Floor Statements

I do believe we have an agreement, Mr. President, to vote at a time certain. Does the Senator wish to postpone that vote?

Mr. President, I ask that the bill be laid before the Senate.

Mr. President, under the circumstances now, I control 7\1/2\ minutes?

I will be pleased to yield that time to the Senator from Oklahoma. I only control half of the time.

I thank the Senator.

No objection.

Mr. President, I wish to thank my colleague, Senator Pryor,

and our chairman Senator Inouye, and my colleague, Senator Collins, for working so diligently on this legislation. It has been a privilege to work with them to craft this legislation which I feel will help protect the public from dangerous products and return consumer confidence to the marketplace.

I recognize the staff on both sides of the aisle who have worked tirelessly on this bipartisan compromise and helped this bill to reach final conclusion.

I ask unanimous consent to print in the Record lists of both majority and minority staff.

We yield back all time.

The bill, as amended, was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading and was read the third time.

I yield back our time.

Madam President, before I make my remarks on the pending amendment, I ask unanimous consent to speak for 4 minutes in morning business.

Madam President, 911 calls are a lifeline for those in danger and essential for our public safety personnel to respond quickly to emergencies. Public safety communications are a priority for Senator Inouye and myself as we work together on the Commerce Committee. In 1967, the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice recommended that a single number be established to report emergency situations. AT&T established 911 as the emergency code throughout the United States.

I come to the Senate today to speak about one of my constituents, a 4-year-old named Tony Sharpe. He is a preschooler in North Pole, AK. When his mother collapsed and lost consciousness during a gallbladder attack, Tony knew to call 911 because his grandmother had sent him a children's book called, ``It's Time To Call 911: What To Do in an Emergency.'' Tony called 911 and his mother received emergency medical help. Tony proves that proper education about 911 can help save lives. As a matter of fact, Tony, again, in another emergency, his mother had called 911 when they lived at another location. Once again, he had the privilege of helping his mother.

This week I had the honor of presenting the E-911 Institute's Citizen in Action Award to Tony. He sets a fine example for young people throughout the country and Alaskans are very proud of him. Heroic actions such as Tony's led Senator Clinton and me to introduce S. Res. 468. It designates April of 2008 as the National 911 Education Month to recognize the need for education about 911 and make people aware of how the system works with new technologies. Ensuring that 911 is compatible with new communications technologies is crucial to the safety and security of all Americans. The E-911 congressional caucus has worked to pass legislation to improve 911 service. Last week the Senate approved S. 428, the IP-Enabled Voice Communications and Public Safety Act. This act will require communications services to provide customers with 911 access and establish a framework for IP-enabled

voice service providers to coordinate with public safety entities. It also ensures that the next generation of 911 systems reach rural America and are available to Americans with disabilities.

The Commerce Committee has worked on this bill for several years. I look forward to working with the House to send this bill to the President as soon as possible. We want to continue to ensure that our 911 system keeps up with changing communications technology and that Americans of all ages know help is only a phone call away.

Amendment No. 4094

If I may, I want to say I am pleased to be here when the statement was made about the amendment of Senator Cornyn. I have been practicing law for a few years; as a matter of fact, for well over 50. I do remember several instances where we had to have counsel and expert witnesses. The difference here is, what Senator Cornyn is saying is a contingent fee arrangement as an attorney general enforces Federal law, a decision of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. We want them to do that. But if they need expert witnesses or they need outside counsel, they should make an agreement with them. If they succeed and get the decision they seek, they will be entitled to recover those costs under the bill we have before us. Reasonable costs will be recovered. But a contingent fee to be charged by an outside counsel or by an expert witness means that if the attorney general is successful without regard to whether those people are used, they will get one- third, whatever it is, contingent recovery from the defendant.

This bill does not contemplate that there is going to be an award of damages in the sense of a normal damage type case. This is an action authorizing the attorney general to enforce a decision and make that decision applicable immediately within his or her State. We are seeking an outreach for enforcement, not an outreach for getting damages, particularly for utilizing the services of buddy-buddy lawyers or buddy-buddy expert witnesses to get money from defendants as we seek to enforce the decisions of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

I support the Cornyn amendment because I do not like the concept of contingent fees involved in expert witnesses or outside counsel when it comes to this type of enforcement of a Federal decision. It is a decision of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. It should not be the basis for recovery based on contingent concepts in this matter. I do want to make certain that everybody understands the Cornyn amendment. If it is not properly drafted, I urge that it be changed so that there be no question about the right of an attorney general to recover the cost of the expert witness or recover the cost of the outside counsel if it is necessary for the attorney general to have one. But I do not want to see contingency concepts entered into this type of arrangement.

I was in private practice involved in plaintiffs' litigation. I understand full well the concept of contingent fees. They have been very useful in the sense where an attorney takes on a case and represents a client and, in effect, will do so without any compensation at all if they lose. But when they win, they share in that success by having their fee based upon a contingency rather than upon an agreement based on an hourly basis or a retainment basis.

But this is not that kind of situation. This is for an attorney general--an official of the State--giving them, at their request, the authority to enforce the Consumer Product Safety Commission's decisions in their State immediately rather than wait for someone to come from the Consumer Product Safety Commission to their State and take action against those who should abide by the decisions of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

I support this entirely. It broadens the concept of enforcement. That is what we are seeking, that for decisions of the CPSC, to have enforcement available in 50 States immediately, if the attorneys general wish to do so. That will mean taking these toys and other things off the shelves immediately. But it is not the kind of situation that requires or should need an expert witness.

Beyond that, why would someone need an outside counsel on a contingent fee to enforce what has already been decided by the CPSC? All that is necessary is action within the State giving an order to give the attorney general the authority to go take stuff off the shelf or to tell the manufacturer to cease and desist. That is not a situation that involves a normal plaintiff litigation opportunity.

So I do urge particularly the lawyers in this Senate to understand what we are doing. We are not creating a contingency-type litigation field. We are only creating a situation where enforcement of the CPSC's decisions are capably extended to 50 States immediately upon a decision, which I think is going to help children. It is going to help the parents.

It is not a situation that requires the employment of outside counsel or expert witnesses. But if some situation arises where it is necessary because of a challenge to the defendant, then the attorney general can employ them, can recover the amount in terms of both the attorney's fees and the expert witnesses on an agreement basis, not on a contingency basis.

Mr. President, the Senator is very generous for sharing his time. I have come to the floor to speak on his substitute bill.

I hope the Senate realizes this is a complete substitute, and it will take the House bill and replace it for the actions that the Senate has taken through our Commerce Committee and on the Senate floor so far. While there are some portions of the House bill that are positive, and I am pleased to say we will be happy to work with them in conference. I must oppose this amendment because it would gut this entire bipartisan compromise that is now before the Senate.

Consumer product safety has been before the Senate before, and we have not been able to get to this point. We have gotten to this point because Senator Pryor, Senator Inouye, Senator Collins, myself, and others have worked together to bring to the Senate a bill that has positive safety provisions that are not currently in the House bill. I urge my colleagues to vote no on this amendment because what we have done in this bill will provide some very positive changes that I believe the House will be willing to accept in conference. The difficulty is this amendment would not include those additional protections. We would have to go back and start all over again in the legislative process to address the additional provisions we have added to this bill.

I believe we can get through the amendment process in the next couple of days, and it is my hope we can go to conference and this bill will be sent to the President as soon as possible. I believe the country is ready for a change and a reemphasis on consumer product safety, particularly as it relates to children.

I am the father of 6 children, grandfather of 11, and I hope to have more--at least grandchildren. That is supposed to be funny. I think we ought to be able to take this compromise bill to conference, and I welcome that. I promise I will confer with my colleague with regard to the changes we might make in conference, but this is not the time to end this bipartisan process.

If there is one thing the Senate needs, the one thing Congress needs, it needs bipartisanship to move forward on the business we should act on during this Congress. This is a product of that, the product of a long, hard conference on a bipartisan basis.

I urge my colleagues to vote no on this amendment. It is my hope the Senate will allow us to go to conference on the bill on which we worked so hard.

I thank the Senator for his courtesy.

I thank Senator Pryor very much. I am involved in a series of classified briefings with Senator Inouye, but I did want to make these comments.

Mr. President, this measure provides greatly needed resources and improved enforcement authority for the Consumer Product Safety Commission. And this bill has come a long way throughout this whole process. I thank Senators Pryor and Inouye for allowing me to work so closely with them to negotiate this bill. I consider it to be a solid and fair compromise position.

One of the favorite parts, I believe, of being a Senator is when we have a chance to improve the lives of children. This bill contains several important provisions to improve toy safety. When a child unwraps a gift on his or her birthday, the surprise should be what the toy is, not whether the toy is unsafe. It should not have dangerous substances or unsafe parts. Under this bill, children's products would require certification that they meet all applicable safety standards. Also, the testing and certification process would be strengthened to ensure the integrity of the testing.

Today, toys are not purchased the way they used to be. E-commerce allows Alaskans and many people throughout rural States the opportunity to find many products that are not on the shelves in rural towns. But it can be difficult for a parent to judge a product based on the manufacturer's description or photo of a child's toy. This bill would mandate that all Internet Web sites are labeled so that consumers are informed of any choking hazards or toys that are not suitable for children under 3 years of age.

There is another provision that has been included at my request, that I think is very important to my home state of Alaska, and also to the millions of Americans who use all-terrain vehicles, ATVs, every day for work and recreation. With the popularity of the ATVs, many domestic and foreign manufacturers are producing more of these vehicles in an effort to meet increased consumer demand, and many of the new market entrants are from China or Taiwan. The ATV provision in the bill would require all persons who market and sell ATVs in the United States to meet the same stringent safety requirements that are currently followed by major ATV manufacturers producing in the United States. The provisions also would preserve the authority of the CPSC to establish additional mandatory ATV safety rules through the normal rulemaking process.

I thank my colleague, Senator Pryor, and our chairman, Senator Inouye, for working so diligently on this legislation. It has been a privilege to work with them to craft a piece of legislation that will help protect the public from dangerous products and return consumer confidence in the marketplace. I look forward to working with them in the Senate to try to get this bill to conference with the House, so we can send it to the President. This is a needed bill.

I have called the attention of the Senate to the ATV problem several times previously this session. I am happy this provision is included in the bill.

I thank my colleagues.

Mr. President, in late November, Senator Inouye and I traveled to the Middle East to assess the security situation there. I want to share some of the insights from our travels, especially as they relate to Iraq. We visited Tunisia, Iraq, and several other countries. We met with senior U.S. State Department, intelligence, and military leaders regarding U.S. policy in Iraq, in the Middle East, and in Europe.

Our first stop was in Tunisia where we met with U.S. Ambassador Robert Godec and his staff regarding political, economic, and social conditions in Tunisia. Tunisia is a moderate Muslim country which has strongly supported women's rights. The Tunisian economy has averaged 5.6 percent growth each year, with an 80-percent level of home ownership. It is a real democracy. The United States has a close working relationship with Tunisia, including strong military-to- military contacts. Tunisia straddles the Middle East, Europe, and Africa, creating a strong interest in regional security issues, particularly concerning Iraq. During our visit, we had many discussions about the situation in Iraq and the possible impacts on the rest of the region.

We have discussed many of these same issues with the Foreign Affairs Secretary of State Saida Chtioui and Minister of Defense Kamel Morjane. Tunisia is interested in strengthening the foreign military financing relationship with the United States. We call that FMF.

Before departing Tunisia, Senator Inouye and I presented a wreath at the U.S. North Africa American Cemetery and Memorial in Tunis. There are 2,841 American servicemen who are buried in that cemetery. It was established in 1948 and covers 27 acres. It sits near the site of the ancient Carthaginian city destroyed by the Romans in 146 B.C. and lies over part of the Roman city of Carthage. The cemetery is located in the part of Tunis that was liberated from the Germans by the British 1st Army in May of 1943. We last visited that area with Senator Hollings, who is now retired from the Senate. He made the landing there in World War II. Many of the men who were interred there gave their lives in those landings and in the occupation of Morocco and Algeria, and the subsequent fighting which ultimately liberated Tunisia. Some have seen those scenes in the recent movies that were shown of World War II. Others involved there died as a result of accidents or sickness in North Africa or while serving in the Persian Gulf command in Iran. But I want to tell the Senate it is a very impressive sight and it is touching to see how well that cemetery staff takes care of the cemetery. It is a United States military cemetery, and our visit to that cemetery left Senator Inouye and me very humbled since we were involved in World War II ourselves.

We then traveled to Iraq, where we spent 2 days meeting with senior U.S. and Iraqi Government officials. We arrived at the Baghdad International Airport, formerly known as Saddam International Airport, which is located approximately 16 kilometers west of Baghdad. It has both a civil international terminal and a smaller military ramp. The Baghdad International Airport is served by a class 1 runway of 13,000 feet, and the military side has almost 9,000 feet. The military runway was bombed by coalition aircraft and closed early in Operation Iraqi Freedom. The 1st Expeditionary RED HORSE Group and the 447th Expeditionary Civil Engineering Squadron helped repair the runway, and it is once again operational. It opened to commercial aircraft in 2003. It can handle 7.5 million passengers a year. I tell the Senate that because it is partially back. I think that is what I am trying to tell the Senate. Many things are returning to normal in various parts of Iraq.

Baghdad International Airport has been refurbished as part of a $17.5 million contract to rebuild Iraqi airports in Baghdad, Basra, and Mosul. This project is administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Coalition forces began returning control of Baghdad International in June of 2004 with the turnover of the air traffic control tower and checkpoints. The process was concluded with the exchange of the main gate on August 25, 2004. Our major access to Baghdad is in civilian control of Iraq now.

Upon arriving in Iraq, we traveled to the international zone formerly known as the Green Zone. This area in central Baghdad houses most of the city's diplomatic and Government buildings. Part of this area was Saddam Hussein's family playground, including the Presidential palace, which is now the U.S. Embassy annex, numerous villas for Saddam's family, friends, and former Baath party loyalists, along with an underground bunker which reminds one of Hitler. We were informed it was also the home to Saddam's man-eating lions, which have since been moved to Iraq's national zoo, I am happy to say.

Most of our briefings took place in the Presidential palace, which, as I said, is now part of the American Embassy. We discussed the current situation in Iraq with U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and his key staff.

Let me tell the Senate a little bit about Ambassador Crocker. He is a most impressive individual. He grew up in an Air Force family, attended schools in Morocco, Canada, Turkey, and the United States, and joined the Foreign Service in 1971. Since those early years he has served in a variety of hot spots around the world. His assignments have included Iran, Qatar, Iraq, Egypt, as well as right here in Washington, DC. He also served as U.S. Ambassador in Pakistan, Kuwait, Syria, and Lebanon. This man has an impressive list of senior assignments during which he represented our country, and he is representing us very well now in Iraq.

In January of 2002, Ambassador Crocker reopened the American Embassy in Kabul. In 2003, he served as the

first Director of Governance for the Coalition's Provisional Authority in Baghdad. He was subsequently confirmed by this Senate as our Ambassador to Iraq on March 7, 2007. We have here a true Middle Eastern expert representing our Nation in this country.

Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus are a great team. Their partnership serves our country well.

I was very impressed by that team and by the Department of State officials working throughout Iraq. Whether serving in the Baghdad Embassy or in numerous provisional reconstruction teams that are now known as PRTs that are located throughout the country, they deserve much credit and they deserve our support. I was especially pleased with the progress the PRTs have made over this past year. Their efforts are important to achieving our counterinsurgency strategy by bolstering moderates, promoting reconciliation, fostering economic development, and building provincial capacity.

The PRT initiative is a civilian military interagency effort that serves as the primary interface between U.S. and coalition partners and provisional and local governments throughout Iraq. They are helping Iraq develop transparency and stable provisional governments by promoting increased security, the rule of law, political and economic development, and providing the provincial administration necessary to meet the basic needs of the Iraqi population. Twenty-five PRTs serve all the provinces in Iraq. Ten full-sized teams stretching from Mosul in the north to Basra in the far south serve the majority of Iraqis. Coalition participation includes the British-led PRT in Basra, the Italian-led team in Dakar, and the Korean-led team in Erbil. The PRTs work closely with U.S. and coalition military units to strengthen provisional governments.

Ten of the twenty-five teams are the new ``embedded'' PRTs, as they are called. These civilian-led teams work hand in glove with the brigade combat teams or the U.S. Marine regiments to support the surge in Anbar Province and in the greater Baghdad area.

Manning of these PRTs is diverse. Personnel represent our Department of State, USAID coalition, and the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the gulf region division of the Army Corps of Engineers, and our contract personnel. The office of Provincial Affairs within the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad provides the policy guidance and support to the overall PRT program. This program is one of the significant things we saw that has taken place in Iraq since the surge, and it has been very successful.

As part of the President's new way forward, PRT personnel doubled from 300 to over 600 team members countrywide by the end of last year. The PRT's financial support comes from a variety of sources, including coalition partners and donor nations, with the majority coming from the United States, of course. Principal programs associated with PRTs include the U.S.-funded community stabilization program, the provincial reconstruction development committee program, the local governance program, the civil society program, and the Inma agribusiness program,--by the way, Inma means growth in Arabic--amounts to progress. Progress has taken place as a result of the surge.

During our visit, it was announced that security conditions had improved enough to allow the drawdown of U.S. combat troops from Diyala Province. This was the first drawdown of combat forces since the surge began in 2007, and these forces will not be replaced. This redeployment without replacement reflects the overall improved security conditions within Iraq, improved capabilities of the Iraqi security forces, and the increased participation of concerned local citizens. Improved economic factors and declining tribal conflicts in the province have made the drawdown possible. I think General Petraeus's ability to reach out to the tribal leaders has contributed greatly to what we have seen in terms of the progress being made in Iraq.

Diyala Province has been plagued by rampant corruption in the past. Leaders placed their ambitions ahead of the needs of the constituency. There was a lack of food, water, electricity, and fuel, and residents viewed Iraqi security forces as sectarian. Tribal conflicts divided the population. We met with some of those forces. Iraqi security forces and the government of Diyala Province worked diligently over the past 18 months to bring stability and services to that province. Acts of violence have dropped in the past year by 50 percent alone. The surge enabled the coalition and Iraqi security forces to dominate the terrain and secure the population, allowing the government to function properly and to shift focus from defense to reconstruction and providing essential services. We saw progress. That is what I am trying to say. We saw with our own eyes the progress that is taking place in Iraq since the surge.

We met with Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih and his staff and personally stressed the importance of moving forward on the political reconciliation. The national Government must reconcile. We must keep in mind that Iraq's political system, though, is still in its early stages of development. Its leaders are trying to establish a government and resolve fundamental issues in the midst of continuing violence.

Iraqi leaders agree political progress can be improved. However, there have been steps forward during the past several months. While the so-called benchmark legislation has been slow in terms of the national legislature, I believe that actions will flow from the laws that have been passed and those that have already been enacted. Steps are already being taken. We were encouraged by the distribution of oil revenues despite the absence of an agreement on the overall revenue-sharing law.

I don't know if the Senate knows it, but many people went from Alaska to talk about our basic concept in Alaska of our system of a general fund, a basic fund where we put aside 25 percent of all of our oil revenue. That is our security for the future. We tried to convince Iraq to do something like that, and I am pleased to say they are going to do something like that. But they have a different circumstance, of course, since they have so many differences between their provinces. But the concept of working on a national basis to provide for a distribution of oil revenues throughout the provinces is still proceeding.

We received an extensive briefing from General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker on the impact of the recent military surge and the declining level of violence throughout the country. General Petraeus highlighted the success our soldiers and their Iraqi partners have had in taking control of many sanctuaries from al-Qaida in Iraq and disrupting extremist networks throughout the country. Since the surge of offensives began in June of last year, attacks and civilian deaths, we were told, have decreased by 60 percent. I believe that is progress.

Iraqi security forces are having a greater impact on the battlefield. In the last year, they have added over 100,000 new soldiers and police and increased their capabilities. Senator Inouye and I met with some of the leaders of the Iraqi Army in Iraq and with heads of the police from some of the areas. I am confident they were moving as quickly to eliminate conflicts between their people, between the Sunnis and Shiites, and between the various tribes. Most important was the new role of tribal leaders in trying to bring about a peaceful situation within Iraq. In 2008, the Iraqis will add 30 additional battalions to compensate for our reduction of about one-quarter of our combat forces by the end of July. In areas of Iraq, the atmosphere resembles the spring of 2003, where many communities were feeling liberated. This time, they are feeling liberated from al-Qaida and the extremist elements that have come in after the defeat of Saddam Hussein.

In many provinces Iraqis are completely in charge. In some areas, in fact, there are no coalition forces there at all.

The rejection of al-Qaida and the military extremists has led to the rise of concerned local citizen groups, more than 75,000 strong, and comprised of both Sunni and Shia volunteers. These groups are helping to secure their communities, provide intelligence on the enemy and report improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, and weapons caches. You should have heard some of the stories we heard about how citizens are

coming forward to say where these caches are located and where the weapons are, because they have confidence in their own people, that they are going to be in charge of their own security. This move has saved the lives of countless Iraqi civilians and coalition soldiers.

We discussed the overall security situation throughout the country with LTG Ray Odierno, Commander of the Multinational Corps, and his key staff. This is a photo of the meeting we had with that staff. It was an interesting briefing.

Since our visit, LTG Odierno has redeployed to Fort Hood, where he has reassumed his responsibilities as the Commander of the 3rd Corps. He is a very capable individual who I believe will be assigned to more senior positions, and we will hear a lot from this officer in the future.

We flew to forward operating base Kalsu, south of Baghdad, where we met with the commander of the 4th Brigade Combat Team of the 25th Infantry Division, COL Michael Garrett, and his senior staff. This is a photo the Senator and I had taken with him. Colonel Garret impressed us with his leadership and insights into the complexities of his mission. This 3,600-soldier brigade is home-stationed at Fort Richardson, AK. That also gave us a good reason for visiting with them. We were impressed with what they are doing.

This 4/25th brigade was preparing to rotate back to Alaska. They served in Iraq for 15 months, from September 2006 to December 2007.

Two years ago, there was no 4th Brigade Combat Team, Airborne, in the 25th Infantry Division, or in Alaska. Colonel Garrett and the corps of his paratroopers grew it from a battalion to a robust airborne brigade, and they deployed to Iraq after it had been literally put together in Alaska.

The brigade was headquartered at forward operation base Kalsu, in Al- Hillah Province, but also worked in Babil, Karbala, and Najaf Provinces. I am not sure I like the way my helmet looks in this photo. Senator Inouye took his off before the photo. It was an interesting meeting under a tent with Army soldiers deployed in the field.

Unfortunately, 53 of the 4/25th made the ultimate sacrifice while valiantly serving America in Iraq. We in Alaska will always remember them. I can tell you that along with all Alaskans we have expressed our love, admiration, and honor for their service and are doing our best to make sure their survivors are well cared for.

The 1st Brigade Combat Team, Stryker, of the 25th Infantry Division also spent 15 months serving in and around Mosul. They returned home to Fort Wainwright, AK, at the end of 2006. By all accounts, they did a tremendous job providing security in that region of Iraq. They were led by COL Mike Shields, a very capable and talented leader.

We also met with senior Iraqi military and police officials from Al- Hillah Province. They agreed the security situation in this province is much improved, with the number of attacks significantly down. The mayor, army, and police leaders had a close working relationship with the Alaskan-based brigade.

Before departing Iraq, we asked to see a Mine-Resistant Ambush- Protected vehicle, an MRAP. I had a photograph taken of it as I left this vehicle. It carries 6 passengers and weighs 16,000 pounds. It is the smaller and lighter version of MRAP variants and is designed for urban operations. This is the new protection for our forces. It is a category 1 vehicle used by our soldiers and marines in Iraq for mounted patrols, reconnaissance, and direct interaction with the civilian population. This is protecting our forces from the threat of IEDs, and this has saved many lives since its deployment. To date, we have fielded 2,317 of these MRAP vehicles in Iraq and Afghanistan. We are in the process of adding 9,000 or more by the end of this year, which I hope will be the end of the war. Anyway, these vehicles are good news and this shows what our country can do in a short period of time. Those other military vehicles did not have the level of protection as MRAPs. This is a survivable vehicle. I think the Senate should be congratulated for moving rapidly to get the money up and get the program up. I congratulate Senators Warner and Levin for their support in this regard.

We have worked together with the Appropriations Committee and Armed Services to make sure these vehicles were supported and delivered in the shortest time in history. They were originally flown directly to Iraq. Now that significant numbers are coming off the production line, they are now going over by ship. These are the most successful vehicles for urban warfare we have ever had. We need them there. I think they will be largely responsible for completing the operations we have to finish in Iraq.

I have taken a little more time than I thought I would. But the reason for my report is that my personal conclusion, from what I saw and heard, was that the surge has worked. There is still work to be done and still support we have to give these people in the field. This is no time to consider a withdrawal from Iraq under the conditions such as the Russians withdrew from Afghanistan. I urge those who have any thought of such a withdrawal, a mandated withdrawal, to look at the history of the Russian withdrawal from Afghanistan. It was one of the most costly in history in terms of the deaths of the Russian soldiers who were trying to get out of that country. They turned around and literally fled from the country under difficult circumstances, where they were ordered out by their political masters without regard to the safety of the people involved. I will not participate in such a withdrawal. If we withdraw, it must be because we have finished the job and the Iraqi military and police forces can take responsibility for their own security.

As Israel has done for so many years, I believe Iraq will come to be able to defend itself. We have to stay the course in order to do that. The people who were lost there deserve for us to finish the job.

47th anniversary of peace corps

Mr. President, this week we mark the 47th anniversary of the U.S. Peace Corps and I ask the Senate to recognize the men and women who represent the best of America and volunteer to serve those less fortunate around the world.

Since its inception in 1961, 190,000 volunteers have served in 139 countries. You may be aware our colleague Senator Dodd served in the Dominican Republic in 1968.

My good friend and associate in law practice, Jack Roderick, took his family to India to serve as the Peace Corps regional director in 1967 and 1968. Jack tells me that, like many volunteers, he feels he got more out his experience than he could have ever given.

His two daughters were 11 and 13 at the time and they attended Indian schools and learned to speak Hindi. The experience changed their lives.

The 1,000 volunteers Jack worked with in India faced many health risks due to the difficult living conditions. But they were committed to the mission of the Peace Corps and worked with the people of India to improve the country's agricultural production.

Today, 36 Peace Corps volunteers from Alaska are working in countries around the world including Mongolia, Uganda, Ecuador, Romania and Cambodia. They work directly with the people of these countries and help improve education and develop small businesses. They work with small farmers to increase food production and teach environmental conservation practices. They fight malnutrition and help provide safe drinking water. They fight the spread of HIV/AIDS and assist people affected by this disease which is devastating many developing nations.

When these volunteers return home to Alaska they share their unique experiences and perspectives with their communities and help expand our understanding of places which for many of us are just a name on a map.

A member of my staff, Ray Sorensen, spent 2 years in Haiti with the Peace Corps. Since he returned he has enjoyed visiting elementary schools and sharing stories, photos and Haitian music with students. This type of cultural exchange provides students with an understanding not available from their textbooks.

The objective of the Peace Corps is to eventually work itself out of a job. We all hope for the day when there is no need to fight against poverty and disease and all nations enjoy the prosperity with which we are blessed. Until that time, we should support the men and women of our Peace Corps and the good work they do around the world.

I congratulate the Peace Corps on its 47th anniversary and wish it continued success.

Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I ask the Senator to modify his request to include an amendment I have at the desk which makes the bill applicable to Presidents serving on or after January 21, 2009.

Mr. President, I object.

Mr. President, I want to clarify why I am objecting to the passage of H.R. 1254, the Presidential Library Donation Reform Act, in its current form.

In the past, I supported a bill very similar to this. I have always supported transparency in these matters.

My concern is in the fairness of passing this legislation today. When this legislation was introduced at the very beginning of this administration's tenure, I supported it because it would have provided sufficient notice to the new administration of a change in reporting requirements.

However, this administration's final term is near an end, and I do not believe it is fair to change the rules on them.

This administration has complied with the existing procedures. Changing them now would put a greater burden on them than any other past administration which already finished collecting the majority of donations for their libraries.

Enacting this bill to apply only to future administrations would solve this problem, and put them on notice of the new reporting requirements and procedures.

I have an amendment to this bill so that it will be enacted only to apply to administrations serving on or after January 21, 2009. If this amendment is accepted, I will be happy to support the legislation.

Mr. President, I congratulate the Senator from Florida for this bill as modified. I think it is a step in the right direction. I am pleased to support the bill.

Mr. President, I come to the floor to support the Commercial Fishing Industry Healthcare Coverage Act of 2008. My good friend Senator Kennedy and I, along with Senators Kerry and Murkowski, are introducing this bill to improve healthcare options for our Nation's fishermen and fishing families.

Few things are more Alaskan than fishing. Long before Alaska was even a U.S territory, our people were fishing for their livelihood. The first Alaskans, Alaska Natives depended on subsistence fishing, as many do today. Russian settlers built salteries to preserve their catch through our long, harsh winters. In the 1800s, the first canneries were built in Sitka and Klawock, marking the birth of Alaska's modern commercial fishing industry.

Today, Alaska's seafood industry is the State's largest private employer and a fundamental part of Alaskan culture. All around our State, from Ketchikan, at the Southern end of the panhandle, to Kotzebue, above the Arctic Circle, fishermen brave the elements so all Americans may enjoy the bounty of Alaskan waters. Their work is vital to the economies of numerous communities in our State.

While Alaskans have fishing in their blood, skyrocketing costs have made it increasingly difficult for these hard-working men and women to earn a living. One of the major challenges our commercial fishermen face is obtaining affordable healthcare.

The problem is not unique to my State. Lack of health coverage is a dilemma for fishermen in other coastal States. Surveys conducted in different parts of the country show fishing families are significantly more likely to be uninsured than other Americans.

The commercial fishing industry produces billions of dollars for the U.S. economy each year. Despite their contributions, the seasonal and dangerous nature of their profession bars many commercial fishermen from obtaining health insurance; most work for themselves or for small employers. Fishermen are forced to pay high premiums and deductibles, which can effectively put health insurance out of reach.

In my State, fishermen face additional complications when looking for affordable health insurance. A study by the United Fishermen of Alaska found that our fishermen are more likely to work and live in communities without a hospital. Also, fewer private insurance companies offer individual or small business medical coverage in Alaska than in other States. And, most fishermen simply cannot afford the rates charged by these providers.

That lack of basic health services impacts everyone in our fishing fleet, from our older fishermen, who may be most in need of health coverage, to the younger generation of fishermen, who find the lack of affordable healthcare a barrier to entering the profession.

As one fisherman from Juneau put it:

I've applied with two different major health insurance

providers, and both have declined me coverage because of my

occupation . . . living and working without health insurance

is like living on borrowed time. I constantly feel I am

pushing my luck, and a single illness or injury could mean

bankruptcy for me.

With the high cost of individual health insurance and the lack of proximity to healthcare facilities in Alaska families are less likely to seek preventive care, resulting in medical emergencies that could have been avoided. When uninsured fishermen end up in emergency rooms with serious diseases and injuries, taxpayers often absorb the costs.

Our bill is inspired by the successful fishermen's healthcare plan adopted by Senator Kennedy's home State of Massachusetts, which has proven that health insurance can be made affordable for fishing families. This legislation will establish a grant program to help States and fishing organizations create and administer group health insurance programs for fishermen and fishing families.

Americans are consuming more and more seafood as they discover its great taste and considerable health benefits. We cannot forget where these fish come from. They come from the labor of men and women working up and down the coasts of this country, many struggling to earn a living and preserve a tradition that has spanned generations.

This measure would help put affordable medical care within their reach. I encourage my fellow Senators to support the bill.

Mr. President, I come to the floor to support the Commercial Fishing Industry Healthcare Coverage Act of 2008. My good friend Senator Kennedy and I, along with Senators Kerry and Murkowski, are introducing this bill to improve healthcare options for our Nation's fishermen and fishing families.

Few things are more Alaskan than fishing. Long before Alaska was even a U.S territory, our people were fishing for their livelihood. The first Alaskans, Alaska Natives depended on subsistence fishing, as many do today. Russian settlers built salteries to preserve their catch through our long, harsh winters. In the 1800s, the first canneries were built in Sitka and Klawock, marking the birth of Alaska's modern commercial fishing industry.

Today, Alaska's seafood industry is the State's largest private employer and a fundamental part of Alaskan culture. All around our State, from Ketchikan, at the Southern end of the panhandle, to Kotzebue, above the Arctic Circle, fishermen brave the elements so all Americans may enjoy the bounty of Alaskan waters. Their work is vital to the economies of numerous communities in our State.

While Alaskans have fishing in their blood, skyrocketing costs have made it increasingly difficult for these hard-working men and women to earn a living. One of the major challenges our commercial fishermen face is obtaining affordable healthcare.

The problem is not unique to my State. Lack of health coverage is a dilemma for fishermen in other coastal States. Surveys conducted in different parts of the country show fishing families are significantly more likely to be uninsured than other Americans.

The commercial fishing industry produces billions of dollars for the U.S. economy each year. Despite their contributions, the seasonal and dangerous nature of their profession bars many commercial fishermen from obtaining health insurance; most work for themselves or for small employers. Fishermen are forced to pay high premiums and deductibles, which can effectively put health insurance out of reach.

In my State, fishermen face additional complications when looking for affordable health insurance. A study by the United Fishermen of Alaska found that our fishermen are more likely to work and live in communities without a hospital. Also, fewer private insurance companies offer individual or small business medical coverage in Alaska than in other States. And, most fishermen simply cannot afford the rates charged by these providers.

That lack of basic health services impacts everyone in our fishing fleet, from our older fishermen, who may be most in need of health coverage, to the younger generation of fishermen, who find the lack of affordable healthcare a barrier to entering the profession.

As one fisherman from Juneau put it:

I've applied with two different major health insurance

providers, and both have declined me coverage because of my

occupation . . . living and working without health insurance

is like living on borrowed time. I constantly feel I am

pushing my luck, and a single illness or injury could mean

bankruptcy for me.

With the high cost of individual health insurance and the lack of proximity to healthcare facilities in Alaska families are less likely to seek preventive care, resulting in medical emergencies that could have been avoided. When uninsured fishermen end up in emergency rooms with serious diseases and injuries, taxpayers often absorb the costs.

Our bill is inspired by the successful fishermen's healthcare plan adopted by Senator Kennedy's home State of Massachusetts, which has proven that health insurance can be made affordable for fishing families. This legislation will establish a grant program to help States and fishing organizations create and administer group health insurance programs for fishermen and fishing families.

Americans are consuming more and more seafood as they discover its great taste and considerable health benefits. We cannot forget where these fish come from. They come from the labor of men and women working up and down the coasts of this country, many struggling to earn a living and preserve a tradition that has spanned generations.

This measure would help put affordable medical care within their reach. I encourage my fellow Senators to support the bill.

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

Mr. President, is it in order for me to make a comment as in morning business at this time?

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I too rise to join Senator Murkowski in honoring a personal friend and long-time political colleague, Willie Hensley. He soon will be retiring after spending the last 10 years representing the Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. in Washington, DC, the pipeline that brings Alaska's North Slope oil to the rest of the Nation. Immediately prior to that job, he was Alaska's Commissioner of Commerce and Economic Development, under the administration of former Alaska Governor Tony Knowles. He also has served on important State commissions under both Democratic and Republican governors.

Besides leading Alaska's State department responsible for tourism and seafood marketing, international trade, insurance, banking and securities, and occupational licensing, he also was a director of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation, the Alaska Railroad Corporation, and the Alaska Industrial Development Authority under Democratic Governors, and chairman of the Capitol Site Selection Committee and the chairman of the Land Claims Task Force under Republican Governors Jay Hammond and Walter Hickel.

As Senator Murkowski knows, while Mr. Hensley entered the Alaska Legislature in 1967, he also was a founder of the NANA Regional Corporation, one of the 13 Alaska Native regional corporations formed by the 1971 Native Claims Act. He served as a director of the corporation for the first 20 years during its formative period, and ended his career at NANA as president. While at NANA, he directed its involvement in the oilfield service industry, most notably in environmental services and drilling ventures. He also was a guiding force in NANA's development of the Red Dog lead and zinc mine--the world's largest lead and zinc mine. While at NANA he also was a founder of the nonprofit Manillaq Corp., the regional nonprofit corporation that represented the tribes in northwest Alaska and that has been the leader in improving health care and social services for 11 villages in an area nearly the size of the State of West Virginia.

While at NANA, Mr. Hensley also served in the formation of the Alaska Federation of Natives, the umbrella organization that represents the hopes and aspirations of all Native Alaskans, and served as the AFN's executive director, president and cochairman. In 1979, partially for his pioneering work in Native rights, he was named as one of the young leaders of America by Time Magazine in a cover story ``50 Faces for America's Future,'' He was honored along with then Arkansas Governor and later President Bill Clinton, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Congressman and later Federal Budget Director David Stockman and Ted Turner.

I too wish him well and know that all Members of the Senate join us and all Alaskans in wishing him the very best in all his future endeavors.

Mr. President, I have come to the floor to speak to the Senate about the heroic actions of PO Willard Milam, a U.S. Coast Guard rescue swimmer who serves our Nation in Kodiak, AK.

I hope many Senators have seen the film ``The Guardian.'' Really, I do believe it was Willard Milam who inspired the preparation of that movie, and I want to tell the Senate about his actions.

Shortly after midnight on February 10, 2007, the U.S. Coast Guard Rescue

Coordination Center in Juneau, AK, received an emergency beacon from a fishing vessel. The vessel was the Illusion.

Like so many of our brave Coast Guard men and women, Petty Officer Milam and his crew of four launched in a Coast Guard rescue helicopter to investigate the source of the distress signal they had received, undaunted by a howling 50-mile-an-hour wind and heavy rain and near zero visibility.

When the aircrew arrived on the scene, they realized that the crew of the fishing vessel had abandoned their ship and climbed into a life raft, which was being tossed, at that time, in the treacherous Bering Sea. Petty Officer Milam readied himself to be hoisted down into the 40-degree temperature seas below.

As soon as Petty Officer Milam entered the water, he swam to the life raft and found four survivors. They were hypothermic and in shock and unprotected from the elements. They did not have any survival equipment on. One by one, Petty Officer Milam pulled the survivors out of the life raft and took them and swam with them over to a rescue basket that had been lowered through the darkness from the helicopter that was hovering above them.

After loading the first two survivors into the rescue basket, Petty Officer Milam could begin to feel the frigid water flowing into his own suit. He told me it had, unfortunately, hung up on the edge of the life raft and partially unzipped and that water was filling into his survival suit. But he had to fight the debilitating effects of the cold and struggle against exhaustion in order to continue to swim the third survivor from the life raft to the rescue basket.

While the third survivor was being lifted toward the spotlights of the rescue helicopter, Petty Officer Milam--his legs now numb with cold--realized that the life raft, with one survivor still onboard, had drifted too far for him to reach under its current condition. So he signaled for an emergency pickup, and he was hoisted back into the helicopter.

Once inside the helicopter, he became aware of the fact that the crew had only enough fuel to remain on the scene for 15 minutes more. But Petty Officer Milam courageously asked to be lowered back into the sea, now over the top of this survivor, to try and save that last remaining survivor.

Upon entering the water, Petty Officer Milam pulled the last survivor, who was now very combative because of the fear of the circumstances--he was nearly drowning--he was forced to drag this person from the life raft through the storm back into this rescue basket.

With the last survivor in the rescue helicopter, Petty Officer Milam drifted into a stage of unconsciousness as the aircrew lowered the rescue basket directly back to him. He was still in the water. Miraculously, Petty Officer Milam was able to climb inside that basket and was hoisted to safety.

He told me personally that the next time he awoke he was in the clinic at Dutch Harbor, AK, wrapped in blankets and surrounded by heat lamps. As a matter of fact, he told me he was in bed for a period of hours, and they told him his boat was leaving, so he just got himself up and went back to the dock and went onboard the boat. This man is one of the most courageous men I have ever met in my life.

When we consider the Coast Guard as the guardian of our last frontier, I am proud to tell the Senate that fellow Alaskans recognize him as a man who has dedicated his life to public service. Petty Officer Milam's heroic actions personify the selfless public service representative of U.S. Coast Guard men and women who are stationed around the globe and represent us so well.

Mr. President I ask unanimous consent that my following statement appear in the Record as if read contemporaneous with consideration of the resolution honoring the life of Diane Wolf.

The Senate was deeply saddened by the sudden loss of Diane. Her passion for art and philanthropy lead her to devote her considerable talents to the service of countless organizations and causes. Diane was an attorney, teacher, and civic leader. Much of her work was dedicated to the preservation of the very building in which we meet.

My wife, Catherine, and I worked closely with Diane on her efforts to preserve and restore the U.S. Capitol. Diane was passionate about the Capitol's history and symbolism. She enjoyed the pomp and circumstance of the Presidential inauguration and the annual tradition of the President's State of the Union Address. Her contributions as a member of the board of trustees of the U.S. Senate Preservation Commission were invaluable. It was her support and guidance that led to the development of the commemorative coins which marked the bicentennial of the U.S. Capitol.

President Reagan appointed Diane to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts in 1985. Her father, Erving, says Diane considered that appointment as a full-time job. Diane demanded high quality in all endeavors. She believed a thing worth doing is worth doing well.

During her tenure on the Commission she strongly advocated redesigning our coins to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Bill of Rights and update the Presidential portraits. She believed that American coinage could recapture our imagination and become highly prized by collectors. This is just one example of how Diane used her creativity, intelligence, and boundless energy to promote art in America.

Her vision has been realized in recent years, as the Mint produced new designs for the quarter with images representing each of the 50 States.

Diane's energy and passion for public service will be missed. The institutions she served and the lives she touched benefited greatly from her dedication, generosity, and lively spirit.

Catherine and I are fortunate to know Diane's wonderful family. She cherished her relationships with her parents, Erving and Joyce, and her brothers Daniel and Matthew. Our thoughts and prayers are with them and their loved ones.

Mr. President, I am pleased to speak today in support of my colleague, Senator Murkowski, and explain my strong support for the passage of S. 1200 which will reauthorize the Indian Health Care Improvement Act.

It has been 15 years since the Indian Health Care Act was reauthorized and almost 10 years during which reauthorization bills were introduced in the Congress but received no action. Great advances in the models for the delivery of health care have occurred during this time which need to be incorporated into the Indian health care system. This bill does that. The health needs of Alaska Natives in our State and American Indians throughout the country continue to grow. It is important we pass this bill.

Ten years ago, we opened the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage. It is the only tertiary care hospital in the Indian health care system. At the same time, we created the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, and Alaska Natives took over the management of the entire Native health care system in our State.

I believe much has been done in the last decade. Alaska now has the best health care system in the entire country. The reason, in my judgment, is that the system is operated by the Alaska Native people, who have shaped it to fit their own needs. But Alaska Native health leaders across our State have told me again and again that they believe this legislation needs to be passed because it contains new provisions to aid delivery of health care to the Indian people. It is necessary to continue their critically important work.

This Indian Health Care Improvement Act is a comprehensive bill. Every aspect of what it takes to improve a true system of care to the Alaska Natives and the American Indians is in this bill.

The health status of Alaska Natives and American Indians is poorer than that of the average American. It is poorer than what the average American receives. Many of our people live in remote communities with little economic base, high unemployment rates, and low income levels. These conditions create a ``perfect storm'' of health care obstacles for Alaska Native people. These people must travel farther than others throughout our country to receive health care services. They are less healthy than the average American, and they have more medical issues they face because of the circumstances under which they live.

In Alaska, many communities are not served by roads. For instance, a pregnant woman living in Adak, way out on the Aleutian chain--almost 1,200 miles from Anchorage--must travel by air to deliver her child. She must fly to Anchorage to do that. As she does, she will have flown more than 5 hours, and she will be flying on a plane that is only available 2 to 3 days a week. As it is almost everywhere in Alaska, the weather conditions are really great problems and can delay the start of such a trip for a week or more. Of course, all of these concepts increase the cost of health care, but it is the availability of health care that counts, and it is really difficult for our people to get to the areas where health care can be provided to them.

The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and the Native health organizations in our State have worked hard to improve the health status of our Native people. Rates for diseases, such as tuberculosis, have dropped dramatically, and we have improved access to health care and basic public health measures, such as childhood vaccinations, and installation of water and sewer systems in rural Alaska has also improved our health care. Between 1950 and 2007, Alaska Native life expectancy rose from 46 years to 64 years of age. Those are improvements brought about by health care.

However, in Alaska, as in other parts of the country with Indian populations, many infectious diseases have increased, and other health problems have taken the place of those we have eliminated. Respiratory illness outbreaks threaten the lives of Native babies and toddlers and fill our hospital beds in the Yukon-Kuskokwim area of our State every winter. Noninfectious conditions, such as suicide, violent injury, and intentional injury, still plague Alaska Natives at a very high rate. As the population ages, rates of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes threaten the gains we have made in life expectancy.

The Alaska Native health system has been innovative and pioneered access to and delivery of health services to the Native people in Alaska. Yet huge disparities continue to exist. This bill needs to be passed and funding increased to address these health disparities to save and improve lives in Alaska and to reduce the cost of health care throughout our area and Indian Country.

Title I of this Indian health care bill provides support for Native people to receive training as health workers. Each year, Alaska Natives and American Indians complete their education,

supported in part by programs authorized under title I, and return back to their home to take positions as nurses, doctors, social workers, behavioral health specialists, and administrators--all to improve the health care system.

The Alaska Community Health Aide Program, which is an important example, is an outstanding example of innovation in the delivery of health care in remote communities.

When I came to the Senate, there was hardly any health care in our Alaska villages. They received their health care by the wife or a spouse of the superintendent of the Indian school or native school, calling in to Anchorage, their one central hospital. There were no health aides. We created and pioneered the concept of community health aides.

Through the many years since that time, Alaska Native health leaders worked with the Indian Health Service to train community members to provide tuberculosis treatment during epidemics in Alaska, and the program has provided more than 500 community health aides, with all levels of health care in over 178 remote villages where there is no other type of health care provider.

Recently, the Community Health Aide Program was expanded by the Alaska Native health system, making specifically trained behavioral and dental health aides available to people living in villages. Today, Alaska's telemedicine system, with installations in 235 sites across Alaska, allows the community health aides to have direct access to physicians and dentists in regional hub hospitals in Anchorage and Fairbanks. They can use telemedicine to contact outside specialists who can assist them in the various clinics throughout the country. I will speak of a few of these people.

Jennifer Kalmakof, a community health aide from Chignik Lake, is an example of how important the aides are in their communities. Jennifer won the 2007 Vaccine Alaska Coalition's Excellence in Immunization Award, presented to her at the Alaska Public Health Summit this past December. She made it her mission to increase and improve and maintain immunizations at the local level. She started her own system to keep track of infants, children, elders, and adults, using her own money to buy tackle boxes in which she organized clinic vaccines and kept them in her own refrigerator. She pioneered keeping track of the type of assistance these people need in terms of immunizations and various types of vaccinations.

Title II of the bill addresses the range of services authorized, recognizing the change which has already occurred in our non-Native health system, where the emphasis has shifted from health care to home- and community-based care--such as provided by the young woman I mentioned--especially for long-term care services. All Alaska Natives need to have access to these home-based services, and the assisted living and nursing homes that recognize the cultural needs of Alaska Native elders need to also be available.

Title III of the bill addresses safe water and sanitation needs. There continues to be enormous unmet needs for investment in safe water and sanitation systems in Alaska Native communities. Currently, 26 percent of rural Alaska Native homes lack adequate water and wastewater facilities.

For instance, Andrew Dock lives with his large family in Kipnuk, AK. In his household, there are two adults, six boys, and three girls. The youngest child is 1, and the oldest is 22. There is no piped-in water in this village and not even a central watering point. In the winter, water is obtained by chopping ice from tundra ponds with a steel ice pick and hauling it to his home in three 30-gallon gray garbage cans in a sled pulled by a snow machine. In the summer, he obtains water by collecting rainwater from domestic rooftops. It is also possible to haul water from a lake at Tern Mountain, which is a 13-mile boat trip. Hauling water is a daily chore--one to three trips a day to support drinking, cooking, and washing clothes. He hauls over 1,000 gallons of water per week to just keep safe water for the Dock household.

In Kipnuk, sanitation is accomplished by 5-gallon honey buckets in each home. I know Senator Murkowski talked about this. Buckets are self-hauled twice a day through the living space of the family and deposited in a collection hopper nearby. Buckets must be emptied into another bucket when they become too full to carry without spilling in the home.

Collection of the hoppers is often delayed, and there can be as many as five buckets waiting next to the hopper to be emptied.

More than 6,000 homes in rural Alaska are without safe drinking water, and nearly 14,000 homes require upgrades or improvements to their water, sewer, or solid waste systems to meet minimum sanitation standards.

There is also an immense unmet need for health care facilities throughout the Indian Health Care system, including in remote parts of Alaska. In Barrow, the northernmost point in the United States, $143 million is needed to build the only hospital in an area the size of Idaho. And in Nome, $148.5 million is needed to build the only hospital in an area the size of Virginia.

Other parts of the bill address the ability of native health organizations to bill third parties for health care services delivered to native beneficiaries also covered under public or private insurance programs. These funds provide critical additional funds to make up for shortfalls in Indian Health Service funding, including for emergency care.

While the typical emergency response time from emergency 911 call to hospital care is generally clocked in minutes, in Alaska it is clocked in hours. In 2005, a young man in Bethel, Alaska, was stabbed in the stomach during an early morning fight and needed to be air-ambulanced to Anchorage, more than an hour away by jet. Due to weather and mechanical issues, the patient finally arrived at the hospital in anchorage about 7 hours after the first emergency call. A one-way air ambulance flight from Bethel to Anchorage costs more than $13,000.

Finally, the bill addresses behavioral health needs of native people. The life expectancy of people with mental health issues is 25 years less than those without mental health issues. In Alaska that means that while we continue to make strides towards improving life span, we have not yet been able to adequately address this issue due to program and funding limitations.

The combination of substance abuse and mental illness is associated with much higher rates of multiple diseases and early death. One in eleven Alaska native deaths is alcohol-induced, and alcohol was the fourth leading cause of death from 1993 to 2002 in Alaska. Alcohol contributed to 85 percent of reported domestic violence cases and 80% of reported sexual assault cases between 2000 and 2003. Suicide among Alaska natives remained steadily at two times the non-native rate in Alaska from 1992 to 2000.

Integrated behavioral health programs can make a difference in this picture. Maniilaq, the native health organization in northwest Alaska, operates a very successful behavioral health program called the Mapsivik Treatment Camp, which provides alcohol treatment for families in a remote location. It is a year-round program that integrates the family into cultural and behavioral health treatment models. The camp has been successful in reducing recidivism and helping to heal whole families. And the Raven's Way program operated by the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium for adolescents has now graduated more than 1,000 kids. Many of these graduates have gone on to lead healthier lives, become hardworking adults, and some have even become native leaders.

In conclusion, the need to pass this legislation now is clear, and I urge my colleagues to support passage of the bill.