham was talking about it--that this Marine joke was one of the many in the McCain repertoire. I have heard it many times now. It always gets a laugh. These jokes are a great part of his wonderful personality--irreverent wisecracks to keep people humble, keep them laughing even about serious topics.

I remember when I was in Vietnam with Senator McCain. We were at the lake in Hanoi where he had been shot down and had parachuted into this lake. There is a statue of John McCain coming out of the lake. The language is in Vietnamese. He said: You know, I really don't like this statue. I can't stand it. Do you know why, Dan?

No. I have no idea, John.

Look at what it says: John McCain, Major, U.S. Air Force.

Then he let a few choice words out that I can't say here on the Senate floor.

He said: I wasn't a major in the U.S. Air Force; I was a commander in the U.S. Navy.

Even in the twilight of his life, the wit and wisecracks were as strong as ever. I had the honor of visiting Senator McCain about 6 weeks ago in Arizona with his wonderful wife Cindy. We were talking about the National Defense Authorization Act that we were getting ready to vote on that was named after him. I was getting ready to leave, and I said: John, I just want you to know all your Senate colleagues really miss you.

He hadn't said much during the conversation. He looked at me and said: Dan, that is a lie.

Again, after all he had been through, he still had a lightness of being and wit and laughter. He still knew how to love the world, how to appreciate it in all its humor, splendor, and creativity.

The story of John McCain is a story for the ages--carefree, somewhat reckless young man; a rebel searching for a cause who found that cause in love of country as a POW in Vietnam; a person who underwent unimaginable pain and suffering and yet came back better for it and loved America more for it and wanted most of all to pass down that love, that sense of service to the next generation. He succeeded.

Let me close by quoting the same Robert Louis Stevenson poem Senator McCain recited during his father's funeral service:

Here he lies where he longed to be

Home is the sailor, home from the sea

And the hunter home from the hill.

To Cindy McCain and the whole McCain family, please be assured of our continued prayers and deepest condolences for your loss. We miss John McCain so much, as we know you do.

To my friend John McCain, Godspeed. Semper Fidelis. Fair winds and following seas. It was an honor to serve with you. You will always be with us.

I yield the floor.

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

Mr. President, it is Thursday. Even though we had a short week here in the Senate, it is one of my favorite times of the week because I get to talk about the Alaskan of the Week, which is a recognition we give to somebody who is doing something important in our State.

I can see by the smile on the pages' faces that it is their favorite time of the week, too, because we talk about Alaska and we talk about somebody who is making a difference. Maybe, it is a difference just in their local community. Maybe, it is in the State. Maybe, it is nationwide.

What I really enjoy doing in this speech every week is not just highlighting my great State. Of course, we all think our States are great. I know the Presiding Officer thinks his State is great, and I encourage people watching on TV or in the Galleries to come on up to Alaska. You will have the trip of a lifetime. There is great fishing right now and wonderful, beautiful scenery, but the reason you will love it so much is the people--strong, tough, resilient, wonderful people. That is what we do in terms of the Alaskan of the Week. We talk about the people.

Today, I want to talk about someone very special, a woman who has become a good friend of mine, named Kara Nelson. She is our Alaskan of the Week. Kara calls Juneau home.

Sometimes our Alaskans of the Week are unsung heroes. Maybe they have been working on something for years--decades, really--and not a lot of people know what they are doing. Other times, their efforts go from something

hardly noticed to somebody who is really noticed. I would say that Kara is somebody who, over the last couple of years, is really noticed. She is kind of a rock star in the State, and to be honest, she deserves the attention that she is given.

Kara works with women who have been in trouble, who have struggled with the issues of addiction, and have gone to prison sometimes for it. She is working with women who are trying to get a new start in life. There is nothing more important, I think--whether it is in Alaska or Louisiana, or anywhere in the country--than to give people a new start.

Here is a little bit about Kara, who has been generous enough to share her story openly, because it can be a difficult story to tell. She was born and raised mostly in Ketchikan--``logging camps,'' she calls them. She was a good student. She was a good athlete. She got good grades. But then, unfortunately, like too many of our young people today--whether in Alaska or anywhere across the country--she started using drugs.

Eventually drugs took over her life completely. She dropped out of high school, and, in her words, ``lived the life of an addict'' for 20 years. For two decades, she was addicted to heroin and other drugs. She was arrested in 2005 for drug-related charges. For years--again, like so many people who we are seeing in our country--she ping-ponged in and out of prison until she was released on June 1, 2011.

It has been a tough life with tough experiences, but here is the good news. What has she done with that life since? She has been clean and sober ever since, which we all know is not easy. It takes courage. It takes discipline. She credits her faith and the peer support community she was able to find once she was released from prison. It is the kind of support she is now offering to hundreds of women across Alaska.

Shortly after her release from prison, Kara began to attend meetings led by two women she knew had been part of prison ministries. These women, Ellen Campbell and Ramona Ignell, had an idea of opening up a place for women who were getting out of prison and needed help transitioning into freedom. They needed help. Many were going through their own addiction challenges. They thought Kara would be the perfect person to direct the program. As all Alaskans know now, they thought right because she was that person.

In 2015, the transition house that Kara and others founded, called Haven House, in Juneau, AK, opened its doors. So far, 33 women have gone through the program and only 2 have reoffended, which is a remarkable record and success story.

Kara is also involved in so many other programs throughout the State. There are actually too many to name, but let me give you a few highlights. These are just a few of the highlights of what she has done. She is the cochair of the Juneau Reentry Coalition and the cofounder of the Juneau Recovery Community Organization. In 2016, she was a fellow of Just Leadership USA. She is an active member of the Juneau Homeless and Housing Coalition, Juneau's Disability Abuse Response Team, Juneau's Recovery Coaches Advisory Board, and Alaska's Statewide Recidivism Reduction Task Force. The list is a lot longer than that. That gives you a sense of how involved she is and how much she cares about these issues. Last year, for all her work, she was awarded the prestigious Director's Community Leadership Award from the FBI in recognition of her outstanding service to the advancement of justice.

In the middle of all of this hard work, she went back to school to finish her associate's degree and was able to be reunited with her three children. On paper and in a speech like this, this certainly all looks impressive, but I am here to tell you there is nothing like hearing her story in person.

Let me take you back to a meeting I had in 2015. I had just been elected. Kara and seven other women--three of whom were recently out of prison and the first residents of Haven House--came to my office. They were in DC to attend a march to combat addiction. They were trying to get Members of the Senate and the House to support the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, cosponsored and led by my good friend Senator Rob Portman, from Ohio, and my good friend from Rhode Island, Senator Whitehouse.

They came to my office. On this day, I had certainly one of the most impactful meetings I have had in the Senate. It was a meeting where they were all very honest and open about what they had been through, and, to be perfectly blunt, these women have been through hell. They talked about it with courage, grace, and dignity. They talked about how Alaskans were suffering through this addiction--opioid and heroin addiction, in particular--and how they needed help and how they needed Federal legislation.

Their honesty, resiliency, and courage were something I was so impressed by, so moved by. In many ways, it was a gift for me as a Senator to see this and to try, just a little bit, to understand this.

This meeting went very long. After I heard these stories, I started reading more about this crisis. It is impacting all of our States, and certainly many parts of Alaska. I told my staff that we have to focus on this. For 2 years, we convened a summit in our State. It was called the Alaska Wellness Summit: Conquering the Opioid Crisis.

Kara and her colleagues who came to see me inspired all of us to do this. In many ways, they were the stars of this event. They told the Alaskans who gathered their stories and their challenges. We talked about all kinds of issues--Federal, State, and local. We brought Federal officials to this summit. The Surgeon General of the United States came. The Deputy Secretary of HHS came. Statewide and local officials were all there gathering together, saying: We can do this. We can tackle this. Let's work together. There is hope. There is hope because of people like Kara.

I have a big State in terms of territory, but it is not a big State in terms of population. Over 500 people showed up at this summit, with several hundred more online to listen and to get ideas and to give us ideas and to get inspiration from people like Kara. Inspired by that summit and people like Kara, we are organizing another summit-- actually, tomorrow--in Anchorage: the Alaska Wellness Summit 2.0. This event will also bring together, like we did before, a number of Federal, State, and local stakeholders to discuss not only the addiction epidemic but also issues relating to drug trafficking and, unfortunately, the associated crime wave that is hitting many of the communities in Alaska and victimizing many Alaskans.

Kara will be one of the people in front of hundreds presenting at the summit. Again, she will likely talk about her own experiences and inspire people and give them courage that they can get through what they are going through, and she will talk about how successful peer-to- peer work has been for her and the other women she has been working with. Whatever she talks about tomorrow, I know that she will bring courage, insight, and internal fire because she has it. She has been through a lot. She is a leader, and she is a leader by example.

I want to conclude by saying that her work and the work of so many others on tackling this crisis and all of the difficult side effects is so important. Kara, please keep it up. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for all the work you have done, for your courage, your commitment, and your inspiration, and, of course, congratulations to you on being our Alaskan of the Week.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, it is the end of the week on the Senate floor, and it is my favorite time of the week. I think it is the pages' favorite time of the week, too, because we get to talk about the Alaskan of the Week. This is a speech I give every week. The whole purpose is to talk about somebody in my community, somebody in my great State, who has done something important for their fellow Alaskans or maybe their fellow Americans. Sometimes it is someone very famous. Other times it is somebody who is working hard every single day and doesn't get a lot of recognition. What we like to do is come and talk about them. We like to brag about them.

I like to brag about my State. We all like to brag about our States. When it comes to size, beauty, grandeur, and majestic nature, I think Alaska takes the cake of all the other States, but others might disagree. I know the Presiding Officer loves his State very much.

What we want to encourage people to do is come on up to Alaska, see it for yourselves. Spend some time there. We are getting ready for a little recess. Some of my Senate colleagues will be coming up and seeing our great State in the next week.

I guarantee you, if you are watching, it is going to be the trip of a lifetime. You will love it, absolutely love it. More than anything, it is truly the people of Alaska who make it such a special place. We like to celebrate these people. They are individualistic, rugged, tough but very community-oriented. We call them our Alaskan of the Week.

I am going to break a little rule on the Alaskan of the Week this week because it is going to be the Alaskans of the Week, not one but two--two people who are doing great things and, in many ways, reinforcing each other's great work in Alaska.

I am going to talk a little bit, though, about one of the challenges. We like to brag about how wonderful our States are. Let's face it, all States in our great Nation have challenges and problems. One of the ones that a number of us back home in Alaska are focused on is a really big challenge and a really problematic issue in my State; that is, the very high rate of domestic violence and sexual assault we have in Alaska. We have some of the highest rates in the country. This is horrible, and it impacts families and, of course, victims and survivors. Of course, it is not just a problem in Alaska; it is a problem all across the country. In Alaska, it is an acute problem. It is a big problem.

The good news is, we have hundreds, if not thousands, of people in Alaska who have recognized this as a big problem and have banded together in using their energy, creativity, and drive to have turned to the survivors of this abuse and turn to help them and help them break out of what oftentimes is generational violence--family victims after family victims.

Today, I recognize two such Alaskans, who are literally leading the way on this very important issue of helping the survivors of these heinous crimes: Sitka, AK, resident Christine Pate, who is the legal director for the Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, and Anchorage resident Nikole Nelson, who is the executive director of Alaska Legal Services.

These two women, for decades, have been leading the effort to bring legal services and other services to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in our State. They work together. They are leaders. They have helped hundreds, if not thousands, of victims and their families-- think about that--over the last 20 years.

Let's talk about them a little bit. Christine has done a great job with the Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, ANDVSA, which is an umbrella organization for 25 domestic violence and sexual assault programs across the State.

Christine is a cum laude graduate of the New York University School of Law. She came to Alaska in 1993, clerked for Sitka Superior Court Judge Larry Zervos, and after that, she worked for Alaska Legal Services in Fairbanks and then has been with ANDVSA for 20 years doing this very important work.

Her demeanor was once described by a reporter as ``Clark Kent-like,'' which I would agree with if that means she has superpowers that are used to fight bad guys and help the good guys. Those who know her just call her wonderful, and I certainly would agree with that.

At ANDVSA, she directs the coalition's statewide civil legal services program, which also includes both staff attorneys and approximately 60 active volunteer attorneys--again, to help survivors and victims of these heinous crimes. She also oversees legal training and technical assistance for program advocates. As a matter of fact, I was home a few months ago and went to one of her training programs. She does a phenomenal job.

Nikole Nelson is her compatriot-in-arms. She made her way to Alaska 20 years ago, fresh out of Willamette University's College of Law, and her first job in Alaska--still doing it--was to work for Alaska Legal Services Corporation. She rose up through the ranks, and now she is the director. She, too, in my view, has superpowers, and she channels those powers to serve in the righteous cause of justice for the too many victims in my State who need it and don't have access to an attorney to help them.

I cannot stress how important both the Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault and the Alaska Legal Services Corporation are for victims and survivors of these heinous crimes.

I have had the opportunity and really the honor of working with both Christine and Nikole and their organizations very closely over the years. I am still a huge supporter of all they do and have watched them year after year doing the great work they do to stomp out the scourge of domestic violence in our State. Let me tell a little story of how we all worked together.

When I was attorney general of the State, we had a big campaign strategy called the Choose Respect strategy, and one of the elements of that was to get more lawyers to help victims; to get more lawyers, pro bono attorneys, to come out and help victims, survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.

Think about this: If you are an accused rapist, you get a Sixth Amendment right to counsel. That is in our Bill of Rights. If you are the victim, what do you get? You don't get anything. And far too often, the victims don't have any legal representation. They don't know how to use the justice system as a sword and a shield.

What we were trying to do--what Nikole and Christine have been doing for decades--was to say to the survivors and victims: Wait a minute. We can get you a lawyer. We can help you. We can empower you.

We held these pro bono legal summits throughout the State of Alaska, and dozens of lawyers came out of the woodwork and said: We will help you. We will be your sword and shield in the justice system.

That is what we have done. That is what they have continued to do, and this makes a huge difference. As a matter of fact, of all the studies throughout the country on how you change this culture of abuse--in every study, one of the most important things is to get victims and survivors an attorney. So that is what they have been doing.

We actually recently took that idea here to the Senate floor in a bill that Senator Heitkamp and I cosponsored called the POWER Act, which would create another layer of pro bono attorneys. The idea is to create an army of lawyers by the thousands in America to provide legal services for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. That passed the Senate, passed the House, came back over here, trying to hotline it, and it looks as though we hit a little glitch today. But I can't imagine any Senator who doesn't want to do this, so we will probably get this done after we are back from recess, and that will help take this idea nationwide.

The leaders in our community in Alaska have been Nikole and Christine.

As I mentioned, there are no simple solutions on this, but when an abused victim is represented by an attorney, their ability to break out of the cycle of violence increases dramatically.

Just one study found that 83 percent of victims represented by an attorney were able to obtain a protective order versus almost 30 percent of victims without an attorney.

But here is the problem: There was a recent report by a national group that focuses on these issues. In 2014, in 1 day, there were over 10,000 victims who went without services, like legal services. So there is a desperate need. Christine and Nikole have been the ones leading the charge. I talk about an army of attorneys to do this kind of pro bono legal work in Alaska--they are the captains leading this charge.

Christine likes to quote one of the advocates she works with when she talks about her work. She says: ``It is so satisfying to see the relief wash over a person's face when they realize that there's an end in sight and they don't have to live like that in a cycle of violence anymore because they have an attorney representing them.''

Nikole has been traveling the globe with her daughter the past month thanks to a much needed sabbatical grant from Alaska's Rasmuson Foundation.

Nikole, I hope you are having a much needed rest.

Let me end with a quote written by her about the work Alaska Legal Services does, the work she leads in our great State. She said: ``In any given day, the people who come seeking our services may be moms that have been abused by their spouse, oftentimes in front of their children, and they come to us because they do not have the financial means to leave that abuse.'' They help them with that. ``We may have a grandfather who is struggling to care for his grandchildren and he fears he is going to lose his home. . . . For all of these problems, there is a civil legal solution. But unlike in criminal cases where a defendant is guaranteed a court-appointed attorney if they cannot afford one, in civil cases''--in these kinds of domestic violence and civil action cases--``there is no [right to an attorney].'' And what they do is they provide it, particularly to victims of these heinous crimes.

Christine and Nikole lead organizations that are doing great work not only in Alaska, but nationwide, Legal Services Corporation does this work, and I am a big supporter of them here in the Senate.

Christine and Nikole, thank you for all the great work you have done over the years. Thanks for your tremendous spirit of generosity and kindness. I know I can thank you on behalf of so many survivors of these crimes whom you have helped, and their families. Thanks for being our joint Alaskans of the week this week in the U.S. Senate.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, it is Thursday afternoon, and it is one of my favorite times of the week. I know for many of my fellow Senators, including the Presiding Officer and the pages, this is one of their favorite times of the week, too, because it is the time that we get to talk about the Alaskan of the Week. I had a couple of people today ask me: Senator, when are you giving your speech on the Alaskan of the Week?

I said: Later.

They said: OK. We will keep an eye on it--because people find a lot of interest in what is happening in the great State of Alaska. The Alaskan of the Week, as many of my colleagues know, is somebody whom we like to highlight who has done great stuff for the State, community, town, maybe country. Sometimes it is someone famous. Oftentimes, it is somebody who has been working really hard for much of their life and doesn't get a lot of recognition. They are the heroes of the community. That is why we like to talk about the Alaskan of the Week.

It is also a great opportunity to talk to people in the Gallery or people watching on TV, on C-SPAN, to get them to come on up to Alaska. Come on up. It will be the trip of a lifetime. Of course, it is a gorgeous, huge State with mountains, glaciers, and wildlife, but when you get off the plane in Alaska, you get the sense of freedom--liberty. You can almost breathe it in ways that you can't in other places.

I tell everybody who is watching: Come on up. You will love it. It will be the trip of a lifetime. You will feel that freedom in the air like you do in almost no other place in the world.

Let me introduce you to our Alaskan of the Week, Jeanne Follett, who has displayed incredible commitment to keep our State clean and special. Let's talk about Jeanne. She was born in Detroit. She moved to Anchorage when she was just 6 years old and has called Alaska home ever since.

Like so many Alaskans, she has led a very interesting and varied life. She began her professional career as a court reporter for the Anchorage Daily News, our big newspaper, covering all kinds of trials when the State was still new and our court system had just been formed. Remember, we are a very young State.

Eventually, she moved to Girdwood, which is a beautiful ski resort town outside of Anchorage, where she was a breakfast cook and managed condos. She got a bit restless. She packed up her 1965 Mustang and drove across the country but missed Alaska so much she came back home again.

Then she worked on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, TAPS, as we call it, that flows the billions of barrels of oil from the North Slope down to Valdez for an energy-hungry country like ours.

She met her husband Ken as she was working on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. They bought a lodge in a wonderful, small community called Moose Pass--a warm, welcoming, and gorgeous Alaska community in the heart of the Kenai Peninsula, about 100 miles south of Anchorage. If you are going to fish the famous Russian River, Moose Pass is a great home base.

Ken and Jeanne worked at the resort until they both retired. Jeanne always liked to keep her yard and her surroundings clean and organized, free of trash, but when her husband Ken, unfortunately, got sick--and, tragically, she lost him over 13 years ago--Jeanne began to spend her days helping clean up the State; picking up trash on the road by her House, farther and farther from her home in Moose Pass.

Think of this, as the snow melts in Alaska, and in all sorts of weather, to this day, Jeanne laces up her hiking boots, grabs her visors, her gloves, her safety vest, drives up the highway to the spot where she left off the previous day, and she starts cleaning up the highway every single day. She gets out her bags. She starts walking and cleaning up trash on the side of the highway. This highway abuts the majestic, beautiful Chugach National Forest. She guesses that every summer, she spends 3 to 6 hours a day volunteering picking up trash. Think about that.

Alaska is a beautiful, pristine place. As a matter of fact, that is one of the things, when people come to visit, they are going to see, but like all States, in particular highway areas in States, you have some garbage. Jeanne takes action every single day. She doesn't get paid. So 3 to 6 hours a day, 5 days a week, she is out there cleaning up the highway. Remarkable.

Sometimes friends and neighbors come and help out or Boy Scouts join her. One summer, she picked up 800 bags of trash to keep Alaska clean and

pristine. People stop on the side of the road to talk to her or ask where the nearest gas station is. Sometimes people donate gas money to her because, remember, she is starting where she left off the next day, driving up the highway 40 miles to continue. It is not just time and effort, it is actual money. She thinks her presence on the side of the highway helps motivate others.

There was a story recently on KTUU, Channel 2, our big news station in Alaska. She said in that story that she thinks she has helped inspire people to keep the whole State clean, whether it is picking up trash themselves or not throwing litter outside your car.

Why does she do it, several hours a day, with no pay, day after day, week after week? She does it because she loves Alaska. She wants to keep it clean. We have hundreds of thousands--really millions--of tourists who come to our State. She doesn't want them to see trash when it is going to be the trip of a lifetime. She said: It embarrasses me to think that tourists from the lower 48 might show up in Alaska and see trash, so I am going to clean it up.

She does it because it is her way to give back to a State that has given her so much. She also gets to see things that others don't see often: beautiful wildflowers on the road, creeks, secret vistas. I am sure she has seen a few bears and a lot of bald eagles and moose. She even saw a man once walking a chicken. Yes, you see everything in Alaska.

Jeanne has found lost items on the side of the road: fishing licenses, cell phones, cameras. She tries her best to get these back to their owners. Once she found a set of hubcaps that had contact information on it for the owner. When she called and told him she had his hubcaps, he couldn't believe it. He was tickled pink to get his hubcaps back.

I think every State has somebody like Jeanne. There is no doubt, we all owe a debt of gratitude to people like Jeanne, working selflessly, volunteering thousands of hours to keep our States like Alaska clean, to keep America clean.

So, Jeanne, thanks for what you are doing for the great State of Alaska, and thank you and congratulations on being our Alaskan of the Week.

I yield the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President.

I wish to commend my colleague from Ohio. The national parks mean so much to us in Alaska, and I am looking forward to getting on that bill as a cosponsor. It is a very important piece of legislation. Once again, Senator Portman is leading the way in the Senate on so many issues.

NATO Summit

Mr. President, this afternoon, I want to say a few words about the President's visit to NATO and the NATO meeting we just had and talk about the importance of alliances and our allies. If you read the press accounts, I think you will see that this trip and the meeting of the President with all of the NATO leaders in Brussels was, overall, a good trip.

There has been this commitment by NATO members since at least 2014-- but it really goes way earlier than 2014--for each country to spend 2 percent or more of their GDP on defense spending so that we share the burden of defense.

The United States has essentially always met this target--easily met this target--but a lot of other countries haven't. They have heard time and again from Presidents about this, and yet they have kind of ignored it.

The success of this trip is that it looks like for the first time in years, NATO countries are moving away from cuts in defense spending. Even in the United States, from 2010 to 2016, we were cutting our defense spending. Although it was way above 2 percent, we cut it by almost 25 percent. We saw a huge drop in readiness. We are changing that. Almost all of the NATO countries are starting to add billions of dollars to defense spending. I think the President deserves a lot of the credit for really pressing this issue. Other U.S. Presidents have pressed it, and the Europeans have kind of ignored it, and it seemed to go away. President Trump stayed focused on it, and we are starting to see a shift, and I think he deserves credit.

The President also highlighted a big national security issue that is in Europe that doesn't get a lot of attention, but that should get a lot of attention, and that is the issue of energy, particularly natural gas and how Russia feeds a lot of Europe--particularly, in this case, Germany. That undermines energy security and national security in Europe and in NATO. It is a controversial topic. A lot of countries in Europe don't like the fact that Germany is spending so much to import Russian gas when NATO is actually focused on defending Europe against Russia. I think the President also did a good job highlighting this issue and how we need to focus on this.

We are seeing some Europeans protesting the visit of our President, but I will state this--and you don't read about this a lot: There has been no Western leader who has done more to undermine Western interests and Western national security and European energy security than the former Chancellor of Germany, Gerhard Schroeder. He was the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, and when he left office, what did he do? He immediately went to work for Gazprom and Vladimir Putin to sell natural gas to European countries, including his own government and his own country, Germany.

To me, that represents a remarkable betrayal of Western values, NATO security, and European energy security. It doesn't get highlighted, but, for our German friends--and they are our good, close allies--it is one thing to protest our President, but take a look at your former Chancellor. He is doing more damage to the national security of Europe and the energy security of Germany and our allies than probably anybody else in Europe.

The bottom line is this 2 percent GDP goal and this concern that we have with Russian energy going into European capitals. These have been bipartisan concerns of Democratic and Republican administrations of the United States for decades, and I think at this NATO summit we are starting to see some good progress.

The President ended the NATO meeting by saying: The United States' commitment to NATO is very strong, remains very strong, and the spirit of countries willing to spend additional amounts of money is amazing to see. To see that level of spirit in the room of all the leaders is incredible.

That is what the President said today, and I think that was a good message with which to end this NATO leaders' summit in Brussels.

I want to emphasize another point about our alliances and about NATO. It is also important to know that NATO is not just the sum of the amount of money that countries spend. That is important. There is no doubt about it. But this alliance, which many have viewed as the most successful military alliance in history, is a lot more than just money. At its heart, it is about common values. At its heart, it is about countries coming together to defend democracy. At its heart, it is about countries that have the same core national security interests.

This is very important. At its heart, it is about shared sacrifice. There is shared sacrifice in the checkbook, yes, but it goes way beyond this. It is very important to remember article 5 of the NATO treaty, which is the treaty by which countries invoke the common defense. When you invoke article 5, that means that all of the other allies are coming to help you. All of the other allies are coming to defend you. Article 5 has been invoked in the NATO treaty, which was passed by this body in 1949, one time. It was invoked one time--one time. When was it invoked? After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Our NATO allies said: We are going to help defend America--that is really important--and they did. They did.

Again, we talk too much about dollars, and I commend the President for what he has done, but let's talk about other shared sacrifice. The alliances we have around the world aren't just about money. Since 9/11, over 1,000 non-U.S. NATO troops have been killed in action in Afghanistan, coming to our defense after 9/11 and going after the terrorists who killed over 3,000 Americans on 9/11. Over 1,000 NATO soldiers--non-American NATO soldiers--have paid the ultimate sacrifice because of the alliance they have with the United States.

You can't put a pricetag on that. You can't put a pricetag on that. Some sacrifices are more than just dollars. Some sacrifices can't be measured in dollars, and I think it is important for all of us here in the Senate, for the Trump administration, and for all Americans to remember that.

I wish to thank the families of those over 1,000 NATO alliance soldiers who have been killed in action and the thousands and thousands more who have been wounded in Afghanistan, hunting down terrorists who killed our citizens. It is very important to remember that.

The bottom line is this when it comes to one of the most important and enduring strategic advantages we have anywhere in the world: We are an ally-rich nation, and our adversaries--

such as Russia, North Korea, and Iran--and our potential adversaries--- such as China--are ally-poor. We are ally-rich. Countries trust us. Countries want to join alliances with the United States, and our adversaries and potential adversaries are ally-poor.

That system of alliances has been built for over 70 years through the hard work of Democratic and Republicans Presidents, Secretaries of State and Defense, and U.S. Senators. It has been a joint collective effort.

Here is something else that is important to know. Our adversaries and potential adversaries know that this is the most important strategic advantage we have over any other country, and that is why for years-- for decades--countries such as Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea have tried to split up our alliances. We shouldn't let that happen. It is important to remember this as we continue to deal with these countries. I think this NATO summit sent a strong message that we are going to stand together for decades more to come.

When it comes to alliances, this body, pursuant to the U.S. Constitution, plays a very important role. The alliances I have talked about--including, especially this week, NATO--came to the Senate for ratification. Again, it is important as we talk about national security, we talk about 2 percent, and we talk about burden sharing. Yes, we need that from our allies, but we also need to remember that our alliances go well beyond the checkbook--common values and shared sacrifice. Sometimes that is the most important issue to remember as we continue to deepen our alliances and expand them throughout the world, which is the best way to keep peace and prosperity, not just for us but for the entire world.

Tribute to Governor Bill Sheffield

Mr. President, it is Thursday afternoon, and the new pages here will hopefully see that this certainly is one of my favorite moments in the Senate, and I know it is the Presiding Officer who gets to see the ``Alaskan of the Week'' every week around this time. I guarantee the young men and women who are doing a great job as our pages are going to start to view this as their favorite time, too, because they get to hear about Alaska and great stories about Alaska. They get to hear about great and wonderful people in the great State of Alaska who are doing great things for their community, their State, and their country. We call that person our Alaskan of the week.

From the onset, we have tried to focus, generally, on people who are unsung heroes in their communities--people who have worked diligently a lot of times without a lot of recognition. With my colleagues, I get to come and tell stories about what they have done for their community or State or even for their country. At other times, we recognize someone in our State who has made the headlines, someone whose contributions are well known through all parts of the State. We just do that because we want to reemphasize it, because it is important.

Today we are going to recognize one of those people who is well known in Alaska but whom we think is worthy certainly of the title of Alaskan of the week because of all he has done. His name is Bill Sheffield. He was our State's Governor in 1982, and he has spent his adult life making Alaska a better place for all of us.

Governor Sheffield's story in Alaska embodies what many of us love about our great State. It doesn't matter where you come from or your social status, in Alaska, if you have grit, tenacity, determination, and a servant's heart, nothing can hold you back.

Governor Sheffield was born in 1928 in Spokane, Washington. When the Depression hit, his family had to grow and sell vegetables to survive. It was during this time that he saw firsthand how President Roosevelt's New Deal, passed by this body, helped people, including his father, who was struggling. The idea that government was there to help people stayed with him and turned him into a lifelong Democrat.

He joined the Air Force and, after his release, joined Sears, Roebuck and Company. In 1952 he moved to the great State of Alaska to work for the company as it expanded throughout the State. He repaired televisions and appliances and took on sales roles, excelling both in repairs and sales. He did this all while suffering from a serious, difficult stutter, one he had carried with him throughout his childhood. He said that when he was a child, he simply couldn't or wouldn't talk. ``I had to point to pictures,'' he told one interviewer. But his stutter lent him tremendous empathy, and it also steeled his determination to work hard to overcome obstacles and succeed.

And succeed he did. He got into the hotel business, eventually owning a chain of 19 hotels across Alaska, but he still wanted something more. He wanted to give back to his community. So, in 1982, as a long-shot politician, he ran for Governor. The long shot came in, and he won.

He always understood, and still does, that infrastructure is the key to creating a path for economic growth in Alaska. We are a resource- rich but infrastructure-poor State. The policies that he undertook as Governor and the projects that were built during his administration-- likely more infrastructure projects than any other Governor--still have a huge impact on our State today.

Let me just mention a few of them.

The largest zinc and lead mine literally in the world, the Red Dog mine in Northwest Alaska, was made possible by his hard work and that of countless other Alaskans.

The Ketchikan Shipyard was built during the Sheffield administration.

An aggressive road and construction program was undertaken throughout the State, particularly in the city of Anchorage.

The Bradley Lake hydro project near Homer was built during his administration, along with several other hydro projects throughout Southeast Alaska.

He traveled extensively throughout rural Alaska. He went to almost every single village in our State. We have over 200 that are not connected by roads, so that was hard to do. Almost every one was visited by our Governor.

But his crowning achievement was the purchase of the Alaska Railroad. When he first became Governor, the Federal Government had owned the railroad and was threatening to shut it down, which would have been devastating to our State. There were no private buyers, so Governor Sheffield worked with the State legislature and the congressional delegation to buy the railroad from the Federal Government. Then they created a State-owned corporation designed to be operated like a private business, and that railroad, the Alaska Railroad, still serves as a critical transportation link for goods and people throughout Alaska. Since his time in office, Governor Sheffield has continued his ties to the railroad as CEO and chairman of the board.

He has also continued to serve in other public service capacities, such as the port director in Anchorage, and he has contributed to numerous causes and served on many charitable boards, like the Alaska Community Foundation board, and has received countless awards and recognition for his public service.

But what really makes Governor Sheffield so special to so many is that he is just a kind, warm person. He is always lending a hand to others. He is always there for many when he is needed. He does this without regard for political affiliation. His house is always full of Republicans, Democrats, and Libertarians. Last year, I was at a great event at his house, where he honored the Coast Guard Foundation. Many members, both current and past, from both sides of the political aisle--including from this body--have eaten wonderful dinners in his home, including my good friend Senator John McCain, who had dinner in Governor Sheffield's house with Senator Hillary Clinton. That is bipartisanship. When he opens his doors to his beautiful home, all are welcome.

Governor Sheffield recently celebrated his 90th birthday with a party in Anchorage. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend, but I heard it was one for the ages. Hundreds of people showed up. People from all walks of life and all political affiliations were there, all of them sharing deep affection for one of our State's giants, a man with a huge heart, who has made life better for countless Alaskans.

Governor Sheffield, from the Senate, happy 90th birthday. Thanks for your great service to our great State and all you have done. Congratulations on being our Alaskan of the Week.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I want to thank my colleague Senator Murkowski from the great State of Alaska--our great State--for talking about someone we really care about and someone who will do really important things for the entire country.

Senator Murkowski talked about Tara Sweeney's background. When we had the confirmation hearing in Indian Affairs, I had the honor of introducing her. She did fantastic in that interview. Republicans and Democrats all agree.

When you look at her background, she is a leader. You can read her resume. You can see all of the things that this relatively young woman has accomplished. Senator Murkowski mentioned some. She was, for example, the cochair of the Alaska Federation of Natives. That is an elected position in Alaska. Almost 20 percent of our population is Alaska Native. She was one of the youngest cochairs ever on that incredibly important organization.

She was the chair of the Arctic Economic Conference. She has also served in leadership positions at her Alaska Native Regional Corporations and the

National Congress of American Indians, and she is ready to lead an organization that needs leadership. She is clearly qualified.

Sometimes there can be confusion in terms of the laws that this body passes. In 1971 the Congress of the United States passed, and the President of the United States signed, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, or ANCSA back home. As Senator Murkowski mentioned, this set up not reservation systems like we have in the lower 48 but a very innovative approach to Alaska Native claims for their land, and 44 million acres of State and Federal land went to the possession and ownership of the first peoples of Alaska. It was very innovative.

This body created Alaska regional corporations and village corporations, of which all our Alaska Native people are shareholders. My wife is a shareholder. My daughters are shareholders. That was mandated by the Congress. Yet, as Tara Sweeney has gone through her confirmation process, the Federal Government seemed to wake up to the fact that Alaska Native individuals owned shares in these Alaska corporations that Congress created, and time and again, they started to seemingly almost hold it against her.

Let me give you a little bit of a timeline of the delays that Senator Murkowski mentioned. She was nominated by the President to serve as the Assistant Secretary on October 16, 2017. That is almost 9 months ago.

First, her nomination went through a very long process through the Office of Government Ethics--again, because of the birthright shares that she is entitled to as an Alaskan Native because Congress told them that. So there was confusion. Again, a lot of people didn't know what this was. At one point, there was even the sense that she couldn't have the job until she sold her shares. But she can't sell her shares, as Senator Murkowski said. It is not like owning IBM or Microsoft.

Certainly, we were saying that if that were the precedent, you would rule out an entire class of great people--our constituents--from serving in the Federal Government. That couldn't be the precedent.

She has worked through this with the Office of Government Ethics, which has completely cleared her with regard to how she is going to manage these shares and recuse herself from anything her regional corporation has before her, which, by the way, historically, has almost never happened. She said she would do this in writing. That satisfied the Office of Government Ethics.

Her nomination hearing was held on May 9, where she again committed to recuse herself from matters that pertain to her regional corporation.

On June 6, she was unanimously voted out of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. During the confirmation hearing, she said several times that she would recuse herself. In that hearing, as I mentioned, members on both sides again asked for assurances that she would recuse herself from issues pertaining to her regional corporation, and again, she provided assurances in writing after the hearing.

You are starting to see a pattern here. I am not sure there is anyone who has gone through Senate confirmation recently who has had to reassure and say she is going to recuse herself again and again on an issue more than Tara Sweeney has. It is pretty remarkable, when you think about the fact that the reason she has these shares is because this body voted to create the act in 1971, and yet there is amnesia all over this city and, certainly, in this body.

Once again, as we are trying to move her to the floor, it looks like there has been another demand for another assurance and another letter on the same issues. So once again, Ms. Sweeney has provided that. Certainly, I hope that my colleagues--whoever is demanding this--will say: That is enough. If this very highly qualified person owned IBM or Microsoft or something like that, this would have been done and over. She would have recused herself. Yet, somehow, because she is an Alaska Native shareholder, there seems to be cause for additional delay. I think that is sad.

I certainly hope that is not intended to somehow focus on making it more difficult for an Alaska Native to serve in such an important position. I hope that is not what is going on here. The pattern is starting to get a little bit difficult to endure.

I think further delay, as Senator Murkowski mentioned, is a disservice to someone as qualified as Tara Sweeney, and it is not reasonable. She has been waiting for months. Every time there has been a demand made on her, she does it. Every time there is a letter to ask her to reassure something, she has reassured several times. She does it, but there is delay. That is not good for the individual. It is not good, actually, for trying to get good people to serve in the Federal Government, which we all want.

Senator Murkowski also underscored that further delay is not good for anyone who is an Alaska Native or an American Indian or somebody who cares about them, like we do, because right now, the most important position in the Federal Government, the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs at the Department of Interior--which will be headed by someone who is immensely qualified in Tara Sweeney--is not filled. As Senator Murkowski mentioned, there is so much work to be done. This woman is a leader. She will get on it. She will get on it to help Alaska Native people and to help lower 48 American Indians.

We all know there are significant challenges on reservations and in some of the Alaska Native villages. We need a leader, and we have the leader. We have her. I am really concerned if there is going to be any more delay. What this body should do is confirm her right now.

Senator Murkowski and I are getting ready to ask at a certain point today, before the Senate moves to recess for the Fourth of July recess, for a unanimous consent request. As far as I can tell, almost every Senator knows that this is important. I am certainly hoping all my colleagues are not going to ask for further delay. I am certainly hoping they are not going to ask for further delay that somehow relates to her being an Alaska Native. That would be highly inappropriate.

Hopefully, we can move this nomination forward for confirmation today so that Tara Sweeney can get to work for some of the most important people in this country. We have been without a leader in this position for way too long.

I am certainly encouraging my colleagues--everybody here--to clear this unanimous consent request when we make it, and that we get her confirmed today.

Madam President, it is Thursday, and it is one of the best times of the week for me. I know the Parliamentarians and others who work in the Senate know, and now the pages are going to learn this, too, because it is the time every week when I get to talk about what I call the Alaskan of the Week. I am referring to someone who has made a difference in my State, someone who is doing a great job, and someone who is oftentimes an unsung hero and doesn't get a lot of attention but deserves it. That is what I do here.

As I like to say, Alaska is a very beautiful State. I think it is the most beautiful State in the country, probably the most beautiful place in the world. Now summer has arrived, and the Sun hardly ever sets. The fish are running. The air is drenched in the energy of summer, so now is the time to visit. Everybody who is watching or watching on TV, you have to come visit. The Presiding Officer came a couple summers ago. We had a great time. Her father was out there during World War II, which was a great honor. So you will have the trip of a lifetime.

By the way, you will also have the best food in the world. Interestingly enough, in the Senate on Thursdays, one Senator typically hosts a lunch. Today, I am hosting. I think my colleagues will like this. You can almost smell the aroma. Right now, we are making it in the kitchen here--salmon, halibut, reindeer sausage. We are all going to be treated to that in a little bit.

What is truly amazing about my State is the people who call it home-- smart, creative, energetic, caring people, folks helping each other.

Today, I want to talk about our Alaskan of the Week, Mr. Greg Brown. He comes at the suggestion of quite a few members of my staff, who call him Mr. Brown. The lobbying campaign in my office for Mr. Brown to be the Alaskan of the Week has been intense.

Mr. Brown, as he is known far and wide among those who went to Anchorage's Dimond High School, is a legend among his former students at Dimond, where for 25 years he taught European and U.S. history, art history, philosophy, and student government.

Many of us are fortunate enough to have had that teacher or person-- usually, it is a teacher--who really changed our lives and showed us the pure joy of learning; as my director of constituent relations, Rachel Bylsma, put it, that person ``that made history come alive,'' that person who made an ``indelible impact'' on someone's life or many lives. For Rachel, Andrew--one of my interns, who is here with me on the floor--and five members of my staff in DC and back home in Alaska, that person is Mr. Brown. So let's talk a little bit about Mr. Brown.

Originally from Texas, when he was 15 years old, his family moved to Alaska when his father, who was in the oil business, got transferred to Alaska. A lot of Texans up in Alaska fall in love with it, as he did. He moved back to Texas as a teenager, but Alaska stilled beckoned, and it was never really out of his mind, so in 1989, when his father moved back again, he went back--now with a master's degree and a few years of teaching--and he never left. He was a substitute teacher for a while and in 1993 got a full-time position at Dimond High, where he has stayed, learned, taught, and where he has inspired thousands of students--think about it: 25 years.

What makes a good teacher? According to Mr. Brown, it is vital that you, the teacher, fall in love with the subject and also, just as importantly, that

you listen sympathetically, and you should know how to reach your students. Sometimes that is through books, Mr. Brown said, and sometimes the most important thing you can do is just play a game of chess with a student. I think that is what Andrew and Mr. Brown did. According to his students, Mr. Brown did these kinds of things.

Mr. Brown was a demanding and exacting teacher. The papers they wrote for him were graded hard--graduate school-quality. He demanded excellence, which is another great attribute of a teacher. Because of his passion for the subjects he taught and the way he treated the students--he treated them like adults who were ready to learn and deliver--he made a huge impact. And learn they did. They read the classics--John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Socrates, Plato, Machiavelli, Marx. Martin Luther, Patrick Henry, Thomas Paine, and on and on. They learned about the profound impact the Reformation had on Europe. They learned about the ramifications of governmental authority. They learned about how art can be a language that reflects the present. They learned about how alliances are formed, how leaders are born, and how the clashing of events can lead to devastating wars and world-altering peace treaties. They learned about the roots of all different forms of government. They learned to love--or at least appreciate and understand--our own government and the importance of institutions like the U.S. Senate.

This year was Mr. Brown's last year as a teacher. He is, unfortunately, retiring. He bought a plot of land in Willow, AK, the part of the Alaska we call the Mat-Su Valley. He is going to garden, he is going to fish, he is going to read, and he is going to travel, but he is still going to be with us, and he can do that in part because of a gift he received from his students at his retirement party.

This is quite unusual. This party, which was thrown for him by his students at his retirement, was quite amazing. Hundreds of his past students showed up to pay tribute to Mr. Brown. Some of them gave speeches. Many of them cried. At the end, they handed him a picture that one of his students painted. It was a reinterpretation of the School of Athens by the 16th-century artist Raphael, but it substituted Mr. Brown for Plato in that very famous painting.

Then something really amazing happened at that party. The students also handed Mr. Brown a voucher. They had individually raised $16,500 for him to travel the world. Think about that. Motivated and inspired students, over 25 years, came together, threw a party, and raised money for their beloved teacher just to show him their deep admiration and abiding appreciation. That is very special for a special teacher.

What was his reaction to the gift? Mr. Brown said:

I wanted to go somewhere and gently weep. My students have

always given me more than I have given them.

Now, Mr. Brown, I am not sure that is true. You have given so much. In fact, at the party, one of my staffers--I already mentioned Rachel-- in her speech about Mr. Brown said, ``Each student you taught . . . carries a piece of the precious gift you gave, learning the contours of history and the trends that have defined the course of humankind.'' Powerful stuff.

So, Mr. Brown, thank you for all you have done for our young people, for our State--really, for the country--producing great Alaskans with a sense of civic duty and history. Thank you for being such a great teacher--and we have so many in our great State--and thank you, on your retirement, for being our Alaskan of the Week.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Andrew Hampton, an intern in my office, be granted floor privileges for the remainder of the day.

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

Mr. President, it is Thursday, and that means it is the afternoon when I get to talk about someone in my State who is doing a great job for the State, and oftentimes for the country--someone who is really making a difference. As the Presiding Officer and the pages know, I like to refer to this person as the ``Alaskan of the Week.'' It is one of my favorite parts of the week in the Senate, being able to talk about someone who has made a real difference.

When I give this speech every week, I like to talk about what is going on in Alaska. It is a beautiful State. It is the biggest State-- we all know that--in the country. The State is fully in bloom. Its tourists are flocking north by the tens of thousands to view the wildlife, glaciers, mountains, to eat our delicious seafood, take in amazing views through hikes, and have an adventure.

I want to make sure that everyone who is watching in the Galleries or on TV on C-SPAN--you have to come to Alaska. You will have the trip of a lifetime, guaranteed. Come on up.

What is truly impressive about my State is the people who live there and the sense of community we have there. Alaska isn't always the easiest place to live. It is far from the lower 48 States. The weather can be extreme, but, as a result, the people in the communities bond, and they work together, particularly in some of our most remote communities. We are one big community in Alaska, even though our State is so big.

Every community in Alaska and America needs to be able to share reliable, credible information. On that topic, there has been quite a lot of negative attention paid to the national media, in particular, these past few years. Some of it is merited; nobody is perfect, right? But the vital role of local journalism and how that plays in different communities across our country haven't been talked about nearly enough. We all know this, and in many ways we all benefit from the thousands of local reporters who are working in our country, day in and day out, reporting great factfinding stories and working hard. I believe we should all be saluting them for doing this important work, and that is what we are doing here today.

I would like to introduce Ed Schoenfeld, a reporter in Alaska who is our Alaskan of the Week and who has been reliably reporting the news from Southeast Alaska for 37 years. He recently took a well-earned retirement. Well done, Ed. You are our Alaskan of the Week.

Let me talk a little bit about him. He hitchhiked to Fairbanks when he was 20 years old for a little trip, and as so many do, he promised himself that when he had the opportunity, he would go back to Alaska. That opportunity came in 1979 when the program director position opened up in the public broadcasting station KTOO in Juneau, AK.

Now, Alaska public radio was and still is, in many ways, renowned across the country for its local reporting and for its crucial link to rural communities who need that reporting throughout our State--and need it badly. Interestingly, I think, because of the challenges it presents to reporters, some of National Public Radio's most famous reporters nationally--NPR's most famous reporters--have all cut their teeth in Alaska. So some of the people listening probably heard of Peter Kenyon, Corey Flintoff, Elizabeth Arnold. These are kind of the big dogs at NPR right now. Well, they all got their start in Alaska.

So public radio is where Alaskans throughout my State get their news about the weather, about whale hunts, about bear attacks, about births, deaths, crimes, baptism, good works, bad deeds, and you name it; that is where we get our information. In smaller communities, this information could be critical. Because public radio stations across Alaska work cooperatively, they always pretty much keep it local.

So, from KTOO, Ed went to the newsroom of the Juneau Empire, where he

stayed for 18 years. That is the big paper in Juneau. For the last 15 years, he has been one of the voices of Southeast Alaska on CoastAlaska, a public broadcasting consortium of five local communities. His nickname is ``dean of the Douglas press corps.'' Now, this is a bit of a joke, not toward him but just what ``Douglas'' means. Douglas is an island of about 3,000 people.

As the Juneau Empire put it, Ed has earned the professorial status of the dean of the press corps. That status came about because of the dozens and dozens of reporters he has trained and mentored throughout the years, and that is a great legacy.

Of course, he also takes his work very seriously. He has done plenty of lighthearted features about equestrians in Wrangell, exploring caves in the Tongass National Forest, which is the largest national forest in the country.

There are also deeper dives, as you would expect from a serious journalist. He has won an investigative journalism award about allegations of corruption related to a State contract. He has covered our important businesses extensively. There is nobody who has done more digging into an issue that I and my fellow Alaskans care deeply about-- particularly in Southeast--and that is what we call the transboundary mining issue--mining waste that comes from mines in Canada into Alaska's waters. Ed has focused on that more than any other reporter, and it is an issue that, as I mentioned, many of us take very seriously. Transboundary mining is complex. Ed has traveled both in Canada and Alaska to the communities that are impacted by this pollution. He has spoken to everyone--community leaders, fishermen, government officials, environmentalists, mining companies, tourism businesses--and what he ultimately came to on this subject is that our concerns about this pollution are legitimate, but unlike some are saying, not all mines are bad--certainly not in Alaska. We have a number of mines, and certainly some are trying to do the right thing. It is more complicated than what the critics often say, says Ed. That is the way it is on most stories, and that is why we need good reporters.

So many issues are complicated. We can get so frustrated with the kind of simplistic ``he said, she said'' reporting that gets in the papers or on TV today, but good reporters, as we all know, dig much deeper. They cut through the propaganda. They lay out all the facts and facets of an issue and, in many ways, they let us decide. They recognize the people who are listening are intelligent, and they try and help us figure out the importance of some of these big issues. These are the kind of reporters we need in every community. These are the kind of reporters who I think are critical for our democracy.

So now Ed will spend more time with his wife--also a former reporter--Betsy and his two daughters, Elizabeth and Maggie. I am sorry to see him, as I am sure most Alaskans are, hang up his dean's robe. I know his colleagues are sad, but there will be others who follow in his footsteps, others he has mentored--young, eager reporters who want to inform their community, reliably report the news and facts, and of course there is no better place to do that than in Alaska.

So, Ed, thanks for all of your 37 years of hard work for our great State, and congratulations on being our Alaskan of the Week. Your voice will be missed.

Mr. President, as you know right now, we are debating on the Senate floor the National Defense Authorization Act, and I want to congratulate Senator Inhofe, my good friend from Oklahoma and the acting chairman of the Armed Services Committee. I also certainly want to congratulate Senator McCain, whom we are all praying for, who is struggling with some health issues right now, who is the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, and Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the ranking member on the Armed Services Committee, for the great work they have done shepherding this very important piece of legislation through the committee process. Now we have it on the floor, and we are debating it. It is certainly one of the most important pieces of legislation we bring to the Senate floor every year.

It is over 50 years, without missing 1 year, we have moved the NDAA bill, which authorizes funding and policies for the men and women in our military, through the Senate floor. So there are a bunch of things in this bill that are very important for our troops, for the national defense of our Nation. By the way, it is a very bipartisan bill, just like it was last year. So we are going to be discussing this for the next week, and hopefully people watching back home or here in Washington will get a sense of just how important this legislation is.

What I want to do this afternoon is talk about two provisions my team and I authored in this bill. They are two provisions that are very important, as the President of the United States and his team head to Singapore for the summit that the world is watching with the dictator of North Korea, Kim Jong Un. I wanted to highlight two key sections because what they are meant to do is strengthen the President's hand and the leverage of the United States as the leaders of our country move into these negotiations with a very unpredictable dictator whom, in my view, we can't trust at all. Nevertheless, what we are trying to do is bolster the President's hand in these negotiations, and we are all cautiously optimistic that something positive can come out of this summit.

So what are these two provisions? The first provision deals with strengthening America's missile defense, and the second one focuses on the status of U.S. military forces on the Korean Peninsula. What I would like to do first is talk about the missile defense provisions in the NDAA this year.

Now, as this chart shows, Kim Jong Un has dramatically increased testing for North Korea's missile program and nuclear program. If you look at what happened under his grandfather Kim Il Sung and his father Kim Jong Il, the current leader of North Korea has dramatically increased both the testing on intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear missiles, and nuclear weapons.

Fortunately--and I think the American people want this--we have seen this threat coming. A number of us have seen this threat coming. So that is why, in last year's national defense authorization, we had a bill--my office authored it, but we had many cosponsors, both Democrats and Republicans--to significantly enhance our Nation's missile defense. That passed in the NDAA. It was fully funded by the end of the year-- almost $5 billion to increase missile defense for our Nation.

What it did is it increased capacity, building new fields of missiles that can shoot down any incoming missiles. It increased capability, which would mean accelerating technology for multiple warheads on top of each missile to again increase our ability to shoot down any incoming missile, and it required more testing by the Missile Defense Agency so we can perfect the regional and homeland missile defenses we have in the United States. That is big progress. It is already happening, and of course that is really important, given the threat we now face as a country.

As Alaska's Senator, I am proud of the fact that a lot--actually most--of our Nation's missile defense is located in the great State of Alaska. This is simply physics. This is physics and location, location, location. If there is going to be a threat from either Iran or North Korea or anywhere else with regard to the United States of America, that threat is almost always going to fly over Alaska.

We have our radar systems there. We have long-range discrimination radar there. We have the missile fields protecting every city from New York to L.A., to Miami, all based in the great State of Alaska.

So what are we doing this year? Well, we have an entire new section in the NDAA that builds on what we did last year to dramatically increase our Nation's missile defense even more because you can never be too sure on this. This is an insurance policy that is going to protect every city in America.

So this year, in the current NDAA we are debating right now, the big issues with regard to missile defense are that this bill calls for the development and deployment of space-based sensors. It mandates these within the next couple of years--critical. It also promotes a more integrated missile defense, accelerates our defenses against what are called hypersonic threats--not ballistic missiles but hypersonic threats. Importantly, in terms of missile defense, this bill focuses on our allies, working together with our allies in Korea, in

Japan, and other places in Europe to share these missile defense capabilities so we, as our allies, have a much more robust system.

Let me talk briefly on the very important issue of space-based sensors. Every expert who has testified in front of the Armed Services Committee, whether the current Director of the Missile Defense Agency, General Greaves; whether the four-star general in charge of strategic command, General Hyten; or whether the former Director of the Missile Defense Agency, Admiral Syring, they have all said space-based sensors are critical. The time is now.

What does that mean? What does that do? Well, we have different systems in different parts of the country or different parts of the world. In South Korea, we have the THAAD system. Off the coast of Japan with our Navy, we have the Aegis system ashore and on our Navy ships. Then, back home, we have the home-based system, and that is mostly based in Alaska.

What a space-based sensor program does is it integrates all these systems and has the ability to track--what the military calls an unblinking eye--the ability to track a missile that is shot at our country or shot at our troops from the moment it is shot until the end. We don't have that yet, but we need it to integrate these different systems. Importantly, that is what the NDAA we are debating this year will do to further bolster our Nation's missile defense.

Why do we need that? There has been a lot of recent good will with regard to Kim Jong Un. I want to read a quote by him from this past January. It is a New Year's Day quote. He said:

The whole of [the U.S.] mainland is within the range of our

nuclear strike and the nuclear button is on my office desk

all the time; the United States needs to be clearly aware

that this is not merely a threat but a reality. . . . This

year we should focus on mass producing nuclear warheads and

ballistic missiles for operational deployment.

That is from Kim Jong Un just a couple of months ago. So let's not be taken by this dictator too much as he meets with the President. For decades, he and his dad and his grandfather have been threatening the United States and our troops on the peninsula and our allies in Korea and Japan.

With this state-of-the-art technology, this missile defense system, we are giving the President additional leverage in his negotiations. Indeed, people are asking: Why did Kim Jong Un come to the table? He has been very belligerent. He is saying things like he said on his New Year's Day address. It is really three things: the maximum pressure campaign; the diplomatic campaign by the President, by the administration, by this Congress--we have passed very aggressive legislation on sanctions; and it has been the development by Secretary Mattis of credible military options in the event diplomacy doesn't work.

The Koreans know we are serious. That is ongoing. And with the Secretary of Defense--a former four-star Marine general, Secretary Mattis--I don't think anyone thinks he is bluffing. So that is putting pressure on the North Koreans, and it is this system--this system. The North Koreans know we are now developing technology, so if Kim Jong Un does want to go out in a flame of glory and tries to fire one or two or three intercontinental ballistic missiles at New York or Chicago or L.A., the system we have here, which we are further bolstering, will shoot it down. This is going to give the President more leverage.

We are confident that section 1249 of the NDAA will increase the President's leverage. It involves the critical issue of our U.S. military forces on the Korean Peninsula. This section expresses the will of the Senate by highlighting some key points as they relate to our military on the Korean Peninsula and the history of that military.

What is in this section? It talks about how the United States and South Korea have been allies for decades and how our military forces on the Korean Peninsula, working closely in conjunction with the South Korean military and our alliance, have been the linchpin of peace and security, not just on the Korean Peninsula but in the entire Indo- Pacific region.

This provision of the NDAA focuses on how South Korea has contributed heavily not only to its own defense but also to what our military forces are doing on the Korean Peninsula. It emphasizes that U.S. military forces, pursuant to international law since the outbreak of the Korean war in 1950, have been lawfully deployed on the Korean Peninsula. Yet the nuclear and ballistic missile programs of North Korea are in clear and consistent violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions and international law. Importantly, this provision focuses on the fact that China, Russia, and North Korea have had as their long- term strategic goals the removal of U.S. military forces on the Korean Peninsula. That is what they want.

Indeed, there are reports in the media and other places that President Xi Jinping of China may be trying to coach Kim Jong Un, saying: When you go to these negotiations with President Trump, one thing to shoot for is to get rid of those American forces on the Korean Peninsula. Make that one of your goals.

This provision ends by saying it is the bipartisan sense of the Senate that the significant removal of U.S. military forces from the Korean Peninsula is a nonnegotiable item with Kim Jong Un for his nukes. We are not going to trade lawfully deployed U.S. military forces on the Peninsula for illegal nukes that the North Koreans have developed.

What are we trying to do here? First of all, this is a point that Secretary Mattis has been emphasizing. As a matter of fact, last week I led a CODEL of Senators to a defense ministers' conference in Singapore. This is the biggest military conference of defense ministers, foreign ministers, in the entire Asia-Pacific region.

Secretary Mattis and his team, the Secretary of the Navy, and the admiral in charge of the Indo-Pacific were all there. We met with them and strategized with them. Secretary Mattis gave a great speech on U.S. strategy in the Indo-Pacific, as we are now calling it. He was asked about this very topic. He said this is not an issue that is on the table with Kim Jong Un, nor should it be. The issue of possibly removing U.S. military forces is not even a subject of negotiation.

You see here in this picture U.S. marines and ROK marines training together. We are not going to talk about the issue of moving our legally deployed forces on the Peninsula in exchange for illegally developed nukes and intercontinental ballistic missiles. This is what Secretary Mattis said last week in front of all the defense ministers of Asia.

What we are trying to do with this provision in the NDAA is strengthen the leverage of the administration and show Kim Jong Un--and let's face it, Russia and China, which also want these forces gone-- that the Congress of the United States and the executive branch, the Trump administration, speak with one voice on this issue. What this provision in the NDAA says is exactly what Secretary Mattis said last week. So we are speaking with one voice on this very important issue that is likely going to come up in Singapore when the President is there.

Again, we know some of our adversaries in the region want these forces gone. I don't think that makes strategic sense. Fortunately, neither does a very strong, bipartisan group of Senators. When this bill passes the Senate, we are going to have the entire Senate speaking with one voice on this.

I had the opportunity to talk to Secretary Mattis, Secretary Pompeo, Ambassador Bolton, who is the National Security Advisor, and the President about this provision in the NDAA and how it is the Senate's intent to give them more leverage in the upcoming negotiations with North Korea. I think they are all appreciative of what we are trying to do in the Senate with this important section in the National Defense Authorization Act.

Let me conclude by making a bit of a historical point, but it is actually quite an important point, as we talk about this topic. The Senate has actually played a critical role on this very issue previously. Some might recall that President Jimmy Carter, when he was elected, actually ran on this topic. One of the campaign promises he made, remarkably--I think it was strategically very misguided--was to run on this issue: When I get elected, I am going to remove U.S. military forces out of South Korea. That is what Jimmy Carter campaigned on.

When he got in, he started to look at ways to implement that. Then the Senate reacted. You have long-term strategic interests represented by this body, and a very famous Senator of the President's own party-- Jimmy Carter was a Democrat, and Senator Scoop Jackson of Washington State was a well-known Senator and well-known foreign policy national security expert. He led a delegation of Senators to South Korea. They looked at this issue in detail after President Carter was elected. They came back to Washington after this trip, and they said: It is not a good idea to remove our forces, which have kept the peace on the Korean Peninsula since 1953. We don't think this is a good idea.

The story goes that Scoop Jackson actually went to the White House, talked to President Carter, and said: The Senate is going to oppose this. You are going to have a hard time removing these troops.

So we have a role to play here; we have had a role to play here; and we have played this role.

I want to end with one final anecdote from that trip. The Senate Navy liaison officer who helped lead that delegation of Senators in the late 1970s to South Korea was a Navy captain by the name of John McCain. Yes, that is right; the John McCain whom I mentioned we are all praying for, and by the way, we named this bill after him. This is the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act. The current chairman of the Armed Services Committee who wrote this bill was on that trip as a captain in the U.S. Navy. I think that historical fact makes this provision in the current bill we are debating now, the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act, even more powerful.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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