I understand the Navy is collaborating with the Coast Guard in designing the Polar Security Cutters.

So you don't consider that outreach, do you?

Thank you for the time.

One of the challenges that we have in Alaska, just as it is difficult to get things in, you have to fly barrels of fuel in at the end of winter, it is equally difficult to get things out.

But when it is our own systems that effectively hold them back, that is not fair to anybody.

For far too long, we hear about these programs, we hear about the funding that we have put, outlined in legislation, in law with specific, specific set-asides for tribal interests.

I would ask that our teams sit down and talk about this, because as we are talking about it, you have a deadline that is coming up with opportunities for grant funding that is going to make a difference to tribes.

Is this a false promise? Is this a false promise here?

just having a strategy is nothing if we do not resource it, and resources are reflected in the budget.

I understand the Navy is collaborating with the Coast Guard in designing the Polar Security Cutters.

We are well behind in the construction of how are we going to facilitate our icebreaking fleet.

I am all eyes on the Arctic all the time.

Well, my time is expired, but know that we do want to follow up with you on this.

It has been observed on roughly 193,500 acres statewide, more than 98 percent of those acres mapped in 2021.

Well, I really appreciate you saying that, because that is what folks are relying on.

This obviously represents the exact wrong direction for Alaska, certainly the wrong direction for a country.

GLRI funds have been effectively deployed to protect safe clean drinking water supplies, clean up toxic sites, protect wetlands and shorelines, hold off invasive species from entering the Great Lakes, and safeguard aquatic resources.

I am very interested in seeing what is possible. And if we can move the dial a little bit on this issue, I am in for it 100 percent.

I think that we can make a real difference for the State of Alaska, and we can make a real difference across the country.

To me, as an Alaskan, from a State that has extraordinary natural gas reserves, the fact that we would even be uttering these words is almost inconceivable to me.

How do you respond, though, to just the reality that that the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) creates a rural priority for subsistence based on where one lives.

Ensuring adequate funding for PL280 states to address the inequities among Tribal courts remains a top concern of mine.

I would hope that you would agree that this proposed move is a reorganization that is defined by the Committee's reprogramming guidelines, and so therefore would be subject to Appropriations' Committee approval.

It is nice to have Senator Fischer on.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Assistant Secretary, we have had a conversation in other committees as well, about the budget proposal to shift the Office of Subsistence Management, OSM, from Fish and Wildlife to BIA.