Dan Sullivan

The United States is often viewed as having the best-managed and healthiest fisheries in the world.

Senator Nelson, the floor is yours for an opening statement, as well.

Many of the nautical charts in my state on Alaska's coasts are woefully outdated.

Given the importance of the oceans to our overall economy in the United States, it only makes sense that we... coordinate our use of oceans.

We're woefully inadequate, in terms of the maps, surveys.

If we were to enact these kind of budget figures, which I'm not going to support, wouldn't that undermine the Blue Economy...

Alaska constitutes the superpower of seafood for America, over 50 percent of all seafood... comes from Alaska.

I have no idea what that is.

Dr. Wilga is a proud Athabaskan Alaska Native like my wife and my daughters.

I am pleased to introduce one of the panelists today, Dr. Cheryl Wilga, who is the Director of Biological Sciences at the University of Alaska, Anchorage.

Even Director Ashe, under President Obama, was saying we don't think that is helpful; we think we should be able to reform that to have a much more narrow process.

I just think that is an abuse of authority, and I am certainly hopeful that this legislation can rein in that kind of decisionmaking that doesn't have any statutory basis.

There has been an issue where Federal agencies, in my view, have abused their statutory authority.

I think it is an important component.

I appreciate the hard work, and again, bipartisan work.

I think in terms of expertise, particularly the State of Alaska, we have thousands of State employees who are the top experts in the field.

I co-chaired the Endangered Species Act Working Group with my Democratic co-chair, Gary King.

Mansions on the Potomac in a State that has over 30 communities where people have no clean water and flush toilets. I mean, it's ridiculous. That's some of the cluelessness we deal with in the Senate.

Thank you for all you have done to ensure that Section 811, Federal approval authority, is streamlined for contracts from 22 to 93 million.

It's these programs that really help us and help us supplement some of the programs that we administer through the Federal Government now.

Senator Sullivan has just been dogged in getting the bureaucracy to do what they were supposed to do in a recent example.

Alaska Natives and American Indians are still the poorest of the poor in the Nation.

We need solutions and not more discussion that leads nowhere.

Let me ask one final question. It's just an educational element. You made a really important point that it's really hard for people to understand in the Congress, in the government, maybe even people--some of my constituents, is that you…

I think it's going to help everybody, and I think the secretaries of the different military services were, once they looked with their lawyers at what I was talking about, I think they were fine and had to sign them.