Lisa Murkowski

We are here today to focus on their energy challenges and opportunities in the hopes of moving the ball forward on more affordable, more reliable and increasingly clean energy for all of them.

I think it is fair to say that self governance has literally reshaped the way in which health care and other social services are delivered to the Native people in Alaska.

Some agencies are more willing, I think, to work with us on co-management.

We recognize there are bumps in the road.

It is not just a question. It is a plea. It is an urgency. It is a demand.

I have people that are going to bed at night afraid. They are afraid of the next storm coming their way.

Well, good. I think the more transparent you can be and then give that heads up, I think it is appreciated all around.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you all for being here.

I think overall, beyond Alaska's national parks which I wholeheartedly agree with you, I think, are the best national parks in our country.

I think we recognize that if we fail to do right by our parks, we will have those that will say, okay, you encouraged me to come and visit my park.

I would say that while we have an Office of Management and Budget that is willing to allow the use of mandatory funding for deferred maintenance on the National Park System.

It would be good to have a certain level of mandatory funding but, you know, it would have been good to have that for the Land and Water Conservation Fund in 1962.

My hope would be that the Chairman can take both those bills and let the Committee look at them very carefully.

I agree that we want funding to be as stable as we can, but we also want funding.

I have introduced, with Senator King, Senator Heinrich, and Senator Tillis another bipartisan bill which I hope this Committee will also consider at the same time.

I have worked with Mark Warner to put together a bipartisan proposal to find additional funding streams.

The Centennial Act annual appropriations are good, but alone, not enough.

We have leveraged a total of about $107 million in federal dollars into an additional $125 million in non-federal funds.

We passed our National Park Centennial Act at the end of December 2016.

When you look at all of things, you have to look at the holistic approach to the issues that are impacting tribal nations.

I would challenge you on this.

But if you have nobody that is able to follow through with the prosecution, what happens in my State, because we don't have sufficient law enforcement, because we do not have the protection and public safety that Senator Heitkamp has been…

We must work together to improve the lives of our tribal citizens.

Just very, very briefly.

We need to look at the possibility of saying, okay, these programs are needed.