Dan Sullivan

Mr. SULLIVAN

Mr. SULLIVAN. Madam President, I am very hopeful that my colleagues here will move forward on this bipartisan, clean continuing resolution so we can get our government open again. I do want to just explain to the American people and maybe some of our friends in the media a little dirty secret that is going on down here on the Senate floor. A lot of my Democratic colleagues are getting frustrated, not with us--not with us. We have had three already cross over and vote with us. There are a lot more who want to do it. They are frustrated because they know we have got to reopen the government. They know this is the way to do it, a simple, bipartisan, clean continuing resolution. We have been doing this all the time here in the Senate. We have done it over 10 times during the Biden administration on the Republican side, but there is frustration. I will give you my sense of why there is frustration on the Democrat side. Usually, in this place, when you run for leader--Democrat leader, Republican leader--and you are in leadership, there is kind of an unwritten rule that the leader will protect the broader membership and broader Members--on votes and different things. That is kind of what leadership is about. This is the first time I have seen in my entire time here in the U.S. Senate where, on the Democrat side, the broader membership seems to be protecting just the leader. We all know why. He is worried about his left flank; worried about getting primaried. So my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are getting frustrated, not with us. They know this is the right way to do it. They are getting frustrated because they think they are having to protect their leader. This isn't the way it works--is supposed to work here. The minority leader previously called blocking a clean, bipartisan CR to get bigger demands from their side ``political idiocy.'' What we are viewing right now is a lot of political idiocy coming from the other side, and my colleagues on the Democratic side are really starting to get frustrated, not with us but with their own leader. I am hoping on this vote, in the next hour or so, for the American people, for the institution of the U.S. Senate, we have a couple more Democrat Senators who have the courage to break with the political idiocy we see right now on their side. Vote with us. Reopen the government. They know it is the right thing to do. I hope that happens. I yield the floor. Vote on S. Res. 412

Mr. SULLIVAN

Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Congressional Record a letter containing the legal opinion of the Government Accountability Office, No. B-337330, titled U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management-Applicability of the Congressional Review Act to 2024 Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program Record of Decision, dated August 25, 2025. The letter provides notification that the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management 2024 Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program Record of Decision is a rule subject to the Congressional Review Act, 5 U.S.C. Sec. 801 et seq.

Mr. SULLIVAN

Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, it is Thursday afternoon here in the U.S. Senate, and I am going to come down and talk about the Alaskan of the Week. It is the best speech of the week, I think--the pages would agree; they are all nodding--because it talks about someone who is really amazing. This week is a really impressive story, I will tell you. Normally, the ``Alaskan of the Week'' is kind of the wrapup bell, signal, for the Senate, for the press. They kind of know the week is coming to an end. But not today. We are still working before the summer August work period to try to get some of President Trump's nominees confirmed--it is a huge part of the Senate's duties--and we are trying to get cooperation from our colleagues on the other side of the aisle. Now, why am I talking about this? Because I know the ``Alaskan of the Week'' speech--you know, millions of Americans tune in. It is like must-see TV when they are all watching. The press watches. So I just want to explain a little bit of what is going on here because we have this unprecedented blockade by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer-- that is not good for the Senate as an institution, and by the way, all the Democrats know that; it is not good for the country--to getting the President--his people--confirmed to help run the government. It has never been done before. What do I mean? The way the Senate works--it is a really important chart here. The way the Senate works is, when we go to confirm nominees--you know, Cabinet officials and very important nominees; some who are controversial, some who aren't--a lot of times, the Senate moves, because there are so many of them, with a package of nominees. We usually take a big package, negotiate it, and then they come to the floor as a package agreed to by leadership, and we do what is called a unanimous consent request. We don't vote on each one. It might be a package of 100. And the majority leader will say: I move by unanimous consent to confirm these hundred nominees. This happens all the time. This has been happening for hundreds of years in American history. Guess who stopped that tradition? The current Senate minority leader, Senator Schumer of New York. Now, why would he do that? Look at these numbers. In George H.W. Bush--during his first term, 98 percent of the people confirmed for that administration--Democrat, Republican--were done by this unanimous consent model. We package them up, we bring them to the floor, we do a unanimous consent, and they are all passed. Nobody objects. This is the way to do it. So, remember, this is cooperation. You need Democrats and Republicans in this great institution, the U.S. Senate, to do this to help the government work. OK. President Clinton, same thing. Republicans did unanimous consent requests on 98 percent of the people in the Clinton administration-- civilians, not the generals and admirals. George W. Bush got a little smaller--still 90 percent. So the Democrats worked with George W. Bush to confirm all his nominees. Obama. Republicans worked with President Obama to confirm 90 percent through unanimous consent--big packages of nominees to get confirmed so the government can work. President Trump's first term was a lot less. So all of a sudden, the Democrats are saying ``We are not going to cooperate as much during Trump 1,'' but still 65 percent of the nominees were packaged up, brought to the floor, unanimous consent. Let's move them. Did that. OK. You know, so there was a little bit of like, hey, you didn't help President Trump too much. So with President Biden, it was less, but it was still way more than half--almost 60 percent. President Biden's guys would come here. ``Hey, we want to get all these guys confirmed.'' We Republicans said ``All right. Let's put them in a package. All right. We will confirm a hundred here, a hundred there.'' Almost 60 percent of all Biden nominees were confirmed in that way--unanimous consent, quickly. A lot of times, before the August work period, we will get big packages done. So that is American history. Look at the number for President Trump's second term. Can you see that? I want the American people to see that. Zero. Zero. Zero. Like what the heck is Senator Schumer doing? By the way, a lot of Democrat Senators who I talk to--I have good friends over there--they are embarrassed by that number, by the way. They are embarrassed by that number. Zero percent. Now, why do you think Senator Schumer is doing that? Because he cares about the Senate as an institution? Nope. Because he wants to help us run the government? President Trump won fair and square; he needs to get his people into office to run our great government? Nope. Certainly don't want to do that. We all know this. I am going to reveal a little secret here in the Senate. This is fully driven by the far-left wing of the Democratic Party, OK? I mean, we are talking the anti-Israel, pro-Hamas wing. We are talking the defund-the-police wing. We are talking the open border wing. I mean, the far-left crazies of the Democratic Party are driving the Senate minority leader to go to zero, because they are telling him: You have got to resist the Trump administration. So he is listening to them. Look at that, America. Zero percent. It has never happened in U.S. history. I hope our friends in the media write about it. It is unprecedented. And the vast majority of Democratic Senators who I have talked to are embarrassed by that number. So hopefully we are going to get some kind of an agreement. We will see. But maybe not. We will stay here. Look, I am ready to stay here as long as it takes, because this is ridiculous. And one guy is blocking it--the minority leader of the U.S. Senate--because he is kowtowing to the far left, left, left crazy wing of the Democratic Party to resist. And we think that is good for America right there? It is embarrassing. If you are a Senate Democrat, that is embarrassing. So I am going to switch gears to a much better topic. Like I said, normally this would be the last speech of the week, but it is not because we are still here. We will keep plugging away. We are going to vote to confirm a lot more of President Trump's Cabinet. We have to do it one at a time--one at a time--because there is no cooperation, as there has been throughout American history. So we will do it the hard way. I applaud Majority Leader John Thune for saying: Hey, let's try. We are still trying to get an agreement. Maybe they will move this number up a little bit. But that is an embarrassment. Every Senator knows it, and every Senator here knows why it is zero. Not guarding the institution. Not trying to help the American people run their government. It is nervousness from some of the Democrat leaders about their far-left, extreme, open border, defund the police--you know, the whackos are driving it. So we will keep plugging along.

Mr. SULLIVAN

Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Congressional Record a letter containing the legal opinion of the Government Accountability Office, no. B-337234, titled ``U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management-Applicability of the Congressional Review Act to 2022 National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska Integrated Activity Plan Record of Decision,'' dated July 24, 2025. The letter provides notification that the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska Integrated Activity Plan Record of Decision is a rule subject to the Congressional Review Act, 5 U.S.C. Sec. 801 et seq.

Mr. SULLIVAN

Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I have three requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority Leaders. Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate:

Mr. SULLIVAN

Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the majority leader and the senior Senator from Oklahoma be authorized to sign duly enrolled bills or joint resolutions from July 17 through July 21.

Mr. SULLIVAN

Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I want to compliment my friend and colleague from Oklahoma. The One Big Beautiful Bill does have a lot of really good stuff in it. I think, to be perfectly blunt, my State probably has more good stuff in it than anyone. So I am doing what Senator Lankford is doing, primarily back home in Alaska: really trying to inform my constituents on what is in this bill because it is a really good bill. Boy oh boy, there is a lot of misinformation out there. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle are spreading the falsehoods, maybe because they are a little jealous that they can't legislate as well as we do. But that is for another day.

Mr. SULLIVAN

Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, what I really want to do is do something that I think is probably the best highlight of Thursday speeches in the Senate--I think the pages all certainly agree; they are all nodding-- for the people watching across America. It is the ``Alaskan of the Week.'' This is a great tradition. I have been doing it for many, many years. I try to get down here on the Senate floor on Thursday, wrapping up-- not every week but a lot of weeks. And I like to talk about an Alaskan who is doing something really important for our State, community, maybe the country, maybe the world, and then talk a little bit about what is going on back home. So I am going to do that. But we also had another neat tradition today here in the Senate: our Thursday lunch group in the Senate on the Republican side. One Senator hosts lunch for his or her colleagues and talks a little bit about their home State. Today was my opportunity to host. I am not bragging, but I do think when Senator Murkowski and I--and by the way, Senator Collins, with Maine lobster--but when Senator Murkowski and I host, we have good attendance because we have great seafood: fresh halibut, fresh salmon. We did that. I did that again today. It was great. The whole room was decorated with Alaskan perfect peonies. We have great peonies in Alaska too--holy cow. So this a perfect time for the ``Alaskan of the Week.'' First, I want to give a little snapshot of what is going on back home, what life is like in Alaska right now. The midnight Sun is out. A few weeks ago, I was in Fairbanks, the home of Mary Binkley, who is our Alaskan of the Week--we are going to talk a lot about Mary--and we had our famous Midnight Sun Baseball Game. Thousands of baseball fans across the world, literally, come to see this game, which started in 1906. Some minors, some military guys came together for a baseball game in 1906. It is going strong more than 100 years later. This year, the Fairbanks Goldpanners played the Glacier Pilots, an Anchorage baseball team that is part of the Alaska Baseball Summer League. Now, this is one of the premier collegiate summer baseball leagues in the country. It is something a lot of people don't know about. I was talking a little bit about it at our lunch today. Great college players come to Alaska to play baseball under the midnight Sun, and so many of them have gone on to do great things. So many of them have not only gone on to the majors; so many of them have gone on to the Baseball Hall of Fame and have been some of America's greatest players. Think about it. All these guys came up to Alaska to play summer baseball: Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Tom Seaver, Dave Winfield, Randy Johnson, Andy Messersmith. This is hall-of-fame baseball. And we get that in Alaska. It is really a great league. So if you are a baseball fan, make sure you come up to Fairbanks for next year's game. We were also in Fairbanks a couple of weeks ago, and I had the opportunity to run the Midnight Sun Run 10K. It is a great run--again, people from all over the world. We had 4,000 runners this year. I do it every year. I am definitely getting slower, but it is one fun 10K. It is great. So come on up if you are a racer. You will love that one too. So while you are in Fairbanks, if you come up for a game or the 10K, make sure you get out on Fairbanks' beautiful rivers, the lifeblood of the community. When you do so, on a sunny summer day on the Chena River or the Tanana, chances are you will spot a vintage-style sternwheel paddleboat belonging to Riverboat Discovery gliding along the channel, carrying passengers through one of the most scenic river routes in Alaska--really, in the world. If you are one of those lucky passengers, there is a good chance you will catch sight of a familiar figure waving from the shore, and that is 99-year-old Mary Binkley, cofounder of Riverboat Discovery and our Alaskan of the Week. So let's dive into the Alaska institution that is Riverboat Discovery. This year, we will celebrate--the Binkley family will celebrate--the 75th anniversary of this incredible institution. Now, it is made up of three iconic paddleboats: Discovery I, Discovery II, and Discovery III. Riverboat Discovery shows off the best of Alaska's interior landscape, including a bush plane demonstration, a visit to a recreated Athabascan Native village, and learning about traditional subsistence lifestyles. For tourists, it is a 3-hour snapshot of Alaskan history. For locals, it is a beloved institution and a summer job for many young Fairbanksans, including my sister-in-law Janine, who many, many years ago worked for Riverboat Discovery. While Riverboat Discovery preserves the history of the interior, the Binkley family, who has owned and operated Riverboat Discovery for 75 years, has its own great history of Alaskan grit and innovation and hospitality and generosity. The center of that history and that great family, the Binkleys, is Mary Binkley, our Alaskan of the Week. She was born in Vernonia, OR, in 1926--the youngest of six children. You know that is a tough time in our country's history. Mary's story began in hardship. Her mother passed away soon after her birth. Her father, a logger, couldn't raise the children alone. Her siblings were scattered, but they were bonded for life. Her brothers, who went on to become fishermen off the coast of rugged Kodiak, AK--rugged but beautiful Kodiak, AK--wanted something for their baby sister Mary. They scraped together a college scholarship fund, determined that Mary would be the first in the family to attend college. Isn't that great--brothers taking care of the little sister? So Mary, from Oregon, journeyed north to the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where she had a cousin who was a professor there. It was at UAF, as we call it, in Alaska, that she met a young, handsome riverboat captain named Jim Binkley, a third-generation steamboater from Wrangell, AK. They married back in Mary's home State of Oregon in 1946 but quickly returned to Fairbanks that same year. With nothing more than a $4,000 loan and a dream, Jim and Mary purchased their first vessel, the Godspeed, and began a river cruise business that would become synonymous with Fairbanks tourism and the interior Alaska river culture. Mary greeted every guest personally, often serving as a tour guide, a deckhand, and a hospitality manager all in one. To her, they weren't just tourists; they were her guests. She worked alongside her husband Jim, the captain. And the popularity in Alaska--in America--of this riverboat cruise on one of Fairbanks' great rivers grew and kept growing. By 1955, the Godspeed could no longer keep up with the demand, so Jim built the Discovery I in his backyard with Mary by his side. Jim called her his ``lifeline and anchor.'' Mary did it all: first mate, deckhand, ticket taker, mother of four kids--who, by the way, have grown up to be pillars of the Alaska community in so many ways. I could do whole speeches on the Binkley kids. Later, she was a grandmother while watching three generations of Binkleys get involved in this great family business. And they have expanded into other things really important to Alaska. Taking tickets with Mary remains a rite of passage for Binkley grandchildren to this day. As the tour company expanded, Mary remained its heart--greeting travelers on the riverbanks, hiring Alaska Native guides to share their knowledge and traditions of Native Athabascan life during Chena Village visits, and helping to craft that Alaskan hospitality that guests feel to this day. ``My grandma has the ability to make meaningful connections with perfect strangers,'' her granddaughter Kai recently said. ``She treats them less like tourists and more like family.'' That is Mary. Everybody who meets her thinks she is incredible. So this fleet, the Binkley fleet, would grow and continue to grow to Discovery II, launched in 1971, which was a converted freighter; then Discovery III, in 1987, a grand, 900-passenger vessel, launched fittingly on the Fourth of July in Fairbanks. That day, as the boat pulled away from the dock, generations of Binkleys waved from the deck. Waving from the shore was Mary, and she still is waving from that same Fairbanks riverbank at 99 years young. So what began in 1950 as a modest river tour on a converted missionary boat has grown into the cornerstone of Fairbanks' tourism economy, and Mary has been at the center of it all--welcoming guests, sharing the experience, and setting a tone of genuine hospitality that endures to this day. At 99 years young, Mary is still part of the fabric of the business, waving from the riverbank as Discovery III rounds the river bend. This weekend, the Binkley family will gather together to celebrate 75 years of operation but, more importantly, 75 years of a family legacy with Mary at the front and center. More than 500 family members and friends and guests from across America and from across Alaska will join Mary at Steamboat Landing this Saturday for a nighttime cruise on the Discovery III, which will be a fitting celebration for this incredible woman and incredible family behind an Alaskan institution. So congratulations, Riverboat Discovery, to 75 years. And to Mary: Congratulations on one of the most prestigious awards you can ever receive: the Alaskan of the Week from the U.S. Senate. I yield the floor.

Mr. SULLIVAN

Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations en bloc: Calendar No. 280 and 281, with the exception of Col. Henry R. Jeffress, III, and Col. George H. Sebren, Jr.; that the nominations be confirmed en bloc; that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order to any of the nominations; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate then resume legislative session.

Mr. SULLIVAN

Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be discharged from further consideration of S. 350, a bill to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to select and implement landscape-scale forest restoration projects, to assist communities in increasing their resilience to wildfire, and for other purposes, and be referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.

Mr. SULLIVAN

Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 3 p.m. on Monday, July 21; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and the Senate be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each; finally, that notwithstanding rule XXII, the cloture motion with respect to Executive Calendar No. 171 ripen at 5:30 p.m. on Monday.

Mr. SULLIVAN

Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. SULLIVAN

Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration and the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 314.

Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. SULLIVAN

Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Congressional Record a letter containing the legal opinion of the Government Accountability Office, no. B-337200, titled ``U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management--Applicability of the Congressional Review Act to Central Yukon Record of Decision and Approved Resource Management Plan,'' dated June 25, 2025. The letter provides notification that the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management Central Yukon Record of Decision and Approved Resource Management Plan is a rule subject to the Congressional Review Act, 5 U.S.C. Sec. 801 et seq.

Mr. SULLIVAN

Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I certainly hope my Democratic colleagues can let us move forward on this, or we are going to stay all night until we get the President's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs confirmed. Now, look, I know there was some concern about removing General Brown, CQ Brown. I actually really like General CQ Brown. I thought he did a good job. I publicly stated a number of times that he served his country very well. But here is the deal: The President of the United States is entitled to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs that he wants. You look at history, senior military commanders on the Democrat's side, on the Republican's side--if the President doesn't feel comfortable with them, he has the right to remove them and move on. That is just our history. That has happened with Democrats. George W. Bush wasn't comfortable with Gen. Peter Pace. He is a marine. I happen to respect him a lot. He said: Hey, I am not comfortable. I am moving to another Chairman. President Obama fired two very senior, four-star generals inside of 2 years. One was General McChrystal, one of the most seasoned warriors, you know, in a generation of warfighters, and he removed him. So President Trump clearly had the authority to remove General Brown. He has now put forward General Caine, who, by the way--everybody on the Armed Services Committee thought he did a great job. He is going to get a really big vote here. So why are we delaying it? I don't know. It doesn't make any sense to me. The President deserves his senior military adviser. That is what the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs is--his senior military adviser. The President needs to feel comfortable with that person. That person is actually out of the chain of command. We have seen throughout history that when the President doesn't feel comfortable, he can remove one general and bring in another one. That is what has happened here. We should confirm General Caine immediately. I think he is going to do a really, really good job. As a matter of fact, I have interviewed, sat down with, served under hundreds of flag officers. General Caine is one of the most impressive I have ever met. So we need to get on with it. You know, there are these press stories about why President Trump removed General Brown. I think it is just because he wanted to have a general whom he trusts and feels comfortable with, and that is exactly his right as the Commander in Chief. So we should move on. General Caine is going to get a very, I think, significant bipartisan vote. He should. And if the minority leader wants to object, we will just grind it out all night and get it done.

Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I yield to my good friend from Mississippi.

Mr. SULLIVAN. My good friend from Mississippi, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, by the way--a Senator who knows probably more about the military than anyone else here--has it exactly right. General Caine has this breadth of experience, not just as a fighter pilot with thousands of hours, combat hours, in flight but has worked very closely with our intel services and has very significant combat experience in Iraq and Syria. Very interestingly--and the chairman of the Armed Services Committee knows this--he has private sector experience. You would say: Why does that matter? It actually matters a lot because of our military and the need to integrate our very powerful private sector. So he brings a wealth of experience that, to be honest--in my 10 years in this position as a U.S. Senator on the Armed Services Committee and my 30 years in the Marine Corps, I have never seen a general that brings it all together. So I think he is going to be outstanding and exceptional.

Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I would yield to the distinguished minority leader. Maybe having him watch this distinguished debate between me and the chairman of the Armed Services Committee has convinced him to bow to the inevitable, and that is the confirmation of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, maybe the minority leader will explain why he is objecting given that we just laid out very cogent, strong reasons that we need to move forward on confirming the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff right now. It is a very dangerous world. Why would we wait? I am curious on what the minority leader says. I yield the floor if he has an answer.

Mr. SULLIVAN. This Senator yields the floor to answer that inquiry that I asked about.

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

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

Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I just want the American people who are watching this that care about our national security--the chairman of the Armed Services Committee just had a colloquy here on the floor talking about why we needed to move the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to get confirmed in the Senate here. And I and the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, respectfully, asked the question of the minority leader, Democratic minority leader, why are you blocking this? And you may have seen he just walked off the floor. He didn't answer. I don't know if he has an answer. If he has an answer, it sure would be good to hear what the answer is because we need President Trump's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed. And I bet he gets strong bipartisan support, in terms of his confirmation, because he is very qualified. And yet, without any explanation, the minority leader of the U.S. Senate just said, ``I object,'' and he walked off the floor. I hope the press reports on that. Holy cow. That is kind of big news. And if we have to be here all night, jamming down on them to get the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed because our country needs it during a very dangerous time, a general who is immensely qualified, then that is what we are going to do. But it sure would be easier to just agree with us, start moving on the vote, and get this highly qualified general confirmed as President Trump's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. But what you just witnessed, for anyone watching, the American people watching, was a nondebate. My good friend from Mississippi and I were describing why we need to move this forward. The minority leader of the U.S. Senate, who has the power to do it, just said: ``I object.'' Normally, on the Senate floor when someone objects, they explain why. But he didn't want to do it. He just walked off the floor. So that is what we just witnessed. It is a little bit unusual, particularly when it comes to a confirmation that is so important. There are very few confirmations that the U.S. Senate does that are more important than confirming the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And I guess the Democrats are going to block it for now, and we will go all night to make sure President Trump has his principal senior military adviser, which he needs during these dangerous times. I yield the floor.

Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, it is Thursday here in the U.S. Senate, and it is time for a great tradition--I think one of the greatest traditions in the history of the U.S. Senate. It is called ``The Alaskan of the Week'' speech, which I try to give most Thursdays. It has been a while. For the pages, this is the highlight of the week. Even our friends in the media like this speech because it usually signals the end of the work week, but not right now. You saw the minority leader's objection without any explanation on why on confirming the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, so we might be here for a lot longer. So I wanted to highlight what is going on in Alaska, as I usually do during my ``Alaskan of the Week'' speech and just give a snapshot of what is happening back home. It is still pretty cold, still have a fair amount of snow. Anchorage just got a bunch of snow that lasted a couple of days. The 53rd Iditarod just concluded in Nome with a stunning first-time win by Alaskan Jessie Holmes and his 10-dog sled team. The Iron Dog Race, that is a snow machine race, longest, toughest snow machine race in the world, was won by--that is done in kind of tandem--Robby Schachle and Bradley George, their second victory of the Iron Dog snow machine race. Things are starting to thaw, as I mentioned. It is beginning of the summer tourism season, right around the corner. The first cruise ship will dock in Southeast Alaska in less than 2 weeks, and thousands of tourists from all over the world will come to our great State. Anyone watching in the Gallery, we would love to have you. Come to Alaska. For many of these tourists, this is going to be the trip of a lifetime. For Alaskans, this is where we live every day. And our Alaskan of the Week does something that is very unusual: He is beloved by Alaskans and tourists--not an easy task--and this person is my friend Jay Ramras. Like many Alaskans, Jay is a jack-of-all-trades. He owns restaurants and beautiful hotels. He has had a successful political career. He is a prolific philanthropist. He loves history. And more importantly, he loves Alaska and especially his great hometown of Fairbanks--by the way, my wife's hometown. Now, I love to talk about our Alaskan of the Week. There are so many. We have talked about hundreds over the course of many years here on the Senate floor. Jay was born in Fairbanks in 1964. His father Dan moved to Fairbanks from Brooklyn, NY, in 1948. And as Jay says: There has been a Ramras in Interior Alaska going on 80 years. And Jay's entrepreneurial resume, which is legendary in Alaska, began in 1986 at the tender age of 22 years old when he started a chicken wing restaurant, expanding his business footprint to other eateries across Fairbanks and, eventually, purchasing the iconic Fairbanks landmark called Pike's Landing. For anyone going to Fairbanks, you have got to stay at Pike's Landing. It was this purchase that led Jay to uncovering some really incredible chapters of Alaskan history--as I said, Jay is a real history buff--and he credits this to his bachelor of arts degree in American history, but it all started with Pike's. So let's talk about Pike's. Pike's Landing was established after World War II when Lloyd Pike claimed land along the Chena River--the Chena River runs right through Fairbanks--under the Homestead Act. In 1959--by the way, the same year Alaska became the 49th State--Pike opened the original Pike's Landing. Throughout the years, Pike's Landing cemented itself as a landmark in the Fairbanks community. When Jay purchased Pike's Landing in 2000, he found himself wondering about the history of the property and the man who established the landmark location of Pike's. The original owner had sort of disappeared from history. So Jay asked around, collecting oral histories from Fairbanks old-timers who had seen the growth of Pike's Landing over the decades. Jay found that Pike's Landing had long faced congestion at the boat launch due to its prime location right there, as I said, on the Chena River. That was a problem Lloyd Pike solved by building a public launch to clear up some of the demand in terms of getting boats on the river. The original boat launch was washed away when the Chena River flooded--huge flood by the way--in 1968. But decades later, Jay found himself building another boat launch, unknowingly, right at the same spot. As he said: If I hadn't already been born, I would have believed in reincarnation. I would have thought I had been reincarnated as Lloyd Pike because he put his boat launch right where Lloyd Pike lived. Since then, Jay has been working with Fairbanks North Star Borough Historic Preservation Commission to put Pike's Landing on the National Register of Historic Places. I have no doubt that is going to happen. ``It was so important to me that we rescue Lloyd Pike from obscurity,'' Jay said. But this wasn't the only historical figure that Jay has connected himself and the community of Fairbanks to. As Jay was in the process of building an aviation-themed extension of his hotel, he felt it needed a real airplane mounted in front to honor the lodge's proximity to the Fairbanks International Airport. While searching, he stumbled on a refurbished Cessna 140 on Craigslist. After purchasing this plane, Jay discovered it had been owned by none other than Noel Wien. The Presiding Officer is a pilot. Maybe he knows who Noel Wien is. For those who don't, Noel Wien is considered the father of Alaska aviation--the first pilot to successfully fly from Anchorage to Fairbanks in 1924. Wien went on to found Wien Airlines, a commercial airline that operated in Alaska for nearly 60 years. As the Presiding Officer knows, these were some intrepid pilots. That was 100 years ago he did that first flight--open-air cockpit, really cold. Jay's interest in history, once again, piqued, and he dug into that period and discovered some great photographs of Noel Wien, Wien Airlines, and had a great celebration last year in July of 2024, celebrating the 100th anniversary of that historic flight in Alaska. Really, that was a historic flight for America. My wife Julie and I were there. Senator Murkowski was there. Our Governor was there. By the way, the Wien family was there, including Leslie Wien Hajdukovich, my former regional director. It was a great classic Jay Ramras event. Hundreds of people came out to celebrate a huge moment in Alaska history, Alaska aviation history--I would say, American aviation history. In addition to preserving this incredible chapter in Fairbanks' history, Jay has invested in Fairbanks' future. Let me tell you about a few of his other endeavors. Each summer, Jay hosts the Yukon 800 boat race, the longest, toughest, roughest speedboat race in the world. It starts at Pike's, up to the Chena, gets out on the mighty Yukon--huge race. Just as I mentioned, he just recently hosted the fourth Iditarod start at Pike's. Normally, the Iditarod starts down in Anchorage. That is the toughest, longest, greatest race in the world, the Iditarod. It occasionally starts in Fairbanks, but it did this year at Pike's. And as I mentioned, he regularly sponsors the Iron Dog snow machine race that, yes, is the toughest, longest, roughest snow machine race in the world. Jay also had a successful political career, serving three terms in the Alaska House of Representatives. And he is a great philanthropist in Fairbanks--a key player in Fairbanks Food Bank and doing so many other things in terms of philanthropy. On top of all this, Jay says his greatest legacy, he believes, will be something he recently did--which I think is just fantastic--the creation of a new synagogue in Fairbanks, the northernmost Chabad in the United States. It began with a call from Rabbi Greenberg in Anchorage. He is a great friend of mine, one of the leaders of our Jewish community throughout the State. He asked Jay if he could host a young orthodox rabbi and his wife for a short visit. Of course, Jay, a very generous man, agreed. ``I think it would be around a two-week summer stay.'' Then they came again for a second visit, this time in January when it is 45 below zero in Fairbanks. It gets really cold in Fairbanks. And they still returned. The young couple, Rabbi Heshy Wolf and his wife Chani have now chosen to make Fairbanks their permanent home. Jay, generous as ever, purchased a small church with his own money. The previous congregation at the church had outgrown the place. They refurbished it, transforming it into the Fairbanks Jewish Center. The original congregation stayed on rent-free until they found a new home, a new church. Just a few weeks ago, five rabbis gathered in Fairbanks for the first time in over 120 years and hosted this new synagogue, the northernmost synagogue, I believe, in America, in Fairbanks. Jay, thank you. What a life of accomplishment. What a legacy, not just for Fairbanks, but for all of Alaska. For every different community--sports community, Jewish community, historical community-- you have done it all. And now, Jay, you have been awarded one of the most prestigious awards anyone can achieve in their life, Alaskan of the Week. China Mr. President, I wanted to come to the floor to discuss a recent op- ed in the New York Times just a few days ago. It kind of made a stir. A lot of people thought it was a really good op-ed. I didn't. I wanted to come to the floor and talk about this op-ed because it is making the rounds. It is by the columnist Thomas Freidman, and it is on national security, economic security, and trade issues relating to China. Now, I normally enjoy, respect--don't always agree with--the seriousness of Mr. Freidman's writings. He has written a lot of books, a lot of columns, especially on the Middle East, where he has a lot of insights, no doubt about it. But when I read this latest column called ``I Just Saw the Future. It Was Not in America,'' I couldn't believe how shockingly naive Mr. Freidman was in writing this. So I just wrote a response. I just started writing after reading this thing. My goodness, this is very naive. Then I submitted that to the New York Times. They said: Hey, sorry, it is too long. Maybe they didn't like it. Maybe they didn't think it was that good. I said: I can just read it on the Senate floor because I think this is a big debate, our relationship with China, how we view it, how he views it, how others view it, how President Trump views it, and it needs to be debated. That is what I want to do the next couple of minutes, talk about the Freidman piece and, in my view, why it is so naive and misses so many things and, particularly, gives Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party a giant pass in terms of their history and what they have done to the international trading system. First, the Freidman article kind of condescendingly mocks, to be honest, a lot of us. He quotes some Senators, U.S. Senators, and says, you know, these Senators ``need to get out more'' when it comes to China. That is a quote in the article. Well, in my career, I have actually gotten out to China a lot, I mean in terms of working on the Chinese issues. I served on the National Supreme Court Council Staff under Condoleezza Rice and served as her Assistant Secretary of State in charge of economics, trade, energy, and finance. Again, under Secretary Rice, I was the Commissioner in charge of natural resources and energy in Alaska. I went to China then. In all these positions, I met with Chinese leaders, traveled to China a fair amount. And, of course, China national security issues really bookended my entire 30-year Marine Corps career. My first deployment in the Marines was to the Taiwan Strait during what is now referred to as the ``Third Taiwan Strait Crisis,'' in 1995 and 1996. My last billet in the Marine Corps was chief of staff to the Marine Forces Pacific Commander at Indo-Pacific PACOM. It was all about China and Taiwan. As a Senator, I continued to focus on these issues, traveling to Asia frequently. The lessons I learned when it comes to China are very different from those in the Thomas Freidman piece. As someone who has actually gotten out a fair amount to China, as Mr. Friedman tells us Senators we need to do, let's go into some of these lessons. For a smart guy, they sure were kind of naive to me. First, Thomas Freidman talks about the need for an agreement between the United States and China. But the big worry is that President Trump would not ``stick by'' any agreement with China. That is what he says. Now, he says this without even hinting at one of the Chinese Communist leadership's most consistent, salient, and frustrating traits, and this is it. They, the Chinese Communist leadership, almost never abides by their agreements with the United States--and I mean never. Big agreements, small agreements, it doesn't matter. They never abide by their agreements. I have seen this throughout my career. In 2003, I was actually in this meeting right there. That is President George W. Bush and the Vice Premier of China, Madame Wu Yi in the Oval Office. I was a young staffer right there next to the President. And President Bush pressed her, Madame Wu Yi, on this theft of intellectual property that China does. He pressed her hard. ``Madam Wu Yi, you have to stop stealing our IPR.'' That senior Chinese official, 2003, looked at the President of the United States and solemnly and sincerely said: Mr. President, we will stop this. You have my word. Well, we all know what happened. For decades, they lied about that. The last report USTR did on China's theft of intellectual property rights from the United States was $600 billion a year. Madam Wu Yi lied to President Bush in the Oval Office, no doubt about that. I was also part of Secretary Rice's senior leadership at the State Department, taking part in the twice-yearly Cabinet-level meetings launched by President Bush and China's President Hu Jintao, called the Strategic Economic Dialogue. SED, it was called. That is more Bush- China. They never kept any of their SED commitments ever. I saw this. This is what I refer to as ``promise fatigue''--promise fatigue. The United States makes an agreement with China, and they never keep it-- never keep it. You know who has made an art form out of promise fatigue and not keeping their promise? This guy, Xi Jinping. You remember this in the Rose Garden with President Obama--in the Rose Garden 2015. President Xi Jinping looked at Barack Obama, looked at the American people and said: We are not going to do any more cyber theft, and we are not going to militarize the islands of the South China Sea. That is what Xi Jinping told President Obama. Guess what. That was a huge lie. They were already doing it. Remember these? President Trump and then President Biden--Xi Jinping made commitments to both President Trump and President Biden: We are going to stop the importation of fentanyl into Mexico and the United States. Xi Jinping said that to President Trump and to President Biden. Guess what. He never kept that agreement--ever. Of course, during the Trump administration--in the first term--the phase one China deal was signed with all this fanfare in the East Room of the White House--I was actually there when that happened--and they never kept any of those commitments. So no matter what, when it comes to China, they just don't keep their word. They don't keep their word. And yet Tom Friedman's article focuses on President Trump's reliability? As Joe Biden would say, ``Come on, man.'' These are the guys who cheat and aren't reliable at all, and we all know it. Second, Friedman highlights what he sees as a great opportunity with China as it relates to our economic relations. Yet he never mentions the overriding goal of this guy, Xi Jinping. What is that overriding goal? He never mentions it once. That is to make sure the Chinese Communist Party stays in power and expands its power base at home and abroad through any means necessary, including coercion and violence. This is the goal that we all know drives his decision making. Like many in the Senate, I frequently attend classified briefings on China. We just had the INDOPACOM Commander testify today, Admiral Paparo, who, by the way, is doing a great job. Make no mistake--it is in all the Intel briefings--this guy, Xi Jinping, is preparing for war in the Taiwan Strait. Look at him there; he is in his fatigues. His aggressive efforts might extend beyond that. What am I talking about? The Chinese military just completed another massive military exercise to not only blockade Taiwan but to stop any reinforcements from coming into Taiwan. Then they conducted offensive military exercises off the shores of our allies the Philippines and Australia. Their navy went all the way around Australia just a couple of weeks ago. Friedman naively references Chinese Communist Party talking points: ``healthy interdependencies'' and ``win-win.'' These guys always use that ``win-win'' and ``We will rise together.'' Yet he ignores the military menace of the CCP abroad and its genocidal tendencies at home. But, hey, that is OK. Mr. Friedman says: Hey, there are a lot of smart people in China who can help us with AI. Sorry. I am a little more worried about that. Then he notes: [Beijing] does not want a trade war. No, in fact, they are actually preparing for a real war, and that is a fact for anyone who knows about China. Finally, the entire thrust of Friedman's piece builds on and reinforces one of the biggest strategic blunders that the United States has made with regard to China and our China strategy, over the past four decades, and that is outsourcing much of our national security to corporate America. Friedman argues that we should concentrate on letting both of our private sectors, in China and the United States, work together, and if we do that, ``Americans, working in partnership with benevolent Chinese capital and technology, will prosper just like the Chinese benefited from American capital and technology in the last four decades.'' And Tom Friedman has the nerve to call President Trump's thinking ``magical.'' Well, this is really magical from Tom Friedman. First off, the Chinese communist system doesn't really have a private sector. Again, anyone who gets out to China knows this. Everybody in China, ultimately, works for the CCP, for Xi Jinping, for the Chinese Communist Party. Just as importantly, as we have so painfully learned over the past four decades, the U.S. private sector, especially Wall Street and some of the big corporate CEOs, are very poor guardians of America's national security and economic interests when it comes to China. The U.S. Government finally, during President Trump's first term, started to say: Whoa. Wait. Stop. We can't outsource our national security to corporate America. We, the U.S. Government, need to safeguard our own interests, and that is what we are trying to do. I will say--and we just saw it a couple of years ago--the annual American CEO confab in Beijing with Xi Jinping, in the People's Hall, which, in my view, has become a national embarrassment, with Xi triumphantly leading the sycophantic-looking American CEOs behind him, does nothing to dispel the concern that this remains a strategic weakness in our national security relative to China. As we speak, CCP--the Chinese Communist Party--propaganda is flooding the world to fan the flames of a narrative that Friedman seems to embrace, and it is this: Their narrative is that President Trump has broken the World War II liberal international trading system. This charge is ridiculous, and it gives a pass to the real culprit. The Chinese Communist Party broke the system a long time ago, and that has been their intention all along. In 2005, then-Deputy Secretary of State and future World Bank president Bob Zoellick delivered his well-received speech, called the ``Responsible Stakeholder'' speech. It noted that, more than any other country, China has benefited from the international economic order set up by the United States after World War II, and it was now time for China to safeguard and embrace and become a responsible stakeholder in this system to help it endure. I was in meetings with senior Chinese officials, not long after this speech, and they deceivingly used the term ``responsible stakeholder'' much to the American policymakers' delight. But the CCP leaders clearly had other plans: to unleash policies that continued their rampant intellectual property theft of American businesses; to never keep their promises and commitments that they make to Americans; forcing U.S. companies to hand over proprietary technology in order to gain access to China's market; aggressively subsidizing important industries, like steel, where they flooded global markets and destroyed the American heartland; blocking U.S. exports from having fair and reciprocal access to China's market; and unleashing economic coercion on our allies, like Australia, Korea, and Japan, when they dared to question CCP orthodoxy. The Trump administration's policies are a course correction to all of this. But make no mistake, it was the Chinese Communist Party and its policies that took a wrecking ball to the international trading system. Yet, like so many other aspects of Friedman's piece, he gives the CCP and Xi a pass on this most consequential point. U.S. Senators on both sides of the aisle, including those who don't even get out much, according to Mr. Friedman, have recognized this truth. It would be good progress if an insightful observer of the international system, like Thomas Friedman is, would do so as well. I yield the floor.