Senate Proceeding on Jun 26th, 2008 :: 4:09:41 to 4:20:35
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3:57:29 to 4:09:41( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Lisa Murkowski

4:09:23 to 4:09:41( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: presiding officer: the senator from alaska. mr. stevens: i believe i've been allocated 20 minutes to speak. the presiding officer: there is no previous order. mr. stevens: thank you. mr. president,

4:09:41 to 4:10:05( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: that photograph brings back many memories to me. that gentleman on the right was my employer at the time, the secretary of the interior, fred seton and i was standing 450eu7bd behindhim. i remember the

4:09:41 to 4:20:35( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Ted Stevens

4:10:05 to 4:10:21( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: debate on the floor of the senate of the alaska state 450d statehood bill and i was standing in the press gallery behind my good friend the editor of "fairbanks daily news," w.c. bill steadman. he bought

4:10:21 to 4:10:41( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: the paper and turned the policy around to support statehood. one thing he created was a cartoon they put on the front page of the paper every day, a small thing on the bottom, sour dough jack who

4:10:41 to 4:10:55( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: had wise sayings. it was all of the arguments against alaska statehood are listed in full on pages two, three, and four. all blank. that was the attitude of alaskans. there really was no valid opposition

4:10:55 to 4:11:11( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: to our becoming a state. however, i think the senate should know what the senate and-what the senate did and the role of the senate in alaska and later hawaii becoming a state later the same year.

4:11:11 to 4:11:27( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: our delegate at that time in the house of representatives, bob bartlet discovered an old rule in the house that permitted matters of constitutional import to be taken to the floor of the house and worked on only

4:11:27 to 4:11:43( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: by the committee of the whole of the house, bypassing the rules committee. so after having tried since 1913 into 195 to get statehood our delegate made the motion to bypass the rules committee and with

4:11:43 to 4:11:58( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: a vote of the house they approved going right to the floor with alaska statehood bill, an achievement no one expected but it showd the power at that time of the american press which took up the sword

4:11:58 to 4:12:14( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: to have both alaska and hawaii become a state. it was really one of the great things to see luce and so many leaders of the newspaper profession join together to urge the american people to swell up

4:12:14 to 4:12:29( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: and demand the bills be passed. the bill as it passed -- as the bill passed the house and came offer here there was great problem because the rules committee chairman made it very plain that if

4:12:29 to 4:12:43( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: there was an attempt to have a conference committee on this bill, he would see to it that it would never see the light of day in the house. so our job at that time was to get the statehood bill passed

4:12:43 to 4:13:01( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: by the senate without one single change -- not a cma, no paragraphs, nothing added and nothing changed. now, i think the senate today would appreciate that problem because those are the days of the

4:13:01 to 4:13:23( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: true filibusters. those are the days before the current rule on cloture. at that time it took two-thirds of to stop debate. it was something to behold, sitting in the gallery to see the power of

4:13:23 to 4:13:36( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: senator "scoop" jackson on one hand and senator norris cotton to guide that bill through the senate and overcome the filibuster which was led by my late good friend strom thurmond. to; i thurmond. it

4:13:36 to 4:13:48( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: is, i think, a total tribute to our democracy. this enormous act of admitting a state -- there had not been another state admitted since s arizona in 1913 and here we are in a post world war ii period

4:13:48 to 4:14:03( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: where part of the momentum for getting statehood was, in fact, the people who had served in the armed forces and were stationed in alaska or hawaii. many were stationed in the territories and went

4:14:03 to 4:14:18( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: back to the territories after they were released from service after we won world war ii. but this day, the day that the senate finally passed this bill was a very unique day. it was -- the galleries

4:14:18 to 4:14:31( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: was full. that is a reason i was in the press gallery rather than the normal gallery for visitors. very clearly we knew it was going to be a typical -- difficult day for us. we countd votes trying

4:14:31 to 4:14:47( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: to predict what would happen but when it happened i want the senate to know something guarantee happened. the people that were in that paragraph -- except for the president gathered right owe in the

4:14:47 to 4:15:00( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: reception room of the senate. when we went to the senate, republican and democrat alike, member and people from the gallery, went to the then chapel of the united states senate. we offered a prayer

4:15:00 to 4:15:22( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: to thank the people who had given us this new right. it was one of the most significant days that i can remember in my life. and i'm proud of my colleague who has brought upon the senate the idea

4:15:22 to 4:15:40( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: of having some remembrance here of what went on in those days. our state has become a state that is -- i dropped my comments here -- we have developed our economy to be one of the great producers of

4:15:40 to 4:15:55( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: natural resources.~ many people have challenged tllhat and we're currently blocked and exploring thein outer continental shelf of our state. two third of the area. one well, every well so far that

4:15:55 to 4:16:10( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: has been tried has been blocked. we have been blocked now for 25 years at getting the right -- we thought we achieved in the 1980 act that set aside 1 1/2 million acres the arctic for oil and gas

4:16:10 to 4:16:26( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: exploration in the arctic. i hope that there is a time when we recognize our errors of the past and we find that the arctic coastal plain will be open. once it is the alaska pipeline that is built to carry

4:16:26 to 4:16:40( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: one million barrels a day will be full because we know from the seismic that there is no question that the oil on the coastal plain that some people call anwr, but the development of that plain will

4:16:40 to 4:16:53( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: bring us -- billions of dollars that we want to dedicate to development renewable and alternative resources. for instance, we have half of the coal in the united states. we should have mine math conversations

4:16:53 to 4:17:12( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: to coal -- coal gasification. we have the magnificent military bases in our state. they all need lots of energy. we have to find way to ensure that they will have energy in our national defense. so

4:17:12 to 4:17:25( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: we are proceeding, i think, to the point where the american people know what we must have. and that is we must have the trite proceed to develop our resources. fred seton, whose picture was photographed

4:17:25 to 4:17:38( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: there was a senator separate of nebraska and he made only one statement here on the floor of the seafnlt he was absolutely convinced that alaska should become a state. so let me read a portion of what he

4:17:38 to 4:17:53( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: said, mr. president. "alaska is as deserving of state hood and is in greatly need of state hood as were any of the present states when it was their turn before the barf the senate. the let us deal

4:17:53 to 4:18:07( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: with the american citizens in aha lass ka than our forebayerers dealt with in their respective territories. alaska will keep the faith and carry the grand old united states tradition. alaska's

4:18:07 to 4:18:21( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: star for too long has been denied its rightful place on the glorious floong the united states of america." mr. president, we, as alaskans are proud of what we have done since we became a part of the united

4:18:21 to 4:18:37( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: states in 1967 when the secretary led the negotiation to buy the territory of alaska from russia for a near two cents an acre. we have contributed substantially to the income, the resources and

4:18:37 to 4:18:56( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: to the well-being of our people. we are the northern tiered area for the defense of this country. our national missile defense site is at fort greenly in alaska. it has the capability of defending

4:18:56 to 4:19:07( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: the whole united states. 360-degrees around from -- from maine to florida -- from the tip of florida to the tip of alaska that national defense site protects america. they defend our country and defend

4:19:07 to 4:19:23( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: our way of life. i think that this is a wonderful thing to celebrate the fact that the senate took the action that it did in proving the basic approach to the house to take the initiative to bring

4:19:23 to 4:19:38( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: alaska into the union. we were followed by our great and dear friends from hawaii and many people wonder why we're so close, those of us from hawaii and those from alaska. we represent off-shore states.

4:19:38 to 4:19:51( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: when we got here, many of the laws that applied to the other states did not apply to us. hawaii has four senators and alaska has four senators because we have a lot in common. we don't vote together

4:19:51 to 4:20:04( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: on issues of national issues. that's not our position. but when it comes to the rights of our states, we have shown what can happen in the congress of the united states when two delegations say we

4:20:04 to 4:20:17( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: are together and as new states we serve to be recognized and to be treated as equal partners in union and i'm proud to say that with the alliance that we have with senators inouye and akaka that

4:20:17 to 4:20:35( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Stevens: has been achieved in my almost 40 years herrse. thank you very much, mr. president. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president, i want to thank my senior colleague for his comments. it's rare that we

4:20:35 to 4:20:50( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: have an opportunity to speak from such personal knowledge about the battle for state hood and senator stevens, as he spoke, i imagined him sitting up there in the gallery watching this debate anxiously

4:20:35 to 4:21:43( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Lisa Murkowski