[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 145 (Wednesday, September 18, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6146-S6147]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
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By Ms. MURKOWSKI:
S. 5081. A bill to amend the Arctic Research Policy Act of 1984 to
improve the Act; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation.
Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, I wanted to take just a couple of
minutes here at the close of the evening to speak to an anniversary.
Today is the 40th anniversary of the Arctic Research and Policy Act. It
is known as ARPA. We use the acronym ``ARPA'' around here quite
frequently. We talk about ARPA-E and ARPA-H.
But the original ARPA was the Arctic Research and Policy Act. It was
legislation that was actually drafted by the previous Senator Murkowski
from Alaska. It was one of the first pieces of legislation that Frank
Murkowski introduced and got passed into law. It was signed by
President Reagan. It was cosponsored by the likes of Ted Stevens and
Scoop Jackson, Warren Magnuson; on the House side, Congressman Young.
It was significant in that it laid a foundation for the policies that
we are seeing put in place today and over these past 40 years. It has
been laying out much of the knowledge and the understanding and the
policy for Alaska.
I talk a lot about the Arctic, coming from the State that makes us an
Arctic nation, but I think it is important to recognize that many of
our allies around the world--many of those who are not our friends
around the world--are also talking about and taking a keen interest in
the Arctic.
There is a lot of focus on this week because we are seeing levels of
engagement from the Russians up in the Alaska ADIZ and the area in the
high north. We have seen joint exercises with the Russians and the
Chinese, both in the air and on the waters in our northern waters.
There is a level of focus and intensity about what may be heating up in
a cool place--not something that we like.
But it is important to recognize that when we speak about the Arctic,
it is not just its geostrategic location on the globe that makes it
such a key place for defense and strategic defense. It is the role that
the Arctic plays when it comes to just the health of our planet. Some
describe it as kind of the big thermostat up north. And we see down
here on the east coast and parts of the country where, when you have
Arctic weather coming down, pushing things in different directions,
everything kind of goes out of whack. And we are all starting to pay
attention to what is going on with the weather and where it is coming
from.
Well, the science that comes to us in better understanding what is
happening in the Arctic, much of this came about through the
development of the Arctic Research and Policy Act.
So leading in these areas has been important for all the right
reasons, whether it has been environmental; whether, again, it has been
just from a geostrategic perspective; whether it has been a focus on
the health and the well-being of indigenous peoples; whether it is
understanding the extraordinary science that is unique to the area,
understanding the impacts of a thawing permafrost and what that may
mean, understanding the impacts within our ocean.
But it is also better understanding that geography. With the mapping
that we have seen that has been spurred from both NOAA and USGS, we
have been able to identify an area north of the shore of Alaska--an
area, well, two times bigger than the State of California--that we
identify as part of our Outer Continental Shelf, allowing us to submit
claim to that territory.
The real-world advances that we are seeing in understanding more
about the Arctic come about because of good legislation that began so
many years ago.
There is a reception probably going on right now with many of those
who have been involved with the U.S. Arctic Research Commission over
the years and their partner Agencies. There are some 18 partner
Agencies that participate. Several of the commissioners who have served
currently and who have served in the past are present and are speaking
about the contributions.
Two of the former commissioners, heads of the U.S. Arctic Research
Commission--actually, both former Lieutenant Governors for the State of
Alaska, Fran Ulmer and Mead Treadwell--came together and penned a joint
op-ed that ran in the Anchorage Daily News last month. And I want to
read just one paragraph from that op-ed because I think it really is a
sum of what we have seen as a result of the framework from this law. It
states:
Our nation's long-running Arctic research programs in . . .
NOAA and the . . . USGS provided the essential data to enable
America to recently claim new rights to an offshore land area
larger than two Californias. The law has added momentum to
efforts to build new, powerful icebreakers and to increase
our Arctic presence as Russia and China increase theirs. It
laid the groundwork for safe shipping and resource
development in the Arctic by identifying methods to reduce
risk. It helped evolve our understanding of continental
drift, and the plate tectonic evolution of the Arctic Ocean
basin. Arctic health research is informing policy to improve
health outcomes and to reduce disparities. Forty years of
purposeful, coordinated U.S. Arctic effort, involving
national resources, partners across the Arctic region, and
Alaskans is something to celebrate and take pride in.
So I just wanted to include just, again, a few short moments in the
Congressional Record today about this anniversary, with a recognition
that it is important to recognize the accomplishments of what we have
built and the foundation that guides our science and informs our
policy, which we use to benefit our people and our Nation.
But it also needs to be a push for us, an impetus to keep our foot on
the gas,
[[Page S6147]]
so to speak, to keep moving forward, because we need to be more than a
nation in the Arctic that has the title. We need to be that active
participant. We need to be the leader in the Arctic space.
So what more does that mean? It means confirming our nominee to be
the first-ever Ambassador-at-Large for Arctic Affairs, a gentleman by
the name of Mike Sfraga, Dr. Mike Sfraga, who is currently the head of
the U.S. Arctic Research Commission. He has been nominated by the
President. He has gone through the committee. We need to get him
confirmed because of the immediacy of so many of these Arctic issues
that are playing out now.
Every time we have national conferences and other Arctic ambassadors
are there, there is a void in the U.S. space. We need to make progress
on matters that have been longstanding. It has been decades now--
decades--that several of us have been working to advance progress on
ratification of the Law of the Sea treaty. Some on my side still have a
little bit of older history, at a time--actually, during the Reagan
years--when there were some concerns about ratification. I think we
have tried to address them over the years.
But the world has changed up there. When I say the world has changed,
the world is opening up in the Arctic: the levels of commerce that we
are seeing; again, the levels of engagement from a national security
perspective; other countries--China--looking to the Arctic waters for
resources there, whether it be fisheries or whether it be minerals. It
has changed, and so our active participation as a member of that
important treaty, I think, needs to be an imperative.
We have got to figure out icebreakers. We have got to do better. We
have authorized six icebreakers. We have funded--we have appropriated
to three, and we still have nothing, nothing that is moving forward
fast enough to satisfy anybody out there.
Other nations are not sitting still while we are trying to literally
get our act together on this. This is an area where we have to keep
moving. We have to keep building out our Arctic infrastructure. We are
moving forward with a deepwater port in Nome that is critically
important.
There are other aspects of infrastructure that we cannot assume are
in place, whether it is adequate housing, water, wastewater,
broadband--all of the infrastructure that is so important to live in a
cold and remote area--and then recognizing the situation of the people
who live and work and raise their families there and have since time
immemorial and want to do so for generations going forward, making sure
we are paying attention to education, to healthcare, housing, economy,
jobs.
So today I have introduced legislation that would amend the Arctic
Research and Policy Act with the very fancy title ``Arctic Research
Policy Amendments Act of 2024.'' I don't go for the big acronyms in the
titles. What we are doing is we are broadening the scope of the act to
account for the Arctic's increasing role in national homeland defense;
to strengthen climate and environmental research; to establish an
annual award for excellence in Arctic research--we need to support and
recognize those who are doing great work; and then to reflect the
essential role of the indigenous people, incorporating the wisdom and
experience of those who have lived there for millennia.
So it is good to work with the Commission. They continue to do great
work. It is something that I--I appreciate colleagues here also waking
up to the fact that this is the age of the Arctic, and how we embrace
it, how we embrace our leadership role, is critical.
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By Mr. PADILLA (for himself, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Booker, Mr.
Durbin, Ms. Hirono, Mr. Markey, Mr. Van Hollen, Ms. Warren, and
Mr. Wyden):
S. 5091. A bill to provide for the basic needs of students at
institutions of higher education; to the Committee on Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Mr. PADILLA. Madam President, I rise in support of the BASIC Act,
which I introduced today.
I know how important it is to help students cover the full cost of
attending college, including tuition and fees, housing, food,
transportation, books, childcare, healthcare, supplies, and more.
In California, even though State and institutional aid programs cover
full tuition and fees for about half of the students attending
California State University, University of California, and California
Community College, students struggle to pay for the remaining cost of
attendance. This bill will help accelerate California's work to make
college affordable and provide funding to reach more schools across
California and our nation.
Last year, the first-ever nationally representative data on student
basic needs was released by the National Center for Education
Statistics, which indicated that nearly one in four undergraduate
students across the country experiences food insecurity. We also know
that rates of basic needs insecurity are much higher for historically
marginalized students, including Black, Latino, and Indigenous
students; parenting students; LGBTQIA+students; first-generation
students; Pell Grant recipients; former foster youth; and justice-
involved students.
The evidence is clear that addressing student basic needs prevents
students from sacrificing their health and well-being to succeed in
higher education.
That is why I am proud to introduce this bill to authorize $1 billion
for a new grant program to help institutions of higher education meet
students' basic needs.
This funding represents an essential aspect of building more
equitable paths to higher education, and it represents an investment in
our students, our institutions, and our future. The legislation also
helps coordinate assistance across Federal Agency lines.
I want to thank Senator Warren and Representative Torres for
introducing this bill with me, and I hope our colleagues will join us
in ensuring that no student is forced to choose between their education
and their basic needs.
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