Floor Statements

Madam President, I request permission to speak for up to 1 minute regarding this vote.

Madam President, this next vote is one to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to S. 47. This is the Natural Resources Management Act. This is our long-talked-about bipartisan lands package.

We have a measure in front of us that is composed of over 100 smaller lands, resources, and water bills. We have included priorities from up to 50 Senators here in this body; 90 of you have cosponsored.

We reauthorized the Land and Water Conservation Fund. We addressed sportsmen's priorities. We have a wide range of land exchanges and conveyances and boundary modifications, water provisions. It creates new economic opportunities and improves the management of our Federal lands.

We will be talking more about this in the next couple of days, but I encourage all Members to support us on this very, very important lands package.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources rules of procedure for the 116th Congress be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I think it is good that we are standing here on the Senate floor and acknowledging the news the President has just announced--that the government will reopen as early as today and that those good, dedicated, and hard-working Federal employees who have either been furloughed or who have been working without pay for 35 days now will be able to get back to work and will be able to receive just compensation for their work. This is important news. This is good news. This is long-awaited news.

In fairness, this never should have happened. I concur with my colleague from Maine that there is never a good reason to have a government shutdown in the first place. We have demonstrated that we can do it, but it sure isn't something that should be done.

I think the men and women who have been so directly and immediately impacted are not only relieved this afternoon, but they are saying: For heaven's sake, Congress, make sure you don't put us through this again.

Count me in that camp of working to make sure we don't put these men and women and their families through this again.

I have been holding Skype sessions with the spouses of our active Coast Guard in Alaska. Last evening, I had an opportunity to connect with the spouses from Sitka. It is absolutely gut-wrenching to hear a young wife, who has a baby who is now less than 1 year old, and her husband, who has been out at sea for 5 months--he has just come home-- relay the conversation of the two of them crying in bed as they are discussing whether she should leave Sitka with their baby to go back and live with either his parents or her parents because they cannot afford to stay in the Coast Guard community that they are in.

I am scheduled to have yet another Skype session with the spouses of our Coast Guard men and women from Cordova and Petersburg just 40 minutes from now. I think it is going to be a much better conversation with them than with the spouses from Sitka yesterday because we will be able to share the good news.

It was interesting to see, as I have visited with them and have heard their very direct stories, that they are pretty selfless. They are pretty selfless in saying: As hard as this is on us and as much as we want to be paid, we want to make sure that others who serve as public servants--our Federal employees, whether they are air traffic controllers, whether they are FAA, whether they are TSA, whether they are NOAA, whether they are NIMS--will also get paid because they, too, are our friends and our neighbors, and they, too, are hurting. Again, we need to make sure we are doing right by all of those who serve our country, who serve all of us through the good work they do through the Agencies.

This has been a harsh and a difficult time, and it has been particularly painful for me, coming from a State where we are feeling the direct impacts of this partial shutdown, perhaps more so than any other State out there. I am told that, per capita, there are more Federal employees in Alaska who are directly impacted by this partial shutdown than in any other State, so I hear the urgency. It is not just from our Coast Guard men and women; again, it is from so many Agencies that have a presence.

I got a readout just yesterday from those in the fishing industry who are concerned that because permits can't get issued, because comments can't be published in the Federal Register, the impact to their fisheries and being able to move forward with the black cod fishery or to move forward with the pot cod--they are not going to be able to do it. So today's news allows everyone to breathe a sigh of relief. But I don't want them--whether they are fishermen or whether they are that Coast Guard wife--thinking, am I going to be able to breathe now for only 3 weeks? What happens after that?

We owe it not only to our Federal workers, but we also owe it to all of America to take the anxiety out of this process.

I have supported my colleague the Senator from Ohio in his legislation that would permanently end government shutdowns. As an appropriator, I am not convinced, the way it is drafted, that it is something I am entirely good with, but I want us to take this off the table. In fact, I believe it was the Presiding Officer who used the terminology that a shutdown is like the chemical warfare agent when it comes to political weapons.

At the end of the day, these are people's lives we are dealing with. These are people's lives we are messing with when we say that we are going to shut down the government for this period of time while we try to advance priorities. We cannot mess with people's lives this way.

We have our work cut out for us, and I believe we will rise to this occasion.

We must rise to this occasion. I look forward to doing that.

I thank the President for his announcement today. I thank him for giving us the 3 weeks that we requested. I thank the majority leader and the minority leader for coming together to help advance this.

It is going to take all of us--it is going to take the President; it is going to take the leadership--working together.

As a member of the Appropriations Committee, I look forward to my continuing role in this, but know that we owe it to the country. We owe it to the country to get this right and get it right quickly.

This is a good start today, and I look forward to working with my colleagues.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I appreciate my colleagues being down here again on a bipartisan basis to talk about where we are at this moment.

We just had two messaging votes. Both of those votes failed. I voted for both of them because my message was I want to get this government open. I want to do it quickly and with the sense of urgency that responds to the men and women who have been so significantly impacted by this partial government shutdown for the past 34 days. I also want to be fair to the President's priorities that he has articulated in the proposal that he has provided to us as recently as Saturday. I think we can do this together.

My message to folks back home--my message to people is don't give up hope because now is the time that we all must come together to address these issues, but you can't do it when the government is shut down.

I have indicated I am supportive of a measure the Senator from Maryland, Mr. Cardin, has introduced that will allow for a short-term CR, 3 weeks, allow us then to go through--whether it is the appropriations process, the Judiciary Committee process--but allow us to have this debate on these important priorities; allow us to do the business of the Senate, to do the business of legislating, but let's also allow the business of the government to proceed by opening up the government right now.

We will have an opportunity to go back and forth amongst colleagues. I will remind folks, we have very limited periods of time.

I am going to yield to my colleagues on the other side. It is so important that we are coming together now to offer some glimmer of hope.

I would ask that the Senator from Maine be recognized at this time.

I ask that the Senator from South Carolina be recognized.

Mr. President, I yield to the Senator from Georgia.

Mr. President, how much time remains on the Republican side?

I thank the Presiding Officer.

I now yield to the Senator from Ohio.

Mr. President, that is exactly why we are here--to get this government open, to get people paid, and to get people back to work.

Let me turn to the Senator from Louisiana.

Mr. President, I turn to my colleague from Iowa.

I thank the Senator from Iowa.

I have a question for the Presiding Officer in terms of how much time remains on the Republican side.

Perfect. We are down to the remaining two speakers, 3 minutes each. I ask that Senator Gardner be recognized at this time.

Mr. President, I now ask that the Senator from Arizona be recognized.

Mr. President, I thank my colleague from Maryland and all Senators--on the Republican side and the Democratic side--who came to the floor after these two votes to express this air of optimism that we can figure this out.

One of the things I have heard very clearly from both sides is enough already--enough already. That is what the American people are saying about this shutdown: Enough already--figure it out.

Well, we got the message. We know what the mission is, and I think what you have seen expressed here on the floor is the good will and the good faith that will be extended in these hours and days going forward, knowing that there is an urgency to get the government open and to address the legitimate priorities that the President has outlined.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, it is unusual to be here on a Saturday morning in Washington, DC, but recognizing that we have been in the midst of a partial government shutdown for now 29 days, it seems to me that this is an absolutely appropriate place where we should be. We should be here working. We should be here trying to figure out how we get back to the business of governing.

I think it is fair to say that there has been a great deal of frustration. I think the four Senators who are assembled in this Chamber today are part of a group with whom I have shared that frustration on a daily, if not hourly, basis.

I think there have been very good-faith efforts to try to advance discussions on a bipartisan basis and a bicameral basis, trying to allow for a process that would allow us to consider the work and the legitimate request of a President who has clear priorities when it comes to border security and what we need to do and how we might need to do it, but it is very difficult to do it when we are not fully governing, when you have a partial government shutdown, when you have men and women who we are asking to do the work within their Agencies, but then they are not being paid. They are being told they will be paid when this is all over, but the uncertainty of when that ``all over'' is is very heavy on them--very heavy on them and their families.

Today, I want to share with colleagues the view from one community in Alaska. Alaska is a State that relies heavily on our Coast Guard. We have about 3,000 active Coast Guard in this State--2,972 exactly, and 285 civilians. We are proud to host the largest Coast Guard Air Station in the country on Kodiak.

I thought Kodiak was the largest island in the country. It is not. Hawaii beats us. The Big Island beats us. Kodiak is a large, large island off of the southeastern, southwestern, and south central part of the State of Alaska. There are about 6,000 people in Kodiak--6,013 based on the last census.

Within that Coast Guard community of Kodiak, you have 1,141 Active Duty, 102 civilian employees, and 1 Coast Guard reservist. This is a community. When they say that we are a Coast Guard town, Kodiak is truly a Coast Guard town. It is about one-third of the economy that is based off of the Coast Guard there.

This is an island that--I don't know. I probably should have checked air prices before I came to the floor, but it seems to me the last time I flew down there, going out of Anchorage to Kodiak, you are probably spending $400 to $500 for an airplane ticket.

So you are geographically removed. You are removed certainly from a financial perspective in terms of your ability to move back and forth. Jobs are challenging in a community like this. December, January are usually the highest months of unemployment, but in December, so just last month, we were at 8.8 percent in Kodiak. You compare that to last January of 2018, it was 8.4 percent. So there is a lot of unemployment there. There are not a lot of jobs and job opportunities in a community like this.

So you have your Coast Guard, and the other economic base for the community, really, is our fisheries and our local and small businesses.

So within the fisheries, you have your Federal Government Agencies that are there to provide for the opportunities. Right now, we are going into the ``A'' season for pollock, I believe, coming up in just a few days, but this requires your Agencies to be up and functioning. So it is NOAA. It is NMFS. It is Fish and Wildlife. You need to have these folks in their offices answering the phone, responding to texts.

We also, on Kodiak Island, have significant refuge land, parkland, and, again, Fish and Wildlife managers on the refuge there.

So we have an island community cut off from the rest of the State-- probably 4,300, 4,400 miles from where we are sitting here today--and the reliance on the Federal interest is probably pretty disproportionate relative to other communities.

Much of the Indigenous population there relies on the Kodiak Area Native Association Healthcare. So the Indian Health Service is having challenges because the Department of Interior is shut down. So the impact in so many different ways on this community of 6,000 people is extraordinarily substantial.

I made contact with the spouses of the Coast Guard's men and women there and asked if I could do a Skype, do a FaceTime with them while they were having coffee because I wanted to understand for myself, what does it mean when you are the Coast Guard spouse and your husband or your wife is out either flying as a C-130 pilot down in the Aleutians, whether it is a helo pilot who is looking to do a medevac out of King Cove, whether it is the wife of one of the spouses who is out on the Alex Haley, whether it is the spouse who is at dry dock on the SPAR in Seward, the aviation instructor--these are all men and women who are going out, and they are doing really important things for us in Alaska.

This is a time of year when the fishing industry is going strong. It is crab season, but it is also not cruise weather for those who are out on the waters, and we rely on the extraordinary efforts of our Coast Guard's men and women to provide for that search and rescue, if need be, and fisheries enforcement--so the role the Coast Guard plays in not only supporting the local economy but making sure that second leg of our economy, the fisheries, are safe, regulated, and protected.

Let me show you just the base there in Kodiak. It is nothing grandiose and beautiful and extraordinary. It is actually an extraordinarily beautiful location to be stationed there in Kodiak. This is the community. This is where they live and work and raise their families. There are others who are sitting up on the hillside in housing, but it is a pretty tight-knit community.

To be able to visit with this group of spouses yesterday was really quite compelling, and so I wanted to just take a few minutes and share some of the comments from these, primarily women--and men--about what is happening right now.

One individual, Sarah, mentioned that her husband is out on the SPAR, which is a cutter. Well, they are in dry dock in Seward, another Coast Guard facility, but because they are not being paid, they are sitting in a community where they really have no resources to do anything. They have to stay on the ship. It is not like they can go off and go out and about. You are really kind of stuck there.

She happens to work for the Chamber of Commerce in Kodiak and so was able to share some of the stories about the impact on the local businesses, and she was saying that you go on Facebook and there will be postings of empty restaurants, empty establishments, saying: Please come. We are looking for customers. There is a discount for coming in and having a cup of coffee. King's Diner's business is down 50 percent. They are offering a 10-percent discount to those without paychecks.

We got a call from a gentleman who has a welding business there in Kodiak, and he says he is out $300,000 in payments from Coast Guard projects that have already been completed. He said these contracts equal 10 to 15 percent of his gross annual income. So what is he doing? He is not a Federal employee, but it is impacting his business in a significant--significant--way, and he is saying: I am going to have to go out and get loans.

So the impact on the community writ large is clearly significant.

Some of the other comments we heard was about the effort to provide for food--so the effort to provide for local food distribution through a food pantry and the effort to collect donations from around the State to be able to send down to Kodiak. These are things where you think, oh, the generosity of Alaskans to come together, but in talking to these spouses, they reminded me: We are the guardians of our homeland. We are proud people. We are proud families, and to think that in order to be able to serve and to keep the family fed, I have to go to a food pantry? This is really, really very, very hard.

Kodiak, as you saw from the map there, is isolated. Isolation delivers a lot of different things, and one thing it clearly delivers is that it is expensive to live there. It is expensive to live there.

We were told that right now the price of gas is about $4 a gallon. There was a report that came out of NBC this week that mentioned that one individual said his weekly budget for food was three times more than his friend who happens to live in Ohio. So it is keeping your house warm, filling up your vehicle, buying groceries at the store.

Childcare is something we talked about extensively because the hours at the childcare center have been cut back. There is no alternative, really, out in the community for childcare for these Coast Guard men and women. There is, I think she said, not even two facilities where they were taking children under the age of 6 months. So infants we are seeing on base--and apparently there has been a good slug of new babies who have been born. We are growing some new Coast Guard recruits here, but when you don't have the ability to provide for childcare, and you need to be working, where do you go? What do you do?

The price of childcare, in talking to one of the spouses there, is $1,600 a month. So think about that. You have a child, $1,600 a month for one child, and you are paying $4 a gallon for gas. You are some 4,000 to 5,000 miles away from any family support. So it is not like you can just say to grandma or to your aunt: Hey, can you come and help me with the kids? You don't have that kind of support like we do in other areas.

So when we talk about the impacts of a shutdown, a partial shutdown, and not getting pay, at least for this period, for an indefinite period, it is more than just the financial impact. We talked a lot about that, but even more than the financial impact was the stress that comes to the families because of the financial impact.

The reality you face as a Coast Guard family is you move a lot. So you have that stress. You are away from your family support system, like I mentioned. You have a lot of families with new kids. Now you don't know when you are going to see that pay. You are in a place where your costs are really high. You don't have many options for short-term or short-time work.

I asked: Well, what are you doing? Are any of you getting additional work

to help bridge this gap? They all just kind of laughed. It wasn't a happy laugh. It was a cynical laugh, like, where do you expect us to go to work when the establishments we might go to, whether it is a restaurant or some small business, is posting things on Facebook, saying that we need customers? Do you think they are going to hire people? That is not happening in a community like this.

Further, they don't know how long they may be there. If it requires some level of training and you can't commit and you say: Well, if the government gets back to business, maybe, just maybe, I don't need to be here--well, you are not going to be investing in that individual. So you have that stressor.

The stress I think our families see--and I have such respect for the men and women who are staying at home while our Active are serving, whether they are helping pluck fishermen out of the sea in the north or whether they are interdicting drugs in the southern waters--spouses have learned how to hold things together and be tough, just figure it out. There is not a lot of complaining that is going on.

When you have a mom tell me, as she did yesterday, that the spending money the kids got for Christmas, they said: We are not going to spend it, Mom, because we think we might need it for food or when the 13- year-old girl says: I am not going to cash the birthday check I got from Grandma because we might need it--and I was reminded by several of these spouses that this is an adult problem. This is not a kids' problem. Our children should not have to be worrying about this, but they can't help but pick it up. They know what is going on, and they are worried. To have a mom tell me--one of the moms said: We are just doing everything to pull it together, so I am having to say things like: I am sorry. We are not going to be ordering the yearbook.

This is not paying for fancy sports programs even, it is: I don't know that we are going to be able to order the yearbook, and it is canceling tutors. It is making a difference in all of that.

I think, again, about the weight our spouses are bearing and how they are handling it.

One woman said: Hey, we are lucky. My husband is an avid hunter and a fisherman. We have a freezer full of meat. We have moose and salmon, but not everybody is so lucky here.

One woman said: I have made a complete inventory of everything I have in the pantry just so I know and I can be planning ahead.

This is hard on everyone.

The impact to enlistment is something we need to be thinking about, and that was raised repeatedly.

One woman said: My husband and I both joined the Coast Guard because we liked the stability that this offered us--maybe not stability insofar as moving around from location to location but stability in the fact that you are a Federal employee. You are going to have that support from your government.

She said: You know, now, I don't think of this as a very stable opportunity.

Another thing I learned yesterday is that it was apparently just a week or so ago--maybe it was a couple of weeks ago--that the Coast Guard boot camp program where the new recruits come in was completed. Where did those young Coasties go who have the new shaved, good-looking tops? They went back home. They sent them back home because they don't have any place for them to go. What do you think that does to recruitment?

Another issue that came up that was fascinating to me that we don't think about in this land of unintended consequences when there is a partial government shutdown that goes on for 29 days--these Coast Guard men and women--Federal employees--when they do official travel, it goes on an official card. That card is issued in your name. So if you are the Coast Guard member who needs to go out and inspect a boat in Dutch Harbor and you are based out of Anchorage, a flight to Dutch Harbor roundtrip, last I checked, is close to $1,000. That goes on the card. The way the process works is that you are reimbursed on your government card, but during this shutdown, none of these expenses are being reimbursed. That card is tied to your name, tied to your credit rating. That was where the conversation really got lively. The spouses were talking about, do you know what happens to us when the credit rating goes south? Do you know what that means in terms of our ability to have a security clearance? Do you know what that means in terms of our ability to transfer?

It would be one thing if you could say: Oh well, I will just pay for it out of my savings.

That was what another spouse said to me. She said: You know, I really take offense because I feel there are a lot of people out there who place judgment on us because they say ``You should have saved for something like this.'' The response is ``I am in the Coast Guard. I move around.''

Many of these families have invested in a home, and when they are transferred, they keep that home. They try to make some money off of it. Many of them rent to another Coast Guard family. Now that family is not getting paid either. The stress compiled upon stress is just awful.

We were reminded that this is not a natural disaster; this is a manmade disaster.

Another woman said: The military are proud. They should be honored and respected.

One really summed it up from the Coast Guard's view, in my opinion. She said: We are not going to sink. We are not going to sink. We will still float, but that doesn't mean that we are not upset and we are not angry.

They shared these stories with a great deal of respect but were truly begging for us to resolve these issues. They all understand that there is this effort out there to pay the Active-Duty and military Coast Guard, but there are Coast Guard families on this base, and there are Active Coast Guard working side by side with the civilians, helping them keep those boats in tip-top shape, keeping the helicopters in the air, keeping the C-130s in the air. They are all working together. So how is it right that side by side, oftentimes sharing the same job, that one would get pay and the others would not? So they have said: Don't forget the civilian side as well.

I want to end my comments because I know the Senator from Virginia would like to speak as well.

I have a soft spot in my heart for Kodiak. I think that is because I myself am a Coast Guard kid. When I go to Kodiak, the gathering place in Kodiak is a great little brewery called Kodiak Brewery. It is a gathering place for not only the politicians who come to town but all the Coasties. The community comes together. This is where birthdays take place. This is where you come and have a beer after work.

This is an online post from yesterday. It says:

This is a sad empty brewery. We're lonely and you're

thirsty, and we want to support our community in a time of

need. We're doing a ``shutdown'' sale: $1 off servings until

sanity prevails! Hopefully we all get through this!

There is not a soul in the place. It is just a reminder of the extraordinary ripple effect. When you say it is just the Federal employees, first of all, I think that is offensive because our Federal employees do extraordinary service for our country. It affects all of us, and it is up to all of us to get this resolved.

I have been so disappointed this week that we have not been able to advance a more positive solution, to work on an immediate outcome to help with this, but my frustration is nothing compared to these families'--these men and women who are serving, those who are staying at home--the worry, angst, and stress we see. We owe it to the people of Kodiak, we owe it to the people of this country to get this place working again.

With that, I yield the floor.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 25, submitted earlier today.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Madam President, I understand there is a bill at the desk, and I ask for its first reading.

I now ask unanimous consent for a second reading, and in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I object to my own request.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that following the remarks of Senator Warner, the Senate stand adjourned under the previous order.

Madam President, I speak in loving memory of Barney Gottstein, a patriarch of Alaska's Jewish community, who passed away on October 21 at the age of 91. He was buried in the Anchorage Cemetery on October 22, in accordance with Jewish burial traditions.

I suspect that my colleagues might not be aware that Alaska is home to a thriving Jewish community or that the origins of that community preceded statehood by generations. One might be even more surprised to know that Barney was not the first generation of Gottsteins to occupy a leadership role in prestatehood Alaska, but the second generation. The Gottstein family is up to four generations of leadership, with a fifth--the great-grandchildren--now in place.

The first generation, Barney's father, Jacob B. Gottstein, originally of Des Moines, IA, came to Anchorage in 1915, selling cigars and confections out of the tent city established to construct the Alaska railroad. Jake, as he was known, then opened a wholesale grocery and dry goods business, known as J.B. Gottstein & Co., which made sales calls by dog sled. You can't get more Alaskan than that. Jake passed away in 1963.

Barney was born in Des Moines in 1925, but soon moved to Anchorage, population 2,500, where he was raised. He enlisted in the Army and served in the Army Air Corps. After the war, Barney went to the University of Washington, studying to be an aeronautical engineer. That didn't work out so well. He was told by a counselor

that anti-Semitism would likely prevent Barney from getting a job in his chosen field, so he switched to business and economics and came home to work in the family business, but he didn't abandon his love for flying. Barney was a licensed private pilot who loved to fly around Alaska and beyond.

By the time Barney returned home, the family business was growing as fast as the State. The focus had changed from dry goods to wholesale groceries. Barney took it the next step. One of J.B. Gottstein's customers was the Carr Brothers Grocery. The rest is history.

Barney partnered with Larry Carr to grow the retail grocery business and pursue real estate ventures. Carr's Quality Centers sprung up throughout Alaska, along with an associated chain of Eagle markets. By the late 1980s, the Carr-Gottstein group of companies was the largest Alaska-owned business in the State. Barney and Larry sold the grocery side of the business in 1990 but remained in the real estate business. Today the Carr's name remains on grocery stores in Anchorage, Eagle River, and the Mat-Su Valley.

In 1989, Barney was inducted into the Alaska Business Hall of Fame, and in 1991, he was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree by the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Barney's business success in Alaska was deeply respected, but his community engagement even more so. He was chair of the Alaska Board of Education and provided financial assistance that enabled hundreds of Alaska Natives to pursue schooling. He was an inaugural member of the Alaska State Commission on Human Rights as well.

Barney was active in Alaska's political life as well. He was chairman of the Alaska Democratic Party, Alaska's Democratic National Committeeman, and an Alaska delegate to the Democratic National Conventions.

I mentioned that Barney was one of the patriarchs of Alaska's Jewish community. An early supporter of the State of Israel, he was the face of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, AIPAC, in Alaska for many years. Today, Barney's son David leads the AIPAC group in Alaska and, in that capacity, is a frequent visitor to my office. He provided financial support to enable young Jewish Alaskans to participate in the ``March of the Living,'' so that they might better understand the legacy of the Holocaust. He visited Israel on many occasions and took on the cause of supporting Ethiopian Jews who had made Aliyah to Israel integrate into society and pursue advanced degrees.

Barney was not only a father figure to the Alaska Jewish community. He was the patriarch of a large family himself. Barney is survived by Rachel, his second wife, of 32 years, who not surprisingly he met on a trip to Israel. Barney was father to seven children. Some of Barney's children have followed in their father's footsteps to achieve positions of great respect and prominence in Alaska. I am proud to count David, Jim, Robert, and Sandy among my friends. A fourth generation of the Gottstein family, the grandchildren, are just beginning to make their mark, and there are great-grandchildren behind them.

On behalf of my Senate colleagues, I proudly pay my respects to Barney Gottstein and his wonderful family. May his memory be a blessing.

Mr. President, I have listened to some of the remarks

from my colleague from Maine. I appreciate so much of what he has said, the reminder to us all to be acting in good faith here.

I would like to just take a few moments this morning to say: Count me in. Count me in to be operating in good faith. Count me in as one of the many in this body and the many around this country who want to ensure that we have strong borders in this Nation, that we have true and meaningful border security, whether it is at our southern border or whether it is at our northern borders, whether it is our borders on land or whether it is our borders on sea.

Count me in as one who is prepared to deal with the difficulties, the true humanitarian issues that we are seeing on the southern border today with an influx of children and families, those who are seeking asylum, those who are frustrated with our system. Count me in as one of those who want to address these issues. But also count me in as one who says that shutting down the government is not governing. Nobody is winning in this.

I have been reading all the accounts that are out there in terms of whether people think this is on the President, whether this is on the Democrats, whether this is on the House. Do you know who it is on? It is on the backs of all of us, of the men and women who are the Federal workers, who work hard, who get up every day and do the jobs we have tasked them to do, some of whom are furloughed, some of whom are working without pay, but all of whom are worried about where we are.

We are now in the longest shutdown we have seen. I think it is either today or tomorrow that we will pass that benchmark. It is not just Federal workers who are being impacted; it is those of us who rely on the services of those who work in our Agencies.

I come from a State, as does my colleague from Maine, where fisheries are a significant issue for us. NOAA and some of these other Agencies have a great deal to do with the economic health and well-being of our State right now. This is our big crabbing season. This is the time of year where there are a lot of folks out there on the water who need to be able to provide for their families--their livelihood. You think it is all about looking for the crab at the bottom of the Bering Sea. Well, in order to do that, you not only have to have certain permits, you have to have the ability to unload your load at the dock with certified scales.

Not necessarily in the crab fisheries, but in other fisheries, you have to have observers on your boats. One of the things we are learning is that the observers need to be checked out after their trip. They have to be checked out before they can move to another vessel. You have kind of a ripple effect that is going on out there. So if you are a cod fisherman or a crab fisherman and you are thinking: The government shutdown doesn't mean anything to me--it doesn't until it does. Our reality is that there is impact, and I understand that it impacts us in many different ways.

Every morning, I check in with the folks who are answering my phones here in Washington, DC, along with staff back in Alaska, and I ask, what are we hearing from folks back home?

I will tell you, I have a lot of people saying: Lisa, you have to stand with the President. You have to stand strong on this because we need to have border security.

Then I have an equal number who are saying: Please, please do something to help reopen this government. We expect it of you. We need it from you. We are begging you to make things work. Fix it back there.

I think about where we are right here and right now. There have been some suggestions out there that we don't know how long this is going to take, but we just have to hunker down, and you are just going to have to figure out how you can make ends meet.

We have some great credit unions in the State of Alaska that have put out notices that say: If you are concerned about how you are going to make that mortgage, make that car payment, pay your landlord, come to us and talk to us. I so appreciate that, but I also know that many times, that is limited in its application.

This suggestion that I have heard by some that, well, you can just go out there and get a second job--I come from a State where we have the highest unemployment rate in the country right now, or maybe we are now second from the bottom, but there are communities where there aren't a lot of options.

Our Coast Guard base in Kodiak is the pride and joy of the Coast Guard. We have a lot of coasties who serve us in Alaska--about 2,500, and that is significant for us. But in the community of Kodiak, if a military spouse or a Coast Guard spouse says ``I have to find a job because my husband isn't getting paid, and we are not quite sure when it is going to come,'' in Kodiak, it is pretty tough to find a temporary job.

One of the things we have learned is that, you have a situation, OK-- the Coast Guard is required to show up, and we so appreciate that. We so appreciate the work of the Coast Guard. They are out there in the Bering Sea right now. They are helping those who are dealing with some pretty extreme conditions. Every day, they put their lives on the line for us. So the fact that they are not protected at this point in time causes me great concern and anxiety and stress, as it does them as well. But think about it. You have a situation where non-exempt employees are those who are providing childcare at the childcare center. So you are still going to work and not getting paid, but now your childcare center is not open.

Think about these real-life applications, and then think about the very easy answer: Well, go out and find something to tide you through. So I asked my team back here--I said: Wait a minute, you could go out and you could drive Uber. Well, if you are a Federal employee, you can have secondary employment, but in order to ensure that there is no conflict with your Federal job, you have to get permission to do so. So if you are in the middle of a shutdown and if your Department is shut down, where do you go to get permission to get that secondary job? Where do you go to ask for permission and say: I want to drive Uber for the next however many weeks until the government opens. There is nobody there to give the approval.

It seems like this, where we can say back here in the Halls of Congress: Just hang tough. Just be strong. Just talk to your landlord. We are all going to get through this together.

We want border security. I want border security. I think the President's request for a comprehensive view of how we address this is not something that is so unreasonable. Let's figure that out. Let's walk through it.

I was part of a group this week who was suggesting, let's take the proposal that the Acting OMB Director sent to the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, and let's treat that as a request for supplemental appropriations. Let's have that hearing. But in order to do this, we have to get our colleagues on the other side to sit down and go through this process with us. So maybe we can get a short-term reprieve. Let's do a short-term CR to allow us to process this. But let's not keep the government shut down while we do this. We can figure out these things.

Everyone is talking about leverage--it is all political leverage. Well, tell that to the people who are really worried right now.

We had a pretty tough earthquake on November 30 that a lot of folks are still digging out of. They are writing checks to contractors because they need to make sure they are going to have a boiler to get through a cold winter or make sure the foundation in the home they want to get back into--that they are going to get back into it sooner than later. But what do you do if you are not sure if that paycheck, which was supposed to come today, is coming today or coming 2 weeks from now, and you have written the check to the contractor? There is a lot of anxiety out there.

I hear from a lot of these folks who are dealing with unexpected household expenditures after that earthquake. I shouldn't say it is just after that earthquake; we just had another one yesterday, 4.7. This is the fourth earthquake we have had since the first of this year, January 1, that has exceeded 4.0. So we had the big one, and then we have had thousands afterwards. So we are still dealing with a lot of this stuff. When people hear that the requests for FEMA assistance or for small business assistance may be delayed because the government is not open--think about

how we are compounding their stress, their anxiety.

I have been part of groups who have talked to the Vice President, have talked to his negotiating team. I myself have raised these issues with the President. I want to be part of the solution, and I want to be part of the solution sooner rather than later because we owe it to the people of this country to function, and when the government is shut down, partial or otherwise, we are not functioning.

Let's stop talking about who has leverage and who doesn't have leverage and when that is going to tip to advantage the other side. Let's do what we need to do when it comes to ensuring the security of our Nation and our borders. Let's navigate those issues. But let's not hold hostage good men and women who are working hard to keep us safe every day through the basic functions of government.

I am one who has signed on I think to most of the bills that are out there that would help alleviate some of what individuals and their families are seeing, whether it is the Pay Our Coast Guard Act, the End Government Shutdowns Act, the Pay Excepted Personnel Act. But those are simply bandaids, and quite honestly, they are probably nothing more than messages right now.

What I am hearing from folks is, keep us secure, protect our borders, deal with humanitarian issues, but allow our government to function. Go to work, stop arguing about who is winning, and let's get the government open.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the senior Senator from Alaska be authorized to sign duly enrolled bills or joint resolutions today through Monday, January 14.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 3 p.m., Monday, January 14; further, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed; finally, that notwithstanding the provisions of rule XXII, the cloture motion with respect to the motion to proceed to S. 1 ripen at 5:30 p.m., Monday.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I asked that it stand adjourned under the previous order following the remarks of our Democratic colleagues.

I thank my friend from Maine. I enjoy working with the Senator as well.

Mr. President, today I honor an Alaska legend, Urban Rahoi, on the occasion of his 100th birthday, which occurred on Monday, January 6, 2019. Now, my colleagues might wonder, what the heck is an Urban Rahoi?

To his admirers throughout the State of Alaska, the question is more appropriately stated: What is Urban Rahoi not?

Urban is a World War II veteran, an Alaska pioneer, a homesteader, a lodge owner, a legendary hunting guide, an aviator, a snowmobiler, an entrepreneur, and a statesman. They call him ``Urban Legend--kind of an odd play on words because ``urban legends'' are supposed to be false, but you will not find a more direct and honest guy than Urban Rahoi.

He has been flying for more than 80 years and has survived three plane crashes with barely a bruise. That earned Urban a reputation of being somewhat indestructible. That reputation has only strengthened over the years.

In 2016, Urban was out at his remote lodge on an inholding in the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. He woke up at 6 a.m. one morning with a ``difficult to describe feeling.'' He felt something was just wrong and needed to get out of there. Urban was 97 years old at the time.

Now, most 97-year-olds who wake up to these feelings would likely call 911--not Urban. He gets in his plane and flies off from the lodge to Tok. Then he gets in a truck to begin a 202-mile drive to Fairbanks. He stops for breakfast, drops by a friend's cabin for lunch and storytelling along the way, goes home for a half hour, and then drives over to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital. It turns out Urban had suffered a stroke, albeit a minor one in his estimation.

Urban is fond of saying: ``In my dictionary, two words don't exist: can't and impossible.'' So he wasn't about to let a little stroke stop him. Following his release from the hospital, Urban put in long hours in physical therapy. He was reportedly grumpy about missing fall hunting, but he was looking forward to returning to flying and participating in the Tired Iron snowmachine race.

The Tired Iron race is a fundraiser for the Boy Scouts that features racers in relatively ancient snowmachines, or what people in the lower 48 would call snowmobiles. Urban races a 1965 vintage Polaris Mustang. He is known to quip that the iron may be tired, but he isn't. True to form, Urban won the 2017 Tired Iron, months after his stroke. Come to think of it, he won the 2018 Tired Iron as well.

Just as I said, ``indestructible.''

Urban Rahoi was originally from Iron Mountain. He learned to fly in 1934, making his first solo flight at age 15, and joined the Air Force in 1942, where he flew B-17s during World War II. After the war, Urban attended Michigan Technological Institute for 18 months. Restless, he began flying in Alaska and soon packed up his wife Vi, their four dogs, and a pile of gear into his three-passenger Super Cruiser, flying north to Fairbanks. That was in 1947, a dozen years before statehood.

He was one of the founding partners of Interior Airways, which at one point was one of the largest operators of C-130 cargo planes in the world. He remained active in the Air Force Reserve in Alaska and founded his own air service, which enabled him to get back to his homestead on the Tanana River every night. A real estate developer, as well, he developed the Lakeview Terrace subdivision in South Fairbanks.

Urban holds Alaska State Guide license No. 1, issued shortly after statehood, but he began guiding from his Ptarmigan Lake Lodge even before Alaska statehood and remains a master sheep hunter today.

My family has many stories from hunts with Urban, and all end with how Urban kicked their butts as he hiked up and down the mountain, packing more than his share. Urban's energy humbled the strongest hunter, regardless of age.

Urban is also a citizen-statesman. He served on the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly and has run for the Alaska Legislature several times. He remains active in the realm of game policy.

In recent years, Urban has been working on a bucket list item: flying vintage planes. He flew the B-17G Yankee Lady out of the Yankee Air Museum in Ypsilanti, MI, when he was 94. In 2015, he wanted to fly a B- 17 over the National Mall in commemoration of VE Day. Despite my efforts to help him gain permission to fly, he ended up a passenger because the government wouldn't let him fly in restricted airspace. They clearly didn't know my friend's skill as an aviator.

During a visit to Eielson Air Force Base in 2016, Urban told his hosts that he lives by a simple philosophy: ``Be happy with what you do and if you aren't happy, go find something you'll be happy with.'' By all accounts, Urban has enjoyed a happy and successful life following that philosophy.

It is with great pleasure that I honor my friend Urban Rahoi in the U.S. Senate. On behalf of my colleagues, I extend Urban best wishes for what I know will continue to be an adventurous future.

Madam President, December should be the happiest

month of the year, as we await Christmas and the New Year, but in the even numbered years, it is bittersweet as we say goodbye to colleagues who will not be returning in the next Congress. While the body often seems to be polarized and contentious to the public that knows us only from media appearances, the fact is that partnership and alliances across the aisle are part of the fabric of the body, and friendships of unlikely allies abound. This is not to say that we don't disagree on issues; we very much do. But we strive for these disagreements never to erode our collegiality.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank those with whom I have been proud to serve, Mr. Hatch, our President Pro Tempore, Mr. Corker, Mr. Flake, and Mr. Heller on my side of the aisle for their distinguished service. To my friend, Mr. Kyl, it has been a pleasure to serve with you again. On the Democrat side of the aisle, Mr. Donnelly, Ms. McCaskill, Mr. Nelson, and especially my dear friend, Ms. Heitkamp, the Senator from North Dakota. Each of these individuals cares deeply for the Nation, for the States they have represented so ably, and for the Senate.