[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 15, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S240-S241]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               RECOGNIZING THE UNITED STATES COAST GUARD

  Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I rise today to commend the Coast Guard 
men and women who serve in Kodiak, AK, a designated Coast Guard City. 
On February 7, Kodiak's Chamber of Commerce will hold a community-wide 
celebration called ``We Applaud You.'' I want to take a moment to join 
in applauding the Coast Guard as a whole and all the Coast Guard 
personnel serving in Alaska, but especially those based in Kodiak who 
help make our great State a safe place to live and work.
  Kodiak is a robust Coast Guard City: it is homeport for three 
cutters, fifteen aircraft, a communications detachment, the North 
Pacific Regional Fisheries Training Center, the Aids to Navigation 
Team, and of course, Base Kodiak. Each of these components serve and 
protect Alaskans on a daily basis, and I would like to highlight some 
particularly important examples of their contributions and service to 
Alaska.
  Personnel from the Marine Safety Detachment in Kodiak helped oversee 
and coordinate multiple pollution responses on Kodiak Island last year, 
including responding to a diesel spill in the Buskin River, and a 
separate spill of Fuel Oil at Kitoi Bay Hatchery. The Marine Safety 
Detachment's prompt actions and clean-up expertise helped keep the 
island of Kodiak's rivers and coastline beautiful and safe. My sincere 
thanks to Marine Safety Detachment Kodiak.
  On New Year's Eve, the search and rescue team, including Air Station 
Kodiak and the Coast Guard Cutter Mellon responded to a sinking fishing 
vessel, the F/V Scandies Rose. The crews faced 40-knot winds, 15-30 
foot seas and significantly reduced visibility at the scene of the 
sinking. The search and rescue team successfully recovered two 
survivors from a life raft but the five remaining crew members were 
lost. My heart goes out to the families and friends of those lost at 
sea. The crew of the Scandies Rose is in my prayers; this accident has 
hit especially close to home for Kodiak, which is a tight-knit fishing 
community, as well as a Coast Guard City.
  As we mourn the loss of the Scandies Rose, we are incredibly grateful 
for the efforts of the Coast Guard to rescue the survivors in the face 
of extremely dangerous conditions. We see these type of heroic actions 
in movies, but the Coast Guard in Alaska operates in dangerous, life-
threatening conditions every day in order to keep Alaskans safe. To the 
entire search and rescue team, we applaud you, and Alaska thanks you.
  Now, I also want to sincerely thank Base Kodiak, the home of ``Rock 
Solid Support.'' Your work behind the scenes provides the foundation 
for all of the ready and responsive work done by those on the front 
lines. You truly are the rock solid support that keeps things moving, 
whether it is the medical and dental clinics keeping over a thousand 
people healthy; the Morale Welfare and Recreation team keeping the crew 
happy and energized--and in shape--the personnel support staff who 
recently completed a 5-year effort to increase salaries and close a 
long overdue pay gap for wage grade members across Alaska; or the 
facilities engineering department, who have improved living conditions 
for Kodiak's most junior Coast Guard members by converting housing 
units to allow two single members to share them.
  It is so important to me that our junior Coast Guard men and women 
are able to enjoy improved housing arrangements while away from home, 
maybe for the first time. Maybe they will be so comfortable in Kodiak 
that they want to come back to Alaska and call it home. I applaud all 
450 personnel of Base Kodiak who keep the Coast Guard operations going.
  Finally, I want to take a minute to speak to the contributions and 
sacrifice of our Coast Guard families, partners, and spouses. So much 
of the demanding work that our Coast Guard

[[Page S241]]

men and women do each day is made possible by the love and support of 
their families. This is especially true when additional burdens are 
placed on Coast Guard personnel, like we experienced this time last 
year, when the Coast Guard was left unpaid during the 35-day government 
shutdown. Here in Congress, I will continue to work with Senator 
Sullivan to pass the Pay Our Coast Guard Act, which will ensure that a 
lapse in pay from a government shutdown never happens again. Our Coast 
Guard families deserve nothing less.
  Thank you to the Kodiak Chamber of Commerce for their work to honor 
our Coast Guard members in Alaska. I applaud you as well for your 
support for those who serve and for taking the time to say thank you 
and well done to our Coast Guard Family.

                          ____________________