[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 199 (Thursday, December 12, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7019-S7023]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2020--CONFERENCE
REPORT
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask that the Chair lay before the
Senate the conference report accompanying S. 1790.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair lays before the Senate the
conference report, which will be stated by title.
The senior assistant bill clerk read as follows:
The committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the
two Houses on the amendment of the House to the bill (S.
1790) to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2020 for
military activities of the Department of Defense, for
military construction, and for defense activities of the
Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel
strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes,
having met, have agreed that the Senate recede from its
disagreement to the amendment of the House and agree to the
same with an amendment and the House agree to the same,
signed by a majority of the conferees on the part of both
Houses.
Thereupon, the Senate proceeded to consider the conference report.
(The conference report is printed in the House proceedings of the
Record of December 9, 2019.)
Cloture Motion
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Pursuant to rule XXII, the Chair lays before
the Senate the pending cloture motion, which the clerk will state.
The senior assistant bill clerk read as follows:
Cloture Motion
We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the
provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate,
do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the conference
report to accompany S. 1790, an original bill to authorize
appropriations for fiscal year 2020 for military activities
of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and
for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to
prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year,
and for other purposes.
Mitch McConnell, John Boozman, Kevin Cramer, John Cornyn,
Mike Crapo, Shelley Moore Capito, Pat Roberts, John
Thune, James Lankford, James E. Risch, Deb Fischer,
Lamar Alexander, Richard Burr, John Barrasso, James M.
Inhofe, Johnny Isakson, Steve Daines.
Mr. McCONNELL. I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum
called be waived.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.
Authorization for Use of Military Force and National Defense
Authorization Act
Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, I rise to discuss Congress's ongoing
failure to assert our constitutional war powers. This failure is the
root cause of two pressing concerns that we currently face: first, the
seemingly endless U.S. involvement in Middle East wars; and, second,
the very real possibility that the Trump administration will involve us
in more of them.
The Founders were clear in their intent. The Constitution squarely
places the authority to ``declare war''--that is the phrase in the
Constitution--and places it clearly with Congress and Congress alone.
The Founders did this for good reason. For centuries, European monarchs
had drained royal coffers, levied heavy taxes, and lost countless lives
in wars that benefited themselves and not the people.
As Elbridge Gerry from Massachusetts said during the Constitutional
Convention, after another delegate suggested giving this war power to
the President: ``[I] never expected to hear in a republic a motion to
empower the Executive alone to declare war.''
The Founders vested this most consequential power in the legislative
branch so that any decision to go to war would have broad public
support. Since the Republic's beginning, there has been a tension
between the Congress and the executive branch regarding the use of this
power.
In the modern era, the balance has been upended. Our ability and
willingness to effectively check the Executive on war powers is
dangerously diminished. Congress has not declared war for any of our
major conflicts since World War II. But after the bloody, prolonged,
and politically divisive Vietnam War, Congress passed a War Powers
Resolution of 1973, overriding the veto of President Nixon. That
resolution requires Congress to issue an authorization for use of
military force, or an AUMF.
Immediately after 9/11, a nearly unanimous Congress--myself
included--authorized force against the perpetrators, al-Qaida and those
who harbored them, by which we meant the Taliban government in
Afghanistan. The 2001 AUMF authorized the United States' entering
conflict in Afghanistan to root out al-Qaida.
The Taliban was then expelled from power. Al-Qaida in Afghanistan has
been defeated. Osama Bin Laden is dead. And the now 18-year-old AUMF
has outlived its purpose, as a stunning Washington Post expose on the
Afghan war has now made clear.
The war in Afghanistan is the longest in U.S. history, but it no
longer has a clear purpose. The Washington Post successfully sued for
access to previously undisclosed government documents, dubbed the
``Afghanistan Papers.'' These 2,000 pages of interviews and memos from
senior military, diplomatic, and White House officials tell a shocking
and tragic story. Three separate administrations have had no well-
formed mission for the war but fought on anyway and repeatedly misled
the American people.
According to the head of the NATO command in Afghanistan in 2006,
``there was no coherent long-term strategy there.'' The next NATO
commander, Army LTG Dan McNeill said:
I tried to get someone to define for me what winning meant,
even before I went over, and nobody could. Nobody would give
me a good definition of what it meant. . . . There was no
NATO campaign plan--a lot of verbiage and talk, but no plan.
A senior diplomat under President Obama said:
If I were to write a book, its [cover] would be: ``America
goes to war without knowing why it does.''
Over and over, senior officials describe the lack of strategic goals.
All the while, the government lied to the American people, claiming
success when there was none.
This war has cost 157,000 lives, more than 775,000 American troops
have been deployed, 2,300 American military personnel have been killed,
and more than 20,000 have been wounded. It has cost the American people
over $2 trillion--$2 trillion. These costs are tragic, inexcusable, and
it is time for this war to end.
The executive branch isn't the only branch at fault. Congress has sat
back and let the Executives stretch the AUMF to the point of breaking.
We have ducked the debates. We have ducked the hard votes. We need to
change that, and we can start with Afghanistan.
In March, Senator Paul and I introduced the American Forces Going
Home After Noble Service Act. This act would responsibly pull our
troops out of Afghanistan. The act declares victory in Afghanistan,
acknowledging that the original objectives have largely been met. It
sets guidelines for the safe and orderly withdrawal of troops, and it
repeals the 2001 AUMF once and for all. We should have a vote on this.
Afghanistan is just the largest of our ongoing Middle Eastern wars.
The 9/11 AUMF has been used to justify military ventures all around the
world--41 times to justify military action in 14 countries. I voted for
this authorization, and I know full well that Congress did not intend
that. More unauthorized conflicts are looming on the horizon.
I was encouraged earlier this year when the House passed--and a
majority
[[Page S7020]]
of the Senate supported--my amendment to prohibit war with Iran absent
congressional authorization.
Tensions with Iran have grown since the President withdrew from the
international agreement preventing Iran from developing nuclear
weapons. It has been a year and a half since the President dropped out
of the agreement, claiming he could get a ``better deal'' and mounting
his ``maximum pressure'' strategy. Since then, we haven't gotten
anywhere close to a better deal, but we have gotten much closer to war.
This June we were 10 minutes away from the President's calling a
strike on Iran, 10 minutes away from military escalation in the Gulf.
While the President's maximum pressure campaign has not succeeded in
forcing Iran into a better deal, it has succeeded in pushing Iran to
breach the nuclear agreement, and it has led to a cycle of violence in
the region and from Iran, attacking commercial ships in the Gulf of
Oman, moving short-range ballistic missiles into Iraq, and threatening
U.S. troops in Israel.
Since May, the President has increased troop presence by 14,000 in
the Middle East, and after initially denying it, the Pentagon is
considering sending an additional 14,000 troops. The risk of war with
Iran is very real, whether intentionally or by mistake, miscalculation,
or misjudgment. And the President claims he can go to war against Iran
without congressional approval.
In September, this body held a historic vote, voting 50 to 40 to
include the Udall-Kaine-Paul amendment to the National Defense
Authorization Act to prohibit funding for war with Iran without
congressional authorization. We took a giant step forward to assert our
constitutional authority.
This amendment was germane and by rule it should have been included
in the final Senate NDAA, but the majority leader forced a 60-vote
threshold that should not have been applied. Nevertheless, the House
version did include the prohibition, and with Senate majority support,
it should have been included in the conference.
This week, the Senate and the House conference committee just
released their NDAA conference report. I am deeply disappointed that
they did not include our amendment. This is a major missed opportunity
to take back our authority and a missed opportunity to stop expansion
of war and U.S. interventionism in the Middle East. Another terribly
missed opportunity is the NDAA's failure to include a provision to
eliminate U.S. support for Saudi Arabia's disastrous war in Yemen.
Under the authority of the 2001 AUMF, our troops are supporting Saudi
Arabia in its war against the insurgent Houthi, but the Houthi are also
fighting al-Qaida, the actual target of the AUMF. We are fighting a
group fighting against al-Qaida. This is a prime example of the misuse
of this authorization.
The human cost is horrific. Since 2015, more than 100,000 people have
been killed in Yemen, including more than 12,000 Yemeni citizens. More
than 20 million Yemenis need humanitarian aid. There is no compelling
U.S. national security interest in aiding the Saudis in this war. We
should not be lending support to a war that the international community
recognizes as a humanitarian disaster.
In April, both Houses voted on a bipartisan basis to remove our
troops from this conflict unless Congress authorized force. The
President vetoed that bipartisan bill. The NDAA conference committee
missed an opportunity to step up and direct the President to take us
out of the Saudi-Yemen conflict. Again, Congress is ducking its duties.
For too long, Congress has hidden from making the hard decisions, from
taking the tough votes. We have deferred to the Executive under
Republican and Democratic administrations alike. The Founders placed
this power in our hands for a good reason. Those reasons are as sound
today as they were two centuries ago.
This is not a political issue. It is not a red or blue issue. It is
not a Republican or Democratic issue. It is a constitutional issue. It
goes to the core of our Constitution and our war powers in the
legislative branch in Congress. Everyone here has sworn to uphold the
Constitution. We can do so by upholding, not running from, our
constitutional responsibilities.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
Tribute to Johnny Isakson
Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, Johnny Isakson will be a legend in the
Senate. His life is marked with such tremendous service. From his time
in the Georgia Air National Guard to his service in the Georgia house
and senate, and on to the U.S. House and the Senate, Johnny has been
making his home State proud every single step of the way.
As a fellow veteran, I can't tell you how much I especially
appreciate Senator Isakson's relentless and dedicated focus on
veterans' issues. As chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs
Committee, he has worked tirelessly to put our veterans first.
One of the most important pieces of legislation we worked on together
was the VA MISSION Act. Veterans in Iowa and in Georgia are oftentimes
living in rural areas or are simply homebound. So with the VA MISSION
Act, I knew that Johnny would be a great ally and partner to make sure
that we prioritized telehealth and ensure that veterans could receive
necessary care closer to home, and we did just that.
Folks, the MISSION Act is truly landmark legislation that is making a
difference in the lives of countless veterans across our Nation. It
would not have been possible without the hard work and the diligent
efforts of our colleague Senator Johnny Isakson. He understands the
importance of building relationships and working across the aisle,
putting our veterans ahead of politics, and getting his job done. His
determination and commitment to veterans is remarkable, and I will
forever be grateful for his leadership in this particular area.
I have been asked many times what I am going to miss about Johnny
Isakson. Well, there is quite a lot that I will miss about Johnny, but
if I had to narrow it down to just a few things, I would say, first,
his joy. Johnny always--always--has a smile on his face. His joy truly
is contagious, and it is genuine. He loves serving the people of
Georgia, and you can't help but smile when you see Johnny Isakson.
Second is his passion. There is absolutely no doubt in anyone's mind
around here that Senator Johnny Isakson loves his country. You can see
it when he speaks on the floor of the Senate and in the way he works
with colleagues to fulfill his duties as a Senator. Georgians really
should be very proud of him.
Finally, for me, I would have to say his encouragement. When I see
Johnny in the halls or in the cloakroom, always--no matter how quickly
I seem to be walking--he smiles. He will stop me, and he will always
speak an encouraging and a very kind word. I know he does this not just
with his Republican colleagues but also with our Democratic friends.
While you will not see that on TV or in the headlines, it is real, and
it is Johnny Isakson.
That leads me to what I will miss most of all. I will miss Johnny,
plain and simple. He has never taken his eye off the ball. He has been
committed and he has been focused on serving the people of his home
State that he loves so dearly. We will miss Johnny. He has been a
tremendous colleague and a friend to all of us.
Johnny, you will be missed on this floor and in these halls. From one
veteran to another, thank you for all you have done for our great
veterans, not just in Georgia, not just in Iowa, but all across our
Nation. May God bless you, Johnny Isakson, and may God bless your
family. Thank you for your service.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arkansas.
Honoring Stephen Carr
Mr. COTTON. Mr. President, Stephen Carr has been described by friends
as a ``gentle giant'' and ``all-American boy.'' He enjoyed hunting and
fishing. He played on the offensive line at Southwest Baptist
University.
He came from a law enforcement family. He always knew he wanted to be
a police officer, so it was little surprise when Stephen joined the
Fayetteville Police Department 2\1/2\ years ago. He served with
professionalism and valor in those 2\1/2\ years as a patrol officer in
the Dickson Street entertainment district.
[[Page S7021]]
Sadly, Officer Carr was in his patrol car Saturday night when he was
ambushed by a gunman looking for an officer to kill. Carr's fellow
police heard the gunshots and responded to the scene within seconds.
With little regard for their own safety, they pursued the gunman down
an alley. When confronted, they met force with force and took him down.
The whole incident took just minutes from start to finish.
Emergency services were on the scene within an instant, but despite
their best efforts, they couldn't save Officer Carr. He succumbed to
his wounds on the scene, as did his killer. Officer Carr was only 27
years old.
This tragedy reminds us of the terrible risks officers face every day
when they put on the uniform and the badge, not knowing whether they
will be alive to take it off that night. Already this year, 118
officers across America have been killed in the line of duty. Some were
the victims of random tragedies. Others, like Officer Carr, were
targeted by a criminal class that hates what the police represent: law
and order.
Since Officer Carr's killing, two more officers have fallen in the
line of duty. Detective Joseph Seals, a 15-year veteran of the Jersey
City Police Department, was shot to death while approaching two
suspected killers. Sergeant Kaila Sullivan, a 16-year veteran of the
Nassau Bay Police Department, was struck and killed by a fleeing
suspect in a vehicle. All of these fallen officers will be remembered
as heroes.
In Arkansas, especially, we will remember Officer Carr, whose watch
ended on December 7, 2019. May he rest in peace.
Honoring Storekeeper 1st Class John William Craig
Mr. President, Navy Storekeeper 1st Class John William Craig of
Monroe, AR, perished aboard the USS Oklahoma on December 7, 1941, a
date which will live in infamy. On that day, Imperial Japanese bombers
shattered the morning calm at Pearl Harbor, killing Petty Officer Craig
and more than 2,000 of his brothers in arms.
Nearly eight decades later, however, his remains were listed as
unknown and interred at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific
in Honolulu. He was reported as missing in action, but Petty Officer
Craig is missing no more. Thanks to the outstanding work of the Defense
POW/MIA Accounting Agency, his remains were accounted for in 2017, and
just last weekend, on the 78th anniversary of the attack on Pearl
Harbor, he arrived home in Arkansas to his final resting place.
Petty Officer Craig's burial is a long-overdue moment of honor for a
brave sailor. It is also a moment of hope for our many military
families whose loved ones haven't yet been found--a reminder that our
Nation will not rest until every one of our missing heroes is back in
our arms or laid to rest with honor.
We have now fulfilled this solemn pledge to Petty Officer Craig.
Nearly 80 years after his disappearance, we have affirmed once again
that the United States leaves no man behind on the battlefield.
Fentanyl Sanctions Act
Mr. President, synthetic opioids like fentanyl kill tens of thousands
of Americans each year. They are a terrible accelerant that has fueled
the worst drug crisis in our Nation's history, killing more people
every year than died in the entire Vietnam war.
These drugs aren't made here in the United States. No, they are
flooding across our borders from overseas, trafficked by cartels, and,
even unwittingly, sometimes by the U.S. Postal Service.
Synthetic opioids are often produced in superlabs by the drug cartels
that are terrorizing our border communities. But the ingredients for
those drugs--and sometimes the drugs themselves--can be traced back to
a different source: China, whose vast pharmaceutical and chemical
industries frequently have been abused to poison our fellow citizens.
The Chinese Communist Party has been waging an opium war in reverse
against the United States for far too long. As tens of thousands of
Americans have perished from overdoses, Chinese officials have turned a
blind eye to the drug criminals who have profited off of our pain. But
now, desperate for a trade deal to save its sputtering economy, Beijing
has finally promised to crack down on fentanyl and other synthetic
opioids. But we would be naive to trust any promise from Chinese
Communists, especially this one.
It is time that we take matters into our own hands. That is exactly
what we will do in the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, which
includes my bill introduced with Senator Schumer to sanction foreign
drug dealers in China, Mexico, and elsewhere. The bill also urges the
President to work with our allies to impose even tougher multilateral
sanctions against foreign drug dealers. It authorizes new funding for
law enforcement and the intelligence community for counternarcotics
activities. It establishes a commission to find new ways to stop the
flow of drugs from overseas.
This bill will soon be signed by the President and become law. This
is welcome news for law enforcement and for families who are battling
the crisis of opioid addiction, and it is bad news for the Chinese
Communist Party and foreign drug dealers around the world who are
responsible for the poisoning of so many Americans.
Protecting Europe's Energy Security Act of 2019
Mr. President, 70 years after the creation of NATO, the biggest
external threats to the alliance are our revisionist adversaries--China
and Russia. Unfortunately, however, the alliance faces some internal
threats, too, among the allies themselves, who too often fail to take
these adversaries seriously. Instead, they strike dangerous deals with
the very powers that threaten to destroy all of us.
Consider the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project between Germany and
Russia. Germany touts the pipeline's commercial benefits, but Russia
sees it differently--as a strategic tool to divide Europe and thus to
strengthen its fictional claim to dominion over parts of Eastern
Europe.
The Nord Stream 2 pipeline would effectively double the amount of
natural gas Russia could export to Europe along a route that bypasses
the alliance's eastern frontier. This would deepen the NATO members'
reliance on Russian gas while it would enhance Putin's ability to
engage in energy blackmail, just as he has done in the past. For
example, in 2009, Russia shut off the flow of natural gas to Europe
during a dispute with Ukraine, causing energy shortages across the
entire continent in the dead of winter. Putin's opportunities for such
blackmail will only increase if Nord Stream 2 is completed because he
will be able to ship his gas to Western Europe without its transiting
Eastern Europe. Therefore, he will be able to blackmail Eastern Europe
while the Germans will sit warm and toasty in their living rooms--
indifferent to the plight of their NATO allies to the east.
This pipeline is almost complete, so the timeline for action is
short. Thankfully, the National Defense Authorization Act includes our
bill to impose mandatory sanctions on companies that are constructing,
insuring, or financing Vladimir Putin's pipeline to Europe. These
sanctions are a demonstration of our commitment to the strength and
security of the whole NATO alliance.
I urge the German Government and all companies involved in this
dangerous endeavor to pull back before it is too late and to consider
the serious consequences that Nord Stream 2 could have for their
security as well as for the security of the NATO alliance as a whole.
Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps Homeschool
Mr. President, homeschooling parents sacrifice a lot when they make
the legitimate and indeed very admirable choice to personally educate
their children. In effect, these parents are making the choice to go
back to school themselves so that their kids may receive well-rounded
and faithful educations.
Their sacrifices pay off in spades. Homeschooled students
consistently prove to be outstanding citizens because they are taught
the importance of patriotism, faith, hard work, and sacrifice--virtues
exemplified by their parents and their teachers.
Homeschooled students, therefore, ought to be prime candidates for
our Armed Forces for this very reason, but until now, in some places,
it hasn't been clear as to whether homeschooled
[[Page S7022]]
students have been eligible to join their local Junior Reserve
Officers' Training Corps Programs. Now that is going to change.
The 2020 National Defense Authorization Act includes my bill--also
sponsored by Senator Jones--which clarifies that homeschooled students
may indeed enroll in their local JROTC Programs. Our bill will ensure
that the Nation's 2.5 million homeschooled students will have the
opportunity to sharpen and deploy their skills in service of our
country. This will move us closer to being a society that fully accepts
and indeed celebrates homeschooling families for the noble paths they
have chosen.
PCS Act
Mr. President, the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act includes
many valuable reforms. One such reform is the PCS Act, which is
legislation I introduced with Senator Shaheen, that helps military
spouses keep their occupational licenses even when they are on the move
across State lines.
One in three military spouses works in a field that requires one to
have an occupational license, and too many spouses are forced to
recertify every time they move between States. That can be very often.
Most military families move every 2 to 3 years, and when each move
requires an expensive, time-consuming recertification process, many
military spouses might as well kiss their jobs goodbye. These
occupational licenses are a costly burden for military families, who
have already sacrificed so much for our country.
Our PCS Act will alleviate this burden by empowering the Department
of Defense and the States to negotiate interstate compacts for
occupational licenses in fields in which military spouses often work.
These compacts, which are made possible by our bill, will ensure that
military spouses will be able to pursue their careers uninterrupted
even while they are moving their families from State to State and base
to base. Most importantly, the PCS Act will allow military families to
focus on their mission, which is to protect and serve our country with
honor.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
Tribute to Hugh ``Bud'' Fate
Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, it is that time of week in which I get
to come down to the floor of the U.S. Senate--a great privilege--and
talk about a special person in Alaska, somebody who helps to make my
State the greatest State in the country, in my opinion. We call this
person our Alaskan of the Week. It is one of the best things I get to
do all week. I know that the pages really enjoy it as well because they
get to hear about Alaska and all of the things that are happening.
Before I recognize our special Alaskan, let me tell you a little bit
about what is going on in Alaska right now.
We have had some strange weather in Southcentral Alaska--warm by our
standards--that being wet and windy, with gusts over 100 miles per hour
in some places. In Fairbanks, which is in the interior--I was just up
there last week and am going to talk about that, for it is where our
special Alaskan of the Week is from--it feels a lot more like winter.
It got down to 27 below zero last week, and now it is in the single
digits.
When it comes to Alaska's interior weather, there is some debate as
to what the lowest recordbreaking temperature was in Fairbanks. Some
say it was 66 below zero in 1934, and others say it was in the negative
70 and 70-below-zero territory.
The numbers do matter. Take it from Dr. Hugh ``Bud'' Fate, who is our
Alaskan of the Week--we call him Bud--who, during the time he was
working construction on the North Slope in the early 1950s, once had to
walk a mile for shelter after a tractor he was operating froze up.
``When I got to the station, they told me the official temperature
was 70 degrees below zero,'' he said. ``I was dressed for it''--Bud is
a tough guy--``but my fingers and my toes were getting cold. I don't
think I could have made another mile,'' Bud said.
Bud, we know you could have. We know you could have.
That is just one of many stories that Bud tells about his 70 years of
living in the great State of Alaska.
So let me talk about Bud Fate--a legend across our State. He just
turned 90 years old last week. He has been a rodeo cowboy, a college
football player, a roughneck, a soldier, a gold miner, a carpenter, a
hunter, a commercial and subsistence fisherman, a dog musher, a bush
pilot, a dentist, a businessman, a State representative, an author, an
artist, an all-around rabble-rouser, and an Alaskan renaissance man
through and through.
But most importantly, he is a dedicated father, grandfather, husband
to his wife, Mary Jane, for 65 years, and a man who has lived his life
in service to his country, his State, and his community--very worthy of
being our Alaskan of the Week.
So Bud Fate was born on December 4, 1929--90 years ago last week--and
raised in Eastern Oregon--Cowtown, he called it. He began riding a
horse when he was just 6 years old, eventually riding on the rodeo
circuit, getting bucked off horses all across the American West.
He went to college at the University of Washington, where he
initially played football. After he got hurt, he enrolled in a drama
class and had dreams, when he made his way to California, to Hollywood,
to work as an actor or as a stuntman in cowboy movies and films.
As it turned out, it wasn't California that called him; it was Alaska
that called him--specifically, a good job in the far north of Alaska, a
place called Umiat, working on oil rigs not too far away from what
would become the biggest oil find ever in North America, the mammoth
field at Prudhoe Bay. Bud was 20 years old, working 12 hours a day, 7
days a week. Even though it was a barren and cold, cold place--this was
in the winter--he fell in love with it. Alaska grabbed him, as it does
to certain types of adventuresome, intelligent, and fiercely
independent individuals.
It grabbed Bud, and it didn't let go--never let go. He was one of the
drillers working on the shift which brought the first oil to the
surface that came out of this rig in Umiat. Bud likes to describe it as
this almost beautiful orange color, some of the first oil in Alaska in
the fifties, early fifties--pretty exciting.
He was working on the slope when, in 1950, a radio message came in
where they were working that the United States was at war in Korea.
Bud said:
I remember thinking it wouldn't affect me way up here on
the North Slope of Alaska. Nobody is going to find me, a 20-
year-old, but 2 weeks later, I got my first draft notice.
That is what Bud said. I guess it goes to show you Uncle Sam can find
you anywhere if he wants you.
As a U.S. Army corporal, Bud was attached to the 11th Airborne
Division when he got deployed not to Korea but actually back to Alaska.
He was charged with riding the lead Jeep to conduct the combat survey
on all the twists and turns of the newly constructed, 1,700-mile-long
Alcan Highway, advising the mission commanders about the Arctic, cold
weather, and Alaska.
A couple of years later, he was out of the Army, back in Alaska, and
he was having a drink one night at the famous Rendezvous Club in
Fairbanks, a tongue-tied veteran, he was, and in walks a Miss Alaska
contestant--or should I say, from Bud's perspective, in walks destiny.
Whom am I talking about? Who was the destiny?
Well, it is Mary Jane Evans, a young, smart--according to Bud--
``Hollywood beautiful'' Athabaskan woman from the small Yukon River
village of Rampart. She took his breath away. As a matter of fact, she
took everybody's breath away.
Now, Bud, at this event, was wearing moccasins. Mary Jane was wearing
stilettos, and she promptly stepped on his toes, but it was still love
at first sight for both of them, and according to Bud, it still is, 65
years later. For 65 years, they forged a life together, Bud and Mary
Jane, the theme of which centered around public service.
Always working together, they raised three beautiful, kind and keenly
intelligent daughters--keenly intelligent--and they worked to
fundamentally change Alaska for the better, both through institutions
and volunteering at organizations and through individual actions that
profoundly impacted so many Alaskans over the years.
[[Page S7023]]
Eventually Bud, using the GI bill, went back to college, and then he
went to get his degree in dentistry. He was a beloved dentist not only
in Fairbanks but all across the region.
Now, he was a bush pilot, and he had a plane, so he and Mary Jane,
who was a trained dental assistant, traveled all around the small
villages in the interior.
Trust me, these villages do not and certainly back then did not have
any dental care, so they provided dental care throughout the interior
to tiny, little communities for free, for anybody who needed it.
As their three daughters were growing up--Janine, Jennifer, and
Julie--it was a big time, a momentous time, in Alaska.
The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act was being debated. One of the
biggest land settlements in American or all history took place right
here on the floor of the U.S. Senate.
Bud and Mary Jane were both highly involved in this monumentally
important bill for Alaska and in the overarching efforts to attain
rights and lands for the Alaska Native people.
One of Bud's best friends was Ralph Perdue, a strong Alaska Native
leader, who, along with Mary Jane and Bud, founded the Fairbanks Native
Association. Working together, they focused heavily on education for
Alaska Natives, particularly high school education, something most
Americans take for granted. Until 1970, rural Alaska--a huge swath of
America--by and large did not have any high schools. The small
communities, small villages, did not have any high schools. To get a
high school education, young students and even children had to leave
their homes and their villages and travel to boarding schools in very
faraway places in Alaska and in the lower 48.
Now, that was an injustice--one, among others, that the Fairbanks
Native Association decided to tackle. They produced studies. They gave
lectures. They talked to State officials. They talked to Federal
officials. They and so many others across the State helped lay the
groundwork for the seminal lawsuit brought by a group of Alaskans that
resulted in a State-signed consent decree to provide high schools in
communities throughout the State--communities with at least 15
students--rather than sending their children all across Alaska,
hundreds of miles away, or to the lower 48, thousands of miles away.
At the time, this education settlement was the largest education
settlement in American history, but Bud's commitment to education
didn't stop there--not even close. He was on the Board of Regents for
the University of Alaska, eventually serving as president of the
university. It should be noted that later, Mary Jane, his wife, also
served on this very important board.
With a combined 24 years of service together, Bud and Mary Jane were
on the University of Alaska Board of Regents. Bud helped run the
university when the president abruptly resigned.
He and Mary Jane also opened their home to villagers all across the
State who came to Fairbanks and just needed a place to stay. They knew
that Bud and Mary Jane would take them in. ``Our house was always
full,'' their lovely daughter Julie said.
There were always people living with us who were empowering
themselves through education. To this day, I still have
Alaskans stop to tell me how they were helped and given a
second chance by my parents.
As Julie also noted, there was always a huge amount of smoked salmon
strips on the table for all to share--the best smoked salmon in Alaska,
I might add.
There is so much more to Bud Fate's life. For instance, at the young,
tender age of 70, he decided he was going to run for office. He ran for
the State legislature, and he won in a landslide. He served two terms.
He was immediately elected chairman of the Natural Resources Committee,
which is a huge, important committee in Alaska, and was highly
respected on both sides of the aisle.
The list of boards and commissions that he sat on is way too long to
go into here, as is the list of service organizations he has
volunteered for and led.
He has known Presidents of countries and dignitaries from all over
the globe. He is as comfortable at his fish camp on the Yukon River as
he is in the board room.
As I mentioned, he is a rabble rouser with very strong opinions--I
have heard them for many years, but at heart all of his opinions are
focused on a commitment to treat everybody with respect and kindness
and provide every Alaskan--every American--an opportunity to better
themselves.
He is a good man--Bud Fate--one of the best. The measure of Bud and
the impact of his life is probably best reflected in his family and his
friends, so many of whom gathered in Fairbanks on December 4 for his
90th birthday, where people from all walks of life all across the State
came together--well over 100--talked about his generosity, how it
impacted them, how it impacted families, and how it impacted people all
around him.
People gave speeches about how he and Mary Jane took in people from
all walks of life--veterans coming back from Vietnam who needed comfort
and respect, people who needed a helping hand, food, warmth, just love.
He lifted people up, so did Mary Jane, and they saved lives.
I was actually one of those people giving a speech in Fairbanks at
Bud's 90th birthday party, and I talked about the profound impact Bud
has had on my own life--after all, Bud Fate is my father-in-law, and I
can't imagine a better one.
He has taught me so much. Bud and Mary Jane, along with my own mom
and dad, have provided me a model--actually, for me and Julie, my wife,
of what a true partnership looks like. He is a model for how fulfilling
a life of service can be, especially a life in the great State of
Alaska.
As I mentioned, he is not just a model for me but for the whole State
of a life well lived and a life lived in full.
So, Bud, thanks for all you have done for Alaska, for America, for
Fairbanks, for our family, for our great State, and all you continue to
do. Thanks for being a great father-in-law and a friend, and, Bud,
congratulations on being our Alaskan of the Week.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
____________________