Lisa Murkowski

Ms. MURKOWSKI

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I rise in support of a resolution designating April 25, 2008, as ``Global Youth Service Day.'' This resolution recognizes and commends the significant community service efforts that youth are making in communities across the country and around the world on April 25 and every day. This resolution also encourages the citizens of the United States to acknowledge and support these volunteer efforts. Over the weekend beginning this Friday, April 25, youth from across the United States and around the world will carry out community service projects in areas ranging from hunger to literacy to the environment. Through this service, many will embark on a lifelong path of service and civic engagement in more than 100 countries around the world. This event is not isolated to one weekend a year. Global Youth Service Day is an annual public awareness and education campaign that highlights the valuable contributions that young people make to their communities throughout the year. Mr. President, the participation of youth in community service is not just a ``nice idea'' for a way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Youth who are engaged in volunteer service and service-learning activities do better in school than their classmates who do not volunteer. Youth who engage in volunteering and other positive activities are also more likely to avoid risky behaviors, such as drug and alcohol use, crime, and promiscuity. Service within the community also contributes positively to young people's character development, civic participation, and better understanding of the needs of their neighbors. A recent survey by Civic Enterprises found that 47 percent of high school dropouts reported that boredom in school was a primary reason why they dropped out. High quality service-learning activities can, however, help young people make important connections between the curriculum and the challenges they see in their communities. It is important, therefore, that the United States Senate encourage youth to engage in community service and to congratulate them for the service they provide. In an effort to recognize and support youth volunteers in my State, I am proud to acknowledge some of the activities that will occur this year in Alaska in observance of National and Global Youth Service Day: 1. Anchorage's Promise, which works to mobilize all sectors of the community to build the character and competence of Anchorage's children and youth, is again sponsoring the annual Kids' Day three-day events in Anchorage this year. Youth will provide significant service to their peers and to adults who attend Kids' Day activities: Students from King Career Center will serve as volunteer safety patrols. Students from the University of Alaska Anchorage will serve as greeters. Members of the West High School Junior ROTC will provide security. The youth members of the American Co-Ed Pageants will serve as entertainment directors. Students at Chugiak High School will help their younger peers with bicycle and seatbelt safety demonstrations. Youth volunteers at the Imaginiarium will help with displays and lead groups of visitors through the hands-on experiments. Youth docents at the Anchorage Museum will help youth visitors explore the museum. Youth will also organize a Book Give-Away and provide entertainment through song, dance, gymnastics, and karate. In addition to the Kids' Day events, young people from every region of Alaska will serve their communities in the following ways: 2. Young members of the Kiwanis Key Club will, through the RYLA Youth Leadership program, perform various service projects from March through May. 3. Alaska Youth for Environmental Action will sponsor A Week Without Plastics activities in Anchorage, Palmer, Fairbanks, Juneau, Homer, Yakutat, and Sitka. Youth organizers will help educate their communities, through various outreach activities, on the effects of plastics on our environment. 4. Youth in the Anchorage School District will host a dance to raise funds for economically disadvantaged students who do not qualify for a free or reduced price school lunch; make daily checks for recyclable items, and hold a fundraiser for lymphoma and leukemia research. 5. In partnership with the Anchorage Municipal Libraries, youth will help organize the city's summer reading program and materials. 6. In partnership with Covenant House and Congregation Beth Shalom, young people in Anchorage will involve their peers in transforming old T-shirts into reusable grocery bags. 7. 4-H and other youth volunteers, in partnership with the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage, will provide plastics education information and participate in the planting of trees for Earth Day. 8. In Ketchikan, the Boys and Girls Club will sponsor a city-wide clean-up involving many elementary, middle schools and high school students. 9. From January through May, young people whose parents are stationed at Elmendorf Air Force Base have been involved in monthly service projects. 10. Members of Camp Fire at Highland Tech will sponsor a student contest between the advisory teams within the school to see who can bring in the most plastic to recycle. Each student who participates will receive a reusable shopping bag from Fred Meyer. Students will also hold a Safety Fair. 11. In Nome, Alaska, the student council will sponsor the annual food drive, open the local food bank, and go house to house to gather food for the needy in the community. 12. The Nome Junior ROTC will gather seeds for the school's greenhouse and prepare plantings in the old gold dredges around town. 13. In Juneau, youth members of the Ethics and Leadership program will make ceramic bowls that will be donated to the Glory Hole, Juneau's homeless shelter and soup kitchen. 14. From January through May, members of the Mayor's Youth Commission in Anchorage select a volunteer project that will impact the Municipality for the One Good Deed program. 15. Youth members of the Cook Inlet Tribal Council in Anchorage reach out to the community at large through the Native Games Community Outreach project. 16. The Mediak Video, Radio, and Magazine Clubs of Anchorage will sponsor a Spring Quarter Movie Night, create Public Service Announcements for radio station KNBA, and complete the 8th edition of Alaska Aloud, the only magazine written by and for Alaska Native students in the Anchorage area. I am so proud of all of these young people. I value their idealism, energy, creativity, and unique perspectives as they volunteer to make their communities better and assist those in need. Many similarly wonderful activities will be taking place all across the Nation. I encourage all of my colleagues to visit the Youth Service America Web site--www.ysa.org_to find out about the selfless and creative youth who are contributing in their own States this year. I thank my colleagues--Senators Akaka, Bayh, Boxer, Brown, Burr, Cantwell, Cardin, Casey, Clinton, Cochran, Coleman, Collins, Craig, Dodd, Dole, Durbin, Feingold, Feinstein, Gregg, Inouye, Isakson, Kennedy, Kerry, Landrieu, Lautenberg, Levin, Lieberman, Lincoln, Martinez, Menendez, Mikulski, Murray, Ben Nelson, Bill Nelson, Obama, Specter, Stevens, and Tester--for standing with me as original co- sponsors of this worthwhile legislation, which will ensure that youth across the country and the world know that all of their hard work is greatly appreciated.

Ms. MURKOWSKI

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak in morning business for as long as I may need.

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

Ms. MURKOWSKI

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I wish to take a few minutes today to speak about legislation I introduced before we went on our 2-week recess. This is legislation that is cosponsored by my colleague, the senior Senator from Alaska, Mr. Stevens. It made great sense when the price of oil hit $111.72 a barrel, which is an all-time record high, and it still makes sense today, even with the price of oil having declined to $101, as it is today. It is a bill that will call for the United States to actually take steps to produce more oil, to actually help increase global supplies of petroleum to lower prices, and to use all the Federal revenues from the oil production to fund many forms of alternative energy and the programs that help Americans deal with high energy and food prices. The legislation is entitled the ``American Energy Independence and Security Act of 2008.'' This legislation would automatically open the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northern Alaska if the world price of oil tops $125 a barrel for 5 days. In return, it allocates all the Federal revenues that would come from that oil to both alternative energy development and to provide programs to help improve energy efficiencies to those in need. The revenue includes the estimated $3.5 billion of Federal lease, bonus, and royalty revenues within the first 5 years, plus all the oil production tax revenues over the life of the field. This is an estimated $191 billion to $297 billion to fund wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, ocean, landfill gas--everything covered by the two Energy bills we passed in 2005 and 2007, plus programs such as LIHEAP, the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, that provides aid to help low-income residents pay for home heating and cooling, the weatherization program that helps people improve their insulation to cut energy costs, and also to the Women, Infants, and Children's nutrition program that provides a safety net for nutrition costs, when energy prices rise so high women cannot afford to buy food for their babies and young infants. By the way, the estimates of those total revenues are not my estimates that I have worked up; they were developed by the Congressional Research Service. We know there is a lot of hand-wringing in Washington about what to do about record-high oil prices that are strangling our economy from the east coast all the way west and certainly up to Alaska. Rather than begging Arab oil sheiks to produce more oil, America should produce our own oil to send a signal that we are willing to increase our own supplies and drive down prices. Alaska's Arctic Coastal Plain is likely to hold the largest reserve of traditional oil left on land in Northern America. If the price rises any higher, we should explore the area and find out if there is oil there. And if there is, we ought to produce it and use the revenues to wean ourselves from the fossil fuels and to promote energy conservation. We know so many Americans are hurting every time they fill up their cars at the pump. And while prices may moderate fractionally, the AAA early this month reported gasoline prices have risen 26.9 cents nationwide since February 10. In Alaska, my home State, the average price of gasoline is $3.36 a gallon for regular. This is trailing California and Hawaii by a little bit. Americans are having an equally hard time affording their winter heating bills and will have similar problems with their summer air- conditioning bills. So it only makes sense the revenues from finding and producing U.S. oil go to help the people who are having trouble making ends meet, given the high fuel prices we are facing. By this legislation, only 2,000 acres of the 1.5 million acres of the Arctic Coastal Plain can be physically disturbed. The bill includes a host of environmental protections. It requires directional drilling to be used to minimize disturbance to the wildlife. That means wells can be drilled from a single oil pad that can go underground up to 8 miles away to find the oil pockets. That means that there will be nearly 100 square miles of habitat for caribou and musk oxen and the birds between these well pads. The bill mandates exploration only occurs in winter, when there are no animals on the Coastal Plain to be disturbed. It requires the use of ice roads that disappear in the summer to protect the wildlife. It allows special areas to be designated to protect key habitat to keep any activity out. It contains dozens of other stipulations to guard against noise, flight disturbances, spills or land-use problems. The bill also sets up a special fund to help protect Alaska and Canadian Natives should they face any disruptions because of the limited development that would be allowed. The bill earmarks not just the $3.5 billion of expected initial Federal lease royalties and the potential $192 billion to $297 billion of total Federal income taxes from the first 30 years of energy production, to be split evenly, half would be going then to alternative energy projects contained in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 that we approved in December. The other half would be allocated evenly to LIHEAP, weatherization, and to the WIC programs. In a hearing we held earlier this month, there was a discussion about LIHEAP and LIHEAP funding. We recognized that LIHEAP needs $2 billion a year in additional funding to be fully funded. This legislation could do this for 30 years if we were to pass it. We need a balanced program to increase alternative energy development and improve energy efficiency, but we also need to fund these programs without increasing our Federal debt. Look at the fights we are having to find the offsets to pay for extending tax breaks to further alternative energy. The best way to fund alternatives is by raising new revenue. Look at the pain we are having in crafting and approving the ongoing budget resolution. We know this pain is going to continue for years if we don't do something, and the best way is by using the funds from the fossil fuels to build alternatives. By doing that, we are using domestic oil as a bridge, as a bridge to pay for the alternative fuels that will allow us to reduce our use of fossil fuels and cut our carbon emissions. Opening ANWR does so many things. It makes us less dependent on foreign oil, it cuts our balance of payments deficit, it improves our economy, it keeps our jobs at home instead of exporting them to foreign oil producers such as Venezuela and the Middle East. More importantly, signaling we are finally serious about helping ourselves, that we will produce oil from ANWR, will help to drive down the psychology and the speculation that is currently acting to drive up world oil prices. Admittedly, if we were to open ANWR tomorrow, it is not going to produce more oil tomorrow, but it will or it can dampen the speculation that is helping to fuel higher prices. It is absolutely the right thing to do today, and it is vital if prices rise higher, as we believe they will. The U.S. economy is at risk if prices rise, not counting the health of our low- and middle-income residents. Folks are drowning under the high cost of gasoline and the high cost of heating oil. This bill helps to reduce that pain. If the prices get any higher, we have to produce more oil as a means of driving down market forces. This bill contains all of the environmental safeguards that will allow us to open a tiny fraction of the 40 million acres of the Arctic Coastal Plain in Alaska without harming the wildlife or the environment. It won't hurt the polar bears. It won't hurt the yellow loon. And doing onshore development certainly protects the marine environment and the whale and the walrus and the polar bear that spends 90 percent of its life offshore on the Arctic ice pack. This bill is cautious. It doesn't open the refuge tomorrow, but it simply says if oil prices rise much further we have to take action to show markets that we are serious about helping ourselves and producing more domestic supplies of oil and natural gas. It responsibly takes all the proceeds and puts them toward alternatives and safety net program for those who can't afford these prices. Using these monies for these existing programs will free up funds in the Federal budget to help reduce the debt or fund other vital services. I am realistic about the fate of this legislation. I doubt that the leadership in this body will allow this bill to come up for a vote right now. But everyone here, from Senators who represent farmers who won't be able to afford to till their fields this spring during the planting season due to the high prices, to those who represent cold States, where home heating oil is a problem, to those Senators who represent warm States, where air-conditioning costs will be a concern, to those of us who represent fishermen who are worried about how they will afford the fuel to go out and earn their living, we should come together to support this commonsense way to help reduce prices and to actually help provide a real long-term solution to our supply problems. We owe to it our constituents to do what is right, and I believe this is what is right for our Nation's future.

Ms. MURKOWSKI

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, today I congratulate Lance Mackey, of Fairbanks, AK, on achieving the incredible feat of twice winning the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race and the Yukon Quest Sled Dog Race--two 1,000-mile races--in the same year. Last year, Lance became the first musher ever to win both races in the same calendar year. An achievement, which was previously labeled impossible, has for the second consecutive year been accomplished by Lance Mackey and his team. For those who are unfamiliar with either the Iditarod or the Yukon Quest, these races are the world's two longest dogsled races. Both races, which span over 1,000 miles of rigid mountains, frozen tundra, and dense forests, are true tests of determination and dedication. Not only does the rugged terrain pose a huge challenge, but so does the weather, which frequently drops to 30 or 40 degrees below zero, and the wind, which can gust up to 100 miles per hour. The annual Yukon Quest Sled Dog Race is a 1,000-mile international trek from Fairbanks, AK, to Whitehorse, Canada. Lance Mackey and his team of canine athletes crossed this great distance in 10 days, 12 hours, and 14 minutes, claiming victory for the fourth year in a row. Only 11 days after his Yukon Quest victory, Lance and six of his dogs that competed in the Yukon Quest joined seven of his other dogs and began the 1,100-mile Iditarod Sled Dog Race. This race, which starts in Willow, AK, and ends in Nome, AK, commemorates the 1925 diphtheria serum relay run where dogsled teams had to pass along a vaccine from Anchorage to Nome in order to save countless lives. The Iditarod race is no longer run as a relay but is a race completed by individual dogsled teams. The 1,100-mile journey travels primarily through the great Alaskan wilderness. Throughout this year's Iditarod, Lance Mackey was challenged by not only the weather and terrain but also by other extraordinary mushers such as the 2006 Iditarod winner, Jeff King, and other previous winners of this great race. On the morning of March 12, 2008, thousands gathered at the famous burled wood arch on Front Street in Nome, AK, to cheer on Lance Mackey, as he sledded to back-to-back wins at the Iditarod, beating the odds as well as the extremely competitive international field. Lance Mackey and his team of canines completed the race in 9 days, 11 hours, and 46 minutes, beating four- time Iditarod champion Jeff King by 1 hour and 19 minutes. For the past few years, Lance has shown a mastery of working with and training canine athletes for the sport of dog mushing. As the Anchorage Daily News aptly stated: A musher doesn't win four straight, 1,000 mile Yukon Quests and two straight Iditarods by making dogs run. He wins by making dogs want to run. Lance Mackey continues to impress all of us with his remarkable achievements and record-setting performances. It is my honor to stand before this body today to congratulate Lance Mackey and his team of amazing dogs. Lance is a world-class dog musher and a true Alaskan hero, and I wish him and his team all the success in the future.

Ms. MURKOWSKI

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, many of my fellow Americans are very aware of the exhilaration but also the dangers and risks of commercial fishing in Alaska's Bering Sea. The pictures and the stories--and even the sounds--are brought into our living rooms every week on the Discovery Channel program ``The Deadliest Catch.'' Many have seen it. When the Bering Sea fishing fleet finds itself in trouble, they rely on the men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard to truly make order from the chaos. These stories have not escaped Hollywood's attention. It is not only seen on ``The Deadliest Catch,'' but there was a 2006 feature film, ``The Guardian,'' starring Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher, which paid tribute to the Coast Guard search and rescue teams based at Air Station Kodiak in Alaska. Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak is home to aircrews and rescue swimmers who endure some of the harshest winds and seas in the world. They put their own lives on the line every day so that others may live. The events that were depicted in ``The Guardian'' were fictional, but the events that transpired this past Easter morning in the Bering Sea were very real. I rise today to honor the men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard who participated in efforts to rescue the 47-member crew of the fishing vessel Alaska Ranger. As a direct result of these heroic efforts, 42 members of the Ranger's crew survived. There were no Coast Guard lives lost. In the words of RADM Arthur Brooks, commander of the Seventeenth Coast Guard District, it was ``one of the greatest search and rescue efforts in modern history.'' Let me kind of paint the scene for you. It was 2:52 a.m. local time on Easter Sunday, March 23, that the Alaska Ranger, a Seattle-based factory trawler, radioed the Coast Guard Communications Station Kodiak with a distress call. The vessel at that time was located 120 miles west of Dutch Harbor at the end of the Aleutian Chain. The vessel was taking on water. There were 25-knot winds and seas 6 to 8 feet high. The Coast Guard immediately launched a rescue effort. There was a cutter, two helicopters, and a C-130. The crew of the Ranger had to abandon ship before the first Coast Guard asset arrived. First to arrive on the scene is a Coast Guard Jayhawk Rescue Helicopter, deployed from St. Paul Island, located about 230 miles to the north of where the Alaska Ranger was at the time. The Jayhawk carried a crew of four men. There was no backup. The Jayhawk arrives on the scene about 5:30 a.m. This is about 2\1/2\ hours after the first distress call. This helps put in perspective the distances with which we are dealing. By this point in time, the Alaska Ranger has already sunk in the water. The vessel is completely gone. It has already sunk in water that is more than 6,300 feet deep. The air crew flies in and looks upon this sea of flashing strobe lights. Keep in mind, this is 5:30 in the morning. It is still dark. They have wind and sleet and waves coming up, and they see this sea of flashing strobe lights, probably a mile end to end. They are looking down at this scene through the helicopter thinking there is a light there: Is that a liferaft? Yet another light and another light. Each light is a member of the Ranger's crew wearing a survival suit. Some are in liferafts, but others were literally in this human chain stretching almost a mile in length. Others are floating alone. The water temperature in the sea is about 32 degrees. Rescue swimmer O'Brien Hollow is lowered into the water to triage the survivors. One by one, he positions the survivors to be hoisted into the helicopter above. The helicopter is tossing above in these very heavy winds. Hollow is tethered to the helicopter from above. We also have then the Coast Guard cutter Munro. It has been diverted from its position 130 nautical miles south of the incident. It is racing to the scene at the speed of about 30 knots. The Munro carries a Dolphin rescue helicopter which lifts off the Munro some 80 miles before the cutter arrives at the scene. Rescue swimmer Abram Heller is lowered into the water and begins to gather victims to be hoisted into the basket to be lifted up into the helicopter. Heller stays in the water to make room on the Dolphin for survivors. One has to remember, they have some 47 men in the water. They are trying to lift them into the basket and then into the helicopter, but the helicopter can only accommodate so many people. The rescue swimmer is saying: I am going to stay down here; move this group to safety. The Jayhawk then departs the scene for the Munro, but the Jayhawk cannot land on the cutter's deck because it is too big. So the Jayhawk crew hoists the survivors down to the Munro's deck one by one. Just as they have been lifting survivors out of the sea into this helicopter that is pitching around in the air, they now have to be dropped down to the deck one at a time in the basket. In the meantime, a fuel line is sent up from the Munro's deck to refuel the Jayhawk, and it then departs to the scene. The Jayhawk recovers Heller, the rescue swimmer who has been down there with the survivors, and rescues more survivors. In total, the Jayhawk is responsible for saving 15 lives. The Dolphin saves five lives. The third player in this supremely heroic effort is a Coast Guard C- 130, which circled over the scene serving as an airborne coordination and communications platform. The Coast Guard also received substantial assistance from the Ranger's sister fishing vessel, the Alaska Warrior. The Alaska Warrior also had been out on the Alaska fishing grounds. They left their fishing grounds to pick up 22 survivors from the Ranger who were in liferafts and then returned them to Dutch Harbor. Unfortunately, four of the Ranger's crew members could not be saved. One still remains unaccounted for. The Coast Guard sent the Jayhawk and a C-130 back to the scene with fresh crews to search for the missing mariner but without success. The search for the missing crew member was suspended on Tuesday, March 25. The Coast Guard uses the maritime phrase ``Bravo Zulu'' to recognize a job well done, and this was truly a job well done. While the Coast Guard rigorously trains its people to perform this mission, it is very rare to undertake a mission of this intensity and this complexity. Rescue swimmers Hollow and Heller had participated in rescues before but nothing approaching this kind of a rescue. In fact, rescues of this nature are extremely rare. After very carefully examining the records dating back over 30 years, the Coast Guard could only find a couple mass rescue cases that were even remotely similar to what we experienced on Easter. While dramatic search-and-rescue cases are no stranger to Alaska, most involve 10 victims or less. Others involve a much more orderly abandonment of a vessel. This was the case in 1980, when the cruise ship Prinsendam went down near Yakutat, AK. But large numbers of people abandoning ship directly into the water hardly ever happens. That is one more reason why this rescue effort was remarkable. But it is not the only reason. The risks that were involved in this case were extreme. They had, again, darkness, extremely high winds, high seas, ice, freezing temperatures, extremely long distances from any supporting infrastructure, and all these conditions present unique hazards to the rescuers. Success such as this could not occur without the commitment of a great many people. The crews of the Jayhawk, the Dolphin, and the Munro will long be remembered for their heroism. Backing them were the watch standers at Coast Guard Communications Station Kodiak. These were the folks who answered the Alaska Ranger's mayday call. The C-130 crews, the Kodiak Air Station duty officers, and the District 17 command center controllers in Juneau also contributed. In total, something on the order of 170 Alaska-based Coast Guard men and women were involved in this effort. ADM Thad Allen has already expressed ``Bravo Zulu'' to all the men and women involved with this effort. I am honored to take a few minutes from the Senate's day to praise these men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard on a job well done. Our Nation is always well served by these highly trained individuals who stand ``always ready.''

Ms. MURKOWSKI

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I wish today to honor the life of Ellen Paneok, who left us last Sunday, March 2, at the age of 48. So little time on this Earth, but Ellen made so much of it. The State of Alaska is much the better for all that she has accomplished. How to characterize Ellen? I could speak of her work for Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Southcentral Alaska. Or her work to promote aviation safety at the FAA and as a volunteer in the general aviation community. I could speak of the inspiring articles she has published. I could tell you that Ellen was a highly respected Inupiat artist working in ivory and scrimshaw. I could speak of that fact that Ellen offered herself freely as a role model for Native young people. I could speak to the kindness and loyalty she gave to her friends, including Pat Heller, a very special friend of Ellen's and mine. Ellen's friends returned that kindness and loyalty as they took responsibility for Ellen's care in her final days. And I could speak of the fact that Ellen was one of the first women-- not to mention one of the first Alaska Native women--to pursue the career of Alaska bush pilot. Careers just don't get more adventurous than that. And it was her achievements in the field of aviation that earned Ellen a place in our Nation's history. Ellen started flying in 1976. She flew primarily out of Barrow carrying mail and supplies to the Native villages of northern Alaska. Her life story was chronicled in the ``Women in Flight'' exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum in the nineties. Ellen was one of 37 women in aviation who were part of that exhibit. On September 11, 1997, she delighted museum goers with stories about chasing polar bears off the runway before she could land, flying in Alaska's extreme weather conditions and restoring airplanes. Some of her experiences were delightful, others were not. Like July 10, 1980, the day that the engine in Ellen's Piper Twin Pacer quit somewhere between Farewell and McGrath. The plane fell like a brick and crashed into a stand of trees. A day and a half later, after making a smoke fire from brush and engine oil to call attention to the downed aircraft, she was rescued. That incident gave Ellen a new nickname, ``the survivor.'' The chapter devoted to Ellen in Sandi Sumner's book ``Women Pilots of Alaska'' is entitled ``The Survivor.'' But it goes on to note that surviving the July 1980 crash in the Alaska bush was one of many crises in Ellen's life from which she grew and thrived. Ellen was born in Kotzebue, AK, a relatively large community, in Alaska's bush. Ellen's parents divorced when she was age 5. Her father left the picture following the divorce. Her mother was never around. The family moved from Kotzebue to the big city of Anchorage. Ellen took on the role of mother to her two sisters at the age of 9 and carried on until the age of 12 when the State moved the children into foster homes, splitting the family up to Ellen's protestations. By 14 Ellen was living in a detention facility. She looked at a magazine with airplanes on the cover and said, ``This is going to change my life.'' Indeed, it did. At age 16, holding a dividend check from Cook Inlet Region, one of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act regional corporations created by Congress, Ellen went to Merrill Field, the general aviation aircraft in Anchorage, to take flying lessons. The rest is history. When Ellen spoke to groups of at-risk kids, she could relate from her personal experience. She told them: I was just like you. I got no encouragement. When you decide to do something don't let anyone or anything discourage you. It's up to you. In aviation as in life, attitude influences altitude. With an attitude like this it is no wonder that Ellen will be remembered as a ``heroine in aviation.'' That was the name of an exhibit sponsored by the Chicago Airport System which also chronicled Ellen's extraordinary life adventure. On March 15, a celebration of Ellen's life will take place at the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum in Anchorage. I regret that I will not be able to attend this event to commemorate the achievements of this truly Renaissance woman. So I am taking a few minutes of the Senate's time today to pay tribute to this individual who I so deeply respect. I thank the Senate for allowing me to take a few moments today to speak of Ellen Paneok, one of many Alaskans whose contributions to the making of my home State will be repeated again and again in the run-up to the 50th anniversary of Alaska's statehood next January. Sadly, Ellen will not be with us in person to celebrate that 50th anniversary, yet her inspiring life will not be forgotten. It is forever a part of Alaska's history.

Ms. MURKOWSKI

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, on March 1, 2008, the Peace Corps celebrates its 47th year of operation. I congratulate all past and present volunteers and staff members on 47 years of international service and I welcome many more years to come. Since 1961, the Peace Corps has served as a creative and productive outlet for U.S. citizens to spread some of the very best of our society--our desire to help those less fortunate than ourselves--around the world. The year 2007 was no exception. I am proud to recognize that the spirit of that movement is still strong in America's youth, and our young at heart. Last year witnessed the highest number of volunteers since 1970, with 8, 079 volunteers serving in 74 countries as of September 30th. The Peace Corps is expanding in breadth as well as numbers, with a new program opening in Cambodia. Also in 2007, Ethiopia welcomed the Peace Corps back after 8 years, making it the 10th nation that is also a focus country for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief to host volunteers. In fiscal year 2007, over 1 million people affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic were assisted by Peace Corps volunteers and their activities. Constantly rotating their personnel, the Peace Corps is well accustomed to adapting to and taking advantage of new ideas, thinking, and technology. In the coming year PeaceWiki will launch, allowing volunteers to share experiences and information with each other. They are even creating an online ``role-play'' game to teach middle schoolchildren about international service. Many people mistakenly believe the Peace Corps is only about helping those distantly removed from our daily life here in America. This could not be further from the truth. Peace Corps volunteers return with a sense of accomplishment and the skill sets to that are often desperately needed or in short supply here in the United States. Volunteers have had to learn approximately 250 different languages and dialects, not to mention how to handle different cultures with dexterity and ease. Twenty-two percent of all current volunteers serve in predominantly Muslim countries. Returned volunteers' paths after service are as varied as their tours. They include Assistant Secretary of State Christopher--Chris-- Hill, who served in Cameroon in the 1970s, several of my colleagues in Congress, CEOs and founders of major companies such as Netflix and The Nature Company, authors, journalists, teachers, government employees, and businessmen. Volunteers often return to service later in life as part of the Peace Corps Response, which sends former Corps members to assist in crisis and natural disasters around the world for brief intervals. Over 200 served in our own country after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Across the globe, 36 intrepid Alaskans currently serve their country as members of the Peace Corps. I would like to take this opportunity to extend a special thank you to them in particular. Whether they are in El Salvador, Ghana, or Kazakhstan, I know they are not only fulfilling the Peace Corps' mandates of providing trained personnel to developing nations and promoting cross-cultural understanding, but they are also learning important life lessons which will be a credit to them in their future endeavors and to our State. I look forward to welcoming them back to Alaska as I do all who choose to serve our Nation abroad.

Ms. MURKOWSKI

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I rise to recognize the passage of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act. I again thank the majority leader and minority leader for committing floor time for this bill. Rarely have Indian bills received time on the Senate floor, but this is one that is very important to the well-being of our country's Native people that the attention it has been given by the Senate is more than justified. I thank my colleagues for their commitment in considering this legislation, addressing the issues, and supporting our efforts to improve health care services for American Indians and Alaska Natives. As with many bills, the provisions fall under more than one committee's jurisdiction. The Committee on Indian Affairs, on which I serve as the vice chairman, has shared this bill with the Finance and HELP Committees, and both of these committees have worked in earnest to assist us in crafting a bill to carry the Indian health care system into the 21st century. I am fortunate to have a chairman on the Indian Affairs Committee-- Senator Dorgan--with whom I share a close working relationship. We both have significant populations of Native people in our States with similar issues and challenges in many areas such as health care, education, housing, economic development and transportation. We have had numerous opportunities to work together in our committee, particularly on youth suicide prevention and treatment and telemedicine. I truly appreciate his persistence and dedication in advancing this bill. Senators Grassley and Baucus have also worked with us closely to advance this measure through the Finance Committee last year which reported the bill out favorably in both the 109th and 110th Congresses. I also wish to recognize their staff Rodney Whitlock, Becky Shipp, and David Schwartz, who worked so closely with the Indian Affairs staff on this bill. Likewise, Senator Enzi, in his capacity as chairman and now as ranking member of the HELP committee--worked very diligently on this legislation to refine key pieces of the legislation during the 109th Congress and again this year. Greg Dean, Shana Christrup, Randi Reid and Amy Shank devoted countless hours of work with the Indian Affairs Committee to work out issues, which I appreciate. I especially appreciate the leadership and commitment of Senator Kyl. He has one of the largest Indian populations in his State. His commitment to Indian issues was reflected by his continued involvement and that of his staff, Jennifer Romans, in working out issues to advance this bill. We must not forget that this bill reflects the work of our dear colleague and my predecessor, the late Senator Craig Thomas, who held the reins as vice chairman last year. He eagerly pursued efforts to improve health care services for all American Indian communities, including those in his home State of Wyoming on the Wind River Indian Reservation, and it is most fitting that we will honor his work with the passage of this bill. I pointed out on the floor yesterday, in the 109th Congress, Senator McCain made a great effort to reauthorize the act in his role as chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee. Before that, Senator Campbell, who also served as chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee, carried this legislation since the 106th Congress as the original sponsor, along with Senator Inouye, until Senator Campbell's retirement in 2004. Between Chairmen Campbell and McCain in the 108th and 109th Congresses, there were 8 hearings on the reauthorization, including joint hearings with the HELP Committee and with the House Resources Committee. Our efforts had also great help from my good friends Senators Stevens, Domenici, Smith, Cochran, Hatch, and Thune. These Senators have been long-time friends of our country's Native people, and I want to acknowledge their dedication in promoting American Indian and Alaska Native health. The Republican staff of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs has waited a long time for this day to come. David Mullon, the Republican staff director and chief counsel, and Rhonda Harjo, the deputy chief counsel, came to the committee during Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell's tenure. Rhonda Harjo has been the lead Republican staff member of the committee for Indian Health Care Improvement Act reauthorization since 2003. Indian country takes pride in her devotion to the betterment of her Native people and I share that pride today. I also wish to acknowledge the efforts of Jim Hall and Jon Murphy and two Alaskans who recently joined the committee--Gerald Moses and Megan Alvanna-Stimpfle--in preparing this bill for floor consideration. I also acknowledge the tireless efforts over the past 8 years of the Indian tribal and health care leaders and advocates across the U.S. in helping develop the legislative proposal which served as the basis for this bill. In particular, the National Tribal Steering Committee, consisting of tribal leaders and Indian health representatives, brought together the diverse interests of over 560 tribes across the country to a consensus on this very important measure. That is no small task and it was handled dutifully by the cochairs of the National Tribal Steering Committee, Chairman Buford Rolin of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians in Atmore, Alabama, Rachel Joseph, former Chairwoman of the Lone Pine Paiute-Shoshone Tribe, in Lone Pine, California, and staff, Kitty Marx from the National Indian Health Board. Three key Alaska Native leaders played significant roles on the National Tribal Steering Committee: Sally Smith, the chairman of the National Indian Health Board and the Bristol Bay Area Health Corporation; Don Kashevaroff, the president of the Seldovia Village Tribe and chair of the Tribal Self-Governance Advisory Committee; and Valerie Davidson from the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. I appreciate their leadership and thoughtful consideration in the development of this legislation. A lot of good work went into this bill and our efforts should not go in vain. I look forward to working with my House colleagues and getting this bill on to the President's desk for signature. Mr. President, we had a brief opportunity to express our thanks to those who have worked so hard on the reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act. Again, my sincere thanks and gratitude to Chairman Dorgan for all that he has done. This is a good day for Indian country, for Alaska Natives who are just waking up back home right now. They are going to wake up to news that they have been waiting to hear for a good decade: that finally we have advanced the Indian Health Care Improvement Act. We have taken that step. We recognize this is not the end-all and be-all in terms of providing for the health care needs of American Indians and Alaska Natives. We know we need to do more, and we are challenged to do that. We talked about the funding issue and how we must make that next step to make sure it is not just what we put in the authorization, but we back that up with the dollars for the programs. We have a long way to go, but I think we have made a very significant step today. I am proud of the work of my colleagues today and those who came before us on this very important issue. ``Exxon Valdez'' Oilspill Mr. President, I wish to take a few minutes this morning to talk about tomorrow because tomorrow the United States Supreme Court will hear the appeal of the ongoing litigation between ExxonMobil and commercial fishermen and other plaintiffs whose livelihoods were negatively impacted, devastated, in fact, by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oilspill. The Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef at 12:04 a.m. on March 24, 1989. It spilled 11 million gallons of oil--this is about the same size as 125 Olympic-sized swimming pools--directly into Prince William Sound in Alaska. The oil from the spill migrated several hundred miles from Bligh Reef and polluted roughly 1,300 miles of Alaskan shoreline. There were 11,000 square miles of ocean that were ultimately affected by this spill, which is believed to be the worst oilspill worldwide with respect to environmental damage. Regrettably, the spill area is still affected some 19 years later. In 2001, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration studied the shoreline of Prince William Sound for any remaining effects of the spill. Scientists reviewed 91 sites within Prince William Sound and found that 58 percent of these locations were still polluted by oil. Again, this is 19 years after the fact. Some estimates note that beaches and streams in this area are still polluted with over 25,000 gallons of oil. Of course, the fisheries in Prince William Sound were affected. The herring fishery in this area experienced a dramatic decrease in the years immediately after the 1989 spill. As of 2007, the herring fishery had not improved to the pre-1989 levels. Another example is what has happened with the value of the fisheries permits in this part of the State. In 1988, a fishing permit in Prince William Sound was worth $400,000. As of 2004, the value of each such permit was less than $70,000, a drop of more than 82 percent. There was a class action jury trial held in Federal court in Anchorage, AK, in 1994. The plaintiffs at that time included over 30,000 commercial fishermen, among those whose livelihoods were gravely affected by the disaster. The jury awarded $5 billion in punitive damages to the plaintiffs. This punitive damage award has been on repeated appeal by ExxonMobil since that time. On December 22, 2006, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reduced the punitive damage award to $2.5 billion. In early 2007, ExxonMobil petitioned the Ninth Circuit for a rehearing en banc. Within a few months, the Ninth Circuit denied this petition and ExxonMobil appealed to the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, in this intervening time period, with years and years of litigation bringing delay in resolution, we have had several thousand plaintiffs pass away since this litigation began. Due to the limitations in admiralty law with respect to the recovery of compensatory damages, many Exxon Valdez plaintiffs were not able to recover the financial losses they sustained in the aftermath of this spill. So the punitive damages that are under consideration by the Supreme Court will provide them that level of compensation. Once the Supreme Court decided to hear this case, I joined with Senator Stevens and Representative Young in submitting an Alaska congressional delegation amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court. In that brief, we argue that the award of punitive damages in this case of reckless and wanton conduct by Exxon not only is permissible under the Clean Water Act, but it is supported by Federal maritime law. Only punitive damages will provide those who were harmed--and who continue to be harmed--with the justice and the fair compensation they deserve. This litigation needs to end. Nineteen years is far too long for these plaintiffs to wait to be compensated for their loss of income. I am hopeful that the Supreme Court will rule in favor of the plaintiffs in this case, and I, along with so many Alaskans, look for a final resolution to this great tragedy that occurred to us as a State some 19 years ago. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I, too, want to thank so many who have done so much to advance this legislation. Very rarely do we see an opportunity for Indian bills of any nature to receive floor time, so I want to thank all our colleagues to be able to debate this very important issue with them. I thank especially Chairman Dorgan for his leadership on this legislation. He has mentioned so many who have participated throughout the years, including the staffs, but we also need to recognize the leadership of the former chairman, Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, and, of course, Senator McCain, Senator Dorgan, Senator Inouye--so many who have done so much. I also want to acknowledge the National Tribal Steering Committee for their efforts--great tribal leaders coming together to advance this very important legislation. I have a long list of thank-yous, but truly it has been a great effort, and we appreciate the leadership on both sides in advancing this legislation.

Ms. MURKOWSKI

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I appreciate the comments of my colleague from Wyoming, speaking to essentially the urgency of where we are, and the recognition that we have been working on this legislation, the Indian Health Care Improvement Act and its reauthorization--and as he mentioned, it should have passed a year and a half ago--but that we have been working on it for a good 10 years. It has been a collaborative effort of many leaders in the Senate. Senator McCain has been mentioned, as the former chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee. Prior to his chairing that committee, it was Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell who was leading the effort to move forward with this very important reauthorization. I had the opportunity to go home to Alaska over this past recess, and it was a busy recess for me, as it was for, I know, many of my colleagues. I had an opportunity to visit Galena, which is the Athabascan Indian village on the Yukon River. I was in Fairbanks, Seward, Anchorage, and my hometown of Girdwood. I had a chance to visit with seven or eight Alaskan natives who are training under the dental health aide therapist program in Anchorage. This is a very unique partnership with the University of Washington School of Medicine. What we are doing in Alaska now is training Alaska natives as mid-level professional dental health aide therapists to go out and provide for the dental health needs of so many in our rural communities, in our villages around the State where they simply do not have any level of dental health care. I am not talking about a dentist who comes every other week. I am saying we don't have a dentist every other year practically in some of these villages. So we are providing a training opportunity that is unique to Alaska and is very important. So even though it is tough to leave home and come back here to work, it is good to be back here knowing that we are working on the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, working to finish this very important legislation. We have had many of our colleagues speak about the challenges of delivering quality health care to America's Native people and the funding environment that all have admitted is inadequate to support those needs. Those challenges are not limited to the lack of funding, they also include the lack of trained personnel who are willing to live in some of the most remote places in which Indian health care is delivered. So that is one side of the coin. But there is also some very real innovation that is going on within the Indian health care delivery system. As I listened to the debate that went on on the Senate floor in the past several weeks, it dawned on me that we saw a lot of focus, a lot of attention on some of the inadequacies but that we did not spend any time during that debate to recognize the people, the tribal leaders, the health care professionals who are unwilling to let the lack of funding stand in the way of excellence in health care delivery. So as we move to conclude our debate on this very important piece of legislation for the health of our Native people, I wish to take a few moments this evening to focus on some of the ways, in my home State, our Native leaders and our Indian health care professionals have partnered to overcome what seemed to be insurmountable obstacles in their quest for excellence. My focus now on these examples from Alaska is not intended to imply we are not seeing innovation in Indian health care delivery in other places of Indian Country, but I have chosen to speak about these programs because I know them, I believe in them. In the State of Alaska, we have Native people who have lived in more than 200 traditional villages along the rivers and coasts for thousands of years, and Natives continue to occupy those villages today. But those are places, many of them are places where doctors and nurses and physicians assistants or the PAs, where they did not live, and they will not live. But that does not mean Alaska's Native people lack access to basic medical care. If one gets sick or injured in a Native village which may be hundreds of miles from the nearest hospital, you need to know you are not alone. In our State, we faced up to the challenge of providing access to medical care in remote places by training Native people to serve as community health aide practitioners. This is a program that originated during the tuberculosis epidemics back in the 1950s. They had volunteer chemotherapy aides who gave out oral medicine in the village under the remote supervision of a physician. In the 1960s, a structured training program was created to train Native people residing in the villages to function as the eyes and ears, the hands of medical personnel who may be hundreds of miles away. At one point in time, this link between the village health aide and the doctor in the regional hospitals was carried out by a single- sideband radio similar to what the ham operators use. Then later it was carried out by telephone, subsequently e-mail. Now we have a state-of- the-art telemedicine backbone that connects the health aides and the supervising physicians. Alaska's Community Health Aide/Practitioner Program was first recognized and funded by the Congress in 1968 and is 40 years old this year. It has earned the respect of the medical profession and has tremendously improved the health condition of Alaska's Native people. I mentioned earlier I had a chance to view those young people who are currently in the Dental Health Aide Therapist Program. This is an extension of this concept to improve the oral health condition of Native people who live in places where the dentists may visit once a year if they visit at all. These are a few examples from my State of the kind of innovation we have seen going on in Indian health care delivery for some time. I wish to give you a more recent example. This is the Southcentral Foundation's patient-centered primary care initiative. The initiative has transformed the quality of health care delivered to Native people residing in a service area of 150,000 square miles within southcentral Alaska. The Southcentral Foundation is a tribal health provider which delivers health care under a self-governance compact with the IHS. Our CEO of the Southcentral Foundation is Katherine Gottlieb, an Aleut. She was the first Alaskan ever to win the MacArthur Foundation Genius Award. She won that award for the patient-centered primary care initiative I will describe for you. The initiative itself has been discussed in professional journals ranging from the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Family Practice Magazine published by the American Association of Family Physicians. It is the subject of a case study published by the Institute for Health Care Improvement in Boston, which is one of our Nation's foremost think tanks on health care quality. In 1977, when Southcentral Foundation began to take over primary care delivery from the IHS, the average delay to schedule a routine appointment ranged from 4 weeks to several months. The no-show rate was about 25 percent for appointments, and patients did not have any idea who their primary care provider was. In 1999, Southcentral Foundation embarked on a massive effort to redesign their system. Today, patients are guaranteed same-day access to their own primary care provider if they call by a certain point in the afternoon; they get to choose their own primary care provider. They get to change their provider if they do not like the one they have chosen. Use of the emergency room and urgent care for primary care is down 50 percent. Use of specialists is down 50 percent. Wait times have decreased across the system. Customer satisfaction, 91 percent of customers rate their overall care favorably. That is pretty impressive. Staff satisfaction has improved immeasurably. This is a system where you have members of the medical team, the doctors, the nurses, the physicians assistants, their technicians, and they all come together, they all rely on one another. Everyone is expected to work at the highest level allowed by their professional license. What we saw with this transformation of Southcentral Foundation was it was not just achieved by throwing more money at the problem, it was achieved by changing the values of the system, from a staff-centered system to a patient-centered system that basically went from kind of a big and impersonable crank-them-through-the-process place--and these are the words of the medical director, Doug Eby--to a customer-owned- and-directed system which operates in accordance with Native values, not necessarily bureaucratic principles. That transformation began with the decision of Native leaders to exercise their rights of self-governance under the provisions of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act. These self-governance provisions allowed tribes to take over the responsibilities for the delivery of health care from the Federal Government. The bill that is before us today, the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, will provide self-governance providers, such as Southcentral Foundation, with the tools and the flexibilities they need to further expand these innovations. We know the bill, S. 1200, was not written in an ivory tower; it was written primarily by Indian health care providers, tribal leaders who know the challenges we face in improving the health conditions of our Native people. The leaders of our Alaska Native delivery system were key players in the process of formulating this legislation. For me, it is truly an honor and a privilege to be able to give voice to their ideas in the Senate. It is my sincere hope our colleagues today will vote to bring the debate on this important legislation to a close. The process, as has been mentioned, of drafting this legislation began back in 1999. It has moved through the Indian Affairs Committee in so many different years--I mentioned, under the leadership of Senator Nighthorse Campbell, Senator McCain, Senator Thomas before his death, Senator Dorgan, so many who have put so much time and effort into this very important legislation. It is long time that Congress modernize the legislation which governs the Indian health care delivery system in a way that promotes exactly this type of innovation I have spoken to that we have seen in Alaska. It is long time that we give our Indian health care providers the tools they need in their quest for excellence. I anticipate we will move this legislation to final passage. It is something that as I speak to my constituents back home and as we talk about those issues that are most important to them, so much seems to come back to health care and how we are providing health care within the State of Alaska or around the Nation. So passage of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act is long overdue. I look forward to seeing the day the President will be able to enact these changes into law. I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, while we are waiting, I wish to make a few brief comments in reference to the amendment Senator Smith has introduced regarding the area distribution fund. Coming from the State of Alaska, I do support Senator Smith's amendment, as we believe it will enable more Indian tribes to build the facilities and to address the inequities currently in the system. We recognize it has been under review, having been looked at for revision for years, but I think it is time to do something to create improvements to the system to get more facilities for the tribes. Now, we recognize that funding is at the crux of this, but Senator Smith's amendment does not mandate that the Secretary create this system. It says if funding is available, that opportunity exists. Furthermore--and I think this goes to the concern many have--that within the current priority system, if there is a change, somehow or other those who have made their way up to the top will somehow be displaced. We understand it doesn't impact the current health care facilities priority system. What we are attempting to do with this amendment is to enhance that system. I appreciate Senator Smith working with the committee, with the tribes, and with our colleagues on this issue. It is a very important issue, as Senator Dorgan has noted. So I do stand in support of Senator Smith. With that, I yield the floor.

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, at this time I yield 7 minutes to the Senator from Wyoming.

Ms. MURKOWSKI

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, we have no objection on this side to withdrawing the pending Coburn amendments.

Ms. MURKOWSKI. More specifically, it is my understanding that by simply restating section 303 verbatim in this bill, Congress is not superseding or altering the effect of the prevailing wage provisions of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act--including the exception referred to by the Senator from North Dakota applicable when construction or renovation work is carried out by employees of an Indian tribe or tribal organization--the regulations promulgated under that act.

Ms. MURKOWSKI. That is my understanding as well. The only reason that the managers' amendment restates section 303, as opposed to simply leaving section 303 in current law untouched, is a purely technical matter arising from the difficulty, or awkwardness, of leaving only one provision of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act in place while restating or amending the rest of that act.

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I thank the chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee for his leadership on this very importation reauthorization bill. As he has indicated, this work is a long time in coming, and it is a collaborative effort not only of those on the committee, those of us who represent so many in Indian country across the Nation, but truly for so many who have put so much work into this reauthorization, this very important health care reform. We do have amendments we have received and are looking forward to having discussion on them. As Chairman Dorgan has noted, Senator Coburn will have an opportunity to offer some of those this morning. But in the spirit of focusing on what we have in front of us today, I think it is important that we keep in mind we have an obligation to advance a health care system that has been left behind the times in terms of any updates, whether it is in the area of behavioral health or telemedicine or substance abuse or what we are doing with diabetes treatment or how we are moving forward with construction of facilities. We recognize that we have a ways to go in updating the system. This is important and is necessary. Recognizing the limitations on Senator Coburn's time at this point, I yield to the Senator so he can offer his amendments. We will continue our conversation later in the morning.

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, if I may take a few moments to speak to some of the issues the Senator from Oklahoma has raised about the prioritization, giving priority to the provision of those basic medical services, medical needs. I think we all agree that is the first requirement, to make sure those services are provided for. In the State of Alaska, we hear from those most vulnerable in our Alaska Native population, our elderly--the elders in the village who have lived through some pretty incredible times. At the end of their lives, they are certainly seeking basic medical services. Yet we recognize that with the facilities we have available to them, the services we have available to them, the medical professionals we have available to them, it is very difficult to meet all of those needs. So for them, the opportunity for hospice care, assisted living service, long-term care service, or the home or community-based service--that is singled out in the amendment. They are looking at this not as a luxury, or an add-on, certainly, but something that is basic, something that would be fundamental to a quality of life in their final years. This is a matter for many seniors, not just in the State of Alaska, and for many who are looking to, again, provide for those services at a level and in a manner that is culturally relevant and appropriate--the community-based services, home-based services. I think it is important that we recognize we are not without limitation when we are talking about the services that are provided to American Indians and Alaska Natives. You have heard time and time again on the Senate floor that we are not meeting their needs; that we are funding at 60 percent; that there is a curtailment or a shortage in services based on the resources. So when we are able to enhance the quality of life, whether it is through assistance, such as long-term care services or assisted living or the community-based services, or whether it is enhancing the end-of-life care, as we do throughout this Indian Health Care Improvement Act, these are the things we ought to be encouraging, that we ought to be moving forward with in a positive manner. So I stand in opposition to the amendment of the Senator from Oklahoma which says we cannot attend to any of these quality-of-life issues--if it is in your final days--unless and until the Secretary has given priority to the provision of these basic medical services to all Indians. It is, again, a situation where we want to attempt to do as much as we possibly can. But I think if you were to tell the elder in the community of Buckland that somehow or other services to help her in her final years, to die gracefully and with dignity in her home, is something she doesn't qualify for, is not eligible for, I think we would all find that cuts to the quick. Madam President, I understand that there are several Members who are here and wish to speak briefly on FISA for a few minutes before we move to our vote. I am prepared to yield to the Senator from Missouri.

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendments be set aside, and I call up these four amendments on behalf of Senator DeMint: Nos. 4070, 4073, 4015, and 4066; and I call up amendment No. 4038 on behalf of Mr. Vitter.

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to send to the desk a modification to Martinez amendment No. 3906. With this modification, the surety bond amount is reduced to better effectuate the intent of the act.

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Ms. MURKOWSKI. I will defer to Senator Byrd.

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, we understand that Senator Martinez will come to the floor to speak to this amendment that relates to civil and criminal penalties for Medicare fraud, but I did want to get that rolling. I understand Senator Tester has some comments he wishes to make at this time regarding the Indian Health Care Improvement Act. I yield the floor.

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.