I hope that we can move this in a bipartisan way because for all the reasons Dr. Brill mentioned and it saves money.

We do not even have a full-service VA hospital in the whole State and we are, you know, six times bigger than Montana; right?

It is really critical that these--our ports get Federal attention.

they are Americans too. And if they got it in another State, they should have it in my State.

Can I get a commitment from all of you.

This is the bill that authorizes the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of the VA to enter into agreements.

This is a bill I think that makes sense whether you are from Alabama, North Carolina, Montana, Alaska, because we all have significant vet populations, significant DOD centers.

It is also 90 percent of all supplies and food that come to Alaska come through this port.

I think it is a concern of yours, which is a gap in coverage, given that the fire aboard the HEALY.

I think there is a lot of bipartisan support for this kind of action in the Senate.

Look again, Russia has 50, and 54 is a number I know and many of which are nuclear, some of which are heavily weaponized, so we are way behind.

But they don't have the right to shoot off Alaskan fishing vessel.

We want to make sure we are helping.

I think we have made good progress.

I think you are seeing here Coast Guard assets, Coast Guard infrastructure, Coast Guard icebreakers, whether in the Arctic or on the Great Lakes, is really bipartisan.

I want to address a topic this afternoon here in the U.S. Senate that I believe not enough people are talking about. It is something that I certainly heard a lot about when I was back home in Alaska, and I think it is something that…

I chair the Congressional Veterans Job Caucus with Senator Manchin.

It saves money. It is better for our vets. It is better for our active duty forces.

I think it is something most Senators are supportive of, and I think we are going to have an opportunity here with the NDAA likely passing.

I actually think it is a great opportunity for our young men and women who are getting out.

You know, we all kind of brag about our States a little bit. My colleagues have never heard this. My State has more veterans per capita than any State in the country.

Do they provide platforms for authoritarian or terrorist-based leaders, like the Ayatollahs in Iran?

You can declare moral bankruptcy and we can figure out how to fix these things together because we solve problems together. We don't solve them alone.

Isn't that incompatible with your business model because your business model is more time online, more eyeballs online?

I think we're going to look back 20 years from now and all of us are going to be like what in the hell were we thinking when we recognize the damage that's done to a generation of kids.