I like to pride myself on being a pretty good team player around here. I want to give people space to work their issues out, but I think it is time, … - Lisa Murkowski

I mentioned that there have been some articles of late that just really kind of struck me. It is interesting because I thought they were pretty significant, but it seems they are relatively unnoticed here in Washington. According to Bloomberg, Russia has now supplanted Saudi Arabia to become the third largest supplier of crude oil in the United States. Canada is our No. 1. But there has been a series of circumstances. As our domestic production is falling, the Saudis have also reduced theirs, and it has been Venezuela. Venezuela is subject to sanctions. Their production has pretty much gone offline to the United States. Part of what we are seeing, though, is the refusal on the Federal Government's side to approve cross-border pipeline infrastructure. Canada, again, is our largest--we import more from Canada than anywhere else, and they have greater capacity to help us out here so that we don't have to take it from Russia. But, instead, we haven't been able to take more from Canada to fill in that gap because of pipeline capacity. So what happens is, we are sending more of our money to Russia at a time when we are not on very good terms with Russia. Need we say elections? Need we say SolarWinds? Need we say what we are seeing from Putin? This is what is happening: We are sending more of our dollars to Russia, and they are sending us more of the resources that we could produce here at home or perhaps at least import them from some friendlier nations.

John fought for our institution because he never lost sight of the fact that the legislative branch is a coequal branch of government, not subordinate to the White House. He took no guff--we all know--from the administration, no matter who was in charge. That wasn't just because John liked to flex his senatorial muscle; it was because he was a true believer in the Constitution and its checks and balances. He was a true believer in the institutions of government and a true believer in democracy. John certainly made his share of history, and he has earned his place in it. I think we all know how much we will miss him, his passion, his courage. His loss leaves us sad, but at the same time, I think it offers us a beacon of hope here in the Senate as we reflect on his life and his contributions.

John was very clear that you had to earn his respect. Respect was not something that came with the title. The fact that you were a U.S. Senator didn't mean you had earned his respect. And I know because I felt that in my early years here in the Senate. I came through an appointment, and I think John McCain was just going to wait to see if I was able to prove myself, and he ultimately decided, apparently, that I had. He came up to me one day--we were actually walking down the aisle there, and he came up and he said: You know, you are OK, kid. And for that, that was high praise.