Lisa Murkowski Quotes

I valued John's work on campaign finance reform and comprehensive immigration reform. I was never part of the gang on immigration, but my votes clearly marked me as a fellow traveler. We also shared a strong respect for our Native peoples. Both Arizona and Alaska have many Tribes and large concentrations of indigenous Americans, and his decades of work to advance the cause of Native people was legendary. Because John accomplished so much during his time here--we all talk about his time spent on the international front working on defense issues, but I think oftentimes the issues with Native Americans, Indian issues, were overlooked, so let me comment on that for a moment. Back in the 1990s, John joined with Senator Inouye of Hawaii on amendments to the Indian Self-Determination Act providing for Tribal self-governance compacting. That opened up a whole new era of opportunity for Alaska Tribes. It laid the groundwork for Alaska Tribes to take over the delivery of Native healthcare from a failing Federal bureaucracy. Now, around the State, whether you are up in Utqiagvik or down in Ketchikan, they enjoy award-winning, world-class healthcare in a system that the Native people control, and that really would not have been possible without people like John McCain fighting for our Native people.

And so there was more work to be done. I was one who wanted to make sure that there was a process going forward. And when there were more questions that were raised after the initial process, I was one who joined in asking that the FBI step in and do further review. And so I have been engaged in this lengthy and deliberative process for months now. And I was truly leaning towards supporting Judge Kavanaugh in his nomination as I looked to that record. But we know that in our role of advice and consent, it is not just the record itself. There is more that is attached to it. It is why, when in the state of Alaska, a nomination for a judge goes forward, you rate them not only on their professional competence, what they have demonstrated through their record, but also matters of temperament and demeanor—which are very, very important.

Mr. President, I think we saw from the vote earlier today, we've seen from statements from several of our colleagues that it does appear that Judge Kavanaugh will be seated on the Supreme Court, without my vote. It is my hope, it is truly my hope that Judge Kavanaugh will share that same hope in rebuilding, maintaining a level of public confidence, that he will strive for that ideal every day. It's my hope that he will be that neutral arbiter, the umpire who only calls the balls and the strikes, that he will be that force for stability. I believe that Judge Kavanaugh is a good man. He's a good man. He's clearly a learned judge, but in my conscience, because that's how I have to vote at the end of the day, with my conscience, I could not conclude that he is the right person for the court at this time. And this has been agonizing for me with this decision. It is as hard a choice, probably as close a call as any that I can ever remember. And I hope, I hope and I pray that we don't find ourselves in this situation again. But I'm worried. I am really worried that this becomes the new normal, where we find new and even more creative ways to tear one another down. That good people are just going to say, "Forget it. It's not worth it." I'm looking at some of the comments that are being made, the statements that are being made against me, against my good friend, my dear friend from Maine. The hateful, the aggressive, the truly, truly awful manner which with so many are acting now is got to end. This is not who we are. This is not who we should be. This is not who we raise our children to be.

I think that John would have been proud of me on the afternoon that he passed. I was in the village of Savoonga, which is a small community--about 800 people--on St. Lawrence Island, about 40 miles from Russia. It is in the Bering Sea. It is one of the most remote places in Alaska. I was there to conduct a field hearing--the Indian Affairs Committee--focused on poor housing conditions, overcrowded housing, where our Native people are forced to live in extraordinarily difficult homes with difficult sanitation problems in these very remote communities. John was really a champion for ending the Third World living conditions that too many of our Native people still endure. We have a lot of unfinished work on that front, and I plan to attack it with the same vigor John brought to the fight. I mentioned John's love for our military, for our veterans. He will long be remembered for his efforts to bring our military back from years of neglect and the devastating pain of sequestration. The story that we all know--John worked on major defense budgets and was an extraordinary advocate for all of our defense. I think my story and how it intersects with a very, very small group of elderly Alaska warriors demonstrates that this big, strong, gruff guy, who was truly taking on the world, had a very soft spot in his heart, and the kindness he showed to these few elderly Alaska Native Guard veterans is something that is worthy of sharing.

After years of lagging behind, the United States has come to a better place on energy in recent years. We have seen domestic production rising. We have seen our emissions falling. We have created jobs. We have generated revenues. We have changed the world geopolitically even as we have lessened our impact on the climate. But these kinds of gains can't be taken for granted. They can't be actively ignored. They certainly should not be discarded. We have to acknowledge that this energy renewal has not been even across the country. It has taken place largely on State and private lands. We have very limited private land in Alaska. And instate activity--we have been proudly producing for a while. But we also have, again, much land that is federally held, and we have only seen help arrive with any kind of activity and production on Federal land in the past few years. I would suggest that we cannot afford that forward progress to be reversed, but unfortunately that is the way it feels right now. The threat is that this administration is going to take an approach that is going to take us backwards.

As you may recall, we had the American Energy Innovation Act on the Senate floor at the end of February just before the pandemic took hold. Again, I mentioned the collaborative process that went into building that bill. We spent a lot of time in the Energy Committee working through a lot of the issues that had some conflict and to reduce that conflict so we could get a good, strong bipartisan product. As a consequence, we have a bill that contains the priorities for more than 70 Senators. It is supported by more than 200 organizations. We incorporated 18 amendments on the floor working through that process. The Senate ultimately denied cloture on March 9. This was just before the shelter in place and the work from home orders began. We hit a wall there. The unfortunate reality is we hit that wall. We were derailed with this important legislative effort not because of an impasse that we had with the contents of our bill, but it was an unrelated dispute from another committee. It was not something that, as chairman, I could have anticipated. There was no warning that it was going to be an issue for our bill. In fairness, we didn't have any power as the Energy and Natural Resources Committee to work it out for this other committee. We were hamstrung by it.

It is not just the oil and gas sector. The renewable energy sector has also faced substantial supply chain disruptions. The efficiency sector has faced health and safety restrictions in homes and buildings. Overall, we were told that the energy industry has lost an estimated 1.3 million jobs since early March, including more than 600,000 jobs associated with clean energy. It is a good reminder in terms of where we have seen this direct impact and the impact on jobs, but our hearing was also a reminder that the energy industry can be a key leader, be a sector that can really help lead our Nation's economic recovery. When you think about energy itself, this is a finished product. It is a feedstock. It is a raw material. It is an input. It is an output. It is value added, a natural resource, tradeable commodity, a precious asset. It is clearly critical infrastructure and emergency reserves. It is financial, collateral, and competitive exports. It is a source of high-paying and high-skilled jobs in its own right.

The Republican Party, in my view, was a pretty good party before Donald Trump, and I believe we can be a good party after Donald Trump. Right now, I think we’re still trying to figure out who we are.

I spent more time evaluating and considering the nomination of Judge Kavanaugh than I have with any of the previous nominations to the United States Supreme Court that I've been privileged to review. I've had the opportunity to vote on five Justices prior to this. And I took my time. I was deliberate, thoughtful. Some accused me of being too deliberate, too thoughtful, taking too much time. But this is important to me. It should be important to all of us. And I know that it is important to all of us. And so I studied the record.

After the hearing that we all watched last week, last Thursday, it became clear to me, or it was becoming clearer that that appearance of impropriety has become unavoidable. And I've been deliberating, agonizing about what is fair. Is this too unfair a burden to place on somebody that is dealing with the worst, the most horrific allegations that go to your integrity, that go to everything that you are. And I think we all struggle with how we would respond. But I am reminded there are only nine seats on the bench of the highest court in the land and these seats are occupied by these men and women for their lifetime and so those who seek one of these seats must meet the highest standard in all respects at all times and that is hard.

The Code of Judicial Conduct Rule 1.2 requires that a judge "act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the independence, integrity, and impartiality of the judiciary, and shall avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety." And I go back and I look to that. It is pretty high, it is really high, that a judge shall act at all times—not just sometimes when you're wearing your robe—in a manner that promotes public confidence. Public confidence. Where's the public confidence? So it is high. And even in the face of the worst thing that could happen, a sexual assault allegation; even in the face of an overly and overtly political process, a politicized process; even when one side of this chamber is absolutely dead set on defeating his nomination, from the very get-go, before he was even named; even in these situations, the standard is that a judge must "act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the independence, integrity, and impartiality of the judiciary, and shall avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety."

I've come to the floor this evening to share my thoughts on what has been an extraordinarily long, difficult, and truly painful process. As we took up the cloture motion on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court, the process that led us to this vote today has been, in my view, a horrible process. A gut-wrenching process, where good people have been needlessly hurt. Where a woman who never sought the public spotlight, was, I think, cruelly thrust into the brightest of spotlights. A good man, a good man, with sterling academic credentials and unblemished professional record, both as the lawyer, the professional lawyer he was, and judge, and also as a husband and father of two young girls, has been damaged terribly. And as both of these individuals, Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh, have been harmed—their families have too. We need to, we must do better by them. We must do better as a Legislative Branch. We have a moral obligation to do better than this.

Roe is still the law of the land. We don’t know the direction that this decision may ultimately take. Sen. Collins and I in February introduced a bill that would codify Roe v. Wade. I thought it made sense then and I think it makes perhaps more sense now. [The draft] rocks my confidence in the court right now

When I think about John and how John approached issues, John was one who did what he thought was right. When he thought he was right, there wasn't much arguing with him--he was right. Even then, we would engage, we would go back and forth, and I think oftentimes it was those arguments that caused us to either gain greater respect or perhaps greater fear, depending on where you were in the process. John was one of those guys who favored straight talk. I don't think he would have any hard feelings about any of us describing our relationship with him over the years. We didn't always agree, and sometimes we didn't even get along, but the truth was, John McCain would always make sure you knew where he stood.

It is a pretty wide-ranging bill. It covers everything from energy efficiency to renewables. We have a strong focus on carbon capture. The big anchor piece is energy storage. Advanced nuclear plays a key role and also vehicle technologies. We focused on mineral security and recognizing the key aspects of secure supply chains, grid and cyber security, workforce modernization. Really, it is all areas that will work to help our economy, boost our international competitiveness, and protect human health and the global environment. At the hearing on Tuesday, one of our witnesses described this energy bill, our American Energy Innovation Act, as "foundational." I really think it is foundational. Where are we with this foundational energy bill that has been the work of such a good, strong collaborative committee process? It was clearly timely for the Senate to be considering this in this year--certainly before the pandemic--and it is even more critical, more timely that we consider it now.