America's Small Business Tax Relief Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Ms. MURKOWSKI. 3464, be considered to be submitted to the new substitute, Senate amendment No. 3679, as long as the instructions to the clerk are drafted properly.

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Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, as we are trying to determine whether we have a path forward for an energy bill we have been working on for months, as well as the FAA reauthorization, I thought I would take the time to come to the floor to speak about the importance of this much needed Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization, recognizing the importance of what the FAA does. It is just a reminder to us that when we delay needed reforms and those initiatives that provide some certainty of funding for airport improvements, it doesn't help us out here, and that making sure we are attending to these matters in a timely manner is important.

I think it is fair to say that all of us in this body travel a fair bit. Most everyone, seemingly, will fly home to their respective States, visit with their constituents, and be with their families on weekends. Some of us who are from farther away make efforts to be back home as often as we can, but the distances might complicate it a little bit more. But I think it is fair to say that we see firsthand the inside of many of our Nation's airports and see firsthand those areas where improvements can certainly be made.

In my State of Alaska, for some of us the airport is almost as common and matter-of-fact as going to the grocery store. It seems as though we are in and out of our small airports so much because it is how we get around. In a State where 80 percent of our communities are not connected by a road, how do you get around? How do you get to Dillingham? How do you get to Fort Yukon? Well, you can take a boat. You could take a snow machine in the winter. But the fact is, we fly. We are a flying State. And it is not a matter of flying because it is a vacation or a business trip. It is to go see the doctor. It is to go to high school. It is to go to the grocery store--literally to the grocery store. So many of the people in the outlying rural parts of the State will fly to Anchorage so they can shop at Costco, and instead of taking luggage back home with them, they take toilet paper, diapers, canned goods, and their grocery items. In one community, we have kids who literally instead of a schoolbus to get to school, they take a small plane to fly across the river that separates their community from the school.

We are working to get them a bridge. Some might suggest these are bridges to nowhere. We think this is about connecting people. Right now it is pretty limited in our ability to move in and out. When we talk about flying, for us in Alaska, it is a very matter-of-fact way to travel. It is no frills.

You come from a cold State, Mr. President. You know that if you and your family are going on a long trip out on the road and you are going to be in the high mountains and the roads might be treacherous and it is cold, you will be smart and you will pack some snow gear in the trunk. You might have some emergency supplies there. We do that when we are flying on the airplanes too. Make sure you have snow pants and boots on because sometimes these airplanes are cold, and unfortunately sometimes things happen. This is a fact of life, and I think the Alaska delegation probably logs as many miles as any Members out there-- perhaps our friends from Hawaii just a little bit more. It is a part of who we are. We have come to rely on that access with a pragmatism that perhaps some others don't necessarily appreciate.

I can be at Reagan National, and if a plane is canceled or there is a mechanical problem, the tension is almost so thick you can cut it with a knife. People are so frustrated. If your flight gets grounded in Alaska, it is like, well, the weather has set in. My sister lived on the Aleutian Islands for many years in a community called Unalaska. When she needed to take her family into Anchorage some 800 miles or so away for medical care or any other issues that presented themselves that she would have to go to town, she basically planned for 3 days on either end of her trip because weather shuts you in.

I was in Fairbanks, AK, on a field hearing for the Energy and Natural Resources Committee 2 weeks ago, and it was a quick day trip up and back, but there was no plane that came my way. In fact, all the planes were grounded in Fairbanks because a volcano blew about 800 miles to the south and the winds were strong. It picked up the volcanic ash and deposited it all the way from Pavlof Volcano, down in the Aleutians, up to Barrow and down into the interior of Fairbanks. So what do we do? We don't panic. I was able to spend the night with my sister, catch up on family stuff, rent a car, and drove the 7 hours to Anchorage the next day. It messed up my schedule, but it is a matter-of-fact part of flying in Alaska. At the end of that week, I took a quick supposedly day trip to Kodiak to attend our commercial fishing symposium. Halfway through the day, weather kicked up again. It wasn't a volcano, but it was pretty tough winds, rain, and fog. While the airport wasn't shut down, the airplanes weren't flying. You find a friend's house to go camp out for the evening, and you hope the skies are favorable the next day. You don't want to press the weather because when you are in the air and you are flying, you want to be safe.

I don't tell you these stories to be dramatic about what happens with volcanos and weather in Alaska but to speak to how integral air transportation is to people in my State. A good airport, a reliable flight schedule, this is the equivalent of having a good road and a good car on the road.

I look very critically and very carefully at things such as the FAA Reauthorization Act because some of what we deal with in this measure is effectively a matter of life safety for many of my constituents. Some of those for whom flight is the only option in my State live in the small community of Little Diomede. Little Diomede is about 16 miles off the coast of Alaska. It is in the middle of the Bering Strait. You may have heard of Little Diomede because it is 2\1/2\ miles from Big Diomede. Little Diomede is owned by the United States. Big Diomede is owned by Russia. So when you hear that statement about you can see Russia from Alaska, when you are on Big Diomede, that is a true statement.

When you are sitting in this small island community of some 110 people, your hub community for food, for health care, for pretty much anything is Nome, AK. That is where you go. During the summertime, during the time when the ice is not frozen over in the Bering Strait, literally the only way to get in and out is by helicopter because the island is so small and it is such a peaked island--basically a big rock coming out of the water--there is no flat space for a runway. So you have a helicopter that provides for medical in and out and travel in and out. In the winter, the residents will actually carve a runway into the ice so planes can land on the ice to deliver essential products, whether it is food or medicine or the such. Sometimes you can't put the runway on the ice because the ice has been so compressed and jumbled and you have ice ridges that don't allow for a place to land. Again, you are back to helicopter.

The good news for the residents of Little Diomede--and this is thanks to the good work of my colleague Senator Sullivan--Little Diomede will be joining the other 43 communities in the State that are part of the Essential Air Service, and this will help provide funding to keep the airport open so people can continue to live in a place they have lived for generations.

Nowhere in this country is Essential Air Service so vital. The reason they call it Essential Air Service is because it is essential. In a place like Little Diomede, it is essential. Forty-three communities in the State of Alaska, compared to 113 across the rest of the country, are in Alaska. Many of these locations are only accessible by air. As with Little Diomede, you don't have a road in, you don't have a road out. It truly does make the phrase ``Essential Air Service'' have meaning.

Another community you have heard me speak about at great length--and in fact we are going be having a hearing focused on King Cove, AK. King Cove is a community that is at the beginning of the Aleutian chain. This is a community that has no road access in or out. It is accessible only by plane. It is an area that suffers from some very difficult weather conditions because of where it sits on the peninsula--the mountains, the ocean. The dynamics are such that it doesn't allow their small airport to be open for about one-third of the year. Think about that--getting goods in and out, getting people in and out, getting to safety if there is a medical emergency. There is a small airstrip there in King Cove. It is about 3,500 feet long. It is made of gravel. We have been working to try to get access for the people of King Cove for about 25 years, access to the State's second longest runway, which is in Cold Bay.

We have an opportunity tomorrow morning in the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources to shine a spotlight on this issue, to remind people that since 1980 we have had 19 people die due to plane crashes or injured residents who have waited for a safe way out. I have brought up this issue with Secretary Jewell so many times I can't count it, but she continues to be a blockade and refuses to allow a road to be built so these people can gain safe passage.

Since 2013, there have been 42 medevacs out of King Cove; 16 of them carried out by the Coast Guard. This is one of those examples where if you have people who live in a place where the elements and their geography dictate a level of concern for safety, where we can provide for safe transportation systems, where we can provide them the access to the best air transportation possible, which is over in Cold Bay, then we should be trying to do that.

The last issue I want to raise with the FAA bill that is very important is all that is going on with unmanned aerial systems. Alaska is home to one of the six official FAA sites for unmanned aerial systems. It is managed by the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The Pan- Pacific UAS Test Range Complex is huge. It covers an area from the Arctic all the way down to the tropics. In Alaska, we have six test ranges. I think it is fair to say that provides some pretty unique range for an opportunity to conduct experiments.

In addition to incredible range, the Arctic itself offers a unique opportunity for testing our UAS. It is vast. It is remote. You are away from the congestion of the lower 48. You are in different climate conditions. So this is something where Alaska truly has been leading and pioneering, and we are very proud of that.

I am encouraged that this bill requires the Department of Transportation to develop a plan allowing UAS to operate in designated areas of the Arctic 24 hours a day and beyond line of sight. I think this is important not only from the research perspective but hopefully for the commercial purposes as well.

I think it is fair to say there is good work, strong work that has gone into this FAA reauthorization. I commend the chairman of the Commerce Committee, Senator Thune, for his leadership, and I look forward to its passage in the very short term. I will certainly stand in support of that measure.

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Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I would like to acknowledge and thank the majority leader and the minority leader for their cooperation and their help in getting us here and specifically recognize the good work of Senator Cantwell. You do not get to a point in this body with significant legislation if you don't have a willing partner on the other side.

We have not taken up energy reform or any real energy legislation in over 8 years now, and in those intervening 8 years, much has happened in the energy space. Our policies as they relate to energy, whether it is LNG exports or renewables, haven't advanced. And the commitment that Senator Cantwell and I made to one another over a year ago to try to move legislation--not just to move messages but to move legislation-- was a commitment that held us through a lot of hearings, a lot of discussion, a lot of debate going back and forth, but to the point where we are today with an agreement to move forward to final passage on a very significant energy bill for the country.

So I thank Senator Cantwell, and I would also like to recognize her staff, led by Angela Becker-Dippmann, and my energy team, led by Colin Hayes, who have put in yeoman's work to get us to this point.

I would like to think we could kick this whole thing out tonight, but we are not going to be doing that. We do, however, have the glidepath forward, and I thank not only those on our respective teams but also those here on the floor who have helped us with this as well.

With that, Mr. President,

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