pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 2, of the Standing Rules of the Senate, on behalf of myself and Senator Cantwell, I ask unanimous consent that a copy of the rules of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources for the 115th Congress be…

We are seeing communities threatened by storms, flooding, coastal erosion, the thaw of our permafrost.

Let me ask you then, because I agree with everything that you have said.

Both of these communities have recently applied for major disaster declarations due to severe storms, flooding.

Is this something that you will commit to me and to our Alaska Native villages, not just the Alaska Native villages, but we have other communities as well that are in jeopardy?

It does need to be a whole of agency approach.

When the Obama Administration announced its climate resilience grants last year, they thought ah ha, this is exactly where we can go and they made application through the Administration.

We kind of do it all.

The Village of Nutok on December 24 applied for a presidential declaration of major disaster.

Even more recent was Kivalina's request. They submitted their application for major disaster declaration on January 15, 2017.

Thank you, Mr. President. I come to the floor this morning to speak on the resolution of disapproval that is before us, but I want to make just a few comments following my colleague, the minority whip. I am pleased to hear him say that he…

Thank you, Mr. President. She has committed that the focus she will give, not only to Alaska but to all States will not undermine, erode, or ignore public schools and that she will, in fact, work to support our public schools. She has…

I ask unanimous consent for an additional 1\1/2\ minutes. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources' subcommittee assignments for the 115th Congress be printed in the Record. There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as…

I would like to share my thoughts with my colleagues today about the President's nominee to be Secretary of Education. I shared many of these thoughts yesterday with my colleagues on the Senate HELP Committee. Like my colleague from Maine…

I ask unanimous consent to speak on the upcoming motion to proceed to the DeVos nomination for a period of 5 minutes. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

This is a situation that is not sustainable. So the focus is on what we can do to provide some level of stability.

Before the ACA, the average cost for an individual for their plan was $251 a month and now with implementation of the ACA, and the fact that we do not have competition and that we are a high cost State, it is $800 a month for an individual.

Would you be in a position to help us divine what we could do to make it more efficient, to make it a more simplified process?

The legislation is HR 236, introduced on January 3, 2017 by Congressman Young and S. 269 introduced on February 1, 2017 by Senators Murkowski and Sullivan.

I appreciate the fact that you are trying to focus us as policymakers on the area that is really troubled right now, and this is the individual market, and to look specifically to how we can provide for the stabilization.

We look at this as one way to gain flexibility and it has not been raised in this discussion yet this morning.

There are certain exemptions that were included as part of the ACA, exemptions for Medicaid cost-sharing provisions.

What can we do to ensure that coverage options are provided for those in this new era of health care reform?

We are committed and adamant that that coverage be able to be continued.