IV.             Trump’s EO

Regardless of political party, I encourage all of you to read it, understand it, and most importantly, work with us to use it for the betterment of the people we are honored to represent.

This executive order could help bring so many of the big, long-sought ambitions in our state and thousands of good-paying jobs with it.

This Alaska executive order also works as a blueprint to upend our assumptions on how long economic development projects should take to permit and build. We’re so used to the “mother may I” federal permitting slog and the use of delay tactics to kill projects in our state, that, in many ways, we’ve come to accept it. Ten years to permit a hydro project. Twenty years to permit the Kensington Mine right here outside of Juneau. Forty years to permit the Cooper Landing Bypass. The Willow Project has been in the works since 1999. It will have spanned six administrations before first oil.

Now, this executive order is not a panacea. Far-left eco-colonialist environmental groups will still sue to kill projects in our state and deprive Alaska Natives of their sovereignty. But we are the only state in the country with our own executive order from this administration. Alaska has never seen such a positive signal directly from a U.S. President that we should pursue our vision of a state that seeks private sector wealth and job creation with a federal government that is a partner in opportunity, not a hostile opponent!

By the way, related to this EO, a little bit of breaking news: The Secretary of the Interior just issued a follow-on order —they just put a press release out —on this. I’ve been trading phone calls with him the last two days, so I haven’t talked to him directly. When you take a look at it, their order opens up 82 percent of the NPR-A—reversing the Biden EOs—reinstates the ANWR leasing program, which was in the law—reversing the Biden EOs—and very importantly, something we as Alaskans have been trying to get done since the 1970s: It lifts Public Land Order 5150—that is the TAPS corridor—and it gives that land back to the State of Alaska. That’s big news. I promise you, I did not coordinate that press release with this speech. It was purely serendipitous.

V.                Where Government Funding is Needed

Of course, there is still a very important role for the federal government in our state. Let me talk about a number of things we’re focused on back in D.C., where we are trying to partner with the federal government—and working with all of you—for the betterment of the citizens we represent.

We are a resource-rich but infrastructure-poor state. You all know it. We all know it. We have less road miles than Connecticut, and we’re almost 120 times bigger. Since I’ve been in office, we’ve successfully fought for billions of dollars in federal funds to help us build out our basic infrastructure—roads, bridges, water and sewer in our Native communities, broadband, ferries. These are critical for our state. We need to make sure, and you have my commitment, working with all of you, that our STIP process maximizes these important federal infrastructure investments for Alaska.

1. Military

We are the most strategically located place in the world. My Senate colleagues get so bored and annoyed when I continue to quote Billy Mitchell, the father of the U.S. Air Force, about Alaska being the most strategic place in the world.

Our military has always been on the frontlines, protecting our state and our country. We are experiencing an unprecedented number of new incursions, with Russia and China working together in our air and on our waters—our ADIZ and our EEZ. As I mentioned, this is unprecedented.

We’re working relentlessly to continue to build up our military here. We’re anticipating billions of dollars in new military construction for our state.

Military investments have never been more important for our national security. Fortunately, the Trump administration recognizes this, particularly as it relates to missile defense.

We are the cornerstone of missile defense for the whole country. The 49th Missile Defense Battalion at Fort Greely has this great motto: the “300 protecting the 300 million.” That’s what we do in Alaska. It’s one of the many things we’re proud of.

I recently introduced legislation to work in conjunction with the Trump administration’s executive order on an “Iron Dome” missile defense for America. This ambitious project—take a look at our legislation. It lays out what it will look like for the country; lays out what it would do for Alaska. It will mean billions of dollars of additional investments in our state in terms of radars and sensors, personnel. We’re dreaming big with this idea, and we’re going to need your help.

We’re also going back to the future on the strategic importance of the Aleutian Islands.

With authoritarian aggression on the rise, especially near our borders, I am happy to report that after five years of dogged persistence on the Armed Services Committee from me and my team—countless hearings, meetings, amendments in the National Defense Authorization Act—the NORTHCOM commander and INDOPACOM commander in hearings have recently agreed that we need to re-open the Naval base at Adak for our national security.

I was recently briefed by the CNO of the Navy—the top admiral in the U.S. Navy. They’re going to be sending a team next week to assess the investments needed in order to reopen Adak as part of our defense perimeter on the northern border for our country.

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