Lisa Murkowski

What is needed is a new world order in rural Alaska, but one that is an old world order in Indian policy.

Building more prisons is not the answer for us in Alaska, it's not the answer for us in the country.

Our justice system is not viewed as a path of hope. If anything, it is viewed as just a revolving door of commitment to despair.

Strengthening Alaska Native families is essential to reducing recidivism and improving reentry outcomes.

Thank you, Natasha, I appreciate it a great deal and know that I too, am really irritated at BIA, DOJ for thus far ignoring us on that letter, so we're going to get some action there.

What is needed is federal legislation which recognizes the authority of our tribal governments to deal in the first instance with issues of local domestic violence, sexual assault, and substance abuse.

I understand you actually had a hearing just a couple days ago on the issue of tribal courts, recidivism and how we deal with the reentry issues.

We are failing our Native people with a system that is just not working right now.

I have questioned you, Mr. Murphy, on where the authority rests to allow for an ACEC in the Fortymile area.

This is laid out in Federal statute that is unique to Alaska.

I would appreciate it because it is something that as we listen to some of the on-the-ground examples of what we are dealing with, whether it is Wainwright or Nuiqsut or out in Craig.

Are we to believe that we are not able to move on anything up in the North Slope because we do not have a place to even bank it if we can agree that a two-to-one mitigation ratio is reasonable and not extortion?

I think, in my professional opinion, these most recent proposals that we have seen do not add to the health and welfare of the Alaskan people.

Thank you, we are now in the process of purchasing those lands.

This moving of the regulatory goalpost has a serious, chilling effect on project development and it limits the growth of our economy.

There is something fundamentally flawed about an agency that borrows theories and regulations which are born from wholly different laws and adopting them as its own.

The regulatory scheme within the Department of the Interior has significantly departed from the fundamental principle of multiple use as defined in and required by law.

If there is one unifying theme amongst Alaskans... a concern consistently is we see ongoing, rapidly developing, encroachment, overreach and overregulation that is stifling us.

Like many Alaskans, my concern about Federal overreach has grown dramatically over the years.

How the Federal Government chooses to approach those rules has a big impact on our daily lives and our ability to grow as a state.

The Federal Government, is sort of a gatekeeper and a landlord here in Alaska.

We have brought our committees to Alaska to examine the regulatory practices that impact and often delay or prevent development in our state.

I appreciate your saying that we don't have to be the Committee of despair.

Despite efforts, we are not making the progress that we should.

I don't want to talk without asking questions, and I want to go to what Senator Heitkamp has raised with you.