The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“ALASKA TOURISM RECOVERY ACT” mentioning Richard Blumenthal was published in the Senate section on pages S2510-S2515 on May 13.
Of the 100 senators in 117th Congress, 24 percent were women, and 76 percent were men, according to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Senators' salaries are historically higher than the median US income.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
ALASKA TOURISM RECOVERY ACT
Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be discharged from further consideration of S. 593 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
A bill (S. 593) to restrict the imposition by the Secretary of Homeland Security of fines, penalties, duties, or tariffs applicable only to coastwise voyages, or prohibit otherwise qualified non-United States citizens from serving as crew, on specified vessels transporting passengers between the State of Washington and the State of Alaska, to address a Canadian cruise ship ban and the extraordinary impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Alaskan communities, and for other purposes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to proceeding to the measure?
There being no objection, the committee was discharged, and the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Murkowski amendment at the desk be agreed to and the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The amendment (No. 1492) in the nature of a substitute was agreed to, as follows
Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the following:
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Alaska Tourism Restoration Act''.
SEC. 2. VOYAGE DEEMED TO BE FOREIGN.
(a) Definition of Covered Cruise Ship.--
(1) In general.--In this section, the term ``covered cruise ship'' means a vessel included on the list under paragraph
(2) that--
(A) has been issued, operates in accordance with, and retains a COVID-19 Conditional Sailing Certificate of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and
(B) operates in accordance with any restrictions or guidance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention associated with such Certificate, including any such restrictions or guidance issued after the date of enactment of this Act.
(2) List.--The vessels listed under this paragraph are the following:
(A) Carnival Freedom (IMO number 9333149).
(B) Carnival Miracle (IMO number 9237357).
(C) Crystal Serenity (IMO number 9243667).
(D) Discovery Princess (IMO number 9837468).
(E) Emerald Princess (IMO number 9333151).
(F) Eurodam (IMO number 9378448).
(G) Golden Horizon (IMO number 9793545).
(H) Grand Princess (IMO number 9104005).
(I) Hanseatic Inspiration (IMO number 9817145).
(J) Koningsdam (IMO number 9692557).
(K) NG Quest (IMO number 9798985).
(L) NG Sea Bird (IMO number 8966444).
(M) NG Sea Lion (IMO number 8966456).
(N) NG Venture (IMO number 9799044).
(O) Nieuw Amsterdam (IMO number 9378450).
(P) Noordam (IMO number 9230115).
(Q) Zuiderdam (IMO number 9221279).
(R) Majestic Princess (IMO number 9614141).
(S) Ovation of the Seas (IMO number 9697753).
(T) Radiance of the Seas (IMO number 9195195).
(U) Serenade of the Seas (IMO number 9228344).
(V) Eclipse (IMO number 9404314).
(W) Millennium (IMO number 9189419).
(X) Solstice (IMO number 9362530).
(Y) Norwegian Bliss (IMO number 9751509).
(Z) Norwegian Encore (IMO number 9751511).
(AA) Norwegian Jewel (IMO number 9304045).
(BB) Norwegian Spirit (IMO number 9141065).
(CC) Norwegian Sun (IMO number 9218131).
(DD) Ocean Victory (IMO number 9868869).
(EE) Pacific Princess (IMO number 9187887).
(FF) Pacific World (IMO number 9000259).
(GG) Quantum of the Seas (IMO number 9549463).
(HH) Queen Elizabeth (IMO number 9477438).
(II) Disney Wonder (IMO number 9126819).
(JJ) Regatta (IMO number 9156474).
(KK) Roald Amundsen (IMO number 9813072).
(LL) Ruby Princess (IMO number 9378462).
(MM) Sapphire Princess (IMO number 9228186).
(NN) Scenic Eclipse (IMO number 9797371).
(OO) Seabourn Odyssey (IMO number 9417086).
(PP) Seabourn Venture 2 (IMO 9862023).
(QQ) Seven Seas Mariner (IMO number 9210139).
(RR) Silver Shadow (IMO number 9192167).
(SS) Silver Wind (IMO number 8903935).
(TT) Star Breeze (IMO number 8807997).
(UU) Sylvia Earle (IMO number 9872327).
(VV) Westerdam (IMO number 9226891).
(WW) L'Austral (IMO number 9502518).
(XX) Silver Muse (IMO number 9784350).
(YY) Viking Orion (IMO number 9796250).
(b) Criteria.--A roundtrip voyage of a covered cruise ship transporting passengers between a port or place in the State of Alaska and a port or place in the State of Washington shall be deemed to have made a stop in a port or place of Canada, and deemed a foreign voyage, for purposes of the law of the United States, if--
(1) during the voyage, the covered cruise ship sends an email containing the information described in subsection (c) to--
(A) the Canada Border Services Agency;
(B) the Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection; and
(C) each alien crewman on such voyage who is in possession of a valid, unexpired nonimmigrant visa issued pursuant to subparagraph (C) or (D) of section 101(a)(15) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)); and
(2) the voyage begins not later than February 28, 2022.
(c) Email.--An email described in subsection (b)(1) shall contain the names of each alien crewman described in subparagraph (C) of such subsection.
(d) Employment of Alien Crewmen.--On the date on which a covered cruise ship sends an email to the Canada Border Services Agency in accordance with subsection (b)(1), each alien crewman described in subparagraph (C) of such subsection shall be deemed to have departed the United States, entered Canada, and been readmitted to the United States for purposes of complying with, during the applicable voyage described in subsection (b), the 29-day authorized stay pursuant to their nonimmigrant visas issued pursuant to subparagraph (C) or (D) of section 101(a)(15) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)).
(e) Exception.--Notwithstanding subsection (b), a voyage described in such subsection shall not be deemed a foreign voyage for purposes of section 446 of the Tariff Act of 1930
(19 U.S.C. 1446) or any other provision of law relating to levying duties or taxes on goods, including consumables, purchased for use onboard the covered cruise ship.
(f) Applicability.--This section shall not apply to a roundtrip voyage during any period for which the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued an order under section 361 or 365 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 264 and 268) that requires covered cruise ships to suspend vessel operations.
(g) Duration.--The authority provided under this section shall terminate on the earlier of--
(1) the date on which covered cruise ships are no longer prohibited by the Government of Canada, any political subdivision of Canada, or any port or province of Canada, from entering, berthing, or docking in Canadian waters of the Pacific Coast due to the COVID-19 pandemic; or
(2) March 31, 2022.
SEC. 3. MEDICAL AND SAFETY STANDARDS.
(a) In General.--Chapter 35 of title 46, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 3510. Additional medical and safety standards
``(a) Automated External Defibrillators.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services and other appropriate Federal agencies, shall promulgate regulations to--
``(1) require that the owner of a vessel to which section 3507 applies install, and maintain in working order, automated external defibrillators on such vessel;
``(2) require that such defibrillators be placed throughout such vessel in clearly designated locations;
``(3) require that such defibrillators are available for passenger and crew access in the event of an emergency; and
``(4) require that automated external defibrillators, or adjacent equipment, allow passengers and crew to easily contact medical staff of the vessel.
``(b) Definition of Owner.--In this section, the term
`owner' has the meaning given such term in section 3507.''.
(b) Clerical Amendment.--The analysis for chapter 35 of title 46, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 3510. Additional medical and safety standards.''.
The bill was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading and was read the third time.
Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, I know of no further debate on the bill, as amended.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there further debate on the bill?
If not, the bill having been read the third time, the question is, Shall the bill pass?
The bill (S. 593), as amended, was passed.
Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, we are at a much better place at this moment in time for the people of the State of Alaska, who have been anxious. We have all been anxious throughout this time of COVID, but we have been particularly anxious as we have watched our tourist sector just be decimated. And when I say ``decimated,'' I mean in the sense that when you have such a significant portion of one economic sector, the tourist sector, come to your State by one means, by one mode--and for us, in the State of Alaska, that is cruise ship.
We have had an extraordinarily robust tourist economy, growing over the years. People want to come and see the beauty and the splendor, and for many, they want to be on the comfort of a ship and watch the views go by, see the glaciers, see the whales come on up. It is a great place to visit. But for the past year, ships have not been sailing to Alaska. This is due to not only the CDC and the no-sail orders the CDC has imposed but also because of the limitations that have been put in place by Canada in terms of no sailing through the Canadian waters.
So there has been an effort to, as we try to regain our footing, rebuild a tourist sector, but you can't just flip a switch here. You just can't get an industry back on its feet this quickly without everybody pulling together, and this has been a struggle to get everyone pulling together. But I think we are at a place where there is a glimmer of hope for Alaska's tourism industry.
We were here on this floor just a couple weeks ago, Senator Sullivan and myself, talking about how significant cruising is as an element to Alaska's economy. At the time, I shared a chart with colleagues that showed that in 2019 we had 1.3 million visitors come to Alaska on a cruise ship, and in 2020 we had 48 come to Alaska on a cruise ship. I said at the time: That is 48 passengers, not 48,000.
You can just guess what that did to our economy--the statewide unemployment rate rising from 6.2 to 11 percent; municipal and State revenues dropping significantly; and every day that passes, more lost revenues, more lost salaries, more economic distress. So the effort that we have made to, again, try to get ships back in the water, try to get them heading north, has been considerable.
We have heard from so many in not only our coastal communities but, really, communities around the State about the economic impact and the hit they have taken.
In the Indian Affairs Committee, we had a hearing just yesterday about the impact on Native tourism due to COVID, and we had the CEO of Huna Totem Corporation, Russell Dick, describe to the committee the profound ``disruption of our local economy, as 80 percent of our local tax base comes from tourism,'' he said. Consequently, ``leadership from the city of Hoonah, the community, and Icy Strait Point are all eager for cruise ships to return.'' Consider that. Eighty percent of your local tax base comes from tourism, and if you don't have passengers coming in, if you don't have visitors coming in, you basically have nothing. So we needed to address this. We needed to fix this.
We have been working aggressively, not only the Alaska delegation here working with Congressmen but working with all members of the administration. We have the Secretary of Homeland Security, who is literally on speed dial, the Director of the CDC, who really doesn't want to hear from us anymore because I think we have been so constant. We have been engaging with the Secretary of Commerce. We have taken this to the head of the Canadian Government as well, with letters to Prime Minister Trudeau and to his Cabinet, to his Parliament. So the effort that has been underway has been considerable.
We had an opportunity on the floor a couple weeks ago to discuss this very issue. We heard concerns raised by Senator Blumenthal about some consumer protection provisions. We heard concerns from Senator Lee about the Passenger Vessel Services Act, the PVSA. We weren't able to come to a resolution at the time, but I think what was good at that time was a commitment to keep working on this. We kept working on this, and we are now to the point where we have successfully passed this temporary PVSA fix through the Senate.
I want to state, though, that this is not a fix for the cruise companies, if you will. This is help, this is a fix, if you will, for the communities in Southeastern Alaska, the communities around Alaska for whom opening up some semblance of a cruise season this summer is literally going to determine their future--not just whether they are able to open this year but whether they are able to open at all going forward.
To tell people that they have to hold on through 2022, hold on for yet another 14 months--that is just not possible because it has already been 19 months that these communities have been so severely and so significantly impacted.
So the timing of this is key. It is critical. It is literally every day counting, every day that matters, so that our communities can get the folks back in the little store, get your teams hired up to take the tourists out on the attractions, get us back to a place where again we can be more stable from an economic perspective and with regards to the benefit to Alaskans and the employment.
We are ready to go back to work. We have been working hard on the vaccine. We have advertised ourselves as a State to be coming to if you are looking for your travel adventure and do so in a safe place. But we have been tied--our hands have been tied--in our ability to get the season back up and running and in a way that is going to provide for a level of safety for all.
We are continuing to make progress with CDC. I think that is an important part to add to because that has been an impediment to us. The CDC has been slow--torturously slow--in laying down their guidance, but I am optimistic that we are very close. Hopefully--hopefully--we are going to have the necessary certainty for cruise companies to ramp up their operations to again prepare to cruise to Alaska.
With the CDC paving the way over there and the PVSA issue, we are very hopeful--very, very hopeful--that we will be able to advance over in the House, working with our colleagues over there, to be able to provide this certainty for a very short season that will allow Alaskans to have some glimmer of hope here.
But I want to end with a comment and a statement that came from Mr. Russell Dick, again, the CEO of Huna Totem Corporation. Mr. Dick is indigenous from the Hoonah region. Hoonah was his community, his village that he grew up in. And he reminded us of the situation that Canada has really placed us in.
The reality is, he has a community where they may have literally no economy this summer if you can't get cruise ships in. Eighty percent of the employees that work at Icy Strait there are local and native hire. But his comment was that we are dealing with this because Congress, in his words, hasn't dealt with the PVSA. And he says: This is not Canada's fault; this is the Federal Government's fault. And he says: Let me be clear. The PVSA right now is preventing us from hiring Americans in an American community that desperately needs those jobs. The U.S. Congress is responsible for this problem.
I think Russell made it very, very clear to us that we have to address this. We have to address this. What we have done just now is we have shown that when Canada is going to make some tough decisions, we are not going to stand by. We are not just going to say ``pretty please,'' withering on the vine here until another country--until Canada--catches up with our level of readiness. It should be up to us to be able to restore our economy, and we will take the first steps to do just that.
So I want to thank Senator Sullivan, absolutely, for his leadership throughout all of this, but I also want to recognize Senator Lee, Senator Blumenthal, Senator Cantwell, and Senator Wicker and their teams for helping us get to this place today where we can be in a spot where we can tell Alaskans the light is coming on.
With that, I will yield to my friend and colleague Senator Sullivan
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The junior Senator from Alaska.
Mr. SULLIVAN. Madam President, I want to thank Senator Murkowski for her hard work.
For the Alaskans who are watching, what just happened here is kind of quick but important. The U.S. Senate just passed our bill, the PVSA suspension act, that is going to give our tourism season and the thousands of Alaskans in that industry and the hundreds, if not thousands, of small businesses that are hanging by a thread a fighting chance for this summer--a fighting chance for the summer. That just passed the U.S. Senate and is going over to the House.
So, again, I want to thank Senator Murkowski for her leadership on this and, of course, the Senators that she mentioned who were very engaged: Senator Lee, Senator Markey, Senator Blumenthal, Senator Cantwell, Senator Wicker.
You know, this, to me, is an example of the U.S. Senate working at its best--at its best. What was going on here and what we did for the last several weeks is we went to all of our colleagues and said: Look, we have a unique problem right now. In the Great State of Alaska, we are so proud of how we have done in terms of getting through the health aspects of this pandemic, but our economy is getting crushed for a whole host of reasons I have talked about on the floor here many, many times. One of the huge areas is the tourism sector and the unique challenges we have with the borders being closed by the Canadians, which is not helpful; the cruise ship industry not being able to move; and the millions of passengers who were expected to come to Alaska on cruise ships.
So we were going to each Senator and saying: Look, we know you have big, philosophical differences on some things that relate tangentially to this issue, but right now this issue is very narrow. Help us help our constituents. That is it. It is not going to impact any other State.
And to our colleagues' credit, all of them said: OK, Senator Murkowski, Senator Sullivan, we will help.
And that is a good spirit of cooperation. We essentially went to them and said: Hey, if your State had a problem uniquely focused on just your citizens, we would help you.
So that is what you just saw here. It took a little while. That is OK. Nothing moves fast in the U.S. Senate, but that is a step forward--
an important step forward.
But we still have work to do, as Senator Murkowski mentioned. This bill right now is going to be heading over to the House, right now, and we certainly hope, with the great leadership of the dean of the House, Congressman Young, and all his relationships in the House, that the House is going to show the same cooperative spirit that we just witnessed here on the U.S. Senate floor. So we are hoping for that. That is the next step.
But as Senator Murkowski mentioned, we are working all kinds of different angles--plan B, plan C, plan D. We need the CDC to continue its progress, finally--frustrating but finally. They need to continue to provide detailed guidance to operationalize their lifting of the no-
sail order.
And as Senator Murkowski also mentioned, we are going to continue to work with our friends in Canada--``O Canada.''
Now, you know, in Alaska, we have one neighbor. We don't have any of our wonderful lower 48 States as neighbors. We have Canada. We don't really include Russia. Canada. So I would say that the Alaska delegation is probably the most pro-Canadian, certainly the most knowledgeable about Canada issues of any delegation in the U.S. Congress. We work to help them out on issues--big issues, small issues, trade issues, NORAD, military issues, mining. We have a great relationship--the Alaska-Canada relationship. But, to be frank, we are not getting a lot of help right now. The border is closed--fully closed. We think that is pretty draconian, to be honest.
Alaskans are having a hard time even driving home to get through Canada. We put forward a number of very reasonable suggestions to try to accommodate what we are hoping will be a fighting chance for our tourism season, for our small businesses that have been so decimated by this pandemic.
To our colleagues in Canada, reasonable compromises in the event that we don't make progress here--we are making progress here in the U.S. Congress. That is good, again, so that we can have a fighting chance for somewhat of a tourism season this summer. But up until now, all of these suggestions--they are really not even neighbors to the north; they are neighbors for us to the east--haven't gotten a lot of cooperation. So this is not the cooperative spirit that has defined the Alaska-Canadian relationship for decades, and quite frankly, we have been disappointed by it.
So to our House colleagues--Democrats and Republicans--you have just kind of witnessed two examples of cooperation. What happened here on the Senate floor just a couple of minutes ago was really good cooperation. All 100 Senators essentially had to agree to move this bill forward, and they just did. That is what just happened. That is good cooperation.
We haven't had such good cooperation from our Canadian neighbors--
disappointing. But look, my own view is that we need to start making sure that the Alaska economy is not held hostage to another country. We are going to start working on that.
But until then, to our House Members, please, if you can look at what just happened in the Senate, listen to Congressman Young, whom you all know is a great advocate. If we can get this done in the next 24, 48 hours, our State--your fellow Americans, who are working hard like everybody else here to get out of this pandemic--will have a fighting chance
With that, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The senior Senator from Texas.
National Police Week
Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, this week America celebrates National Police Week. It is a time for us to stop and pay tribute to those who died in the line of duty defending our communities and to thank those who continue to serve our communities.
Law enforcement is a calling answered by a select few. These men and women have chosen a difficult and often dangerous life dedicated to keeping our communities safe, defending our civil liberties, and protecting our neighborhoods. These jobs, obviously, require tremendous courage and sacrifice, not just from the officers themselves but their families too, and I am grateful to those who selflessly serve our communities every day.
Under normal circumstances, the events of this week bring tens of thousands of uniformed officers to Washington, DC, from across the country. Through laying wreaths, candlelight vigils, and church services, they ordinarily gather in remembrance of their fallen brothers and sisters in person. In previous years, I have had the pleasure of welcoming a number of Texas officers and their families who have traveled to Washington, DC, for this National Police Week observation, but as in so many other ways, this year is not like previous ones.
Over the last year, our country has faced unprecedented heartbreak and turmoil, which have made a career in law enforcement even more challenging. First came the pandemic. While millions of Americans hunkered down in their homes to slow the spread of the virus, law enforcement personnel continued to lace up their boots and go to work every day.
With the spread of COVID-19 and the lack of proper personal protective equipment in the early stages of the pandemic, even simple interactions with members of the community carried risks.
At the same time, the stresses of the pandemic led to a surge of drug overdose deaths and an increase in family violence. And across the country, we saw a dramatic increase in the number of homicides.
When a deadly winter storm hit Texas in February, police officers took on even more responsibility. They worked around the clock to help folks without power or water, often while worrying about the safety of their own families.
For all the ways the last year has taught us to appreciate the unique role that law enforcement officers play in our communities, it has also put these men and women at the center of a tough, but necessary, national conversation about racial justice.
The killing of George Floyd shone a spotlight on issues in our justice system that absolutely must be rooted out and led to a national conversation about the need to do so.
There is no question we need to take action to improve transparency and accountability within our police forces.
We need to strengthen the relationship between police and the communities they serve. I believe everybody can agree on those points.
But as a country, we need to remember that the actions of a few do not define the masses, the rest of us. The vast majority of police officers are honorable, dedicated public servants who go above and beyond the call of duty to keep us safe and are committed to improving accountability and trust in police. There is a saying that nobody hates a bad cop worse than a good cop. Last summer, police officers in Dallas hosted a rally to show their support for the efforts to stop police brutality and racial injustice. We need to remember that, except for these occasional outliers, we are all on the same team, fighting for a justice system that keeps our communities safe and treats every person with dignity and respect.
For some, this movement has led to radical calls to defund or even abolish the police--two very dangerous ideas. Over the last year, we have seen an increase in violent crime in our country. Last year, major cities experienced a 33-percent increase in homicides--33 percent. The early data shows that things aren't getting any better this year. In fact, in too many places, things are getting worse.
This simply isn't the time, if there ever were a time, to strip local police departments of funding; rather, it is time to provide them with the resources and the policies they need to safely and justly protect our communities. I know we are having a lot of discussions across the aisle on the most effective way to do that, and I hope that this year, unlike last year, we will be able to make progress.
A job in law enforcement, as I suggested, is never easy. These men and women put on the uniform and leave their families, never knowing what the day ahead may entail. In the back of their minds, they have a question--whether this is the last time they will ever see their loved ones. Stopping a violent crime, helping a neighbor in crisis--you never know what a police encounter could bring.
Four months ago, Capitol Police officers certainly didn't anticipate what their jobs would require on January 6. This building was stormed by a violent mob who tried to threaten the very foundations of our democracy.
That day, as we know, this building was filled with Members of Congress, our staff, journalists, and countless men and women whom we count on to keep Congress running every day. Fortunately, that also includes the brave men and women of the Capitol Police Force. While protecting the people inside this building, Capitol Police officers were assaulted, threatened, and subjected to the violence of the mob for hours on end.
In the wake of this tragedy, the Capitol Police lost two of their colleagues, Officer Brian Sicknick and Officer Howard Liebengood. Last month, Capitol Police Officer Billy Evans was killed while protecting this institution.
I am grateful for the sacrifices law enforcement officers make every single day. This week, we honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice. One of the most emblematic remembrances of that sacrifice is the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, which sits along the National Mall here in Washington, DC. It is a beautiful tribute to the Federal, State, and local law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty and features marble walls filled with more than 21,000 names. Each of these names represents a hero, and, sadly, this year we added the names of 55 Texans who were killed in the line of duty last year.
These officers gave their all in service to our communities and to our country. Of course, there is nothing we can do to adequately thank these heroes and their families for their sacrifice, but we can take action to protect their brothers and sisters in blue.
In recent years, we have seen brutal, inexcusable attacks on police officers around the country, including one in Dallas that completely rocked our entire State. In 2016, a man killed five officers and injured nine others. It was a sobering reminder of the dangers these officers face every day and a call for us to take action to do more to support them.
Yesterday, I reintroduced the Back the Blue Act to make clear our support for the public servants who dedicated their lives to protecting our communities. This legislation sends a strong message to more than 800,000 law enforcement officers in our country that they are supported and that violence against them will not be tolerated.
The Back the Blue Act adds stiff, mandatory penalties, and it makes it a Federal crime to kill or attempt to kill a law enforcement officer, a Federal judge, or a federally funded public safety officer. It also makes it a Federal crime to assault a law enforcement officer. These men and women put themselves in harm's way every day, and we must make it clear that violence against them will never be tolerated.
Right now, there is a serious need to improve the relationships between law enforcement and the communities they serve, and this legislation will help there too. It will allow grant funds to be used for efforts to help foster more trust between police and the communities they protect.
In light of the national conversation over the past year regarding the need to improve these relationships, this could not be more important. I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting this legislation and show law enforcement across the country that we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them.
I was also pleased this morning when a bill that I am leading with my colleague Senator Coons called the Jaime Zapata and Victor Avila Federal Officer and Employee Protection Act passed out of the Judiciary Committee. That bill came in response to an appellate court decision that reversed the convictions of cartel members who murdered a Federal agent and attempted to murder another one while those agents were fighting the cartels in Mexico. An appeals court held that the United States did not have jurisdiction to try the cartel members for the murder and attempted murder. This bill closes that loophole and states unequivocally that we can and will try and convict those who murder our law enforcement officers, even those serving outside the United States.
I am grateful for the law enforcement officers who courageously and honorably serve our communities every day. This week, we honor them and the generations of officers who came before them. In particular, we pay tribute to those who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The junior Senator from Alaska.
Tribute to Justin Doll
Mr. SULLIVAN. Madam President, it is Thursday, and it is that time of the week I come down on the Senate floor and get to do one of my favorite things of the whole week. I get to recognize the special Alaskan, someone whom we call the Alaskan of the Week.
But before I talk about our Alaskan of the Week--and my good friend from Texas, Senator Cornyn, just talked about the importance of supporting our police and leaders in the police forces, and it is National Police Week. It is very appropriate that the Alaskan of the Week this week is outgoing Anchorage Police Chief Justin Doll.
I am going to tell you a lot about Chief Doll's great career in Alaska. I want to first begin by just giving a quick little update. I know people who watch the Alaskan of the Week want to know: Hey, what is going on in Alaska right now? It is such a great place, a special place.
Right now, it is approaching midnight Sun time in most places across the State. I will give you one example. In Anchorage, the Sun officially rose at 5:16 a.m. and will set at 10:37 p.m. That is a lot of daylight. Twilight actually starts around 4 a.m. and ends around midnight.
We are getting to that midnight Sun time, summer solstice time. A frenzied energy hits the State at this time of year. It is all the more so because the State is opening up, like so many States across America now, after a long year of hunkering down--late night walks, softball, yard work, gatherings.
If you are watching and you have never been to Alaska, it is a great time to be in Alaska. I urge everyone in the Gallery and at home to come on up to Alaska.
You may have seen some of the action on the Senate floor a couple of minutes ago. It is looking more and more like we are going to have, hopefully, at least part of a cruise season. But we are welcoming everybody to come to Alaska this summer. You will love it. Heck, you can even get vaccinated if your State is not doing that for you, so come on up.
We all know that what makes the State truly great is not the hours of Sun it gets or its salmon-choked streams and rivers or the magnificent wildlife--moose, bear, caribou--or the soaring mountains, all of which, of course, in Alaska we have in spades. Nothing makes our communities, our State, our country strong like the people who live in our communities, and none are perhaps more important to community strength and cohesion than our brave first responders, our police officers who wake up every day determined to protect others.
I know there is a movement across the country, and Senator Cornyn just talked about it--in my view, a dangerous movement--and that is the call to defund the police. It makes zero sense, by the way. You want your communities safe, and you are going to get rid of your police? It makes no sense.
Here is the thing about police officers like Chief Doll and first responders. These jobs are not only important, in my view, they are sacred. Now, every job in America is an important job, but there is something special, there is something even sacred about the job of our first responders--police, firemen, our military--whose job it is literally to go lay down their lives for their fellow citizens if called to do that. That is sacred.
I think it is important for all of us here in the Senate to be very clear how much we support our police and our first responders all across the Nation, especially during this week. That is why I am so honored and thrilled in many ways to be able to recognize our Alaskan of the Week this week, who is outgoing Anchorage Police Department Chief Justin Doll, who has served with APD for 25 years and has been the chief of the department since 2017. Justin has worked with, supported, and overseen more than 600 members of the APD, brave men and women who keep about 300,000 residents in the Anchorage area, my hometown, safe--roughly 200 square miles.
Let me tell you a bit about Justin, who also happens to be a Marine Corps brother of mine--a man of service, a man of honor, courage, and commitment. Born and raised in Oregon, he moved with his family to Anchorage in 1985 when he was just 12 years old. The country was coming out of a recession. Alaska was doing well. His parents saw opportunity, so they packed their U-Haul and drove up to Alcan.
His mother ended up working in an orthodontist office, and his father worked for 22 years at the famous Hotel Captain Cook, one of the great locally owned hotels in all of Alaska.
Justin graduated from West Anchorage High School, and after a few years in college, he joined the Marine Corps Forces Reserves. Now, he didn't join just any Marine Corps reserve unit; he joined Echo Company, 4th Recon Battalion--the premier cold weather recon unit in the U.S. Marine Corps, reserve or active. How do I know? Because I was serving in that unit with Chief Doll for 5 years. As a matter of fact, I was Justin's platoon commander. Now, he laughingly describes himself as my Marine Corps disciplinary challenge. I don't remember him as a disciplinary challenge; I remember him as a fine marine and a great NCO who did a really good job with Echo Company.
In 1996, he was in the Reserves at that time, and he got a job with the APD. A lot of the marines in Alaska join our law enforcement, which is another great path into service. He didn't grow up wanting to be a police officer, but when presented with an opportunity to serve his community as he was serving in the Marines, he jumped at it, and he excelled. Throughout the years, he served as a patrol officer, an academy instructor, a motorcycle officer, a SWAT team member, a patrol shift commander. He was on the bomb squad and was a commander of the Homicide and Robbery/Assaults Detective Units. He did it all, and he did it all well.
Here are some of the ways in which his colleagues and his bosses have described him throughout his years in his fitness reports:
``Outstanding performance''; ``proactive leadership''; ``Gives credit where credit is due''; ``genuine concern for his fellow officers'';
``earned the respect of everybody''; leadership philosophy is to help guide and train up leaders to rise''; ``committed to excellence.'' Those are his reviewing officers' remarks.
His executive assistant, Gia Currier, talks about how, when people would meet Chief Doll, community members--young kids; it didn't matter--he never introduced himself as ``chief.'' He would just say:
``Hey, I'm Justin.'' She said:
He makes me proud to work at APD, and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to work and learn from him.
It should be noted here that, in the meantime, in 2000, he married fellow police officer Monique, and in so doing, like many of us--
certainly, like me--he married up. Like Justin, Monique also rose through the ranks to become one of the APD's top detectives. In fact, she was the lead in catching one of the most sickening serial killers in Alaska's history, Israel Keyes. We are so grateful for her dedication and service to our State and our community.
We have a very unique community in Alaska, in Anchorage. We have earthquakes. Not too far away, we have volcanoes. We have 100-mile-an-
hour windstorms. Our moose charge, and our bears attack sometimes. Once, when he was at a national training event with big-city police officers from across the country, he was talking to his fellow police chiefs, over beers, about bears and what was going on in their respective cities. He told the group how just the day before, a brown bear had charged, mauled, and tragically killed an Alaskan resident.
Terry Monahan--at the time, the police chief for New York City--said:
What? In the city? How do you deal with that?
By the way, I am pretty sure Justin, when he was telling that story to us, cleaned up the language from the New York City police chief when he recounted that story. But these are the many things that a police chief in Alaska has to deal with, has to be ready for, and has to be able to lead on.
Like all cities, we have had serious problems with crime. As a matter of fact, in 2017, right when Justin took over as the chief for the Anchorage Police Department, my hometown of Anchorage was going through a very serious, major crime spree. Violent crime was way up. Homicides were breaking records. Property crime and vehicle crime were way, way up. Justin got to work. He focused on making sure his officers had the training they needed to do their jobs. His goal was ``to set them up for success and let them be successful.'' His motto: ``One Team, One Mission.'' It sounds a lot like a marine: ``One Team, One Fight.'' He put a focus on engaging with the community. He organized the beats so that the officers got to know the people in their areas and patrolled those same areas during the course of their time. He brought back walking beats in the downtown area. He and his officers attended community council meetings and joined the communities throughout the entire city in smaller gatherings.
Now, as I mentioned, Anchorage is a big city in terms of area, but in a lot of ways, it is really a small town. Word gets around. When you get to know your police officer, you trust your police officer, and you begin to work with that person to make your community safer. That was Justin's philosophy, and that is what started to happen. At its heart, community policing is not more complicated than that, according to Justin, Chief Doll. Getting to know one another, respecting one another, trusting one another--that is how communities become safe.
He also worked on forming partnerships with the Department of Justice, the Attorney General's Office, and the FBI, which doesn't always happen in other localities across the country. Again, Anchorage is a big city and a small town. Federal agents were also having their cars stolen. They had friends whose houses were getting broken into. This crime spree became personal for everybody, and everybody started to work together--with Chief Doll in the lead to solve it. Again, word got around. All of it--
training, empowering police officers, working with the Feds, community engagement--started to work.
We still have challenges, no doubt, in Anchorage, but since the time Justin Doll started, homicides have gone down almost 50 percent. The rates of property crimes and other violent crimes have also come down. That is a win. Mostly, it is a win for the people of Alaska, for the people of Anchorage. So Justin is leaving the department a winner, and he is also leaving the department with good memories. That was important to him.
There are challenges, and he recognizes those. Burnout, he said, is a problem, particularly these days. He didn't want to get that, and he hopes his fellow officers don't get that. According to Justin--he said:
``The world's a little insane right now when it comes to law enforcement,'' and he sees for himself what that does to the morale of his officers. He has experienced how disheartening it is to have the whole force, not just in Alaska but across the country--these are hundreds of thousands of good police officers across our Nation who have very, very stressful jobs--being disparaged because of the horrific actions of a few.
Across the Nation, he said:
We have completely lost sight of the fact that there are so many people doing a good job keeping communities safe every day. These are people who really want to do a good job and take care of the people and citizens around them.
We should remember that, especially during this week, National Police Week, when we remember the sacrifices of so many of our frontline heroes.
Justin and Monique, his wife, will be leaving the force permanently in June. The current acting chief is Kenneth McCoy--also a very impressive officer. We are all rooting for Chief McCoy. Of course, we are rooting for Justin and his future endeavors. As we are for all of our police officers across the country, we are thankful for Chief Doll's service--fulfilling his sacred duty--for keeping us safe, and for keeping our communities whole.
So, Justin, one more time, congratulations on a great job. Congratulations on being our Alaskan of the Week.
Semper Fi.
Energy
Mr. SULLIVAN. Madam President, I would like you to hear a quote:
``You know, if you drive an electric car, this would not be affecting you, clearly.'' That was from our Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm, yesterday, as she told reporters all about the cyber attacks on the Colonial Pipeline and the ensuing gas shortages and price spikes.
Think about that, America.
Of course, the media just let her go. They didn't ask her if she knew that, just as meat doesn't come from a grocery store, energy just doesn't come from a wall. It doesn't just appear like magic when you plug into it. It comes from many sources, including from natural gas, including from oil.
The media didn't ask about natural gas--yes, and oil--needing pipelines.
The media didn't ask her if she knew that all energy, including alternative energy, requires transmission lines--lines that are also subject to being attacked like the Colonial Pipeline.
They didn't ask her if she knew that the cost of an electric car, the average price, is more than $55,000. Maybe that is a bargain for her, but for the people the Biden administration is putting out of work in the energy sector, that is a huge pricetag.
The media certainly didn't ask the Secretary of Energy how this cavalier, condescending attitude, once again, about our energy sector--
one of our country's huge strengths that employs hundreds of thousands of hard-working Americans--is received by the average American who is being hurt right now.
There are so many questions that were not asked, so many questions that aren't being asked about the Colonial Pipeline issue, and so many that continue to not be answered by the administration when it comes to this specific situation and how this administration's energy policies threaten to make this short-term disruption of our energy supplies into a long-term reality across the country.
The cyber attack on the Colonial Pipeline is a warning for America not just from a cyber security standpoint but from a broader energy perspective standpoint.
I participated yesterday in the briefing of U.S. Senators by the Secretaries of Energy, Transportation, and Homeland Security on this cyber attack that is creating disruptions in energy supplies across the country, particularly on the east coast. Here is the advice I gave these members of the Biden administration: Respectfully, I said that I fear that this is going to be commonplace, this kind of disruption--and not just from a cyber standpoint--if we don't change the Biden administration's energy policies for America.
What was I talking about? They are restricting the production of American energy. That is one of the great comparative advantages of our country--that of producing more in oil, more natural gas, and more renewables than any other country in the world. They are restricting the production of oil and gas.
You have senior administration officials going to Wall Street saying: Don't invest in energy companies. You have Federal Agencies that are either killing pipelines or slow-rolling pipelines. None of this is good for the country.
So here is the advice I gave them. Pipelines are good. We need them, as this Colonial Pipeline shutdown certainly demonstrates. Importing more oil from our adversaries like Russia is bad, but, by the way, that is what is happening with the Biden policies. So we need a change.
We have plenty of oil and gas for Americans. We should produce it, as we do, with the highest environmental standards for the benefit of our own citizens and not restrict it or, this issue, this kind of disruption is going to be much more commonplace in our country.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Kaine). The Senator from Wisconsin is recognized.
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