[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 217 (Thursday, December 16, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9265-S9269]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SENATE RESOLUTION 482--RECOGNIZING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ALASKA 
NATIVE CLAIMS SETTLEMENT ACT AND THE LASTING IMPACT OF THAT ACT ON THE 
                STATE OF ALASKA AND ALASKA NATIVE PEOPLE

  Mr. SULLIVAN (for himself and Ms. Murkowski) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs:

                              S. Res. 482

       Whereas the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 
     1601 et seq.) (referred to in this preamble as ``ANCSA'') was 
     signed into law on December 18, 1971, to settle long-standing 
     issues of Alaska Native aboriginal land claims in the State 
     of Alaska (referred to in this preamble as the ``State'');
       Whereas the 1970s welcomed a new era of Federal Indian 
     policy, one of economic and self-determination, with the 
     passage of ANCSA;
       Whereas title to 44,000,000 acres of land and $962,500,000 
     were transferred to Alaska Native people as a result of the 
     land claims settlement under ANCSA, including--
       (1) title to property in the clearly defined traditional 
     homelands of Alaska Native people; and
       (2) money to help compensate for the land Alaska Native 
     people would not receive;
       Whereas the purpose of the land claims settlement under 
     ANCSA was to ensure the social and economic well-being of 
     Alaska Native people without creating a lengthy wardship 
     under the Federal Government;
       Whereas ANCSA mandated--
       (1) the creation of--
          (A) 12 land-owning and for-profit Regional Corporations 
     covering all of the State; and
          (B) 1 non-land-owning Regional Corporation for non-
     residents of the State; and
       (2) the incorporation of over 200 Village Corporations and 
     Urban Corporations within each region of the State, either as 
     for-profit or nonprofit corporations, with the land, assets, 
     and businesses of those corporations to be owned by Native 
     shareholders;
       Whereas ANCSA redefined Alaska Native land ownership by 
     conveying Native-owned fee simple title to the newly-created 
     Native Corporations and, through those Corporations, to 
     Alaska Native shareholders of each Corporation, rather than 
     using the land ownership model used in the 48 contiguous 
     States of designating reservations held in trust by the 
     Federal Government;
       Whereas, recognizing the uneven distribution of natural 
     resources in the State among the 12 regions in the State, 
     subsections (i) and (j) of section 7 of ANCSA (43 U.S.C. 
     1606) include provisions that reflect the Alaska Native 
     values of sharing and cooperation;
       Whereas, under section 7 of ANCSA (43 U.S.C. 1606)--
       (1) 70 percent of the annual revenues of each land-owning 
     Regional Corporation derived from the land of that Regional 
     Corporation are required under subsection (i) of that section 
     to be shared with all other Regional Corporations; and
       (2) Regional Corporations are then required, under 
     subsection (j) of that section, to share 50 percent of the 
     revenues described in paragraph (1) with--
          (A) the Village Corporations and Urban Corporations that 
     are located in the same region as the applicable Regional 
     Corporation; and
          (B) the at-large shareholders of the applicable Regional 
     Corporation;
       Whereas each Regional Corporation, at times, has received 
     more shared revenue under section 7(i) of ANCSA (43 U.S.C. 
     1606(i)) than internally produced revenue, demonstrating the 
     importance of incorporating the Alaska Native values of 
     sharing and cooperation into ANCSA;
       Whereas, under ANCSA during the 50-year period preceding 
     the date of adoption of this resolution, Alaska Native people 
     have managed their land successfully, fostering sustainable 
     businesses and creating employment opportunities for all 
     Alaskans, Native and non-Native, and people across the United 
     States and around the world;
       Whereas ANCSA has benefitted all Alaskans--
       (1) through diversifying the economy of the State; and
       (2) by bringing revenue and expertise back to the State 
     through Native Corporation business ventures in the national 
     and international realms;
       Whereas ANCSA has been amended by almost every Congress 
     since the enactment of that Act in 1971, with some of the 
     most significant and lasting amendments being enacted in the 
     Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act Amendments of 1987 
     (Public Law 100-241; 101 Stat. 1788) (commonly known as the 
     ``1991 amendments'') (referred to in this preamble as the 
     ``1991 amendments'');
       Whereas among the provisions in the 1991 amendments was an 
     extension of the prohibition on the sale of Native 
     Corporation stock in perpetuity unless a majority of all 
     shareholders of the applicable Native Corporation voted to 
     remove that restriction, which--
       (1) enabled shares to be held mostly by the Alaska Native 
     people; and
       (2) allowed Alaska Native people to pass that stock from 1 
     generation to the next and, as a result, increase the number 
     of Alaska Native shareholders in a Native Corporation;
       Whereas another provision in the 1991 amendments allowed 
     shareholders of each Native Corporation to vote to include 
     descendants of original shareholders born after the date of 
     enactment of ANCSA to become shareholders regardless of date 
     of birth;
       Whereas the pioneering work of Alaska Native leaders of the 
     mid-20th century created a lasting legacy of professional, 
     personal, and historic economic success;
       Whereas Alaska Native people have prospered from their own 
     initiative and innovative approaches to fostering economic 
     development through self-determination;
       Whereas Alaska Native resiliency, leadership, and 
     relentless work ethic have developed and supported some of 
     the previously

[[Page S9266]]

     most underserved regions in the United States into some of 
     the most thriving, improving life expectancy and health 
     conditions in those very regions;
       Whereas subsequent to ANCSA ushering in the era of self-
     determination in Federal Indian policy, the Indian Self-
     Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5301 et 
     seq.) (referred to in this preamble as the ``ISDEAA'') was 
     enacted in 1975;
       Whereas the ISDEAA defined Native Corporations as Indian 
     Tribes for the purposes of that Act;
       Whereas, because of the ISDEAA, federally recognized Alaska 
     Native Tribes and Native Corporations have worked together to 
     serve as providers for health, housing, and other Tribal 
     services;
       Whereas, beyond monetary benefits to shareholders, Native 
     Corporations, through the structure and mandates of ANCSA, 
     provide countless additional benefits, including--
       (1) scholarships;
       (2) burial and funeral assistance;
       (3) internships;
       (4) language revitalization programs;
       (5) careers; and
       (6) culture camps;
       Whereas education has, and continues to be, a key focus for 
     Regional Corporations, which is evidenced by the fact that 
     all 12 land-owning Regional Corporations have--
       (1) education foundations to help support shareholders and 
     descendants who want to advance their educational endeavors; 
     and
       (2) as of the date of adoption of this resolution, awarded 
     more than 54,000 individual scholarships;
       Whereas Alaska Native people hold numerous positions of 
     leadership in the State and beyond, inspiring younger 
     generations of Alaskans;
       Whereas further improvements to ANCSA must continue in 
     order to fulfill all of the promises of ANCSA and all of the 
     promises made by the Federal Government to Alaska Native 
     people;
       Whereas the dedication and enthusiasm of the next 
     generations of Alaska Native leaders honors the previous 
     generations of Alaska Native leaders who worked diligently to 
     achieve the most significant Native land settlement in the 
     history of the United States;
       Whereas, with the adoption of Senate Resolution 351, 112th 
     Congress, agreed to December 17, 2011, the Senate recognized 
     the importance of ANCSA; and
       Whereas the people of the United States have reason to 
     honor the tremendous educational, social, political, 
     economic, and cultural achievements of Alaska Native people 
     over the past 50 years: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) recognizes December 18, 2021, as the 50th anniversary 
     of the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 
     U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) (referred to in this resolution as 
     ``ANCSA'');
       (2) commemorates the extensive achievements made by Alaska 
     Native people through the implementation of ANCSA, while 
     simultaneously maintaining their culture, traditions, and 
     ways of life, during the 50-year period preceding the date of 
     adoption of this resolution; and
       (3) celebrates the successes of Alaska Native people during 
     that 50-year period, with optimism for the next 50 years and 
     beyond.
  Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, I mentioned that I came to the floor 
to speak about a significant matter for Alaska. It is a significant 
milestone for my State. Just 2 days from now, on December 18, we will 
mark the 50th anniversary of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act 
being signed into law by President Nixon back in 1971.
  For those who are not familiar with Alaska's history, ANCSA, as we 
call it, is one of the foundational laws for my State. It settled 
aboriginal land names. It chartered hundreds of Alaska Native 
corporations to own lands and to empower their Alaska Native 
shareholders.
  Now, this structure is very unique. I think most of us think about a 
corporation and you think about an IBM or a General Electric, but an 
Alaska Native corporation and the shareholders who are part of them are 
very, very different from the corporate structure that most know.
  This approach that was arrived at with the Alaska Native Claims 
Settlement Act was new. It was a clear, clear departure from the 
reservation model in the lower 48. It ushered in a new level of 
economic self-determination through private land ownership.
  Alaska Native leaders took a look at the reservation system that was 
throughout other parts of America, and in most of them--not all, but 
most of them--decided on another path, saying: That is not the route 
that we would take.
  They wanted to manage their lands, manage their resources on their 
own terms, and to have greater economic prosperity and independence.
  So in Alaska, we have 229 Tribes in the State, and, as someone who 
comes from a State where you do have many Tribes, I think it always 
gets people's attention when I say we have about 40 percent of the 
Tribes in the Nation that are located in Alaska.
  ANCSA established more than 200 village corporations along with 
regional and urban corporations. And under this settlement, Congress 
transferred some 44 million acres of land in Alaska to the private 
ownership of these newly created corporations. They also appropriated 
$962 million in compensation. So there was the transfer of ownership, 
as well as the conveyance of dollars.
  So as shareholders, the Alaska Native people would then be able to 
decide for themselves how to use, how to protect, and how to guide 
development of their lands and their resources. As Marlene Johnson put 
it, ANCSA meant that Alaska Natives ``were able to surround and put 
their arms around the land that belonged to their forefathers and will 
belong to their grandkids,'' and she said, ``That is really 
important.'' It really is.
  Today the economic success of ANCSA is as self-evident as it is self-
determined. ANCSA has positively impacted not just Alaska Native people 
but Alaska as a whole. ANCs, as we call them, have become key economic 
drivers, creating jobs and industry in Alaska but also across the 
country and even around the globe.
  ANCs consistently rank as the top 10 Alaska-owned businesses by gross 
revenue, and many of the largest office buildings and employers in 
Anchorage and Fairbanks and Juneau are home to ANCs.
  They also provide important services for their people, like 
scholarships and cultural stewardship, often through their nonprofit 
foundations. Because of ANCSA, significant investments have been made 
in real estate, construction, tourism, workforce development, 
professional services, and so much more.

  We have also seen the very clear benefit of resource development. We 
see this up in the NANA region with the Red Dog Mine. We are hoping 
that can be replicated at prospects like Donlin Gold in the Calista 
region. Revenue sharing--very, very unique within ANCSA--revenue 
sharing with village corporations and leadership in the area of 
cultural resource protection--we see that down in the southeast region. 
These are just a few of the examples of where ANCSA really got it 
right.
  As we look back at ANCSA, we recognize that there were many, many 
people who helped to make it happen--not just President Nixon, as I 
mentioned, the congressional delegation, of course, but more 
importantly, the many strong Alaska Native leaders, like Emil Notti, 
Etok Edwardsen, and John Borbridge, among many, many others.
  We are fortunate that some of the key ANCSA advocates are still with 
us today, but, sadly, many of the visionary leaders who were so 
instrumental in the negotiations have passed on, and there are far too 
many to mention here, but I will share the story of one of them.
  Don Wright, this individual right here, was born in Nenana back in 
1929. He is shown here with Ted Stevens, over to the right. This is 
Don's wife Carol, and this is the Senator from Vermont, Senator 
Stafford.
  Don was known for his charisma and his skill as a negotiator and a 
political leader. Many Alaska Natives at the time were just very, very 
personally invested in this effort, and he was one who really led in 
this. He personally contributed to the advocacy effort, both in time 
and money. Don led that, along with others.
  He and others spent nights sleeping on the streets here in 
Washington, DC, or in the Halls of Congress. They maxed out credit 
cards to pay for the long trips all the way from Alaska to come here to 
DC to the Capitol. Don once paid the way for 20 Alaskans to travel with 
him to lobby for the legislation. He was really all in. He fought 
tirelessly to secure Native land rights.
  He was president of the Alaska Federation of Natives when ANCSA 
actually became law. He was able to meet with President Nixon in 1971 
to encourage passage of the bill and was truly a driving force behind 
the effort.
  He framed it well by saying that year:

       The President and the Congress must decide whether this 
     last chapter is to be written in dignity or dishonor.

  I think, thanks to Don Wright and many other Native leaders, it was 
written in dignity.
  I am really very, very humbled by all of the incredible people who 
helped

[[Page S9267]]

shape ANCSA, many of whom I am fortunate to know and to call my 
friends. It is a privilege to be able to honor and thank them here on 
the Senate floor for their fortitude, their determination, and their 
perseverance.
  I remain unwavering in my commitment to help today's leaders as we 
continue to improve ANCSA and ensure that the Federal Government 
upholds its promise to Alaska Native people.
  Now, we say around here all the time that there is no law that we 
have written and passed that is perfect, and ANCSA is certainly no 
exception. It is really a living document, if you will, still changing, 
still evolving. There are gaps; we recognize that. There are 
shortcomings, and we still have unfinished business, important issues 
that we have to resolve. One of these is recent, unfortunately, and it 
does not involve amending ANCSA, but, instead, it calls for flexibility 
for the unique corporations it created.
  After the COVID pandemic struck our country, those of us in Congress 
came together. We were seeking to pass the CARES Act to provide relief 
across the spectrum. As part of that--and I was really very pleased to 
be able to be part of that effort that was able to dedicate significant 
funding for Tribes and Tribal entities. It was $8 billion that was 
dedicated for Tribes, Tribal entities, including ANCs.
  But ANCs' eligibility for that funding was quickly challenged despite 
the very clear intention here in Congress. The case ultimately went to 
the Supreme Court. It wasn't decided until June 25 of this year, when 
they ultimately prevailed.
  As a result of that litigation, ANCs received their allocations under 
that CARES funding, but they only recently received this. So they got 
the litigation through, and they received their allocation but very 
late. But now we have a new problem. The new problem is, that CARES Act 
money needs to be spent by December 31--a matter of a couple weeks. 
That is just not right. That is not fair here. It is clearly not long 
enough to be able to responsibly utilize these very important funds, 
and it is really not fair as a result of the litigation they faced.
  So the congressional delegation--Senator Sullivan, Congressman Young, 
and I--is seeking to extend the deadline through the end of next year. 
We are basically saying: Look, fair is fair. ANCs should have the time 
that they need and that others had.
  While the Senate has agreed to pass a broader bill that includes this 
extension, it is stalled over on the House side and really has left us 
with no clear path forward, even at this very late hour. So that is 
something I am asking my colleagues and the administration for their 
support on in gaining this flexibility.
  Another top priority for me is something that was left out of ANCSA 
all those years ago. Five communities in Southeast Alaska were missing 
from its text and therefore unable to create what we call urban 
corporations. Today, this is a 50-year injustice for these five Alaska 
Native communities of Haines, Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, and 
Tenakee. I have had the privilege to live in Wrangell and to be born in 
Ketchikan, so these are communities that are pretty close to my heart.
  The situation in terms of being left out was challenging enough. It 
is not made easier by their location in the Tongass National Forest. 
But I would remind the Senate that they and their ancestors lived in 
this area. They took care of these lands long before the Federal 
Government came along and made the designation of a national forest.
  That nearly all of their region has since been taken and classified 
as a Federal forest is no reason to refuse to acknowledge and work with 
us on this. So I have recently reintroduced legislation to allow those 
five southeast communities to receive their rightful land entitlements 
under ANCSA.
  I would urge my colleagues, take a look at this. Recognize that this 
is a matter of the Federal Government making good on its promise to 
thousands of Alaska Natives. I would ask that you would join me and 
Senator Sullivan and Congressman Young as we work to advance this bill 
into law, as we, again, continue to address unfulfilled promises within 
ANCSA.
  A third matter is a provision in ANCSA that, quite honestly, is just 
outdated, no longer needed.
  Congress, in trying to do the right thing, required village 
corporations to take a portion of the lands they received under ANCSA 
and give them to the State of Alaska to hold in trust for future 
community needs.
  Fast-forward some 50 years, and many of these lands are simply being 
held in trust now even though they are not needed for municipal 
purposes and quite likely will never be. It is just time to end that 
requirement and enable the village corporations to receive these lands 
back if they so choose.
  We also have to remember that this is a land settlement, but it is 
not fully implemented. Keep in mind--it has been 50 years now. It is a 
land settlement that hasn't been implemented fully after 50 years. A 
total of 5.5 million acres are still under interim conveyance, and 
another 1.5 million acres remain unconveyed from the original 
entitlement.
  We have to provide the resources to the Department of the Interior to 
complete this very important work.
  There are at least four more issues that we need to help resolve as 
well that I will mention.
  The first here on this list is really concerning to me, and it is 
actually really very devastating when you think about it. This is the 
matter of contaminated lands. This problem is not only not going away, 
it is getting worse.
  It really pains me to say, but significant lands in Alaska, including 
formerly used defense sites, were contaminated. The Federal Government 
knew they were contaminated, but they were still conveyed to the ANCs 
as contaminated lands, and the government is saying: OK. This is part 
of your land settlement. We are going to give you these lands, but you 
can't use these lands because they are contaminated.
  There are horrible consequences that we are seeing to this. We have 
clusters of illnesses, cancer. I just had a report that was presented 
to the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention just this past week. 
This is causing real suffering, true consequences, death in these 
communities.
  It is no fault of the people who live there and received these lands 
in settlement from the Federal Government. It is a Federal 
responsibility for us to take care of this, so we have a plan we have--
we have a plan in the sense that we have identified where these 
contaminated lands are, but what we need is a comprehensive plan in 
terms of the action, what we are actually going to do to clean up the 
land and make it right and make it right as soon as possible.
  Another issue that we need to resolve is the issue of ``afterborns.''
  The day that ANCSA became law, December 18, 1971, was kind of an 
arbitrary deadline, if you will, for Alaska Native people to be 
included in its benefits. So if a Native person was alive on the date 
of enactment, December 18, 1971, they were included as an eligible 
shareholder in the ANCSA corporation that aligned with their 
traditional Tribal homelands. But if a Native person, even from the 
same family--same area, same family--if they were born after December 
18, 1971, they were not included, and they did not receive shares in 
any Native corporation. So what you had, you created two distinct 
classes of Native people. You had original shareholders and 
nonshareholder descendants--they call them afterborns--who were 
effectively disenfranchised from the benefits that Congress intended 
for them.
  There was a past amendment to ANCSA that dealt directly with this 
issue but didn't sufficiently solve this problem. This was an effort 
that we advanced several years ago, a decade or so. Congress has 
allowed ANCSA corporations to open enrollment to descendants through an 
affirmative vote of their current shareholders. As a result, what we 
have seen is that about 5 regional corporations have opened enrollment, 
and about 5 of the more than 200 village corporations have done the 
same. Unfortunately, so many of these small village corporations that 
want to open enrollment simply can't afford this process. It is a 
relatively complicated process.
  This is a problem that we are probably going to have to address 
legislatively--not by directing Alaska Natives on what to do but by 
providing some support and resources so that

[[Page S9268]]

they can make that choice at their discretion.
  One of the more significant promises made to Alaska Native people 
dealt with the issue of subsistence.
  In Alaska, subsistence is hunting, it is fishing, and it is 
gathering. It is inextricably tied to Native culture. It is food 
security for places where grocery stores simply don't exist, or if they 
do exist, the food is so expensive that the average family can't afford 
it. So this is, again, something where we need to find fair solutions 
for Alaska Native subsistence rights.
  The last issue I will bring up today is something too significant not 
to acknowledge. ANCSA was meant to be a fair and just settlement, 
accomplished rapidly, with certainty and in conformity with the real 
economic and social needs of Native people without litigation. Congress 
wrote that into ANCSA itself. Yet, in reality, ANCSA severed Alaska 
Tribes from the Tribal land base.

  While many Alaska Native people are owners in Native corporations 
that manage Native traditional homelands, Alaska Tribal governments 
were not a consideration in the law. Alaska Tribes, whose collective 
aboriginal land rights led to the creation of ANCSA, were left without 
a viable resource stream to effectively govern. They, too, need tools 
and resources to create opportunities, and that is also an issue that 
we must consider in going forward.
  But all of this--all of this--requires education and understanding. 
That is going to be key, and that has been, unfortunately, lacking--
severely lacking--as we have seen, repeatedly, misguided attacks from 
Members here in Congress against ANCSA and its corporations. I will 
tell you, it is hard to express how frustrating that is, how 
infuriating these attacks truly are. But one additional benefit of this 
50th anniversary is the opportunity that it provides us to help 
Congress, to help the administration, to help, really, the American 
public understand ANCSA and the promises that were made within that 
settlement act.
  Alaska Pacific University and the Wilson Center's Polar Institute 
have held a series of events that are free for anyone who wants to 
learn and understand more about ANCSA. The Ted Stevens Foundation is 
developing a documentary on this. Indian Country Today, First Alaskans 
magazine, Alaska Public Media, and the Anchorage Daily News, among 
others, have all published long-form articles, exploring ANCSA's 
history, its meaning, its impacts, and its future. So I would encourage 
folks to take a look at that.
  I think it is also important to remember that, while ANCSA's passage 
ushered in a period of self-determination and self-governance for 
Alaska Native communities, it provided opportunities for these 
communities to really look to the future. In short, ANCSA was designed 
to address the past by looking to the future.
  At the annual meeting of the Alaska Federation of Natives, which, I 
mentioned, just took place earlier this week, I reflected and 
recognized the generation of Alaska Native leaders who fought for the 
passage of ANCSA. It was their efforts that helped pave the way for the 
many Alaska Native youth who may be watching back in Alaska, across the 
country, and maybe even around the world. I want them to know about the 
work that was done to pass this historic law and how it is appreciated. 
As I reflect here today on the passage of this important law, I am 
hopeful about what ANCSA will represent for our Alaska Native youth in 
the future.
  My colleague Senator Sullivan and I have introduced a resolution to 
ensure that the U.S. Senate recognizes the 50th anniversary of ANCSA. 
Our resolution acknowledges the incredible accomplishments that Alaska 
Native people have made through their ANCs over these past 50 years. 
There are many successes to acknowledge and to celebrate, but in its 
text, we also reflect on the work that is left ahead and the promises 
left unfilled--the promises the Federal Government has made to Alaska 
Native people that must be honored.
  So I thank Senator Sullivan for standing with me to submit this 
important resolution, which acknowledges the tenacity of the Alaska 
Native people and the success of ANCs over the past 50 years. I know 
that the dean of the House, Congressman Young, joins with us in 
acknowledging this golden anniversary.
  I would certainly encourage all of those who have had an opportunity 
to hear my comments--I know my colleague Senator Sullivan is going to 
speak later as well--to just take a bit of time to better understand 
this foundational law for Alaska Natives' self-determination.
  Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, today I introduced a resolution with 
Senator Murkowski celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Alaska Native 
Claims Settlement Act--ANCSA, as we call it back home in Alaska--which 
was an enormously consequential piece of legislation that, after years 
and years of debate right in this body, passed the House, then passed 
the U.S. Senate, and then was signed into law by President Nixon on 
December 18, 1971, almost exactly 50 years ago to this day. It was a 
great day for Alaska.
  I know Senator Murkowski was on the floor earlier talking about ANCSA 
and why it is so important and why in Alaska, right now, we have been 
celebrating 50 years of this important piece of legislation.
  I want to go back in time a little bit to help explain, because part 
of what Senator Murkowski and I do here is we are constantly talking 
about and educating our colleagues about this very unique legislation, 
which happened right here in the U.S. Senate.
  If you go back in time to 1867, that is when the United States 
purchased Alaska from Russia. Within the agreement, there was 
acknowledgement of the Alaska Native people and their lands, but, 
still, almost 100 years after the purchase from Russia, even following 
statehood for Alaska, the claims settlement that the Native people had 
to their own lands was still in limbo.
  It got a kick and a turbo charge when oil was discovered on Alaska's 
North Slope during a worldwide shortage, which created new urgency to 
develop Alaska for our resources but to do so by settling these land 
claims.
  There were allies in the Federal Government who were helpful, but it 
was truly the Alaska Native people and their determination to 
themselves and to future generations and their resiliency and 
brilliance which led to the passage of ANCSA 50 years ago, which became 
the largest and, certainly, most innovative indigenous land settlement, 
certainly, in U.S. history, and it is no exaggeration to say probably 
in the world--44 million acres of land going to the Native people of my 
State.
  It brought tremendous educational, social, political, economic, and 
cultural achievements for the Alaska Native people. It certainly wasn't 
perfect, but this body played a very important role.
  Now, there were obstacles, challenges. In fact, when you look back on 
the history over 50 years ago, it was kind of a classic David-and-
Goliath story.
  Let me spend a few minutes going back in time to set the stage for 
what was happening in Alaska.
  In 1954, the U.S. Department of the Interior did a health survey on 
the Native people of Alaska. Here is a quote from that survey: ``The 
indigenous people of Native Alaska are the victims of sickness, 
crippling conditions and premature death to a degree exceeded in very 
few parts of the world. . . . health problems are nearly out of hand. 
If . . . Americans could see for themselves the large numbers of the 
tuberculosis, the cripple, the blind . . . the malnourished, the 
desperately ill among [this] relatively small [Native] population,'' it 
would have a profound impact on them. And it did.
  Even in the face of these crippling conditions, the Alaska Native 
people joined hands, joined hearts and said: This is our land. We need 
rights to it.
  They did this by coming together. In the mid-1960s, they formed the 
Alaska Federation of Natives--AFN, as we call it back home--an entity 
that is very important to our communities.
  Of course, the Native people in our State looked for potential 
allies. In the lower 48, they gave speeches. They wrote columns. They 
formed their own newspaper, The Tundra Times, edited by legendary 
Howard Rock, which was highly read throughout the State, celebrated 
throughout the globe, and had an enormous impact on bringing people 
together.
  A few years ago, my team and I combed through some of the hearings

[[Page S9269]]

that led to ANCSA. It was many years in development. There were field 
hearings that took place in Alaska in 1968, 1969--3 years before the 
passage of ANCSA.
  Incredibly proud and determined first peoples from all over the 
State--Tlingit, Haida, Athabascan, Inupiat, Yupik, Aleut--travel to 
Anchorage, to Fairbanks to give their testimony in field hearings to 
U.S. Senators. Some of them had never even left their villages. Some of 
them didn't even speak English.
  Many were veterans--and I am going to talk briefly about that. Dozens 
and dozens of young men and women, old men and women, all of them 
testifying before U.S. Senators and Congressmen, telling their stories 
of how they lived off the land and the rights that they needed for 
thousands of years on the land.
  They told stories of strong and resilient people who had been able to 
thrive in some of the harshest conditions in the planet. But as I 
mentioned earlier, they also told stories of health challenges.
  The first AFN president, Emil Notti, who is still a great leader in 
Alaska, then only 36 years old, spoke with passion at these hearings 
and heartbreak about the conditions in rural Alaska.
  He said to a group of Senators in a hearing:

       The indigenous people of Native Alaska are the victims of 
     sickness, crippling conditions and premature death to a 
     degree exceeded in very few parts of the world.

  He told the committee then that life expectancy for the average 
Native Alaskan was 34 years old. This is in the late 1960s. The average 
life expectancy in the United States at that time was 69--34 years old 
to 69.
  Many spoke of how much they had sacrificed for their country. And 
this is an issue I never tire of talking about. Alaska Natives serve at 
higher rates in the U.S. military than any other ethnic group in the 
country. So they are fighting for their country in World War II and 
Korea and Vietnam, and they are coming home and they are being denied 
fundamental rights themselves.
  Here is what Jerome Trigg, a leader and a marine from Nome, had to 
tell U.S. Senators who were in Alaska. His testimony was said to have 
brought tears to the eyes of many. He looked at the U.S. Senators and 
said this: We have showed our patriotism as proudly as any Americans on 
Earth. We have answered the call of duty with pride in serving in our 
military. In World War II, we answered the call 100 percent. Every 
man--old and young--in every village volunteered with the Alaska 
National Guard.
  On Vietnam, which was raging at the time, he said: I have never heard 
of an Alaska Native burning their draft card or our Nation's flag. We 
love our land, and we will sacrifice and fight to protect it.
  He concluded with this thought, which I love: ``Sometimes I think the 
wrong people are running this hearing and taking our testimony,'' he 
said to the Senators. ``It seems that [maybe] we should be on the bench 
and you people should be . . . giving [us] the testimony.''
  I love that--strong words from Marine Jerome Trigg, who had a very 
important point to make.
  So many in our communities testified in front of Congress. One 
happened to be a beautiful, young Alaska Native woman in her thirties 
from the village of Rampart named Mary Jane Fate, who not only worked 
on this but came to Washington, DC, to lobby U.S. Senators to pass 
ANCSA. I had the very great privilege of being the son-in-law of that 
great Native woman who, unfortunately, passed away recently. That was 
my mother-in-law, Mary Jane Fate, who came to this body and made sure 
Senators understood what was happening in Alaska and got them to vote 
for ANCSA 50 years ago.
  So here is what it did in a nutshell. As I mentioned, it was the 
largest indigenous land settlement in the history of the country: 44 
million acres of land, almost a billion dollars from the State and 
Federal Government to transfer land in fee simple--not the reservation 
system like you have in the lower 48, which was a huge innovation at 
the time. They own this land. It is theirs. It is not held in trust by 
the United States like it is in the lower 48 on Indian reservations.
  Congress mandated the creation of for-profit Alaska Native 
corporations solely owned by Alaska Native shareholders. Twelve of 
these regional corporations and 200 village ANCs were created by the 
Congress. Sometimes people talk about ANCs as if they were some foreign 
entity. They were actually created right here 50 years ago.
  What did all of this do? It provided economic opportunity. These were 
not typical entities, but they were more than just corporations. They 
were kind of a combination: social, cultural, economic. They passed on 
the values to the different shareholders.
  One of the great things about ANCSA was that it required, actually, 
the sharing of revenues. Some of these regional corporations did very 
well; others didn't. There were provisions early on that said, if these 
corporations are doing great and these aren't, there is going to be 
some sharing. It was called the 7(i) provision. These provisions have 
been critical to the survival of ANCs, which regional ANCs at times, as 
I mentioned, were receiving more revenue than others.
  So that day 50 years ago--December 18, 1971--was really an important 
day for our State. How has it worked out? It has worked out well, but, 
of course, we always have more work to do.
  Over the last 50 years, the Alaska Native people have managed their 
lands to foster sustainable businesses, created employment 
opportunities for all people--Native and non-Native--in Alaska, across 
the country, and across the globe. They have become the heart and soul 
of our economy in Alaska, employing thousands of both Alaska Native and 
non-Native people.
  And they have prospered with their own initiative and with innovative 
approaches to fostering economic development through self-
determination. And beyond the economic benefits, these ANCs, these 
groupings, these shareholders in these Alaska Native entities created 
right here on this floor, provided benefits in terms of culture, 
language revitalization, scholarships, burials, funeral assistance, and 
an enormous focus on education. Over 54,000 individual scholarships 
were given to younger Alaska Native people.
  And, importantly, this law, passed by this body, gave the Native 
people the opportunity to thrive; to continue to live on their land, 
practice their culture, create leaders throughout the State. In what 
was once one of the most impoverished places in the country are now, in 
many areas, strong, dynamic--health, education, housing, food security, 
and sanitation have all improved immensely.
  We have a long way to go. There is still a lot of misunderstanding. 
In Alaska, you have Tribes, Tribal members, you have ANCs, and 
shareholders. These are the Native people. You have crossover. And 
sometimes there is a misunderstanding.
  For example, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act specifically 
excluded tens of thousands of Alaska Natives because they were members 
of an organization that Congress created. My own view was that was 
outrageous.
  So that is why we need to keep educating our colleagues here. But 
overall, this was a story of success, of resilience, of what can happen 
when you allow people to take charge of their own destiny. It is a 
story of self-determination and, in many ways, heroism, and it is a 
story for the ages.
  I am honored to represent these people, wonderful people--many of 
whom the leaders are still alive who made this happen 50 years ago--and 
their children and grandchildren. We have more work to do, but 50 years 
ago, on December 18, 1971, it was the start of a new, positive, 
innovative chapter in the history of Alaska. And that is why Senator 
Murkowski and I wanted to celebrate this very important milestone this 
afternoon.

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