quorum call:

mr. boozman: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from arkansas. mr. boozman: i ask that the quorum call be rescinded. the presiding officer: without

objection. mr. boozman: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, the global war on terror that started 17 years ago continues. today we formally called the missions undertaken on the war on terror operations freedoms sentinel and operationinherent resolve. brave troops continue to selflessly continue their missions in defense of our country. it subpoena often an overlook or neglected news story. it doesn't make the headlines frequently, but families throughout country who have loved ones in the middle east are closely monitoring the latest developments there. their loved ones are still in harm's way in places like afghanistan, iraq, and syria. this war is being prosecuted at considerable cost, many having made the ultimate sacrifice, including army sergeant first class eman, a member of the

third about a battalion specials group who called springdale home when he enlisted. he dedicated his career to the military serving in the marines and later joining the army. in 2009, while serving in afghanistan, he was severely wounded. during his recovery, he cofounded the massachusetts fallen heroes, an organization launched to honor the gold star families. he was on his seventh tour of duty when he was killed in action last month. i pray that the eman family can find comfort and the support of others who have lost a loved one and who have been aided by the organization that sergeant eman passionately advocated for. many brave americans are still fighting and selflessly serving

putting this their lives on the line every day to defend this country against terrorists and nations that which to assert and malign influence in the world. we have a duty to honor their commitment to our country and to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice. in the coming days congress will have tan opportunity to name the department of veterans' affairs facility in north ogdon, utah in honor the city's mayor, a member of the utah national guard who during his fourth military deployment gave his life in support of the mission in afghanistan last month. let us never forget the sacrifices of our troops and let their legacies be an inspiration for all americans. on behalf of a grateful nation, i humbly offer my sincere

gratitude of the men and the women who serve in our nation's uniform, to their families, and to those who gave their all. we must remember that many brave americans, past and present, who stand in defense of our country. certainly we need to remember those on a daily basis. these men and women deserve our thanks for risking life and limb to protect our freedom. and with that, mr. president, i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk should call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. nelson: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: mr. president, i ask consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. nelson: mr. president, i want to speak about one of the world's great natural treasures, the florida everglades. 18 years ago is an anniversary. as a matter of fact, december of

2000, one of the major water bills that the congress passes usually about every five to seven years was enacted. and they typically contain army corps of engineers projects for water, for water handling, for water channeling. the great rivers and lakes of america. all of those water projects that are so vital to the economic functioning of this country, ports, dams, renourishment projects, beach renourishment all across the country this water bill was passed back in

december of 2000. and it also authorized for the first time the comprehensive restoration plan for america's florida everglades. it was a 30-year multibillion-dollar effort to restore the everglades. what had happened ever since the beginning of the previous century in the early 1900's as florida started to be discovered and as people had increasingly come, the way was paved in the late 1800's by henry flag ler building his -- flagler, building his railroad. the railroad went down the east side of florida and got it to

st. augustine and built a big hotel and that building is the administrative building of flagler college in st. august st. augustine. and then it was extended further to the daytona-orman beach location, had another big hotel. taking it further south all the way to west palm beach and building the famed breakers hotel in palm beach as well as a built -- biltmore hotel as there. and then finally henry flagler took it to miami and did a feat thought impossible through a string of islands called the florida keys, took the railroad all the way to key west. well, of course, this was a

means of travel that americans in the northeast were suddenly opening up to this beautiful land called laflorina in the spanish, the name given by the spanish men who came to florida, and, indeed, they came and they loved this land. as more and more people came and started settling, they found that sometimes mother nature was harsh because when mother nature came in its full display of fury, hurricanes would come, quick rainstorms would come, quick changes of temperature from warm to suddenly freezing

cold, even with, albeit not a lot of snow, but i have seen parts of florida with the ground covered in snow, and other parts that were pelted with freezing rain. as people have tried to adapt to this land of contrasting environments, all of a sudden they are started to see the danger. and along in the late 1920's came a hurricane of such magnitude that when it hit the coast around west palm beach and then inland to lake okeechobee, 3,000 people in drowned. as a result of that experiment, as a result of that experience,

what happened was the governmental structure said we've got to do something and we've got to do it in flood control. and thus the diking and draining for three-quarters of a century commenced under the rubric of flood control. flood control that would get the water off the land when too much water came at one time. but what happened was they suddenly had a plan to reverse what mother nature had intended. mother nature intended for water as far north, southwest of today's orlando, to slowly flow

south all the way into the big lake, lake okeechobee, and continue on into the florida everglades. and so what happened with all of this diking and draining it's taking that natural flow away, it's get the water off the land in times of flood, create these big dikes and canals that would send the water out to tide water to the atlantic in the east and the gulf of mexico in the west. so, take for example, coming south of orlando in the ka kissa me chain of lakes into a stream called the kissamme river where

it slowly wandered southward through all the marsh grasses cleansing the water as it went south and then entered into a big lake called okeechobee which did not have defined boundaries but instead marshy grasses all around the lake. and as the water by gravity continued to flow south into a natural extension of the marshy grasses into the miles and miles and miles of river grass that marjory stoneman douglas had declared so beautifully as the river of grass, the florida everglades.

so lake okeechobee had a way of taking care of its water and keeping it clean. and instead, after losing 3,000 people in that hurricane, the idea was control the water, dike and drain it. dike the lake and drain it to the east and to the west, eventually into the st. lucie river to go into the atlanta and to go into the gulf of mexico. and meandering streams like the kissammee river were suddenly diked and dug into a straight ditch. catastrophic for the sensitive estuaries that were cleansing the water as it moves south. catastrophic for estuaries where

so many of the critters were nursery grounds for those critters. many fish species and lowe and behold -- lo and behold, across the entire south peninsula of florida a dike was built, a paved road from miami over to the west coast just south of fort myers and naples, and that, in effect, became a dike across the southern peninsula of florida that did not allow the water to flow further south into what ultimately as a result of president harry truman signing it into law became the everglades national park. and the everglades national park was then consequently starved of

fresh water. the consequences of all those actions over almost a century are painfully visible in years like this one because of the pollution of that water instead of the grasses cleansing it, toxic blue-green algae chokes the rivers and spreads all the way out to the atlantic ocean to the east, to the gulf of mexico to the west. and people have seen in this past year the dramatic images of dead fish covering the water's surface, covering the beach on the west coast and lo and behold ultimately that phenomenon of red tide being supercharged with green algae ultimately went

around the peninsula of florida and came up the east coast and we saw the dead fish on the beaches of the atlantic coast as well. well, we need to return the water to as much as normal the flow that mother nature intended. and that is what the restoration of the everglades is all about and that's how that started 18 years ago this month with a comprehensive plan to turn around that flood control, that diking and draining of all the southern half of the peninsula of florida that has now caused much not intended effects. you think about it. when the echosystem is healthy,

the everglades are healthy. when the ecosystem is sick, all the rest of that beautiful ecosystem is going to be sickly as well. and what we've seen with the little bit of cleaning up that we've done, the everglades are amazingly resilient. the environment and the everglades are the heart and soul of florida. these precious natural resources deserve our protection and stewardship because now they provide drinking water for millions and millions of people in south florida that have moved there and for a major agricultural industry.

and the everglades also perform storm protection, and that's why the ongoing everglades restoration effort is so important. we need to ensure that the glades are there to provide a buffer the next time that a hurricane rolls through. we understand there is a link between warming ocean temperatures and hurricane intensity, and if the climate trends continue, and i'll reference back to my speech on climate change and global warming and the rising of the seas, a speech that i gave last week, as that climate trend continues, if we don't reverse it, then it's all the more important to fortify mother nature's best defenses.

not only are beaches and the preservation of them one of those defenses but so is the florida everglades. beaches, wetlands, coral reefs, magroves protect storm damage. we saw that with hurricane sandy, sandy being in the northeast and we learned that proved true again during hurricane irma. and that's why it is so critical we preserve natural infrastructure and conserve undeveloped lands. as that famous floridian, marjory stoneman douglas said, there are no other everglades in the world. the miracle of light pours over

the green and brown expanse of sawgrass and of water slow mooing -- moving over the water that is the central fact of the everglades. it is a river of grass that was marjory stoneman douglas' quote. well, since i've been privileged to be a member of the senate, the federal government on that everglades restoration plan has spent almost $5 billion on everglades restoration. and we've got some great things to show for it. but we've got a long way to go. wading birds is an example. they're returning to the kissimmee river flood plain. water is finally flowing under

that dike that was built in the 1920's. tamiami trail. now there's a breach of a mile-long bridge, and there is another two and a half-mile bridge that is under construction to allow that water to flow south into the everglades national park. we're seeing the return of native wildlife in areas where projects are even still under way. and that central everglades restoration project that i referenced that was passed in the water bill 18 years ago, it was originally envisioned as a 30-year plan because we knew we couldn't reverse all of the drainage in the engineering overnight. out of 30 years we're into the

18th year. 12 more to go. and it's a long-term effort, and it requires two things. diligent oversight over the ongoing work and an unwavering dedication to achieving florida's goal of a restored everglades. this senator whose family came to florida in 1829, i, a fifth generation floridian, understand that this is an important project to protect our beautiful natural treasures. but what happens if we don't? we've all seen the environmental and economic wreckage, for

example, of an oil spill. we've seen nasa images from space of groves flattened after a hurricane. and as the hurricanes get stronger, more ferocious, more intense, that will be a result as well as the wipes out of beaches. and all too often in recent years, this senator has seen the devastating impact of the toxic algae blooms on communities all over the peninsula of florida and even into north florida. when you take a body of water and if you go and throw a fertilizer, a sack of fertilizer in it, the combination of heat and the nutrients are going to grow algae in most any lake, but especially in the warm climb of

florida. as a result by that same example, if you take our fresh water in florida and you allow pollution to go into that because the pollution is not properly regulated, it puts the nutrients into the fresh water that will grow the algae. the algae will suck the oxygen from the water and that becomes a dead river or a dead lake. and all those extra nutrients then when they hit the saltwater on the atlantic coast or the gulf of mexico, they supercharge other phenomenon that lives in saltwater, such as the red tide. we've seen that devastating impact.

there was a floridian that we recently lost, nat reed. he was particularly attuned to the needs of florida's environment. we're going to honor his legacy in a memorial service this coming weekend. and we are because nat reed was one of the great defenders of florida's natural bounty and especially the everglades. he served in the 1970's both presidents nixon and ford. he returned to florida and he worked under seven different governors in many different environmental capacities, including as chairman of the commission on florida's environmental future. and that commission back there in the 1980's was instrumental

in the land acquisition projects that we now know as everglades restoration. for nat reed and his children and his grandchildren, for all of the current and the future generations of floridians, let's honor the legacy of nat reed and let's stay the course. over this next 12 years of this central everglades restoration project, let's complete it and let's restore america's everglades. mr. president, i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the clerk shall call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. mr. sullivan: i ask the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sullivan: mr. president, it's thursday afternoon, and it's the time of the week that i usually come down and talk about one of my constituents or some alaskan who is doing a great thing for their community or the state or the country. i call that our alaskan of the week. but i'm going to suspend that this week because, to be perfectly honest, i think every

one of my fellow alaskans deserves a shout out. maybe they are all alaskans of the week this week for what happened and then the reaction to what happened in alaska last friday. and the country read about it. but it's the earthquake, the very significant earthquake that my state, my hometown of anchorage just went through. so, mr. president, as you know, last friday morning, 8:29 a.m., the citizens of south central alaska, which includes anchorage and the matsu valley, were doing what they always do on a friday morning. people were in their offices, driving to work, drinking coffee at home, maybe taking a run on many of the paved trails throughout our wonderful city. students were either in school or almost getting to school, sitting at their desks, pencils,

pen in hand, and then the shaking began, and it felt like it went on forever. i was first alerted. i was here in d.c. my wife was home at our home in anchorage, sent me a text, and said we are having a big, massive earthquake. and we did. it was 7.0 on the richter scale, which is a big earthquake, a big earthquake even for alaska. moments later, another earthquake measuring 5.8 on the richter scale hit. the epicenter was very close to downtown anchorage, about seven miles north. people all across the area ran out of their houses, their offices, dove under their desks, roads collapsed, pipes broke, ceiling tiles came crashing down, household goods cracked, kitchens all across the state looked like they had been invaded by violent giants. thousands of people lost power, including my home in anchorage.

and, mr. president, senator murkowski and i, we are here in d.c., but we went home soon after to see what happened, to see the damage. you saw the previous slide there. senator murkowski and i were out reviewing, assessing some of the damage that -- do you want to put that previous one up there, marcus? this is -- this is an on ramp to minnesota avenue, actually leading to the airport. that collapsed completely. that's how people get to the airport. the next one. vine road in the matsu valley, a major thoroughfare there. completely essentially imploded. houses and businesses were shook dramatically. you have another picture of vine road there.

do you want to put that up? that's the road that you just saw. it was rush hour in alaska. go ahead. homes, unfortunately we're having a lot of problems with homes and businesses. this is just one of hundreds of businesses. ceilings collapsing. you know, entire offices ruined. and then schools. the schools throughout the state suffered a lot of damage. libraries, not just shelves collapsing. these books fly off the shelves, right, when you have a 7.0 earthquake. another photo of some of the schools. ceilings collapsing, rebar coming out. this is a classroom. and, mr. president, in my view,

just having been out there for a couple of days back home, there are hundreds of millions of dollars of damage that we saw. it's still happening. when you have an earthquake of this magnitude, you have aftershocks which are also very stressful and can be big and do more damage. we have had over 2,700 after shocks. in the anchorage bowl. this is the anchorage bowl right here. 20 of them have been over 4.0. five have been over 5.0. that's a big earthquake, 5.0 earthquake. we have had five more of those. so that's stressful, as you can imagine. people are tired. the first night after the earthquake, nobody was sleeping because of the number of aftershocks. when i was home, i felt a number of these, but alaskans are

resilient. they have grit, they have spirit, they're tough. the phrase going around to describe the state right now -- shaken, certainly, still shaken, going on today, but not broken. and there is frustration. the country is going to need their help to rebuild. that's going to happen here, i have no doubt. but, mr. president, here is the amazing thing. here is the amazing thing. i think it's a christmas miracle. you saw that destruction. you saw it at rush hour. kids in all these classrooms, and no fatalities. not one death. you can rebuild a road. you can rebuild a school. but if we are burying our kids right now, this would be a very, very, very different tragedy. and remember, just going to work, it was dark. it's dark in alaska in the morning.

it's dark a lot of the day now in alaska. it's cold. and yet, no fatalities and very few injuries. so what happened? how did that happen? somebody says that's the positive story here. well, mr. president, we get a lot of earthquakes in alaska. this is just a chart that showed from a couple of years ago what kind of earthquakes we get. the presiding officer knows i come and talk about my state a lot, but just a few stats on earthquakes. alaska's home to the second largest earthquake ever recorded in history. the 1964 great alaska good friday earthquake, magnitude 9.2 on the richter scale. it lasted almost five minutes, if you can imagine that. and then we had a huge tsunami that killed dozens and dozens of

people. 11% of all the world's recorded earthquakes are in alaska. three of the eight largest earthquakes the world has ever seen have been in alaska. seven of the ten largest earthquakes in the united states were in alaska. one magnitude seven to eight on the richter scale every year happens in alaska, but they don't happen normally in big populateed areas. six magnitudes, six to seven on the richter scale happen every year in alaska, but, again, not near the major cities. our state is so big that we have a lot of these and nobody gets hurt. now, speaking of getting hurt, mr. president, as you know, earthquakes of this size, a 7.0, even a 6.0, even a 5.0, when they are near population centers, normally in other parts

of the world, they do a lot of damage, and they certainly did a lot of damage in alaska, but unfortunately they also take lives. they also take lives. last year, for example, in indonesia, there was a 6.9 on the richter scale earthquake that killed almost 500 people. and it's not just developing countries. 2011 in new zealand, a 6.3 on the richter scale earthquake killed over 150 people. as i said, mr. president, we were fortunate. no deaths. so what's part of the reason for that? well, given how many earthquakes we have had over the years, we have learned a lot, and the first thing is building codes. quorum call, again, thank god we had no buildings collapse. we had a lot of structures, homes, businesses, schools, that

have severe structural damage, but a collapsing building is where you get a lot of deaths. and with strong, strict building codes, particularly after the 1964 earthquake, that helps prevent that. mr. president, it's also -- it's also people who are resilient and tough and trained. and i want to talk a little bit about this because i have no doubt that this is why we had no fatalities. the group that i really want to do a shoutout to, and i'm just so proud of them, are the students, the students and the teachers who in the middle of the -- in the beginning of the morning -- and i went through some of these schools just the last few days. houston middle school, the elementary school at eagle

river. these schools are just -- just looked like someone has completely exploded them inside. and yet, mr. president, these kids, young men and women acted calm, heroic, and most importantly they did what they have been trained to do. now, in alaska, because we have so many earthquakes, the kids go through earthquake training all the time. duck and cover under their desks. and there is a video that's kind of gone viral, because i know other kids in the country are looking at it. it's actually from a class right when this happened in mr. bennis's class. he is a teacher at the mears middle school in anchorage. the video was on because he was supposed to capture his lesson friday morning. he's a grad student, and he had

to film the class and what he was teaching for his studies. and what it captured instead was students who are trained to react in ways that it's remarkable how automatic it was. one reporter after they saw this in alaska called these kids and this classroom a well-oiled machine. what am i talking about? you watch it, the kids are sitting in their class, the teacher is talking, and you see a little bit of shaking. boom. every kid, without being told, knows exactly what to do. they are under that desk. and then you see a lot of shaking. and then you see debris starting to come down. and if you're not under a desk, you could be seriously injured or even killed by some of what's coming from the ceiling, or worse. in houston middle school when senator murkowski and i were

touring, there were cinder blocks that were broken and shot out from the ceiling and the wall in these classrooms, and students are in there. but they are trained, and they were ducking and covering. in the video for mr. bennis's classroom, after the shaking was over -- it was about a minute which seems like an eternity which when you're in it, a student can be heard asking will they cancel school today? mr. bennis replied, well, that's probably not the first thing we need to be worried about right now. yesterday, a niece of one of my staff members here in d.c. said that that video of mr. bennis's class was being shown in schools in iowa, including her school, prairie view middle school in waukia, iowa, because the teachers are showing the

students, this is what you do, this is why we train, and this is what you do when there is some kind of natural disaster. that training literally i have no doubt what happened in alaska saved lives. so i want to thank those kids, those students. i am so proud. and i really, really want to thank the teachers of anchorage and the matsu valley for doing this training for their kids month after month, year after year. it obviously paid off. what else, mr. president, in terms of the reaction that you see? why, again, i think all of my constituents are the alaskans of the week. the first responders, as they do in so many emergencies, are local -- our local heroes reacted immediately. civil engineers, and city and state workers immediately checked on all of these highways and bridges and off ramps, some of which collapsed. essential infrastructure, such as hospitals. the port of anchorage has had

all kinds of structural damage, which is very dangerous in terms of the supply chain for my entire state. the u.s. geological survey and noaa, national oceanic and atmospheric administration, gave us real-time information about the earthquake and importantly the potential tsunamis. there were tsunami warnings all over alaska because of how worried we were being next to the ocean that that may have triggered a tsunami. thankfully that did not happen. the state, local officials, the anchorage fire department received hundreds of calls on damaged gas lines. we did have some house fires because of that. we did lose some houses because of that. our utilities jumped into action , a natural gas company went to over 700 companies that reported gas leaks for the thousands who lost power, they

got power back on in a relatively short time. and this is really important, mr. president, because when it's 20 degrees in alaska and you lose power in the winter, it's not like we can borrow power from, you know, illinois or kentucky. i mean, we're there alone and unafraid. we've got to produce our own power. and yet our utility companies got power. they got power back on in my house in a few hours. ken beerman, he worked for nstar for 46 years before retirement on november 9. guess what he did as a utility guy? he suited up and came back to work on the job, just went out and helped people. that's the other thing, mr. president, alaskans went door to door checking on their neighbors. shelters were immediately opened. hospitals prepared for what they thought were going to be massive

injuries and potentially deaths. churches, nonprofits were available. that's what alaskans do. when you live out alone in a part of the state that's pretty remote and communities are remote, that's what you have to do. and the other group that kicked into gear -- and i want to thank my colleagues here -- was the federal government. fema launched people almost immediately from the west coast, and we were hearing from senior federal officials almost immediately. i want to commend the trump administration and the rest of the federal government on just their quick reaction. so many are in alaska now but almost within an hour the president of the united states was down in argentina at the g-20, tweeted to the great people of alaska, you have been hit hard by the big one. please follow the directions of the highly trained professionals who are there to help you.

your federal government will spare no expense. god bless you all. that was from the president. the vice president, who was also traveling, called me and senator murkowski within a few hours. the chief of staff, general kelly of the white house, called. every one of them, what can we do? how can we help? who do we need to send? the secretary of transportation, i want to do a special shoutout to elaine chao has already checked in with me three different times, and they had people on their way up to help with these kind of major infrastructure damages. the same with our fema administrator. he's been a busy man, let's face it, brock long. he did a conference call with me, senator murkowski, congressman young. and i do also want to thank my senate colleagues. you know, a lot of press likes to report we're always battling, we're always fighting. i don't think that's true, by

the way. it's actually not true. there are certain things we have principled differences on. but a lot of action here is bipartisan. and the relationships matter. i had within just a few hours, several of my colleagues, democrats, republicans, calling, texting, e-mailing, hey, dan, we heard about alaska. we're seeing these images on tv. we got your back. we're praying for you. and that means a lot. you know, i was talking to senator pat leahy, the senator from vermont, democrat from vermont, this morning about this very issue. we've seen a lot here -- he's seen a lot here in the senate. he's been in the senate for a long time, over four decades. and you know what he said to me? it's important to remember on these kind of -- when these kind of things happen, it reminds everybody in this body we are the united states of america.

the united states of america. we take care of each other when we know bad things are happening in different parts of the country. and, mr. president, kind of related again to this reaction, senator murkowski and i the opportunity to go to the incident command center. and, yes, there's times when you don't feel like the different levers of government are working or coordinating. well, this out on our military base -- and, by the way, our first responders include our military, our national guard who do such a great job, but this incident command center would give any american pride because they were all there, almost like a battle, like a war, like an op center for the military people watching. and it was fema. it was federal, it was the military, it was the state. it was local all working like this, literally, hand in glove.

so to my constituents, we're going to have a long road to recovery. there's no doubt about that. but people are already getting on it. there's going to be frustrations. we've got to work through those. and i know people are still scared and nervous and wondering how they're going to pay for all the damage, and we're going to work together through that. for my colleagues here in the senate, you know, we've had a lot of natural disasters over the last few years, at least since i've been here in the senate, throughout the country. hurricanes, florida, louisiana, texas, houston, california just went through horrendous, horrendous wildfires that killed so many of our fellow americans. and this body acts.

this body has acted with disaster relief funding. i remember saying to a number of senators here and to my constituents when those big and some of those packages have been big in terms of the funding, in terms of the dollars, hey, dan, we need your vote on this. none of that money was going to alaska, but i remember saying each time, you know, i'm voting for these packages. why? well, i think it's the right thing to do. but also, let's face it, but for the grace of god, go me and my state and my constituents. i live in a state where there's all kinds of natural disasters. wildfires, earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis. but i think that's the attitude here in general. when bad things happen, particularly natural disasters, to other parts of the country, the vast majority of this body says, hey, i'm going to help.

i'm going to help. so i'm already getting the sense that my colleagues here will make sure that that help comes to alaska as we continue to assess the damage. and i also want to just mention to the american people, you know, who are watching, alaskans or folks from the lower 48, senator murkowski and congressman young and i, we held a press conference on friday afternoon after talking to the federal government, working closely with our state leaders to just give people information. and it was a national press conference. actually the national media covered it. the aftershocks were still going on. we didn't know, we didn't know if there was 200 people killed. so i asked people watching to pray for their fellow americans up in alaska.

mr. president, as i mentioned, yes, we are prepared. yes, the building codes in alaska are probably some of the strongest on the planet. our students, i'm so proud of our students, were trained by great teachers. our first responders were out there in the cold within minutes, let alone others working. and they're still doing it, by the way. but i have no doubt that part of the reason we had zero fatalities, zero deaths with a 7.0 earthquake in a city of almost 300,000 people -- in most parts of the world that would not be zero deaths. it would probably be thousands. i have no doubt that part of the reason was we -- because of those prayers. so i want to thank anyone and everybody who was praying for alaska that day because i guarantee you that it mattered. and to my fellow alaskans,

again, i want to thank you. i think on friday and even continuing up to today you represent the best of america, the best of what we as americans love to see in our fellow americans. resilience, toughness, preparedness, and helping each other. and that was on display and has been on display, and i couldn't be prouder to represent the great state of alaska, particularly now. we have a lot of work to do. there's going to be frustrations. it's going to take time. but be assured that we will be working here and at home. senator murkowski and i. but with our colleagues to make our recovery from this massive earthquake as speedy as possible. god bless. i yield the floor.

i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call: