murkowski: often timessen. murkowski:, it is just a very site. operational how we can help facilitate that is something we want to work with you on. udall: i would like to in the lobbying disclosure forms for steven hart. murkowski: those will be part of the record. sen. udall: thank you. related to the search for the apartment and housing, mr. administrator, will you provide copies of all females and other documents related to your apartment search, including any from your staff? admin. pruitt: yes. sen. udall: thank you. can you do that within 10 days? ils from thet: ema agency is what i trust you are asking for. sen. udall: i am asking for any emails that relate to this. emails from the agency are included. admin. pruitt: we will respond expeditiously, yes. sen. udall: you are willing to give us other emails? admin. pruitt: from the agency, yes. sen. udall: you have spoken about the rule of law. you are familiar with the ,reedom of information act which requires the full disclosure of documents written by the u.s. government. was there a full

. >> chairman murkowski, senator heinrich and distinguished members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to discuss the possibilities of the

senator murkowski brought up the arctic region. do we have sufficient intelligence, surveillance, and reconsauns capabilities in the arctic tone sure we know what's going on in the arctic, and i'd ask for general dunford to follow-up as well, are we making adequate use of unmanned assets like global hawk to do that? secretary mattis: senator, let me let general dunford talk about that. we have made priorities on these scarce assets what we call high demand assets and we engage in the active operations we have going on in certain areas. we have prioritized that where we have troops in harm's way. i don't believe we're doing everything we could be doing or even should be if we had unlimited assets in the arctic, but right now i think we're making the prudent steps to grow our i.s.r. forces that will allow us in the future to do beater job. general. general dunford: senator, i know you are aware for many years we took our eye off the ball with regard to russia. about two years ago it isn't just the intelligence surveillance reconsauns

thank you, madam chair. >> senator dean's. >> thank you, chairman murkowski. like others i was troubled to learn that prepa had contracted with an energy company although based in my home state with minimal experience. i understand the need to move quickly giving couples and the islands financial state and it is equally as important as these quick decisions are made with the best interest of ratepayers and taxpayers. mr. sabrina, what oversight is in place with respect to prepa's finances in the other. question in your view does prepa have sufficient internal controls and contracting expertise. >> following the contract that you allude to the governor had limited receiving ship over the context called the oc pc but the office of contract and procurement. it has effectively conducted the oversight of the procurement process. we have to submit the contracts also to the fiscal oversight board under section 204 and up-to-date they are not known on those contracts when they are to be reimbursed by fema also are now subject to preaudit and that has been conducted su

i thank senators collins, murkowski, and kennedy for supporting this fine legislation. here's what my friend, the republican senator from louisiana had to say after the vote. if you trust your table company, you won't like my vote. if you don't trust your cable company, you will like my vote. he's right. it's that simple. so you have to wonder why 47 republicans voted no yesterday. do they trust the cable companies, the large i.s.p.'s to do what's level best for the average american family? do they believe that cable companies are really popular with the american people? i don't think so. now, republicans in the house have to take up this bipartisan resolution. we hope they will. this isn't some partisan stunt. absolutely not. it's a real bipartisan effort to right the f.c.c.'s wrong and protect the free and open internet. it's very crucial to the future of the country. house republicans don't have to choose the same path that the vast majority of republicans in the senate decided. speaker ryan should bring this up for a vote immediately. the american people have spoken

along with republicans john kennedy of louisiana and lisa murkowski of alaska. the final vote was 52 - 47. the house is not expected to take up the legislation. here is a portion of the debate. >> in december, the fcc made a colossal mistake by rolling back net neutrality protections. today, the senate has an opportunity to begin the process of writing that wrong with an up or down vote to overturn the fcc's repeal and restore the internet. it's a big deal. we just had a vote with all democrats and independents and three republicans. we have another vote around 3:0. if we fail, the fcc will internet neutrality protections in early june. if we succeed, this fight will go on for the the house of representatives. mr. president, this vote is a no-brainer. net neutrality is one of the most popular issues the senate will consider this year. there's no other issue that paul so decisively on one side. a survey by the university of maryland found 83% of people are in favor of net neutrality and that includes 75% of republicans, 89% of democrats. when he think about peopl

again, i think senator murkowski and senator collins are a good example of that. one of the problems is women are simply outnumbered in congress as you know, we have records of women running. we have 20 women senators, senator claire mccaskill, what would be bert than that would be 50. you can begin to change the direction i can guarantee if there were more women in congress, more women in the united states senate, we would quit fighting over birth control and planned parenthood, issues that are unihim it in this country. that's why i think it is important to talk about why voting matters. it's the most -- government has the most influence on your life of any institution. >> are you surprised, you know, at this point -- you're a little bit into the trump presidency -- that things like the access hollywood tape didn't keep more women from voting for him? >> well, i think it's hard to go back now. there are a whole host of reasons why the election went the way it did. >> he's affirmed them. he hasn't become less offensive. >> he is incredibly unpopular and he's very

. >> chairman murkowski, senator heinrich and distinguished members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to discuss the possibility for future operation of the electric grid in puerto rico. most importantly, i want to assure this committee the d.o.e. is committed to providing technical assistant to prepa as they begin their task of rebuilding and redesigning puerto rico's electric grid. during significant events, services from energy critical infrastructure including water, telecommunications and transportation must be operational to support the safety and health of our infrastructure in puerto rico. the infrastructure of puerto rico must be designed, built, managed and maintain to ameliorate disruptions to facilitate rapid recovery. this is an improvement that will allow us to reassess technologies to address changing needs and d.o.e. and our labs will remain a partner to deploy cutting-edge technology to assist prepa. d.o.e. has nearly completed its report on energy resilience options and solutions for the puerto rico grid. this report provides recommendations for prepa and

along with republicans john kennedy of louisiana and lisa murkowski of alaska. the final vote was 52 - 47. the house is not expected to take up the legislation. here is a portion of the debate. >> in december, the fcc made a colossal mistake by rolling back net neutrality protections. today, the senate has an opportunity to begin the process of writing that wrong with an up or down vote to overturn the fcc's

i think senator udall and senator murkowski for the increases in funding. the subcommittee recommended and it was approved. thank you for that. in the larger way, look rock campground has $2 million in deferred maintenance to fix it up. but the great smokies has 215 million and the appropriation is only 10 million a year. several hundred million is the national mall, you're saying even the george washington parkway as part of that. so, these are big expensive. if we don't do something extraordinary to do that, it will never get done. that's why i want to salute you in the administration for taking a tried-and-true principle which is to some of the money from royalties from energy exploration on federal lands and use it for environmental purpose. the rockefeller commission recommended that in the 60s. every conservation group i know has supported the idea of taken money from offshore drilling and using it for land water conservation funds. diminished she was here we work together to take more money out of gulf coast oil and gas drilling. now, you have propos

. >> thank you senator murkowski. thank you for giving me the opportunity to testify as part of the president trumps fy 2019 budget. i like to submit my entire statement for the record. upfront public lands is not a republican or democrat or red or blue issue. it's a red, white and blue issue. public lands should bring us all together for the benefit of our great public lands. i'm a teddy roosevelt republican. i think he set our nation on a journey which we benefit from. it is time to look at the next 100 years to look at how we can best manage our treasures. the president has been very clear about his priorities in his keeping his promises to the american people. the budget supports one of those promises in a big way and it rebuilds our national parks infrastructure and it calls for the largest investment in the history of this country to public lands. in specific, our park service, indian schools and are wildlife refugees system. as we agree on our public lands as a greatest treasure but they have suffered serious n

those who are here or remain here will have additional a questions until 315 i recognize senator murkowski. >> i appreciate it. you bring a refreshing view of operations to the floor to have those conversations about what can be done to increase capabilities from nasa and to use those capabilities and with the operations. we have had some opportunities in kodiak is operated by alaska aerospace corporation. can you share with me how you view the potential to provide the orbital and suborbital capabilities that feature the programs and operations? >> nasa is committed to get more science and data and we have ever been able to have before because they are our commercial partners with imagery as well as communications and to provide all kinds of capabilities that have nothing to do that specifically. so we have the ability as an agency to purchase access to space and data from other people accessing space from other reasons. so electronics the unprecedented access to space in the coming years. and a facility like kodiak will be beneficiary of that capability. when we do launch commercially and

senator murkowski of alaska is leading this bill in what some call the upper chamber. we simply call it the senate. during world war ii, our armed forces relied upon the merchant marine to ferry supplies, cargo, and manpower and womanpower into both theaters of operation, the pacific and the atlantic. they paid a heavy price for their service. the merchant marine casualty rate was the highest among all branches of the u.s. armed forces. an estimated 8,300 merchant mariners lost their life during the war and around 12,000 were wounded. but these brave men and women who put their lives on the line to sustain our armed forces were not even given veteran status until 1988. much less public recognition for their invaluable services. today, i'm going to meet with a group of world war ii merchant marine veterans, charles mills of texas, age 97, eugene barner from kansas, age 92, and robert regant from illinois, age 92. i also will be meeting with families of other veterans who are no longer with us. i'm meeting them to hear firsthand their stories of bravery and peril in the

this 2 1/2 hour hearing led by alaskan republican senator lisa murkowski. >> good morning. the hearing will come to order. today we will review the fiscal year 2019 budget request for the department of interior. i would like to welcome back to the committee our witnesses this morning secretary zinke, accompanied by deputy assistant secretary for budget finance and akz olivia fertare and the director of the office of budget, denise flanagan. welcome to you all. mr. secretary, welcome back to the committee. the energy and natural resources committee held its budget hearing back in march and i appreciate the opportunity to further discuss the details of your budget today. over the past year we've been able to work very closely on a host of issues that are crucial to alaska and i thank you for your commitment and attention to these very important matters and all that you've done to promote the responsibility development of our state's abundant natural resources. reminder to colleagues we're going to adhere to the early bird rule this morning. i will call on members in the order

understand senator murkowski has raised this already. i apologize for raising this issue again, but let me just start by saying that the unemployment rate in new hampshire is 2.6%. we are the second lowest in the country. we have businesses particularly agriculture sector and fundsm sector who cannot workers. we have people who cannot find workers to the extent that last summer we had restaurants and businesses in our tourism industry, who were closing an additional day of week because they couldn't find people. what we are hearing now is that they are desperate to get those workers who have come here on the visas. i talked to a landscaper last week who has the same folks from jamaica who have come here for the last 10 years. they have driver's licenses in new hampshire and they come here, they work hard for the summer, and then go back. right now, he has no idea whether these folks are going to be able to come to the country or not. what can i tell these businesses who are desperately calling to say, what are we going to do about worker

we heard senator murkowski talked about the arctic ocean going away. and i can tell you we burnt 1.3 acres in montana. premitigation are important. what's the plan? >> the plan is to, i'm going to be very frank here, the plan is to work with you all to try to relook over the grant program. as you know people are embedded in all the programs. we at dhs very much do believe that money spent at the front end to help the communities become more resilient to all hazards is the way not only to best protect them but best use limited resources. >> okay. >> so i would be happy to come and talk to you about how we can do that. >> so, okay, that would be great. and we need to do that we really do. so thank you. >> yesz. >> election security very quickly then i'll turn it back to the chair woman. you talked about audits and provisional ballots and physical attacks. i want to talk about the voting machines for a second and whose responsibility it is to make the determination. because we classified briefing a while back and they talked a little bit about what had tr

additional questions till approximately 3:15 and i now recognize the senator from alaska, senator murkowski. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i appreciate it. administrator, nice to see you. i thank you bring a refreshing view of expanding commercial space operations to the four here and look forward to having conversation about what can be done to help lower cost and increase capability for nasa by increasing some of the partnerships and utilizing the capabilities that are offered by the private sector for space access and operations. we have, in alaska, as you know, some opportunities with civic space complex in kodiak by the alaskan aerospace corporation and can you share with me how you view the potential non- federal spaceport second provide the orbital and suborbital launch capabilities that may fit into future nasa programs and operations. >> yes, senator. nasa is committed to getting more science and more data than we've ever been able to get before and we are able to do that now because there are commercial partners providing data and lowering orbit and imagery as well as publications a

all democrats voting yea, republicans sues can collins, lisa murkowski, john kennedy joining them. the internet. david: that is what the obama administration did. that may be what we continue. melissa: i'm sure they will make it better. david: ain't going to happen. china's trade delegation meeting with key house and senate committees this afternoon as fierce negotiations continue. a live update on capitol hill where things stand right now, ahead of another big meeting tomorrow. ♪ melissa: the chinese delegation has been in town since yesterday and talks are wrapping up today. has progress been made? with the latest our very own edward lawrence. reporter: the talks wrapping up within the last five or six minutes. chinese delegation of 15 people on capitol hill all day. the talk is wrapping up with the senate finance committee chairman orrin hatch. earlier today, the delegation met with the house ways and means committee. now in a statement from the committee, from the democrat on the committee, new jersey democrat bill pascral, says we need to be tough on china. he goes on to say w

when you responded to senator murkowski's question about giving you the opportunity to respond and started by saying, well, you're taking on a lot of tough issues, and the allegations of violations of public trust are really primarily response that, i don't think you're taking this issue of public trust seriously. here's my question -- with about 11 or 16 pending investigations, whatever it is, there have been reports that you intend to establish a legal defense fund. is that true? >> i understand that's being set up, yes. >> okay. you're the process of setting that up? >> it's -- it's been set up. >> i want to make sure -- however that works, you're not subject to more allegations or complaints that you're violating the public trust. >> if i might there, we've actually worked with gao, my attorney here has done this for a number of years, worked with gao. >> okay. >> to make sure that it's done properly. >> just a couple questions on the -- the commitments you can make today. will all donations to that defense fund be public? >> they will be published, yes, subject to disclosures, yes. >>

lisa murkowski joined them on an earlier test vote this afternoon. she's expected to vote yes as well. that puts you above the 50-vote threshold. this is what happens when you don't have a margin in the senate. the democrats say we can pluck off a couple of republicans and rebuke the trump administration on a policy they tried to alter, this is something that the obama administration put into effect a couple years ago. this really deals with the throttle. whether or not all the traffic on the internet is given the same weight. given the same speed. and they want to undo the fcc policy that basically says wait a minute. we're going to allow some traffic to go through faster, some slower. they want everything to be treated the same, trace. >> yeah, and explain that, if you can, chad. that's confusing to people. that's the whole thing. people think -- is at&t playing favoritism with some of their shows. i mean, what is the bottom line here for the user, for the guy that is looking at his wi fi saying could they slow it down and speed it up? >> and that'

. >> senator murkowski. >> thank you, mr. chairman.gentlemen, thank you for your service, and for a green before the committee today. secretaryy mattis, you have properly noted that russia as well asat china, russia, is a strategic competitor is the word you used come seeking to create a world consistent with their authoritarian models and pursue veto power over other nations. act we see that very, very, very clearly in the arctic region in the past ten years. we have seen the russians move dramatically and actually in the past year even more so, and yet our u.s. arctic strategy has yet to evolve to this changing dynamic. the concern i have is that rather than the arctic being displaced for commerce, stable area with freedom of maneuver,, that russia is positioning themselves to control the arctic, control its resources, control the seaic lanes. if the northern sea route becomes a major shipping lane, russiapp is poised to be that se power that could effectively sanction or threaten to coerce, project power. we've had many conversation

maybe senator murkowski is more up-to-date on that. but can you provide the committee and update on the eyes and back road. my understanding as it is going through and eis. process and is on schedule. i don't know the specifics. i ask where we stood on it. i think it's proceeding. they are doing that to do the actual permit for the road itself. thank you very much mister secretary. the season is coming on us. as you know the national park is one of our nation's most visited parks one thing about it. if you want to get in there is one road in and it's the same road out. and it is narrow and winding. and it's in serious disrepair in certain and certain parts of the road because of mud slides and other issues. they are very concerned about how we address the different maintenance and more specific to the past. very technically challenging a component of the road and what were doing. we are just engaging in cyclical maintenance by gravel backfill on an annual basis. i think everybody knows we are can have to invest probably significant dol

. >> senator murkowski, thank you very much. i want to take the moment to reassure you and the people that you lead, but more importantly the american people that we will do everything we can as members of this sub committee, as appropriators and united states senators to see that the bureau is equipped to prevent and combat an ever changing landscape both here and abroad of criminal activity that can be and has been very devastating to the american people. we will take our responsibilities very seriously, and i look forward to developing a close working relationship with you in that regard. and i appreciate the partnership that exists between the fbi and other federal agencies, but particularly those agencies back home. my local and state law enforcement officials. and we've had significant success. i can name three off the top of my head just in the last few months in kansas as a result of that partnership between the fbi and local law enforcement. so we're very grateful to you and to the men and women that you lead. we are go

. >> senator murkowski, thank you very much. i want to take the moment to reassure you and the people that you lead, but more importantly the american people that we will do everything we can as members of this sub committee, as appropriators and united states senators to see that the bureau is equipped to prevent and combat an ever changing landscape both here and abroad of criminal activity that can be and has been very devastating to the american

i'm going to yield my time temporarily to the senator from alaska, senator murkowski. >> thank you mister chairman and thank you for the opportunity to some issues that we all care about as it relates to our veterans. my first issue that i would like to raise stems not from alaska related concern but we in alaska have connection affinity for those who also are not part of the continental united states. i was recently out in the pacific in wall in the northern marianas as well as in the lower and the marshall islands in one of those concerned that it relates to our veterans is their ability to access healthcare in these remote locations so it's not unlike what we face in alaska. the rest of the island need to go to guam or hawaii, senator shot is okay with that but they asked me to ask you what needs to be done to certify the local hospitals on those islands provide care to our veterans so that they don't have to go to the expense of traveling such long distances. what other options might be out there? i also have a letter i would like to submit to you all and i'll do it through the record

. >> senator from alaska, senator murkowski. >> thank you. i'll be brief. because i know we have a vote that has begun. thank you for being here and thank you for what you do. i want to reassure that i join with the senator from delaware and the senator from west virginia. my support for the good work that the men and the women of the fbi deal with every day. i certainly have my -- have had nye differences with the phifbi over the years particularly with stephenson. i'm not sure that they investigated the whistleblower in the investigation. but i want to make clear i have not lost faith in the fbi as an institution. i had an opportunity just a few months back to meet with the special agent in charge in anchorage and his senior team to convey the point directly to get an update from all of them. but to look them all in the eye ball and just let them know that we have great faith in the work that they do. and it is hard and it is difficult. and we worry. i worry about the morale of the men and women for some of the same reasons that you have heard here today.

murkowski: thank you, mr. president. i'm honored to join with my colleagues in honoring the men and women of law enforcement during national police week. this year it was our colleague mr. blunt, the senator from missouri, and the leader of our senator law enforcement caucus who's arranged an opportunity for us to speak here on the floor. i thank him for that. i also wish to commend my colleagues, senators grassley and feinstein, for putting together the national police week resolution. as of yesterday afternoon, there were 75 cosponsors to this resolution which is more than we have had previously. in 2017, the law enforcement community lost 199 of its bravest in the line of duty incidents. the national law enforcement officers memorial fund reports that 53 officers have given their lives in 2018. 28 of those killed by firearms. this is a 56% increase in the same period in 2017. very grateful that in alaska we have not lost an officer in 2018. we're praying that continues, that we don't see that moving forward. but we kn

mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported amendments be agreed to, the murkowski amendment at the desk be agreed to, and the bill as amended be read a third time. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i know of no further debate on the bill. the presiding officer: vote is son passage of the bill, as amended. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes do have it. the bill is amended and passed. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the rules committee be disarmed from further consideration and the senate now proceed to s.j. res. 60. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate joint resolution 60 providing for the reappointment of barbara m. barrett as a citizen regent of the board of regents of the smithsonian institution. the presiding officer: without objection, the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. mcconnell: i ask unani

the other person to watch is senator lisa murkowski.ot always got along with her colleagues in the republican conference. as recently as yesterday was also undecided. last week her office said she had no firm stance on this, we would prefer legislation, but she seems open. yesterday she said not ready to speak on that. those are the two to watch, which would make for a bigger victory for senate democrats going into the house about, if they have enough backing. host: does lisa murkowski's electability has something to do with being from the state of alaska? think so. there has been a struggle to get broadband service in lots of parts of alaska. it has been out of the mainstream when it comes to the policy issues. i think the state senate in alaska at passed some sort of resolution pushing her to support some of this. pressure back home for her. i think that does have something to do with it. it is always different for telecom policy in alaska, given the struggles they have there, given the remoteness and connectivity is that much harder

senator murkowski brought up the arctic region. do we have sufficient intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities in the art take to ensure we know what's going on in the art and i would ask for general dunford to follow up as well. are we making use of unmanned -- to do that? >> senator let me left general dunford get forget to the military aspects that i would tell you we had to make priorities on these scarce assets, what we call high demand assets and we are engaged in active operations we have going on. in certain areas where prioritize that. i don't believe we are doing everything we could be doing or even should he if we had unlimited assets but right now i think we are making the prudent steps to grow our isr forces. >> senator for many years we took her i have the ball with her guard to rush into years ago isn't just the surveillance reconnaissance platforms but an effort as well to look at russia through two years ago we significantly increased their analytic efforts towards russia and dedicated a large port

murkowski: nice to see you here. i'm not going to ask questions on immigration. but i do want to acknowledge, as you say, we are a nation of laws, absolutely. we are also a nation filled with compassionate hearts. and i'm going to share with you a letter i received from the alaska catholic conference with refugee assistance and immigration service where we have helped in alaska to help establish 130 refugees as well as some other measures that they have asked to be brought to the attention of not only the committee but to yours as well. so i'll be forwarding that to you. you mentioned in your comments the northern border. and i would like to speak to the northern border. in your fy 19 budget request, you state our great nation has always been shielded by threats, from threats by distance and two oceans. and we can no longer have confidence in that protection. i need you to amend that statement, because we have three oceans that we need to be aware of. it's atlantic, pacific, and it is the arctic. and i would argue that as an arctic nation, in the past that sea ic

. >> chairman murkowski, senator heinrich and distinguished members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to discuss the possibilities of the future operation of the grid in puerto rico. most importantly, i want to assure the committee that we are committed to providing technical assistance to prepa as they begin to task of rebuilding at redesigning the electric grid. during a significant event, services firm energy, critical infrastructure including water, telecommunications and transportation must be operational to support the safety and health of the residents in puerto rico. accordingly, the energy infrastructure must be designed, built, managed and maintained in such a way to an alley or he disruptions when they occur to facilitate the rapid recovery. this is a continual process of improvement on the one that will require prepa to adopt solutions and technologies to address changing and doe and the national will remain an active partner to provide technical expertise and deploy cutting-edge technology to assist prepa. doe has completed its report on the recently of operat

i was there for this great celebration, senator murkowski was there, our governor was there, the corporate officers from the lower 48 from tastee freeze flew up to alaska for this great event. they had never seen anything like it, the number one tastee freeze in the country. what most excited rich that day was all the people there who he had served throughout the years, including the hundreds of people who used to work at the shop, who met their spouses at tastee freeze, and who then had children, and those children now go there, and some even work there. mr. president, that's what a small business with heart can do for a community. it can provide young people for their first real job, it can bring us together, it can provide a sense of community, it can serve the community, and, of course, it can be a delicious place of memories for families. that's what the tastee freeze in anchorage has done and that's why we want to congratulate rich on being our alaskan of the week and thanking him again for all the great things he has done for our state and community. i yield the floor. and i note th