Floor Statements

Mr. President, as I mentioned earlier, I come to the floor every week to talk about my great State and to talk about the people of my great State--the people who make it a better place for all of us. We call these people the Alaskan of the Week. It is one of the most fulfilling parts of my job to come here and talk about people who make a difference, people who don't get a lot of press, people who don't get a lot of attention, but people who are doing the right thing for their country and for their community.

Right now in Alaska, we have tourists, people coming from all over, and one of the things happening in Alaska is salmon season. The biggest runs in the world--the bounty of our great State--are happening right now, and the fish are running. If you or anyone listening has ever had the opportunity to catch or eat wild Alaskan salmon, of course, it is the memory of a lifetime. There is nothing better; there is no better fish in the world.

There is great salmon fishing all across Alaska, but one of the most heavily fished areas in Alaska and the

world is on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula, about 45 minutes from Anchorage. Millions of salmon run up the rivers of the Kenai, drawing tens of thousands of Alaska sports, personal use, and commercial fishermen, as well as visitors from all over the country, all over the world to fish the amazing Kenai River.

The area can continue to support a lot of traffic, but when you have that many people on the Kenai, sometimes it does cause congestion. So let me talk about someone who works on these issues for Alaska--Kathy Heindl.

Kathy is an engineer with Homer Electric Association on the Kenai. Ten years ago, she visited Alaska as a tourist. She saw the Northern Lights dancing in the winter, the snow-covered mountains, and she knew she was home. She loves the Kenai. There is a sense of freedom there and all across Alaska. It is a place where there is room to pave your own path but support others and the community around you, and, of course, there are the salmon.

Since Kathy moved to Alaska, she has been working to give back to the community that she loves so much. She is an active member and past president of her local Rotary Club. She is a member of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Community Emergency Response Team. She is also a member of a group that operates ham radios in order to help if there is a disaster and shuts down cell service or other communication devices.

During the summer, right now, she spends much of her free time as a Kenai Peninsula Stream Watch volunteer with the Kenai Watershed Forum, helping to make sure that she will have a sustainable fishery--that we will have a sustainable fishery in the Kenai and throughout the State for generations to come. A few times a week, for as many as 6 hours at a time, she roams the fishing spots, picking up trash, helping others, speaking with anglers. She talks to them about how to protect themselves. She carries around safety goggles--you never want a hook in the eye. She talks about what happens when you run into a bear, which happens a lot in our great State, and the best way to avoid them, and importantly, she educates anglers on how to protect the vegetated banks on this great river to maintain the health of the river and the amazing salmon in it.

The vast majority of the people in Alaska and from out of State who fish the Kenai are responsible and want to help in any way they can, and they love Kathy's help, but, still, all the activity in the area has created erosion problems, which has the potential to hurt the fish.

The Kachemak Heritage Land Trust, a land stewardship and conservation trust based in Homer, recently recognized Kathy's efforts and presented her with the King Maker Award. ``It is your selfless actions that help protect the vital habitat needed for salmon to live and thrive,'' the land trust wrote to her. ``Great role models such as yourself can inspire others in our communities to take action by following your lead'' and your example.

Mr. President, I want to congratulate Kathy for all the work she is doing, especially in this busy summer in Alaska, and for being our Alaskan of the Week.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I wanted to weigh in on a debate that took place on the floor a couple of hours ago--actually, when I was presiding in the chair--between the majority leader and the minority leader on what we are going to be doing here in the next couple of days on the Senate floor.

So right now we are having a healthcare debate. We are finally having a healthcare debate. Many Members on both sides of the aisle--I say to the Presiding Officer, I saw your speech a few hours ago--are talking about the importance of healthcare for our country, the importance of, from our perspective, repealing, replacing, repairing a healthcare system that is not working. It is certainly not working the way in which it was promised to Americans. I will not repeat all the promises made by the former President and many Senators, but we know those haven't come to pass.

As a matter of fact, a number of us--I certainly believe in my State, the State of Alaska, the so-called Affordable Care Act has done a lot more damage than good. Here are just a few statistics in Alaska: Premiums in the individual market went up over 200 percent since the enactment of the Affordable Care Act--200 percent. Alaskans in that market--individual Alaskans, for one health insurance plan for one individual, pay almost $1,100 a month in premiums for healthcare. That is not affordable.

So we are debating it. It is important. There is an open amendment process. We are probably going to be debating all night, and that is what we should be doing--the world's greatest deliberative body debating a very important topic, but healthcare is not the only issue the Senate is focused on.

Mr. President, I want to talk a little bit about what is going on here on the Senate floor. We were just considering the nomination of the Deputy Secretary of Defense, trying to move him along--a very important job--and it has taken some time. As a matter of fact, it has taken a long time, as the Presiding Officer knows, to get nominees from the White House confirmed by this body to run the government.

Running the government is a very important job. We not only need Cabinet Secretaries--which, by the way, took months for this body to confirm. They slowed down the confirmation of the choices of the White House to run the Federal agencies--no real explanation why--and now, Under Secretaries, Deputy Secretaries, Assistant Secretaries, Federal judges--delay, delay, delay, delay.

We are supposed to be trying to put people in place to run the government, which is the job of the Senate, but it has taken a very long time to do it, and it shouldn't be this way. It shouldn't be this way.

When we look at U.S. history, typically, enabling a President to fill the key positions of government has not been a partisan issue. An election happens. Yes, there could be some debate on Cabinet officials, but you typically want to fill the government and start running the government on behalf of the American people. It has not been a partisan issue in America. Well, unfortunately, it is becoming a partisan issue due to what by any measure is historic obstruction on the nominations coming from the White House to run the Federal Government--historic obstruction.

The people did elect us, and they elected a new President, and implicit in the election was that they wanted us to get to work, to do things that, in my view, are very bipartisan. What are some of those things? Growing the economy. We haven't had 3 percent GDP growth in almost 15 years. That is a bipartisan issue--growing the economy. So are rebuilding our military, unleashing energy that we have in this great Nation in enormous abundance, investing in infrastructure, streamlining regulations that are strangling small businesses, and, yes, enacting policies to address the spiraling costs of health insurance and healthcare costs across the country.

Throughout history, the party in the minority understood this after an election and would vote to confirm new members of an administration--not just Cabinet Secretaries but Under Secretaries, Deputy Secretaries, Assistant Secretaries, and judges. In fact, the current minority leader said the following in 2013: ``Who in America doesn't think a President, Democrat or Republican, deserves his or her picks for who should run the agencies? Nobody.''

``Nobody,'' he said.

Those were wise words in 2013. I just wish he would remember them in 2017 because apparently he has forgotten those words. He has forgotten those words, because right now there is pure obstruction in terms of trying to seat the people to run the government.

Sometimes it is important to try to explain to the American people what is going on here on the Senate floor because it can be confusing. I still get confused sometimes. There are arcane rules. Let's give an example of what just happened here right now.

We had the Deputy Secretary of Defense, the No. 2 official at the Department of Defense. That is a pretty darn important job. After he came out of the Armed Services Committee, on which I sit, we voted to end debate on his nomination. The vote just happened, and I believe it was 88 to 6, so very bipartisan.

By the way, we need people at the Department of Defense. Whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, regardless of whom you voted for in the November elections, most Americans want us to have good people running the Department of Defense right now. We have very few there--very few-- because of this obstruction.

For the Deputy Secretary, the cloture vote just happened, 88 to 6. That is a very strong bipartisan vote. In previous times, in a Democratic or Republican administration, the Senate would normally say: Let's move him. He needs to get over there. Let's unanimously agree to moving that nomination more quickly so he can help run the Department of Defense--a pretty important job.

Well, unfortunately, we are not in that era right now. So what our colleagues on the other side of the aisle have been doing for every single nomination for this administration is now we will have an additional 2-day waiting period, an additional 30 hours of debate. Those are Senate rules, but normally on someone this noncontroversial, those rules get waived. But we have a minority leader who wants to drag out every single official from being seated. He really hasn't explained why. I haven't heard an explanation why. But it is happening for every single official--three to four days on one official. Someone did an estimation that if they keep this up, if they do this for every single Senate-confirmed job, it will take 11 years. It will take 11 years to seat the officials in the Trump administration. How is that helping the American people? It is not. Yet, nobody comes to the floor to explain why they are doing it. The press doesn't report on it.

Let me provide some other facts on this issue. Normally, when we waive these rules, we can have a voice vote. For a noncontroversial nomination like the Deputy Secretary of Defense, as we just had, normally that would be voice-voted.

At this point in President Obama's Presidency--so the first 6 months of his Presidency--the Senate had allowed more than 90 percent of his nominees to be confirmed by simple voice vote. The Senate asked for procedural votes only eight times on eight nominees--that was it--in the first 6 months of President Obama's administration. That was actually normal. Democrats or Republicans would do something along those lines.

For the Trump administration's first 6 months, the minority leader and his colleagues have demanded cloture votes for every single nominee, no matter what the position, no matter how noncontroversial, no matter how bipartisan. The courtesy extended to President Obama to get his team together so that he could run the country has not been extended here. That is just a fact.

Let me give another fact. According to the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service, at about this point in President Obama's first term, he had 183 of his nominations confirmed--183. Getting people in their positions in government to run the country--it doesn't matter what party you are in; this is to run the country. But while President Trump's administration at this point has made 178 nominations to the Senate, only 46 have been confirmed. So for President Obama at this point, 183 nominations were confirmed; for this President, 46. This is historic obstruction.

No one comes here and says: Why? Why are you doing this? What is the point? What is the point?

This isn't by accident. The head of a leading Democratic think tank told the press recently that they intended to hold up, delay, tie up floor time for every single nomination for Senate-confirmed positions. But what they don't do--they don't say: And here is why.

Why do they want to do that? It is not going to help us grow the economy. It is not going to help us with infrastructure. It is not going to help us rebuild our military when we keep the Deputy Secretary from coming in to his position.

Just last week, we had a judge who was nominated from the State of Idaho, a district court judge who was confirmed unanimously, and it took almost the entire week to get him confirmed on the Senate floor because the minority leader was delaying, delaying, delaying--even someone who got 100 percent of the Senators to vote for him. Again, it is not clear why they are doing this.

Some of the other noncontroversial nominees that are being delayed are the Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs and two nominees to review pipelines and other projects at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Do you think we

need that for our country to grow the economy? We do.

These are important positions to do the work of the Federal Government. Yet they are all delayed, and nobody in the press even asks any questions. This is historic obstruction right now, and no one is even asking: Why are you doing it?

It would be great to have the minority leader come to the Senate floor and tell us why. I want to know why. I want to grow the economy. We need these people in positions of authority to help us do the things--bipartisan things--that the American people sent us here to do, not delay, not obstruct.

Something else is happening on the Senate floor right now. It is not just the historic obstruction of nominees. The other side, for whatever reason, is now deciding they are going to shut down any movement of anything on the Senate floor. Let me give one example, which is actually quite important.

A lot of what we do here moves by what we call unanimous consent on the Senate floor. There are rules to move things. It can take a lot of time. But a lot of times the leadership of the Senate will get together and say: OK, we can have a unanimous consent agreement to move things faster. It is not just nominees. Sometimes it is actually legislation. As a matter of fact, a lot of things move on the Senate floor through unanimous consent, which is, essentially, a voice vote where everyone, all 100 Senators, say: We agree with that. It is a bill that is really important, very bipartisan. Let's move it. Let's move it fast. It came out of committee. It is not controversial, but maybe it is important, so let's move it.

For whatever reason, it still doesn't explain to the American people why the minority leader would say that we are not going to move anything by unanimous consent right now either. Not only will we hold up every nominee as long as possible--even the noncontroversial ones-- nothing is going to move in the Senate by unanimous consent.

Again, why? How does that help the American people? How does that help the American people when you are just blocking things?

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

Mr. President, as you know, for months now, I have been

coming to the floor to recognize a special Alaskan, somebody who makes my great State a better place for all of us to live, someone we call the Alaskan of the Week, usually an unsung hero who has done great things but doesn't want anyone to tell you about it because they are humble people. Some of these people have been very well known throughout the State, and others, as I mentioned, are doing their jobs in different communities throughout the State, but they are all considered our Alaskans of the Week. Unsung, well known--they all share a love for Alaska for good reason: There is so much to love about our great State.

I know most of the people in this room and watching on TV and in the Gallery think of Alaska as a majestic place, majestic landscape. It is true. It is majestic, but it is truly the people of Alaska who make it such a special place, kind and generous people, patriots and pioneers who pave the way for the rest of us and leave a very indelible and important mark on my State and, in many cases, our country.

Today, I would like to recognize one of these very special Alaskans, a trailblazer, someone whose work has touched nearly every corner of the State, someone whom we recently lost, unfortunately, just this week, but his memory will last forever. I am talking about Gene Zerkel, who was a member of the ``greatest generation'' and an aviation legend in the great State of Alaska.

I don't have to remind you, but many others throughout our country don't know just how important aviation is to Alaska. In my State, our skies are the highways and the roads. We have about 8,000 general aviation pilots in Alaska, which is more than any other State per capita by far, and with good reason: There are no roads and ferry services to over 100 communities in Alaska, including regional centers like Bethel, Nome, Barrow, and Kotzebue. That means everything from mail services to baby diapers has to be flown in by plane, and if someone gets sick and needs to go to a hospital, the only way they get to see a doctor is by a plane.

Our pilots and our airline industry are essential to serving the people of Alaska, and Gene Zerkel has been a part of that service, a legendary part of Alaska aviation, for decades.

Let me tell you a little bit about Gene. He lived life on his own terms and defined it through love of God, family, country, and aviation. The latter--his passion for aviation--took hold when he was just 3 years old, then living in Indiana when he took his first airplane ride with a barnstormer. He was so taken with it, when he grew up, he continued to do some of those kinds of flights, traveling in airshows.

Like so many in the ``greatest generation'' in our Nation, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps during World War II and later joined the U.S. Air Force. He continued his passion for aviation after he left the military. Some of his favorite adventures were flying during the construction of the DEWLine throughout Alaska and Canada in the 1950s.

In 1973, he fulfilled a lifelong dream so many people in America have, which was to come to Alaska and start a family. He started to fly in the great skies above Alaska. We are a better State and a safer State for it.

In Alaska, he owned and operated Great Northern Airlines and became senior VP of operations and maintenance for the legendary MarkAir. He also started Alaska Aircraft Sales and Maintenance, which still operates to this day on Lake Hood in Anchorage, AK.

He was an innovator. He transformed the de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver into what was known as the Alaska Magnum Beaver, and he was known for always putting safety first.

In 2007, Gene was awarded the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award from the U.S. Department of Transportation and the FAA in recognition of his more than 50 years--half a century--of promoting aviation safety within the aviation industry, particularly in Alaska.

Gene lived for 90 years. He saw so much and did so much for many of us. His name is written above the skies of Alaska. But most importantly, he was a devoted husband of 48 years to his wife Joyce and the faithful father of nine children.

I had the good fortune of calling Gene a friend and was able to visit with him a few weeks ago. At 90 years old, he was still full of life and spark and energy and passion and optimism. I have also been in touch recently with one of his sons, a young Alaskan hero, Keenan, who has his father's passion for serving our country, with many deployments to Afghanistan as part of the 210th Rescue Squadron of the Alaska Air National Guard. He is literally a true hero in my State. Keenan carries on his father's passion for aviation, Alaska, and serving in the military.

Gene's love of country, family, and aviation will always be with us. My wife Julie and I pray for his family and his friends during this time.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, every week I have been coming down to the floor of the Senate to talk about a special Alaskan, someone in my State who, through their hard work and community service, whether to their neighbors or to their country, makes Alaska a better place for all of us. We call these people the Alaskans of the Week. Learning about these individuals and sharing their stories with my Senate colleagues, Alaskans, and Americans who watch what we do here or who are in the gallery, is probably one of the best parts of my week every week.

Like most of my colleagues, I will soon be going home for the Fourth of July. We will celebrate this very special holiday with our families and our communities. Some of us will go to barbecues or march in parades or attend other community gatherings. Some of us will gather in spots across our State and watch fireworks. Personally, I will be with my family catching king salmon at my family's ancestral fish camp up on the Yukon River, one of my favorite places in the entire world.

Regardless of where we are, all of us will certainly feel a swell of pride for our country. We will remember the hard-fought battles that brought us independence, and we will remember those who have served and sacrificed to keep our country the land of the free and the home of the brave. They are the heroes among us, and Alaska is chock-full of these heroes.

Today I want to recognize one of them, a very special hero who is our Alaskan of the Week--Solomon Atkinson, who spent nearly his entire adult life serving our country with honor and dignity and now serves his community in Alaska tirelessly.

Let me tell you a little bit about Sol and his illustrious career in the military. Sol was born in 1930 to Harris and Elizabeth Atkinson in Metlakatla, AK.

Metlakatla is on Annette Island on the Inside Passage, where so many Americans take cruises to see the glaciers and the whales. It is home to the only federally recognized Indian reservation in our State.

Sol could have continued to live in Metlakatla, where he was a commercial fisherman as a young man, but, like so many patriotic Alaskans, he chose to leave his home and join the military. Sol joined the U.S. Navy, and for 22 years--from 1951 to 1973--he had by anybody's standards a remarkable patriotic military career.

In 1953, Sol volunteered for the Navy's legendary Underwater Demolition Team and was deployed to the Pacific, including Korea. Some history buffs will know and recall that the Underwater Demolition Team, the UDT, was the precursor to the present-day Navy SEALS--frogmen, as they liked to call themselves. In fact, Sol was on the very first Navy SEAL team created by President Kennedy in 1962, and I have a copy of the SEAL Team One plank owners certificate, commissioned on January 1, 1962, with Sol's name proudly displayed.

So Sol became a Navy SEAL--the first Navy SEAL, literally. He became a SEAL team training instructor, training new Navy SEAL recruits. He was affectionately referred to as ``the Mean Machine'' by the Navy SEALs. He also had the honor of training 48 astronauts, including Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Jim Lovell, just to name a few, in underwater weightlessness simulations. His prized possession is a framed plaque bearing the signature of all those astronauts, all those American heroes whom he trained.

Sol completed three combat tours in Vietnam. By the time he retired from the military, he had earned numerous awards and medals for personal valor, including the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. But what is truly remarkable about Sol is that after he retired from the Navy, he moved back home to Metlakatla and continued to serve his country and serve his community. He served on the Indian Community Council, on the school board, and as mayor of Metlakatla. He has also been very involved in veterans affairs and was the president of the first veterans organization on the island and was instrumental in starting that organization. He has spent years reaching out to his fellow veterans to make sure they receive the benefits, honor, and dignity they earned.

Jeff Moran, the superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Metlakatla, said this about Sol:

I could go on and on regarding the wonderful things that

Sol has done for his community. We would not be here today

without his leadership and knowledge [and commitment].

I, too, can go on about Sol. Many Alaskans can go on about Sol and all the things he has done. But I also want to mention, particularly on the eve of the Fourth of July, that he is part of a long tradition in my State of Alaskan Natives who have served in the military, who have served our country even during darker times in our history when many Alaskan Natives were discriminated against and denied basic rights.

On the eve of the Fourth of July, we celebrate America's independence but also in particular those who have fought for that independence over the last 200 years. As I mentioned, one proud element of my great State is that we have more veterans per capita than any State in the country, and Alaska Native veterans serve at higher rates in the U.S. military than any

other ethnic group in the country--something I like to refer to as a special kind of patriotism because they have been doing this for decades, like Sol--even at times, as I mentioned, when the country hasn't always treated that group of patriotic Americans with the respect and dignity they deserve. Sol personifies this special patriotism.

The SEALs who served with him wrote this about him in a tribute:

Sol's story will continue to be told by the men he trained,

by the officers who relied on him, by the Frogmen who all

respect him. An officer, a gentleman, an athlete, a friend,

Sol Atkinson is all of these, but of all of these traits, he

is first a Frogman.

We can see the pride the Navy SEALs have for Sol, a plank owner for the entire organization.

In conclusion, I will add that he is a patriotic Alaskan through and through, and I thank him for all he has done for Alaska, for our veterans, and for America.

Sol, congratulations on being our Alaskan of the Week. Happy Fourth of July to you, to Alaska, and to all the men and women in our military and the citizens of our great Nation.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Madam President, for the last few months, I have been coming down to the floor to recognize someone in my State who, through acts both small and large, has made the State better for all of us. I call this person our Alaskan of the Week. What I am going to do is I am going to talk a little bit about baseball as part of the Alaskan of the Week.

We saw how important baseball is with regard to a sport that can bring Americans together. Just last week, I think people all across the country--certainly in DC and certainly here in the Senate--saw how important that is.

We had that great game--Democrats and Republicans last week coming together. I am a little biased here about the Republican team, with Senator Flake and Senator Paul. We didn't win, but it was a good game. I know we are all still praying for those injured last week, Congressman Scalise and others, but it is important to see how that great American pastime brings us together as a Nation.

There are many great things about my wonderful State. But in Alaska, baseball also brings us together. So I would like to recognize today one of the many people throughout the State who keeps the special institution of baseball alive in Alaska. This gentleman's name is Lee Jordan. He is from Eagle River.

Now, I would venture to guess that most people, when they think of Alaska, think about our spectacular mountains and glaciers. They might think about fishing, our delicious salmon, thousands of miles of State and Federal parks, and our vast wilderness. But baseball probably isn't the first thing that comes to many people's mind when they think about Alaska.

Actually, those who follow baseball understand how important Alaska summers are to taking young college students with raw talent and growing them under the midnight Sun into seasoned, professional baseball players. This is the Alaska Baseball League, and it is one of the premier baseball leagues in the summer in the United States.

Let me give you a few names of those who have come up through the Alaska Baseball League. It has produced some of the most important Major League stars, including Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Tom Seaver, Dave Winfield, and Randy Johnson, just to name a few. I think those are all hall of famers.

Alaska's six-team league includes two teams in Anchorage, one in Fairbanks, one in Palmer, one in Kenai, and--thanks to the unrelenting enthusiasm of Lee Jordan--one in Chugiak-Eagle River, AK, a picturesque area about 20 minutes from Anchorage, nestled in the Chugiak Mountains. It is part of Anchorage, but it is also very much its own place, with a sense of pride and people who live there like Lee.

Let me tell you a little bit about Lee Jordan. He was originally from Alabama, where football, not baseball, was king. When he enlisted in the Army in 1947, his choice of overseas assignments was, according to him, ``anything but Alaska''--``anyplace but Alaska.'' But he got Alaska, and he stayed and he loved it, and he settled in Chugiak-Eagle River.

Before long, he owned the local newspaper, the Alaska Star--now the Chugiak-Eagle River Star--and he was coaching his son's Little League baseball team. When they got too old for Little League, he began to form new leagues for them to play in, which his boys did. Eventually, his sons got too old for all the leagues, but Lee kept up the love of the game.

Then he and former State Senator Bill Stoltze, a good friend of mine and another huge booster of baseball in Alaska, hatched a plan to get a team to their area as part of the Alaska Baseball League. So the first Chugiak-Eagle River-Chinook game was in 2011, and it is now called the Lee Jordan Field and the Loretta French Sports Complex, and they have been going strong ever since.

This is such a beautiful place. Right now in Alaska every year, we have a midnight Sun baseball game in Fairbanks played on June 21, the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. That game begins at 10:30 p.m. and goes until the wee hours of the morning under a never-setting midnight Sun.

But there are few more beautiful places in the world than Chugiak- Eagle River. Lee Jordan thinks the ballpark is the most beautiful ballpark anywhere, and I can't disagree.

As I have mentioned many times on the floor, it is all about communities. It is all about communities coming together, and Lee has made that happen for Alaskans and baseball lovers, not only in our great State but throughout the country. For that reason, he is our Alaskan of the Week.

I yield the floor.

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

Mr. President, we are on the Senate floor today, yesterday, and tomorrow, and we will be continuing the debate on the Countering Iran's Destabilizing Activities Act of 2017. This is actually a very important bill, and I want to commend Senator Cardin, Senator Corker, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and many others on working hard to put this bill together in the Foreign Relations Committee.

There is a lot of interest in this. I am a cosponsor of the bill, and I think it is an important bill.

Let me just give a quick overview of what its core purpose is. There was a lot of discussion last year about the JCPOA--what it was going to do and what it wasn't going to do. I think a lot of us, even those who supported it--and I certainly did not support it. As a matter of fact, I thought it was a very misbegotten agreement that was going to undermine American interests and the interests of our allies in the region. But a number of us were concerned about what it didn't cover. The bill we are debating today does close some of those loopholes. For example, the core purpose of S. 722 is to impose sanctions on Iran for its ballistic missile program, which continues to violate U.N. Security Council resolutions, and its support of terrorism.

It is still listed by our State Department as the No. 1 state sponsor of terrorism in the world. As to its transfer of illicit weapons, which it is not supposed to do under U.N. Security Council resolutions, it continues to do that, and, of course, there is its continuing and widespread abuse of human rights. That is all still happening with regard to this Iranian regime, which the previous administration spent so much time negotiating with to get this nuclear deal that, I think, undermines our interests.

The bill we are focused on is very bipartisan. It sets to close some of these loopholes and impose sanctions for these kinds of violations. It does not violate the JCPOA. I think Senators Corker and Cardin worked hard to make sure that would not be the case in order to get bipartisan buy-in. I think it is an important bill, but it could have been stronger. Unfortunately, a number of us had provisions and amendments that were meant to strengthen it. Some of us don't sit on the Foreign Relations Committee, but we have a lot of interest and experience with these issues. What we could have done was to actually make this bill stronger by looking at some of the other amendments that Members of the Senate brought to the floor on this very bill.

Let me give you one example. I had an amendment that was a very simple amendment. It essentially stated that Iranian banks and financial institutions would not be able to use the U.S. financial system--our banking system, which is critical to global commerce to conduct any business around the world--until Iran was taken off the list of countries that sponsor state terrorism--very simple: not using the American financial system until you are not a terrorist designated by our State Department. This is important. These kinds of sanctions are important because Iran and other rogue nations--you see it all the time--want access to

our financial institutions and the dollar, the world's currency. Roughly 43 percent of international financial transactions and more than 60 percent of total allocated global floor exchange reserves are denominated in U.S. dollars.

We have tremendous leverage over other countries, even if we are acting just as the United States, with regard to accessing the U.S. financial system. When you have these kinds of sanctions, when other countries are not allowed to access our financial system, it puts a real strong bite on their economy.

We wanted to bring this down to the floor. Again, there is bipartisan support for this amendment. Unfortunately, not many but just a few of my colleagues wouldn't want to accept this. They didn't even want to vote on the amendment. They believed, incorrectly, that somehow this would undermine the JCPOA. Well, it wouldn't. As a matter of fact, former Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew stated that under the JCPOA, the Treasury Department was still going to prohibit Iranian banks from being able to use U.S. dollars through New York or to hold correspondent account relationships with U.S. financial institutions. He testified that the JCPOA would continue to bar Iranian financial institutions from using our financial system. So that is happening right now.

What we wanted to do with this amendment was to say that we are going to make that legislation; we are going to make that a statutory prohibition, and the biggest sponsor of terrorism in the world shouldn't be able to use our financial system until they are no longer a sponsor of terrorism--very simple. But we couldn't get that through the Senate. If we voted on it, I believe there would be a strong bipartisan majority of Senators who would agree with us, but there are a few who don't.

The JCPOA was sold in many ways as helping to ensure that Iran would moderate its behavior, that Iran would become part of the ``community of nations'' again.

Well, of course, despite claims by the former President and the former Secretary of State that this is what the agreement would do, that hasn't happened. To the contrary, the opposite has happened. Iran has undertaken activities to undermine U.S. interests, the interests of Israel--our sacred ally in the Middle East--and the interests of our gulf Arab allies in the Middle East on almost a daily basis.

Look at what has happened since that agreement was signed. Moderating behavior did not happen; much more aggressive behavior did. It is really important for people to remember that this isn't just the largest state sponsor of terrorism. This is a country whose activities have led to the deaths and wounding of thousands of American soldiers and marines. The Iranian regime was supplying very sophisticated IEDs to Iraqi Shia militias that were killing, maiming, and wounding our troops in Iraq. That is a fact. This is a regime with the blood of U.S. soldiers, marines, sailors, and airmen on its hands. This is not a regime we should trust. This is a regime about which we should do everything we have in our power to use our leverage to help undermine their nefarious activities around the world that they have been conducting for decades.

So again, my congratulations and I am going to vote for the bill. My congratulations go to Senators Corker and Cardin for this important bill, but it could be stronger. We need to look at ways to make this stronger. This was a missed opportunity, simply bringing an amendment like this to the floor for a vote. Let's see where people stand. It would be strongly supported by the American people, strongly supported by our allies, strongly supported by Members of the Senate on both sides of the aisle.

Unfortunately, there are a few in the Senate who seem more interested in protecting the legacy of the JCPOA than in really putting the screws to Iran and really limiting their ability to fund terrorism or their illicit businesses around the world. That is disappointing. These Senators will not say they are doing that, but that is what is going on here. The legacy of the JCPOA is not worth safeguarding if it means missing the opportunity to further leverage and undermine Iranian terrorist activities around the world. So that is a disappointment we have seen today.

I am going to continue to keep pushing to do more to make sure we take every action, every bit of leverage that the United States of America has to push back against the nefarious activities of the biggest sponsor of terrorism in the world--the Iranian regime and its leadership. I know that most of my colleagues--Democrats and Republicans--are interested in doing so today. We made a good start with this bill that hopefully is going to pass the Senate floor, but we can do much more. We need to do much more. I am going to continue to press my colleagues to do so.

I yield the floor.

(Mr. DAINES assumed the Chair.)

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

Madam President, every week for some months now, I have been coming to the Senate floor and I have been using the opportunity to talk about someone in my State, the great State of Alaska, who has made a difference. We call that person the Alaskan of the Week. These are individuals who are unsung in many ways and who are doing something for their community, for their State, and in many ways are inspiring everybody.

I am a little biased, but I believe I live in the most beautiful State in the country, probably the most beautiful place in the world, full of wonderful people and beautiful landscapes, and we certainly encourage everybody here in the Senate or those who are watching on TV to come to Alaska and experience it themselves, and they will have the trip of a lifetime, guaranteed. We are also blessed to live in a land that provides so much for our physical and spiritual needs. It is a very spiritual place.

Alaskans are hardy people; however, like anyplace in the country, people have tough times. Some people are more fortunate than others. But thankfully we have people all across our State--like we have people all across America--who give of themselves so that those in difficult situations can receive the care they need.

Today I want to take you to Kotzebue, AK, or what we often just refer to as Kotz. Kotz is about 550 miles northwest of Anchorage, 26 miles north of the Arctic Circle in Alaska's Northwest Arctic Borough. About 3,000 people live in Kotzebue. It is one of our bigger villages, and it is a hub for dozens of smaller villages that dot this enormous, beautiful region. Like most of Alaska, it is cold in the winter, and it is beautiful now under a never-setting Sun. The midnight Sun in Kotz is high in the sky. There are wonderful people there.

Like most places in Alaska, particularly in smaller villages in rural Alaska, community is everything. People take care of each other. People band together to help each other overcome challenges that can exist in the extreme environments we have in Alaska.

Let me tell my colleagues today about Marty Shoryer, who is one of the very generous residents of Kotzebue and who is our Alaskan of the Week. Born in Kotzebue, Marty is the general manager of Kotzebue Electric Association, where he has worked for more than 24 years. He has been married to his wife Lucy since 1977. They have six children and seven grandchildren. In his free time, he fishes--very common-- plays hoops, and loves to cook for his family. He is also involved in

the Boys and Girls Club and his Tribal government.

But here is why I want to talk about Marty and why he has been such an inspiration not only in Kotzebue but throughout the State. On Thanksgiving 2015, Marty got sick, and over the next several weeks, he had to go to the hospital repeatedly. While he was there, he noticed a group of people who would gather around the free coffee that was served at the hospital. He approached one of them, a woman named Jo-Ann, and asked a very simple question: ``Why do you guys hang around here? What are you doing?''

She told him: ``Well, we don't really have another place to go right now.''

This disturbed Marty greatly. At that time of year in Kotzebue, it can get down to 20 and 30 below zero--a difficult place.

``You guys must be hungry,'' he said to Jo-Ann, and she said that they were. So the next day and the day after that--5 days a week--Marty and Lucy together used their own money and their own lunch hour during the workweek to make sandwiches--a simple act--30 to 40 sandwiches for that group at the hospital. Every day, every person who needs one gets a sandwich, sometimes turkey and cheese, sometimes caribou or sheefish spread. Marty is anxious for the salmon season to start so he can make salmon spread sandwiches. They also get a juice box and dessert. Simple but generous.

Recently, another generous Kotzebue resident, Sophie Foster, began making sandwiches as well, and before you know it, we have a whole community that is doing this, taking this simple example and getting involved. So now some people drop off cinnamon roles or fruit. Others bring back bulk items when they travel to Anchorage. Dozens of people in Kotzebue, AK, are now helping in this effort because of Marty's simple act.

People like Marty and his wife Lucy make my State truly unique and a wonderful place. His generosity--doing something seemingly so simple: making a sandwich for someone who is hungry--has now had a big impact not only in Kotzebue but in Alaska. Marty didn't know the impact he would have when he began making sandwiches. ``I was just trying to help a few people that day, make them happier.''

Marty's actions have initiated a growing conversation in Kotzebue about how best to take care of people who need help. It has drawn attention to homelessness and hunger--very important issues not only in Alaska but throughout the country. Marty spurred this important conversation in Kotzebue and in our State through his simple actions, and that has inspired all of us.

Congratulations, Marty, for what you are doing, for your simple acts of inspiration, and for being our Alaskan of the Week.

Madam President, I yield the floor.

Mr. President, every week I have been coming down to the Senate floor to honor an individual who is serving in my great State of Alaska, who is helping to make our State, his or her local community, or even our country a better place. We call these individuals our Alaskan of the Week.

Alaska carries a mystique. We all know that. I am a little biased, but it does, rightfully so. It is a beautiful State. We all think it is the most beautiful State in the world. I encourage everybody who is watching from the Gallery or on TV to make sure they take at least one trip to Alaska sometime in their life. You will love it. It will be the trip of a lifetime.

But Alaska is much more than just a beautiful State. It is actually a State that is critically important to America--critically important to our country. We have abundant natural resources: fish, metals, minerals, and oil and gas. They are resources that help feed our country, help build our country, and help power our country.

Further, given today's threats, we are also the most strategically located State in the country. In fact, General Billy Mitchell, father of the Air Force, said in testimony to the Congress in the 1930s that Alaska was ``the most important strategic place in the world,'' which could control Asia, North America, and Europe. He said that whoever controls Alaska controls the world.

In Alaska, we are the hub of combat airpower for the Asia-Pacific and the rest of the world. We are also a vital expeditionary platform, with some of the Army's best trained troops, who can deploy anywhere in the world on a moment's notice. Importantly, we are the cornerstone of our country's missile defense system.

What makes this military triad truly exceptional is the Arctic-tough women and men in uniform supporting each of these pillars of America's military might in Alaska, who work day and night to ensure that our country is safe.

Following Armed Forces Day a few days ago, where we honor all of those who currently serve in the military--and we are all going to be celebrating in a few days Memorial Day to honor those who gave their lives serving our country--I recognize a group of proud Alaskans who help protect our country. These individuals were recently awarded the 2017 Alaska Missile Defender of the Year award from the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance. Today, they are our Alaskans of the Week.

These are National Guard servicemembers from the Alaska Army and Air National Guard who have demonstrated leadership, excellence, and selfless commitment in their operation of the U.S. Ground-based Midcourse Defense system, at Fort Greely, and the Early Warning Radar system at Clear Air Force Station in Alaska, over the past year. Essentially, these are the men and women who keep our country safe with America's most sophisticated missile defense system. So I would like to read their names on the Senate floor.

Base defenders of the year from the 213th Space Warning Squadron at Clear Air Force Station: SSgt Jonathan Rivera-Calderon and SSgt Stanislav Barilov.

Missile defenders of the year from the 213th Space Warning Squadron at Clear Air Force Station: Capt. Erik Haugen and TSgt Mark Lockwood.

Base defenders of the year from Fort Greely: SGT Nathan Williams and SGT Travis Hall.

Best crew winners from the 49th Missile Defense Battalion, Delta Crew: MAJ Michael Long, CPT Anthony Montoya, 1LT Rachel Simmons, SSG Caroline Domenech, and SGT Jose Aponte.

These Alaskan missile defenders continue to stand ready and excel as they protect our country and our citizens from an increasingly diverse set of national security threats. They are just a few of the 300 men and women missile defenders in interior Alaska who, every day, protect the entire United States. They like to call themselves the ``300 protecting the 300 million.'' I think of them as modern-day Spartans, the 300 Spartans who fought alongside King Leonidas to protect Greece in 480 BC. That is who they are, modern-day Spartans.

The mission of these men and women is to protect the entire country from a rogue missile threat--whether from North Korea, Iran, or another country--that could hit any city in America. This is what they do 365 days a year, 24/7. They are on call on Christmas, New Year's, and Super Bowl Sunday. They are tough, well-trained, and they are committed patriots of America.

We face a dizzying array of threats across the globe. But the one that keeps not only me but many Members of the Senate and our military up at night right now is the threat from North Korea. There is no doubt that North Korea and the leader of that country are intent on obtaining and nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile that can range our entire country. Recent unclassified briefings on this issue have said it is no longer a matter of if but when North Korea is going to have this capability.

To protect us from this impending threat, this advancing threat, a number of us introduced a bill this past week to enhance our missile defense system across the country. While Alaska's missile defenders currently keep us safe, like many in our military they need more training and better technology so these brave men and women

can do their job and continue to keep America safe in the future.

Leading up to Memorial Day, I want to make sure to thank all who have served and continue to serve our Nation in uniform. I especially honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice, and, of course, their families. I also want to make sure I recognize Alaska's missile defenders. While millions of Americans will be outside this weekend, having a barbecue and celebrating Memorial Day, every American in this country can rest assured that these brave missile defenders in Alaska, men and women like the Spartans of old, stand watch to defend our freedoms. They are doing it today and they will do it on Memorial Day, just like they do every day of the year.

That is why all of them, in my view, merit the award of Alaskans of the Week.

Mr. President, I wish to recognize another Alaskan, one who happens to be right here in the Senate Chamber, Senate Page Wade Quigley. I think we should call him the Junior Alaskan of the Week.

Wade is from Girdwood, AK. He is actually right here, getting a little red in the face. I think he is slightly embarrassed. Girdwood was originally called Glacier City, for the ice-capped mountains surrounding the town. About a 45-minute drive from Anchorage, it is a very, very special place. My wife Julie and I and our three daughters love Girdwood. We spend a lot of time there skiing and enjoying the outdoors.

Wade is now 16 years old. When I was told that this morning, I was a little surprised. He is much more mature than 16. He will be entering his senior year at South Anchorage High School, the school that my daughter Laurel attends, next fall.

Like a true Alaskan, Wade takes full advantage of our State's abundant natural resources, teaching skiing in the winter and commercial fishing for pink salmon during the summers in Kodiak, AK.

In DC, Wade has been doing a great job serving in the U.S. Senate as a page. According to those who supervise him, as well as his fellow pages, Wade is eager to take any opportunity to talk or learn about his State. The esteemed Laura Dove herself has referred to Wade as ``Alaska's best ambassador.'' I thought that is what Senator Murkowski and I were supposed to be. It is a grand compliment. Others say he has a heart for public service, humor, and kindness. He is extremely well- liked throughout this building.

In just 2 weeks, Wade and all the pages will complete their service as Senate pages. By the way, it is very, very hard work. They are up at 5 o'clock a.m., studying at 6 o'clock a.m., classes until 9 o'clock, and then working in the Senate until the wee hours. I thank Wade and all the Senate pages for their service to the Senate, to their States, to their country.

Wade's energy and upbeat outlook will be missed in this body. Even though he is leaving us in the Senate, Wade hopes to continue his service to his country by attending the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Whatever his final path is, I am sure he will bring to it the same work ethic and the same love for his country and for Alaska and, I believe now, after 6 months, for the U.S. Senate.

Wade, to you and all the pages who have done such a great job, thank you, and, yes, thank you for being the Junior Alaskan of the Week.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, as we approach Memorial Day, we remember the men and women who sacrificed their lives in devotion to the causes of liberty, freedom, and democracy. As such, I would like to take the opportunity to speak about one event in our Nation's history that had a profound impact on my great State of Alaska. June 3 marks the 75th anniversary of the Aleutian Islands Campaign of the Second World War.

This ``Forgotten Battle'' began with the bombing of Dutch Harbor and subsequent invasions of Adak, Kiska, and Attu, AK by the navy of Imperial Japan. For the Allied forces, this campaign resulted in 1,481 casualties, 640 missing, and 3,416 wounded, but perhaps what is even less known, is the impact this conflict had on the Aleut--Unangan/ Unangas--peoples of Alaska.

In the months of June and July of 1942, Aleut communities were damaged, homes and personal possessions rummaged through or destroyed by Allied forces, and more than 881 Aleut civilian residents of the Pribilof Islands and the Aleutian Islands west of Unimak Island were relocated to temporary camps in Southeast Alaska. Forty-two residents of Attu were taken to Japan in September 1943, where they spent the rest of the war as prisoners, and nearly half of them died, mainly of hunger and malnutrition.

The campaign ultimately ended in an Allied victory with the Japanese withdrawal from the Aleutians in 1943, but the effects are still felt by those communities and peoples who were impacted.

Today, before the Senate, I would like to take a moment to honor the sacrifices of our servicemembers, including the 25 Aleut who joined the Armed Forces and the three who participated in the U.S. invasion to recapture Attu and later received Bronze Stars for their valor. I want to also honor the civilians, the Aleut evacuees, and Attuan prisoners of war whose communities, culture, languages, and lives were forever affected.

From June 2 to 4, 2017, a memorial ceremony will take place in Alaska to honor and acknowledge the evacuees, their descendants, and veterans of this ``Forgotten Battle,'' both living and deceased.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the preamble to S. Res. 178 be agreed to.