Senate Proceeding on Mar 25th, 2009 :: 1:15:40 to 1:26:15
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1:15:28 to 1:15:49( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: without objection, so ordered. the clerk will the clerk: the senator from alaska, ms. purr cause mr. dorgan proposes h.r. 691.

1:15:40 to 1:26:15( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Lisa Murkowski

1:15:50 to 1:16:10( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: ms. murk the amendment reading be disposed with. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. murkowski: before the amendment that i have at the desk on behalf of my colleague senatosenator dorgan, and others, i would like to generally speak the measure that we have in front of us this morning, the serve america act.

1:16:11 to 1:16:31( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: i am a strong supporter of vonteer service in this country, including global youth service day. i'm proud and pleased that this reauthorization has been developed and brought to the floor in a bipartisan manner. the work that has been done on this legislation is the product of, i think, the best tradition

1:16:32 to 1:16:54( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: of the senate help committee and the senate itself. i offer my congratulations to those who worked very hard on this, senator kennedy, senator mikulski, senator ens yism they have done a very -- en enzi. they have done a very good job on. this i would like to thank some people in my state of alaska for

1:16:55 to 1:17:16( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: their comments on the various drafts we would send it off to them and get good preesh think that the, appreciate that, nita and rachel

1:17:17 to 1:17:37( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: morris, denise danyello, angela serlano, and many, many others who were helpful in insights from the provider's perspective on this. americor and the vista programs are a vital par of alaska's communities. and i would like to take a few minutes this morning to give some of the examples of the very

1:17:38 to 1:17:59( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: valuable work that the volunteers are doi and to congratulate them for their for more than 10 years americorps volunteers with the student conservat have served alaska and the nation on our public lands, they're out in the national park, they're in lake clark national park and preserve.

1:18:00 to 1:18:22( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: every year over one million people visit alaska to see these natural resources to hike and to camp and fish and explore. the conservation service provided by these students helps protect the scenic beauty of our state including our volcanos and glaciers and water falls, my

1:18:23 to 1:18:44( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: family and i hiked the trail a couple of years ago and walked into a group of 10 americorps volunteers who were out on the trail just building and refurbishing some of the old historic cabins along the way and making the trail our many, many visitors. the students research and

1:18:45 to 1:19:06( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: monitor fish and wildlife populations as well as watershed essential for the salmon. this year 80 of the americorps volunteers will work in inlet to support fish management. in addition to providing natural resource, stewardship, visitor services and environmental education, their work supports

1:19:07 to 1:19:27( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: alaska's key economic engines which are the fisheries an tourism. in 2008s.e.a. replaced high school students and college students in alaska who provided 76,000 service hours valued at ov

1:19:28 to 1:19:49( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: in -- $1.5 million. in alaska last year there were 54 vista and i will give you a snapshot of one of those projects it was at juno douglas also, the choice project. the choice program, which is choosing healthy options in cooperative education, focuses

1:19:50 to 1:20:11( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: on improving the academic achievement at 100 at-risk students at the high it helps the -- high school. it helps to develop a feeling of belonging with the community at-large. it involves not only the choice students, but they also involve the community in the education and learning of the students.

1:20:12 to 1:20:33( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: we had our vista coordinator jennifer, recruited 4 42 community coordinators for the agencies and local businesses. in conjunction with the national council on alcohol and drug dependency, we had three alaska teen institute retreats and

1:20:34 to 1:20:54( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: coordinated the beyond school program where six community volunteers teach high school freshmen hands-on skills such as radio announcements about healthy choices, and short video biographies of tribal elders and healthy choices within the school.

1:20:55 to 1:21:15( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: in a strong community like we have in juno, the retention of internships is no small feat. students have reports with the internships and the performance that we see coming out of these kids is great. they're proud of their accomplishments. the students have become involved with the community and

1:21:16 to 1:21:36( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: it is a real win. mr. president, the great public servant who's run alaska's national service programs have noted the positive aspects for increasing the recruitment an

1:21:37 to 1:21:58( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: and increasing the positive tcomes. there are a few items they look to in the serve america act that are very help full. the first is the increase in living allowance and education awards, it has the potential to increase the retention of americorps members especially from the rural alaskan communities. allows senior volunteers to transfer the education award to

1:21:59 to 1:22:19( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: a child or grandchild, again, this will help with the recruitment efforts. increases the focus on individuals with a disabilitiy parallelling one of the focus areas of our alaska state commission. increasing the connection with theommission on aging and inner generational programs meets another one of alaska's

1:22:20 to 1:22:42( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: performance measures. having this provision in the act will assist with moving this partnership forward. it will strengthen the state service plan, having a amount for the formula grants for both americorps and learn and serve is ver state of alaska and other states that have equally small populations and then the increase for the operation of the state comssion is a

1:22:43 to 1:23:04( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: positive even if obtaining the required one to one match will be challenging for a state like ours, but we do believe it is a positive step. and from the perspective of one of alaska's largest service grantees, they noted the following: that the effort to expand and improve opportunities for national and community service should positively

1:23:05 to 1:23:25( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: benefit the grouping of corps or the service programs into education corps, healthy future clean energy service corps, opportunity corps or veterans corps, coupled with defined performance indicators will add valu corporation for the national

1:23:26 to 1:23:46( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: service framework. linking the value of the education award to the maximum value of the pell grant will improve the strength and success of the americorps programs in alaska and americorps living allowance from $16,000 to $18,000 will especially benefit the programs serving rural alaska communities.

1:23:47 to 1:24:07( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: mr. president, let me just speak to the amendment that i h called up. this is amendment 691 offered on behalf of my colleague senator dorgan. this amendment to the serve america act designates a tribal liaison for the corporati for national and community svice and to keep indian tribes as

1:24:08 to 1:24:29( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: eligible under existing law for nationally competive grants. the corporation has recognized the need for a tribal liaison position and designated an individual to reach out to native american communities. this amendment will make that position permanent. the tribal liaison will work across all programs an support -- and support units to increase

1:24:30 to 1:24:50( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: native participation in national service an help to enhanced programming to address the unique needs of native american communities. in addition, we indian tribes as eligible under existing law for nationally competitive grants. current law allows tribes to compete for funds with states andational nonprofit organizations.

1:24:51 to 1:25:12( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: so this amendment would maintai the eligibility of tribes to compete with states and national nonprofit organizations for national competive grants. mr. president, many of these activities and indicators under the proposed corps in this act are directly applicable to indian country and access to these grants with the assistance with a tribal liaison is important.

1:25:13 to 1:25:33( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: we know and recognize that the education of american indians and alaska natives lags far behind that of the rest of the country and the provisions of the education corps will help address these needs by providing mentors and tutors to native students. likewise the healthy future corps would help address the ck of access to health care on many reservations.

1:25:34 to 1:25:55( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: american indians have higher disease rates, lower life expectancy than the general population an volunteers serving in the healthy future corps could assist those who live on reservations in obtaining health services. i would encourage my colleagues to look at this amendment that has been offered and to provide

1:25:56 to 1:26:15( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: the support for this very importantribal liaison within the corporation for national and community service. and with that, mr. president, i would, again, like to thank senators kennedy, senator mikulski, senator hatch, senator enzi for their d public them on what i think is good legislation before the senate at