Unanimous Consent Request--S. 593

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SULLIVAN. Madam President, Madam President, my colleague Senator Murkowski did a good job of explaining some of the economic challenges--actually, the dramatic economic challenges--facing our State: small businesses, families, workers by the thousands who are really hurting right now because we lost the tourism season last year due to the pandemic and are on the verge, possibly, of losing another one, which could be devastating. That is the purpose of our legislation, to focus on lifting the challenge and bringing relief so that we can bring tourism back to Alaska. We are open for business.

You know, we have been able, in Alaska, to weather the health impacts of this virus in a way that we are proud of in Alaska, with one of the lowest death rates per capita--any death, of course, is horrible--but one of the lowest death rates, one of the highest testing rates per capita with regard to this vaccine, the highest vaccination rates per capita, which is a minimiracle if you look at how big our State is. But the economic impacts have been devastating, as Senator Murkowski laid out. Our commercial fishing industry, our oil and gas industry, our tourism industry--these sectors of the Alaska economy, which are critical, have lost thousands of jobs.

So this bill, the Alaska Tourism Recovery Act, is something that is very narrowly focused. It is very narrowly focused. It is to give our State a fighting chance this summer with regard to our tourism sector.

Now, I very much appreciate Senator Blumenthal and Senator Lee, with regard to their passion and focus on the issues that they have raised tonight. Some of the safety regulations on cruise ships, the PVSA Act-- these are issues that they feel very passionate about, and I appreciate that.

As they know, what we are trying to do here, Senator Murkowski and I, is not tackle those issues so much as to tackle the issue directly before Alaskans, and that is how to salvage a summer tourism season.

So despite what you have witnessed here on the Senate floor, I want to say I appreciate their willingness to continue to work with us. The clock is ticking, but we do have Senator Blumenthal's and Senator Lee's strong commitments to work with us to resolve these issues--both the ones that they care about and, certainly, the ones that matter to Alaskans--very soon.

To our fellow Alaskans, my message is, don't give up right now. Here on the Senate floor, despite what you have seen, there has actually been momentum and movement, and I am confident we can get there, and even with the CDC--even with the CDC.

Some of you might recall that I was here on the floor last week with Senator Scott of Florida, trying to move our legislation relating to the CDC's role here. We are starting to see progress with them. So we are going to continue to fight and continue to try to move this.

Do not give up, Alaska, on our summer tourism. We haven't. To the contrary, we have made progress. We are not there yet.

Finally, to our Canadian friends, we are going to continue to work with all of you as well. You can be part of the solution to help Alaska, to help Canada, in a cooperative spirit, as you are seeing here on the Senate floor from all of you on a number of these issues. It would be very much appreciated.

I anticipate and look forward to reaching out to my colleague and friend, the Minister of Transportation, and others in the Canadian Government to try to make sure we can get this spirit of cooperation that will benefit both our State, our country, and your country.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source