Lisa Murkowski

We kept coming back to how do we insure, to the greatest extent possible that there is an insulation from politics, from political manipulation.

Right now, we don't have any rules of the road, so to speak.

I think it is significant that when Healy was escorting the Renda north, you're looking to find that path of least resistance through the ice.

They are not only significant, they are also heroic, in many ways.

It is appropriate that we note it is not only the commercial shipping traffic.

I think the recognition is that there is an expanding role in so many different sectors.

Madam Chairman, they are essentially mapping an area that has not been mapped since Captain Cook was sailing these shores in the 1800s.

As Senator Landrieu has mentioned, we can utilize these for fisheries enforcement, as you're out over incredible open areas.

I appreciate the need, the desire, to get our new vessels on, but, again, I'm worried about the gaps, where we have ships that are decommissioned without that replacement vessel on-site in the water.

The importance of these cutters actually being underway, conducting the mission, and the fact that the outside cutters are spending 25 to 30 days underway every deployment

Until the Polar Star is back in the water, I sure hope that we are able to keep Healy up here and not send her down on a research mission to Antarctica.

We are an Arctic Nation. And as an Arctic Nation, to know that we do not have an icebreaker that is a polar-class icebreaker, a heavy icebreaker, given all that is happening, is really quite remarkable.

In my time in the United States Senate, I can honestly say that there is no other colleague in the Senate that has more of a commitment and a passion to our Coast Guard than you, perhaps maybe me.

The world may seem to be growing smaller, but its seas are growing bigger, particularly in the great north where a widening water highway beckons both with resources and challenges.

Had you made the decision another way, when the people of Nome needed help, needed assistance at a very difficult time, we would not have been able to provide the level of assistance.

Let me ask you about prioritization because, as we recognize with the budget issues that we are facing, it is all a matter of priorities now.

Mr. Connor, we know that there is many--well, I should not say many--but there are multiple Federal agencies that have funding availability for rural areas to construct and improve water and wastewater facilities.

All I want before I die is a flush toilet.

We have a lot of water up North. But when it comes to providing for what I think most would consider to be pretty basic needs in my home State, we are seriously, seriously lacking in far too many areas.

We have made progress but there is so much more that needs to happen.

Are those then reviewed by OMB?

The spending that this bill would mandate has to come from somewhere.

How do you make sure that these priorities that have been set with this legislation are addressed, while at the same time addressing the pent-up needs within the Bureau of Reclamation?

Are those 6 criteria the same criteria then that OMB uses?

I know that I have been to at least one utility in Ohio's command center where they are doing just that...