[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 88 (Thursday, May 20, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3186-S3187]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      ALASKA TOURISM RECOVERY ACT

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate, having

[[Page S3187]]

received H.R. 1318 and the text being identical to S. 593 as passed by 
the Senate, H.R. 1318 is considered read three times and passed, and 
the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table.
  The bill (H.R. 1318) was ordered to a third reading, was read the 
third time, and passed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
  Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, thank you for passing that very 
important piece of legislation.
  The official name of that legislation that just passed the Senate is 
the Alaska Tourism Restoration Act. This is a really good day for 
Alaska right now and for our small businesses and working families and 
the overall economy in Alaska, across our State.
  I want to say this is also a good day for the Congress. Both Houses, 
over the last week, have been able to come together, Members on both 
sides of the aisle, when they recognized that a relatively narrow 
segment of this great Nation--my State, Senator Murkowski's State--had 
a huge challenge right now with our economy relating to tourism. 
Senators and Members of the House worked together, and we just passed a 
piece of legislation that is going to the President's desk. It is 
really going to help.
  This pandemic has really hurt a lot of our economies in different 
States. I would say the Alaskan economy has been really hammered--the 
energy sector, the commercial fishing sector, and, of course, our 
tourism sector. But we have hope.
  As I mentioned, we just passed the Alaska Tourism Restoration Act. 
This bill, cosponsored by Senator Murkowski and myself here in the 
Senate and Congressman Young in the House, is going to give our tourism 
season and the tens of thousands of Alaskans in that industry and the 
hundreds, if not thousands, of small businesses in Alaska in that 
industry that are hanging by a thread--it is going to give them a 
fighting chance this summer.
  These are businesses whose owners have put their life savings, their 
hard work, their hopes, and their dreams into these small businesses, 
and many have been on the brink financially because of the pandemic and 
because the short cruise ship season that drives the tourism economy in 
Alaska was about to be canceled again this summer. That is now not 
going to happen.
  Think about these numbers. In 2020, last year, during the pandemic, 
Alaska was estimated to get--we were supposed to get, prior to the 
pandemic, a record number of tourists via cruise ships: 1.5 million. It 
would have been the alltime record. Of course, in 2020, with the 
pandemic, none of them showed up, not one, and 2021 was shaping up to 
be the same.
  Think about that. These small businesses get almost all their revenue 
during the summer season. That would have been 2 years with no 
revenues. No small business can withstand that.
  So 2021 was looking to be canceled again as a result of the CDC, 
which took too long to provide clear guidance to the cruise ship 
industry, but they are now working cooperatively with our communities 
back home in Alaska and the industry. So that is good news. That is 
starting to happen. It is really important.
  But even with the CDC cooperating an working constructively, which is 
now happening, 2021 wasn't looking good anyway because of a law--dating 
back to the 1880s, by the way--a U.S. law that made it impossible, 
without Canada's cooperation, to sail to Alaska on a cruise ship. It 
was impossible unless we got a bill from Congress passed that would 
allow cruise ships to sail to Alaska without stopping at a Canadian 
port, and that is just what we did. That is just what we did.

  I want to thank, again, Members of the House and Members of the 
Senate. We are hoping that this bill is now going down to the White 
House for a signing by the President as soon as possible.
  I know I am speaking on behalf of Senator Murkowski and Congressman 
Young in thanking all the Members of this body and the House for that 
work. We are going to have a fighting chance in Alaska for a summer 
tourism season that was looking very dismal just a couple of weeks ago.
  One of the reasons it was looking very dismal is unfortunately 
because of our neighbor, who hasn't been really helpful. In Alaska, we 
have one neighbor, if you don't count Russia, and that is Canada. We 
don't have our wonderful lower 48 State neighbors; we have Canada.
  We read in the Canadian press the last several weeks that there was 
no way the Americans could get their act together to pass a law that 
would fully bypass Canada--no way. That is what the Canadians were 
saying, Canadian politicians. So there wasn't a lot of need to work 
with us.
  Well, here is a message for Canada: Never bet against America. Never 
bet against America. Pretty much every country in the history of our 
country's history that has bet against us has lost.
  I would say that our delegation, the Alaska delegation, is probably 
the most pro-Canadian delegation there is. It is certainly more 
knowledgeable than most on Canadian issues. We work together on all 
kinds of things, big and small--trade issues, military issues, NORAD 
issues, mining issues. We, in my view, have a typically great 
relationship. Alaska-Canada is really strong. But that relationship 
needs cooperation, collaboration, and on this issue, it really didn't 
happen. So next time we ask our Canadian colleagues for cooperation, we 
think that is important, but we didn't need it, ultimately.
  So I mention in closing, good news for Alaska. But I will say this to 
anyone watching on TV: This is good news for America. Why is that? Here 
is a message for the rest of our beautiful country: Alaska is open for 
business. Come on up. We are safe. We are healthy.
  By the way, if you come up, you can get a vaccine. It is open to all 
tourists.
  We are beautiful--breaching whales, soaring mountains, salmon-choked 
rivers, the best people in the world.
  It has been a tough year. Now, I am not just talking Alaska; I am 
talking the whole country. We know it. Everybody has been at home.
  To our fellow Americans who are ready to get out and see our 
beautiful Nation, come on up and see one of the most beautiful parts of 
America--really, one of the most beautiful parts of the world. Come on 
up to Alaska. We are waiting there for you. If it is on your bucket 
list, there is no time like the present to do it. Get on a cruise ship. 
Fly up. I think the Canadians have still blocked the border, so it is 
hard to drive up. That is a whole other issue. But there will be cruise 
ships heading up to the great State of Alaska, hopefully by mid-July. 
In fact, I have a call with several cruise ship executives this 
afternoon, and I am going to encourage them, in the aftermath of the 
U.S. Congress passing this bill, encourage them to rev up their cruise 
ships and get up to Alaska soon. We know that demand is high.
  To all Americans, we would love to have you.
  In closing, to my fellow Alaskans, while this tourism season 
certainly won't be one of our biggest--it certainly won't be like what 
we were anticipating in 2020--we are confident now, with this action, 
there will be ships, and there will be people. Help is on the way. We 
are a resilient, strong, tough State.
  Thank you, Alaskans, for your patience. We now have a fighting chance 
at a decent summer tourism season in 2021. Hopefully, every American 
citizen watching this will head on up to Alaska. You will have a great 
time.
  I yield the floor.

                          ____________________