Dan Sullivan

We should be focused on trying to certainly help that with recovery

The Act itself actually is stronger than a lot of other legislation that deal with subsistence issues.

This is an extremely important issue for the country, certainly for my constituents in Alaska and many other coastal states.

I think there's a lot of encouragement that we're seeing from the Trump Administration to undertake that.

The Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and the Coast Guard will now come to order.

The Obama Administration agreed with us on this issue previously, that those bans of African elephant ivory should not include walrus ivory

I want to thank Senator Cantwell for being here, as well, and Senator Young.

The harvest of marine mammals, the use of it is very cultural for a lot of people and it's very spiritual.

Great bipartisan success for our veterans.

I recently introduced Bill S. 1965. Senator Murkowski is a co-sponsor, The Allowing Alaska Ivory Act, to preempt these state bans.

The Marine Mammal Protection Act, which is the focus of this hearing, was enacted by Congress in 1972 to protect mammals in the marine environment.

They have not only expressed strong support but have cosponsored this legislation.

That is correct. We actually made literally dozens of changes over the last several months to accommodate almost every single Senator that had requested a change to address some of their issues. We have made numerous changes to this bill…

I won't go into it. I have seen a lot of these kinds of letters supporting legislation, but I have rarely seen a letter that is pages and pages long--steelworkers, International Union of Operating Engineers, Juneau Charter Boat Operators…

So we need to kind of change this mindset a little bit here where if you need to cover a part of America, which is my state, then that's what you should be requesting, not bean counters are saying, 'No, we've got to keep everybody in the…

It's too costly? No, it's not. You've got a job to do to cover this part of America, right?

I'm worried about that. And, look, we need more assets.

I think it's imperative that at the end of the day we have more assets up in the great state of Alaska.

I would like to again get your commitment to--my view is what's going on in Alaska with the Arctic, with the fishing, with the rescues, is there is a dramatic increase in the need.

I'm concerned about the Coast Guard's ability to meet the needs of southeast Alaskans, especially in the nearshore and inside passage areas.

We certainly view the Coast Guard in light of what you do for Alaskans every day, which is heroic efforts, remarkable.

The Coast Guard bill being passed this week would be helpful.

It's good that you're advocating for the passage of the Coast Guard bill.

It is pretty big. The Ranking Member, I will acknowledge that.

I would like to get each of your commitment, during your tenure, soon into your tenure, when you get confirmed, to come on up to Alaska, hopefully with me, and you can see some of the challenges and meet some of the great veterans that I…