Speeches
Address to National Congress of American Indians
President Garcia, Tribal Leaders, Elders and Friends. Good morning. It is an honor and a pleasure to be with you once again and to update you on my work on behalf of American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian peoples. I would also like to extend a special welcome to my friends from Alaska. The Alaska Federation of Natives estimates that 21 percent of our State's population is Alaska Native. Alaska's population is now about 670,000 people. I understand that Alaska has a… Continue Reading
02.22.07
Address to Alaska State Legislature
Speaker Harris, President Green, members of the Alaska Legislature, thank you for the invitation to be with you today. • It is wonderful to be back with many of you with which I had the privilege to serve. I commend you for your dedication to your constituents and for continuing to work to make our state the best place to live and raise a family. I also look out and see many new faces in the crowd. I thank each of you for stepping up and accepting the challenge of public servi… Continue Reading
01.29.07
Testimony on Climate Change
Madame Chairman (woman), Ranking Member Inhofe, thank you so much for the opportunity to appear before you. It is a pleasure to be back among you all today; who says you can't go home. I appreciate the opportunity to offer my perspectives as Alaska - America's only Arctic state -will be uniquely affected by climate change if trends continue like they have in the recent past. Alaska also will be uniquely impacted, since Alaskans, to ward off the long winter's cold, are among the … Continue Reading
11.13.06
Climate Change: An Alaskan Perspective
I have learned when talking about my home state of Alaska not to make the assumption that "outsiders" actually understand the north. And I do not use that term in a disparaging way. Alaska is far removed geographically from the rest of the United States as well as mentally. So given that, let me give some background with my apologies to those of you who are already familiar with Alaska, the Great Land. Alaska is nearly 600,000 square miles, which is one-fifth the size of the Cont… Continue Reading
10.28.06
AFN Conference
President Kitka, Chiefs, Respected Elders and Delegates. In 2003, I had the opportunity to address this convention for the first time as a United States Senator. I pledged to that convention that I would be a Senator who listened to the people. To me that means more than an annual appearance at the AFN Convention. It means visiting with our Native people in the places that they live. When we come together in Anchorage we focus on the issues of statewide import. Many of those i… Continue Reading
06.14.06
U.S. Approach for Six-Party Talks
Thank you for the invitation to be with you today. I appreciate this opportunity to speak for a little bit on my thoughts regarding North Korea and the six-party talks. This past January, I was able to travel to Seoul, Tokyo, and Beijing. It was a short, but active trip, and I had the opportunity to meet with many dignitaries, including President Roh of South Korea, Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon, Foreign Minister Taro Aso, and Wu Bangguo, Chairman of China's National People's Congress… Continue Reading
02.23.06
World Trade Center Alaska Remarks
Thank you for the invitation to be with you today. I would particularly like to thank Greg Wolf for putting this event together, and also for agreeing to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs when we held a field hearing here in Anchorage this past December. As many of you know, I had the opportunity to travel to Seoul, Tokyo, and Beijing in mid- January. It was my first trip to the region in my capacity as chair of that subcommi… Continue Reading
02.21.06
Address to the Alaska State Legislature
Thank you Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, for inviting me to be with you today. It's so nice to be back with friends. Since just the start of this year, I have flown over 25,000 miles, visited four world capitals, met with the Presidents of two nations and numerous foreign ministers. But let me assure you, nothing beats being in a state where things are "flippin' sweet." In my address to the State Legislature a couple of years ago, I mentioned that there are three legs to developin… Continue Reading
11.09.05
In recognition of Alaska Veterans and service members
At a time when so many Alaskans are serving overseas, it is important to remember that unlike other military holidays, Veterans Day does not commemorate a great battle or the beginning of a conflict but a day when the world came to be at peace. The Armistice of November 11, 1918, marked the end of the First World War - the bloodiest and costliest conflict the world had known at that time and an episode in our history when Americans left home to fight in a foreign land. And now, on each succe… Continue Reading
10.26.05
Ninth Circuit Split Should Have Its Day In Court
Justice delayed is justice denied. The 58 million people who live within the jurisdiction of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals have had justice delayed for far too long. Splitting the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is not a new idea. Discussions about when and how to split the Circuit have been ongoing since before World War II. However, the need to divide the Circuit has grown and the time to do it is now. No one can deny that the Ninth Circuit is too large. The Ninth Circuit extends f… Continue Reading
08.03.05
Patriot Act Reauthorization
A tenuous balance exists between efforts to safeguard our nation from would-be terrorists and protecting the civil liberties Americans have come to expect. One of the most important tasks for Congress is determining how best to strike that balance given the realities of policy-making in a post 9/11 world. When the conference report reauthorizing the USA Patriot Act first came out this past November, I joined with five other Senators in a bipartisan effort to voice our view that the report langua… Continue Reading
06.09.05
New Energy Bill Lights Way to Balanced Energy Development
Legislation recently cleared by the U.S. Senate Energy Committee provides a balanced blueprint to both increase domestic production of energy from nonrenewable and renewable sources and to promote efficiency, conservation and the new energy technologies that will light our future. The bipartisan bill could lead to production of an additional 53 billion barrels of domestic oil, trillions of cubic feet of natural gas and pioneer the technology to produce gas from methane hydrates, which could … Continue Reading
05.01.05
A Fair Process to Confirm Fair Judges
The use of the filibuster in the United States Senate and the President's judicial nominations have been popular topics of conversation in recent weeks. Print ads, radio spots, and television commercials have all highlighted the irrefutable harm - or unquestionable good, depending on your point of view - that the filibuster represents. What is not often mentioned is the impact this debate could have on other items of importance to the country and Alaska, such as ANWR, the Energy bill, health car… Continue Reading
