Farewell To The Senate
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Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I would like to speak this morning from the perspective of an Alaskan. Sometimes it is not appropriate for a woman to acknowledge her age, but when Senator Stevens first came to this body, I was 11 years old. Senator Stevens, Ted Stevens, has been ``Alaska'' in this Senate for four decades now. Many Senators earn their place in the history of their States during the course of service in the Senate. But by the time Ted came to the Senate back in 1968, he had already earned his place in Alaskan history. He had earned his place in Alaska's history for his work a decade earlier.
As an Interior Department attorney in the late 1950s, Ted was the Eisenhower administration's point man on Alaska statehood. Well, this year, our State is celebrating its 50th anniversary of statehood. But for the persistence of Ted Stevens at that time, our statehood anniversary date might be celebrated some years off in the future. It was that persistence that Ted brought to the Senate.
Historians will record the life of Ted Stevens and the history of post-statehood Alaska and suggest they are all interwoven. But I think there is an easier way to express that. When I think of the good things, the positive things, that have come to Alaska in the past 50 years, I see the face and I see the hands of Ted Stevens in so many of them.
Some of them are so small, like a washeteria for Golovin, a village of 67 people people near Nome. Ted Stevens, through funding from the Denali Commission, has enabled that village to have that washeteria. You might not think much of that, but when you don't have a water and sewer system and you don't have a place for basic sanitary services, providing a washing facility in a little community is a big deal.
There are also the big projects, whether it is our 800-mile trans-Alaska pipeline that Senator Stevens helped to create or the settlement of our Alaska Native land claims, the fact that we have F-22s at Elmendorf Air Force Base, or a compromise recently that allowed Eielson Air Force Base to remain a vibrant and strategic center for our military. And then the big things that are yet to come, as we are working to advance a natural gas pipeline to bring that energy source to the lower 48. We will also have a new VA outpatient clinic in Anchorage that Ted has been responsible for.
When Alaskans think about the difficult debates, the issues Congress has dealt with over the years as they relate to Alaska--and primarily these are debates where the Nation has sought to tell Alaskans what we should be doing to manage our lands, to develop our economies, to live our lives. Every time there has been an argument, a debate, a victory, it has been the forceful voice of Ted Stevens defending the right of Alaskans that prevails.
We all knew when he would come to the floor wearing his Incredible Hulk tie, he was fighting a battle for Alaska that day, and look out. Whether it was our timber issues or the battle over ANWR or our fisheries, he was there working, fighting, compromising, negotiating these battles for the State of Alaska.
There are a lot of things we know about Ted and his passions, as he has demonstrated them here on the floor, but there are some other things you might not know about Senator Stevens and what drives him, such as his care and his passion and support for world-class fishing out on the Kenai River, his support for public broadcasting, which earned him two national awards, and his undying commitment for the Olympic movement and amateur athletics.
Somebody mentioned it would take a long time to enumerate the accomplishments of Ted Stevens. Mr. Majority Leader, I might suggest that in order to do that, it would take as long as it took you when you read your book about Searchlight on the floor when I was sitting in the Presiding Officer's chair. We don't have time to do that this morning, and that is not my purpose today. But I would like to refer to Ted's accomplishments in two small areas to illustrate a point I wish to make about his character and his personal commitment to public service. These are in the areas of what he has done to improve the lives of Alaska's Native people and also his legacy to America's fisheries.
It is often said a society is judged by the way it treats its most vulnerable members, and it is appropriate we judge the character of our elected leaders in a similar way. In Alaska, the most vulnerable among us are our Alaska Native people--the 120,000 or so Aleuts, Eskimos, and Indians who are the descendants of Alaska's first inhabitants. We recognize that the statistics
about the condition of our Alaskan Natives are not something of which we are proud, with incomes that are half of other Alaskans and high rates of domestic violence, suicide, child abuse, violent deaths, and a prison rate among our population which is not acceptable.
For decades, Alaska's most vulnerable people have had no better friend than Ted Stevens. If you go to Ted's Web site, it lists his milestone legislative accomplishments, and 8 of the 13 are directed to improving the conditions of Alaska's first people. So many of them are so basic. You have all heard the stories; Ted has stood on the floor and talked about the economic conditions we face--the fact that we don't have road systems, the fact we have to fly to most of the villages or go by boat--but the reality is that in so many of our communities, in so many of our villages, we still don't have basic water and sanitation for those who live there. Before Ted Stevens came to the Senate, many of these villages had no running water, no flush toilets, no plumbing, no place to wash clothes or take a shower--the basic needs when it comes to sanitation and health.
In so many instances, our Native people have lived, and some still live, in what could be called Third World conditions, conditions that wouldn't be tolerated anywhere in this country, and conditions that Ted Stevens would not tolerate. He determined he was going to change it and he did. In 1980, only about 20 percent of the rural houses in Alaska had indoor sanitation facilities. Thanks to Ted Stevens, that percentage has risen to well over 75 percent. Now, we still have a ways to go, but what he has done is pretty remarkable.
Talking about health improvements and conditions, it is almost impossible to recruit health professionals to our small and remote areas. So Ted looked into the future and wondered how we were going to provide access, how we were going to provide for the needs of those who live out here. And he said: Well, let's think ahead, and he brought statewide telemedicine. It is the backbone of what we have in Alaska in terms of how we provide for our health care needs. It is the largest telemedicine program in the world. It gives first responders an ability to consult with doctors in the larger cities. Thanks to Ted Stevens, people's lives have been saved. He has made an enormous difference in our community. He has championed the construction of hospitals in our rural hubs out in Kotzebue, Barrow, Nome, and Dillingham. He has brought about the community health centers and health clinics.
I know a lot of you have had an opportunity to come to Alaska, and your first stop is the airport in Anchorage, and you notice that the airport is named after Ted Stevens. Well, you might not know that there is a large monument at the entrance to the Alaska Native Medical Center that has been erected to remind Alaskans that this facility would not have been possible without the work of Ted Stevens. So our Alaska Natives today enjoy an integrated, high quality health care system thanks to Ted Stevens.
This is important for us to remember because so much of what we see in the Senate, the record that is created, we don't have the opportunity to see how that translates to the people Ted Stevens has represented for some 40 years.
Other areas he has worked for Alaska's Natives involve work to preserve their cultural lifestyles through preservation of their subsistence traditions and making sure the Inupiaq people can continue their whaling and helping with economic opportunities and reducing transportation costs. We are seeing a migration from our smaller villages into our larger cities, but I can tell you, without the lifestyle improvements Ted Stevens has brought to rural Alaska, our Native people would have left their villages decades ago. So I wish to thank you, Ted, for all you have done there.
I mentioned the fishery resource, and Senator Stevens himself mentioned that in his comments, but it was nearly 40 years ago that Ted joined with Warren Magnuson and developed a new management regime for our fisheries. This was at a time when our fisheries in the United States, including Alaska, were heavily overfished by foreign fleets. The Magnuson-Stevens Act helped put America back in the fishing industry. This legislation also created the Regional Fishery Management Council. It is largely responsible for the development of Alaska's sustainable fisheries. We are very proud of the fact that to this day we supply about half the seafood that is caught in this country.
It was at Ted Stevens' insistence that the United States negotiated an agreement to stop the illegal fishing in the international waters of the Bering Sea. This agreement has restored the Alaska pollock fishery from near collapse. He has been an absolute champion of ocean conservation. He pushed the U.N. to ban high seas drift net fishing, a practice that was devastating our salmon fisheries. Alaska fishermen will never forget Ted Stevens, the conservationist, the advocate who has truly helped bring our fisheries where they are.
Ted's departure from the Senate truly leaves a void in our hearts and some very big shoes to fill here in the Senate. There are a lot of us in Alaska who are wondering if anyone can fill these shoes. We agonize over whether the Federal Government's interest in Alaska is going to dwindle without Ted here to fight for us. But I am optimistic, Ted, that is not going to be the case.
You have said many times in speeches you have given here on the floor and back at home--you voiced the words of GEN Billy Mitchell back in 1935 when he said:
I believe that, in the future, whoever holds Alaska will hold the world. ..... I think it is the most important strategic place in the world.
Those words of Billy Mitchell, I think you and I agree, hold true today. Alaska continues to provide this top cover for the defense of the North American Continent. Our troops tell us our communities in Alaska support the military like nowhere else in the country. The heartfelt appreciation is genuine. We offer unencumbered military training areas that are simply not available anywhere else. Our resources--our natural gas, our mineral resources--will support and continue to support America's national security for generations to come.
Through his investments in the development of our State and our people, Ted Stevens has helped to prepare Alaska to meet its future challenges. We are a strong and confident and skilled people, and we are empowered--we are empowered by all Ted's work has brought to us over 40 years of service in the Senate.
While Ted may leave this body, I think all of us will continue to seek his advice, his counsel, and his wisdom for as long as he is willing to offer it.
Ted, you have earned a very special place in the golden hearts of Alaskans, and you hold a very special place in my heart. Thank you for your service to Alaska.
I yield the floor.
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