Mark Begich

That is a hard one to answer because they see the oil flowing. As I mentioned, we have $10-a-gallon gas in some of our communities--$10 a gallon. So it is hard to explain that, yes, we are the big producer, but the rest of the country then…

I know what we'd like to do, it seems, in the federal government, as I've learned now, is always get the big pitch, try to do it all at once, and do everything, which is disastrous.

But, that will never happen, because of states' rights, and many other things.

I was not one of those that supported your appointment, but I am actually very impressed with the conversation today.

I do not want you to raise the requirement. I just want to get equal treatment.

Thank you very much. Thanks for being here.

You wanted to explore the value of e-commerce for veterans in rural America.

Can you discuss any specific outreach efforts that VETS has made to reach out to the Alaska Native veteran community?

You discussed the stovepipes inhibiting communications between the critical government agencies responsible for business development.

The problem is that we don't have enough of them.

As you know, American Indians serve in our Armed Forces in greater numbers than any other ethnic group, proportionally.

FRA supports legislation sponsored by Sen. Mark Begich entitled 'The Servicemembers Permanent Change of Station Relief Act' (S. 472)

The Coalition supports legislation sponsored by Senator Mark Begich that would authorize shipment of a second private-owned vehicle to Alaska, Hawaii, and Guam.

This legislation is likely budget neutral.

As I know Senator Ayotte and I were at a military hearing in Armed Services and one of the issues with Libya was 3 days of inability to fly was because of weather.

We know you need so many ships built.

It really is an issue of finances and trade-offs, and I think it has been challenging to date.

In order to add time, it would take legislative action.

Are there additional resources or legislative action or work with other departments, especially on the international waters, that we need to be doing?

The legal catches by Russia on crab, for example, was probably, in the last 10 years, costs Alaska fishermen over a half a billion, $500 million over the last 10 years.

We need your help to figure out these priorities, knowing you do not have and will not have the money at the level that will be necessary.

We're doing some new initiatives. We could argue that new initiatives are important.

I would argue the core mission or one of the core missions of your office is this data.

I always get nervous--no disrespect, Dr. Lubchenco--when administrators use the word soon.

I think a lot of times when we deal with these budgets, we have to understand that if we don't spend it now that nickel turns into a dollar very quickly.