Young, Don Rep alas

see murkowski

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AN 1 26

On Thursday morning, January 8, five Republican senators — Maine's Susan Collins, Alaska's Lisa Murkowski, Kentucky's Rand Paul, Missouri's Josh Hawley, and Indiana's Todd Young — joined Senate Democrats in voting to advance a resolution to block President Donald Trump from using military force against Venezuela. And Trump responded by personally attacking the senators in a post on his Truth Social platform.

Trump wrote: "Republicans should be ashamed of the Senators that just voted with Democrats in attempting to take away our Powers to fight and defend the United States of America. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul, Josh Hawley, and Todd Young should never be elected to office again. This Vote greatly hampers American Self Defense and National Security, impeding the President’s Authority as Commander in Chief."

Trump went on to attack the senators for invoking the War Powers Act in their resolution.

The U.S. president posted: "In any event, and despite their 'stupidity,' the War Powers Act is Unconstitutional, totally violating Article II of the Constitution, as all Presidents, and their Departments of Justice, have determined before me."

Trump's post is drawing a lot of responses on X.

MAGA Republican Breanna Morello, formerly with far-right network Newsmax, applauded Trump's post, writing: "President Donald Trump calls out The RINO Senators that are teaming up with Senate Democrats to undermine the White House. This includes Senators Susan Collins, Rand, Paul, Lisa Murkowski, Josh Hawley, and Todd Young."

Eric Daugherty of the right-wing Florida's Voice News posted, "The White House CONFIRMED this would be vetoed."

But CNN's Aaron Blake, formerly of the Washington Post, argued that Collins is important to Republicans holding the U.S. Senate in the midterms.

Blake posted, "Collins is up for reelection this year and is key to Trump keeping a Senate majority."

MS NOW's Mychael Schnell tweeted: "Woah. President Trump blasts the 5 Senate Republicans who voted to advance the Venezuela war powers resolution. 'Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul, Josh Hawley, and Todd Young should never be elected to office again.' Republicans should be 'ashamed' of them, he adds."

The Missouri Independent's Jason Hancock wrote: "Republican Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri, Todd Young of Indiana, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska split with their party to act as a check on the administration's use of military forces."

Bloomberg News' Steven Dennis tweeted: "5 Republicans defied Trump on Venezuela, with some citing his talk of running the country indefinitely: Todd Young (Served as a Marine) Josh Hawley Susan Collins Lisa Murkowski Rand Paul."

Dennis, in a separate tweet, also posted: "Trump issued a veto threat, so passing this in the Senate - expected next week after today's 52-47 vote - is 15 votes shy in the Senate of an override (and needs 2/3rds in House too.)…. Still this is a very rare rebuke of Trump 2.0. (He's also lost votes on his tariffs on Canada)."

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https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/a-pandemic-is-laying-bare-the-gops-blatant-corruption-and-recklessness/

no lnx

A pandemic is laying bare the GOP’s blatant corruption and recklessness

President Donald J. Trump applauds during the federal judicial confirmation milestone event Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2019, in the East Room of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Julianna Luz)

Written by Heather Digby Parton / Salon March 20, 2020

As we watch states around the country start to shut down, one by one, as if the lights were all going out across the country, there is plenty of discussion about President Trump’s bungled response and his compulsion to deliver happy talk and disinformation to the American people. Now that he is unable to hold his beloved rallies and has taken over the daily coronavirus briefing, the opportunities for the latter are unfortunately multiplying. His performances before the cameras every day are getting more and more surreal.

On Thursday, Trump came before the country touting a supposed wonder drug that he promised looked like a major breakthrough. (In fact, it’s a standard antimalarial medication.) As usual, the experts had to walk that back later, saying that it’s just one of many drugs being considered as a possible treatment but they won’t know for months. Reports coming from within the administration confirm that the bungling continues unabated. Between Jared’ Kushner’s “shadow task force” and turf wars among the various players, it seems nobody really knows who’s running the show. It certainly isn’t Trump, who is clearly spending most of his time watching Fox News and the stock market ticker.

There was a time when we might have expected Republicans in Congress to wake up from their stupor and exert some leadership in the face of a president’s overwhelming incompetence in such a crisis. Sure, maybe they felt it was no big deal that he engaged in a criminal cover-up from the moment he took his oath, or that he extorted a foreign leader to smear his political opponent.

Maybe it doesn’t mean anything to them that he’s pretty much dismantled the executive branch as a functional part of government and completely destroyed America’s reputation abroad. Assaulting the press, nepotism, rampant corruption and intentionally dividing the country into warring camps obviously aren’t things that keep them up at night.

But you would have thought GOP lawmakers might be just a little bit concerned about their own voters getting sick and dying in droves. Not to mention the collapse of the world economy.

Unfortunately, leading Republicans don’t seem all that worked up about it, or at least not in public. Recall that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell adjourned the Senate for three days last week. He didn’t feel it was necessary to stay in session so they could put together an emergency economic package to help the millions of workers and owners who have lost their jobs and businesses overnight.

He had priorities and they didn’t include trying to mitigate the effects of what appears to be an impending economic meltdown:

Sherrod Brown

@SenSherrodBrown

This is why Mitch McConnell sent the Senate home for the weekend. To join Brett Kavanaugh at an oath ceremony for one of his judicial nominees.

Unbelievable.https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mcconnell-absent-from-negotiations-on-coronavirus-economic-relief-package/2020/03/13/7f5f495e-6541-11ea-b3fc-7841686c5c57_story.html …

McConnell finally reconvened the Senate this week and Republicans came up with their own plan on Thursday evening — over which, unfortunately, the GOP caucus is still squabbling. Politico’s Jake Sherman reports that Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.. and new White House chief of staff Mark Meadows are lobbying Trump to reject the idea of immediate cash payments. Apparently they don’t think it’s important to get money into the hands of the millions of people whose incomes have abruptly dried up, and prefer an increase in unemployment benefits. (Why this should be either/or is beyond me. Clearly, we need both.)

They aren’t the only Republican senators who don’t like the bill McConnell came up with, with some favoring loans to small businesses and others arguing against bailouts. As they continue to bicker amongst themselves. many are displaying their ignorance, shallowness and irresponsibility during this emergency.

Here’s Alaska’s long-serving solo congressman, Rep. Don Young, sounding like one of those drunken kids on spring break in Fort Lauderdale, characterizing the response to the epidemic as “hysteria” and exhorting a group of senior citizens not to follow the instructions of public health experts:

This beer virus I call it — they call it a coronavirus, I call it a beer virus — how do you like that? It attacks our senior citizens. Now, I’m one of you. I still say we have to as a nation, as a state, to go forth with our everyday activities.

Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin expressed his skepticism as well:

I’m not denying what a nasty disease COVID-19 can be, and how it’s obviously devastating to somewhere between 1 and 3.4 percent of the population. But that means 97 to 99 percent will get through this and develop immunities and will be able to move beyond this. But we don’t shut down our economy because tens of thousands of people die on the highways. It’s a risk we accept so we can move about. We don’t shut down our economies because tens of thousands of people die from the common flu.

Johnson is a multimillionaire businessman, but he seems to be a bit confused about numbers. Traffic accidents account for about 34,000 deaths per year in the U.S. If the coronavirus kills 1 to 3.4 percent of the population, that would add up to somewhere between 3 and 11 million people. I suspect that could be pretty bad for business, but what do I know?

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., wasted everyone’s time with an irrelevant amendment and gave a speech in which he referred to immigrants as “non-people.” Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said he couldn’t understand why Chinese people would be upset that Trump is calling this disease the “Chinese virus”because “Spain never got upset when we referred to the Spanish flu in 1918 and 1919.” (They did get upset. That pandemic originated in Kansas, but Spain was the only country not under wartime censorship so that’s where it was first reported. That’s not a good precedent.)

The Republicans have lost the ability to legislate, even in an emergency. All they know how to do is confirm unqualified judges and protect Donald Trump from accountability.

Well, actually — they also know how to look out for No. 1. NPR reported on Thursday that Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., had given a private briefing to some influential big donors on Feb. 27. As chairman of the Intelligence Committee as well as co-author of the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act, Burr was in a good position to know what was coming down. He warned this select audience that the coronavirus was akin to the 1918 flu pandemic and that we might have to close schools, curtail travel and call out the military.

Here’s what the president was telling the American people at that time:

Aaron Rupar

@atrupar

“We’re going to be pretty soon at only 5 people, and we could be at just 1 or 2 people over the next short period of time” — Trump on US coronavirus cases on February 26 (there are now more than 10,000 cases in the country)

Embedded video

JM Rieger

@RiegerReport

Trump earlier today on coronavirus:

“It’s going to disappear one day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear. And from our shores, you know, it could get worse before it gets better, could maybe go away, we’ll see what happens. Nobody really knows.”

Embedded video

ProPublica reported later on Thursday that Burr had sold millions of dollars worth of stock days before he gave his big-donor buddies this helpful heads-up. As it happens, Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., whose husband just happens to be the chairman and CEO of the New York Stock Exchange, also dumped millions of dollars worth of stock immediately after a full Senate briefing on the virus by the subcommittee on health.

How likely is it that they are the only ones?

Everyone thinks the Republican establishment is afraid of Donald Trump. This entire episode suggests that’s not true. It isn’t that they’re afraid of him. They’re just like him.

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320

congressman Skipped the Coronavirus Relief Vote. Instead, He Went Home to Tell Senior Citizens to Blame Mass Media.

Rep. Don Young of Alaska isn’t the only politician to downplay the threat of coronavirus, in direct contrast with his state government’s public efforts. He may be the only one to do so at a gathering of senior citizens, though.

by Kyle Hopkins, Anchorage Daily News

==

dara lovitz muzzling a movement

pt 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mel4tKazkmk

if activist lose, end up putting $ into biz

designer bills in reaction to activist action eg baboon release

brit vivisection quote

rik scarce academic 190 days in jail for refuse testify grand jury ~ ron coronado

don young said animal rights ppl did 911! 2006 hse hearing

==

Don Young enjoys drilling for oil in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge, tax cuts for billionaires, and arming teachers in order to address school shootings. It's all fairly standard for a Republican in 2018. A Democratic challenger, however, caught Young on tape with a take on the Holocaust that stands out even in an age when the president has announced on national television that a clash between actual Nazis and anti-fascists protesters had "good people on both sides." According to a recording made by Dimitri Shein, Young believes that theHolocaust would have turned out differently if only the Jews had been armed.

"How many millions of people were shot and killed because they were unarmed? Fifty million in Russia,” the congressman is heard asking. “How many Jews were put in the ovens because they were unarmed?”

Shein previously asked Young about public safety, which prompted the response.

As the Sacramento Bee points out, "The argument that gun control eased Adolf Hitler’s rise in Germany before World War II has circulated among gun-rights advocates for years, even appearing in a National Review article. The Anti-Defamation League, however, has called the claim outlandish."

Young is Alaska's only member of the House, a position he's held since 1973. Shein immigrated to Alaska from Russia at the age of 12, and has been a resident ever since. He is an accountant who invented a planter box and now runs an e-commerce company selling them all over the country. According to an interview with radio station KTOO, Shein, who has no political experience, isrunning on a platform of Medicare for All.

Shein currently lags behind Young in fundraising and polling, although perhaps this recording will give him a boost.

Watch the whole exchange below.

omg

http://www.alternet.org/animal-rights/radical-gop-led-bill-promotes-killing-americas-threatened-species

ast week, the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources passed the Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act—the so-called SHARE Act—with votes coming only from Republican members of the committee.

Democrats recognized that this bill has little to do with rank-and-file sportsmen’s issues, and saw it for what it is: a grab bag of shameful provisions aimed at opening National Park Service lands to grizzly bear killing (of all places, they should be protected on our “national preserves”), poisoning wildlife with the use of lead tackle and ammunition (even though there are practical and affordable alternatives), and promoting the killing of threatened species (e.g., wolves and polar bears).

The bill has gained extensive media attention not for these provisions, but for one to allow the use of suppressors, often called silencers — a perfect tool for poachers in the field (hunters and other shooters already have a range of ear protection gear, from foam to custom ear plugs, so this provision to preserve hearing is an overreach).

The committee’s action in supporting this radical bill is not only at odds with common sense, but also with the unmistakable demographic patterns in the United States. Just last week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released its periodic report on wildlife recreation. Among other things, the report revealed that the number of wildlife watchers is soaring (a 20 percent increase in the last five years to 86 million in 2016), while hunter numbers have declined by two million since 2011, when the agency last examined the question, to just 11.5 million. Wildlife watchers outnumber sport hunters by a ratio of seven to one and spend $75.9 billion on their pursuits, as compared to $25.6 billion spent by hunters.

The Natural Resources Committee’s vote is really more about the wishes of the NRA and the Safari Club, and not about helping hunters and fishermen, who get almost nothing from this boondoggle of a bill and who would be shocked by its anti-conservation provisions. The vast majority of sport hunters are shooting deer or birds and consuming the meat. They are not the kind of sportsmen who wish to shoot threatened species such as grizzly bears or wolves, who are inedible and killed mainly for trophies only.

The bill includes an amendment from Alaska Congressman Don Young to strip protections for wolves and bears on National Park Service (NPS) lands in Alaska. This is his latest attempt to unwind an NPS rule that forbids extreme hunting methods on lands that never were meant to be set aside for these purposes. Last week, the full House narrowly passed an amendment on an annual spending bill to block implementation of the rule. What sport is there in killing wolves and their pups in their dens and luring grizzly bears with bait in order to shoot them at point-blank range? This disgraceful behavior shouldn’t happen anywhere, least of all on America’s national preserves.

The SHARE legislation includes a raft of other odious provisions, like loosening restrictions on the baiting of migratory waterfowl and barring EPA restrictions on the use of lead-based fishing equipment. SHARE also handcuffs the departments of Interior and Agriculture by prohibiting either agency from regulating the use of lead-based ammunition, ammunition cartridges, or fishing tackle where such uses are allowed by the state where the hunting and fishing occurs. One other provision would roll back the Marine Mammal Protection Act and provide a sweetheart deal to help 41 wealthy polar bear trophy hunters import the heads of rare polar bears they shot in Canada. It’s the latest in a series of these import allowances for trophy hunters, and it effectively encourages them to kill rare species around the world and then wait for a congressional waiver to bring back their trophies.

The most sweeping provision of the SHARE Act would give trophy hunters and commercial trappers priority access to the more than 100 million acres of congressionally designated “wilderness areas” across the nation. This provision weakens the core purpose of the Wilderness Act, which Congress enacted to preserve wild areas “where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.”

Let’s hope the U.S. House and Senate won’t give any meaningful attention to a package with these provisions. No representative or senator should be duped by a bill that masquerades as a measure to benefit sportsmen and sportswomen, but in reality is an all-out attack on wild native carnivores and threatened species, and an opening of our most cherished public lands to these unacceptable and gratuitous practices.

http://www.alternet.org/environment/house-committee-advances-legislation-attacking-national-forest-protections

key House committee Tuesday approved legislation that would devastate national forests by gutting endangered species protections, limiting public comment and environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act and increasing unfettered logging across all national forests and public forests run by the Bureau of Land Management.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.), would eliminate the Endangered Species Act’s requirements that the Forest Service ensure logging projects do not harm endangered wildlife and plants. TheHouse Committee on Natural Resources approved the measure along party lines.

“House Republicans are eager to let special interests destroy some of our most vital public lands, wildlife and watersheds,” said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “This bill would return forest management to the dark ages, when reckless logging devastated wildlife, degraded rivers and ruined recreation opportunities for countless Americans.”

The legislation is a timber-industry wish list. Among other harmful provisions, it would allow rushed logging projects up to 30,000 acres or 46 square miles without meaningful public involvement or scientific evaluation of harms. The bill would render forest plans meaningless, roll back protections under the Northwest forest plan designed to protect old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest, and force the Forest Service to ignore potential impacts to thousands of species of concern.

It would also give private landowners with easements over public land full ownership of that land and allow spraying of herbicides without review of harm to water, fish and wildlife.

The committee also voted along party lines to approve a separate bill sponsored by Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) that would remove hundreds of acres from Alaska’s Izembek National Wildlife Refuge and strip the refuge’s wilderness designation to allow a road to be built through its heart. The road would destroy wildlife habitat, including fragile wetlands and marshes.

Young’s legislation would remove 206 acres from the Alaskan wildlife refuge in exchange for low-quality state lands. That would permit construction of a road connecting the towns of King Cove and Cold Bay. The Izembek National Wildlife Refuge is home to millions of migrating birds and important habitat for grizzly bears and salmon.

“Bulldozing a road through Izembek would devastate this breathtakingly beautiful wildlife refuge,” Hartl said. “Caribou and emperor geese would no longer have a home in a refuge created nearly 40 years ago to protect them. Wrecking this national treasure would deprive future generations of Americans of a vital piece of their natural heritage.”

In the first four months of the 115th Congress, Republicans have introduced more than 45 bills that attack public lands, weaken environmental safeguards on those lands or turn over control to states and local governments. These attacks come despite the fact that the vast majority of voters across political parties support protecting and maintaining forests, national parks, monuments and other public lands and waters.

http://www.globalpossibilities.org/trumps-order-silence-alaskan-native-voices/

==

Donald Edwin Young, a Republican, has represented the state of Alaska, as the at-large member to the United States House of Representatives since 1973. (map)

Record and controversies

Iraq War

Young voted for theAuthorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 that started the Iraq War.^[1]

During the debate in mid-February 2007 of a nonbinding resolution opposing President Bush's troop "surge" in Iraq, Congressman Young, who opposed the measure, falsely quoted Abraham Lincoln, stating, "Congressmen who willfully take action during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs, and should be arrested, exiled or hanged."

Main article: Congressional actions regarding President Bush’s 2007 proposed troop “surge” in Iraq

For more information see the chart of U.S. House of Representatives votes on the Iraq War.

Environmental record

For more information on environmental legislation, see theEnergy and Environment Policy Portal

American Land Sovereignty Act

In 1997 Representative Don Young (R-AK) introduced the American Land Sovereignty Act (H.R. 901) to reign in what he termed the "growing power of foreign entities on US soil". Young used theAlliance for America's Fly-In for Freedom to promote his bill that year. He attended the annual anti-environmental conference and delivered a speech supporting his bill.A backlash to the designation of the Yellowstone National Park as a World Heritage Area, H.R. 901 required Congressional approval for any designation of U.S. territory under U.N. or international treaties. Young allowed some of the more fringe elements of the anti-environmental lobby to testify at hearings for the bill. Those testifying included Betty Beaver of Take Back Arkansas and Henry Lamb of the Environmental Conservation Organization.

Alaska conservation

Young came to the House as an advocate of the trans-Alaska pipeline, tenaciously promoting the interests of mining, oil, timber, loggers, drillers and developers seeking to open up Alaska to commercial interests. He fought against the 1980 Alaska Lands Bill, and although the bill was passed, Young managed to whittle down the wilderness acreage considerably and secured provisions for development. Nevertheless, Young complained the bill was unfair to Alaskans. "People can sit on this floor and say it is all right to take what is already the people's of Alaska. That is immoral . . . None of you has to go home to unemployment created by national legislation." Young reportedly broke down in tears following his remarks. (50 State Review: Alaska Clearinghouse on Environmental Advocacy and Research)

CLEAN Energy Act resistance

Young opposed theCLEAN Energy Act of 2007, which addressed royalties and tax breaks previously afforded to oil and gas companies. He stated, "If you want to do things right, let's tax foreign oil."^[2][3]

Main article: CLEAN Energy Act of 2007#Support and opposition

Controversial earmarks

Gravina Island Bridge

In 2005 Young and SenatorTed Stevens earmarked $223 million for building a bridge from Ketchikan to Gravina Island (pop. 50). Critics assailed this as pork barrel spending at taxpayers' expense and dubbed it the "Bridge to Nowhere". After criticism from citizens and others in Congress, lawmakers defunded the bridge specifically, and instead funneled the money to the state of Alaska's transportation department to use as it saw fit.[1] [2]

Knik Arm bridge

Allegedly, in early 2003, while Young was the Chairman of theHouse Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, he began drafting a highway bill that would provide federal funding for a bridge to an uninhabited area outside of anchorage called Knick Arm. Young along with Sens. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) earmarked the project which was overlooked because of the provisions of the Gravina Island Bridge incident (see above). According to a Roll Call report on May 14, 2007, Young's daughter, who is a staff member of Sen. Murkowski's, as well as other Alaska congressional staff members, previously bought land in Knik Arm and stood to profit off of the proposed bridge and following land development. ^[4]

Main article: Earmarks

Coconut Road project

Scandals and investigations

Abramoff scandal

Published reports have linked Young to theJack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal.

• In September 2002 Young and Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio) wrote to the General Services Administration urging the agency to give preferential treatment to groups such as Indian tribes when evaluating development proposals.[3] In particular, the letter referred to a historic building, the Old Post Office Pavilion in downtown Washington, DC.[4]

• The Marianas are a U.S. commonwealth, falling under jurisdiction of theHouse Resources Committee. The committee's chairman, from 1995 to 2003 was Rep. Don Young of Alaska.According to Joel Connelly of the Seattle Post Intelligencer, " One of [Abramoff's]] major legislative successes in 2000 was blocking legislation that would have put garment manufacturers in the Mariana Islands -- notorious for running sweatshops -- under federal labor laws," wrote (January 6, 2006).

• "Young used Abramoff's MCI Center skybox in Washington, D.C., for fund-raisers. Lower 48 Indian tribes represented by the super-lobbyist gave about $20,000 to Young's campaign committee, according to the Anchorage Daily News," Connelly also wrote.

• Don Young's former Chief of Staff Duane R. Gibson worked for Abramoff at Greenberg Traurig.

• In April 2007, Mark Zachares, former Young staffer and Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands employee, was arrested and expected to enter a plea of guilty. The list of charges all stem from his involvement in the Abramoff scandal.^[7]

Involvement in VECO scandal

In late July 2007, it was reported that Young, along with Sen.Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), was under criminal investigation for his ties to VECO Corp.^[8]

Over the previous decade, former VECO Chief Executive Bill Allen had been famous for holding a yearly "Pig Roast," a fundraiser held in support of Young. From 1996-2006, at least $157,000 was given to Young's campaign from VECO employees and its political-action committee.^[8] In January, Young's campaign-finance filings also paid out $38,000, labeled "fund-raising costs," to Bill Allen, the former VECO chief.^[8] The investigation was centered on determining whether Young provided political favors in return for the contributions.

Main article: Members of Congress under investigation

Illegal campaign contributions

In June 2007, Don Young filed a report with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) admitting to unknowingly having accepted illegal campaign contributions amounting to more than $5,500 from the seafood industry between 2000 and 2007. In June 2007, Young agreed to pay back the contributions to the Pacific Seafood Processors Association given since 2004, about $2,400, in keeping with the FEC's statute of limitations, intending to keep the illegal contributions made between 2000 and 2004. However, in early August, by which time Young was under federal investigation, he reversed his earlier decision and chose to refund the remaining campaign contributions, amounting to $3,175.[9]^[10]

Clash with Rep. Garrett

On July 18, 2007, proposed legislation by Rep.Scott Garrett (R-N.J.) that would have cut funding in Alaska launched Rep. Young into an outburst, claiming "Those who bite me will be bitten back," as a threat to Garrett. Young continued, "This is supposed to be a house of honor; you didn’t tell me you were going to offer this amendment... We are a new state. I have poverties that you don’t even think of and yet you say you want my money — my money, for my students that need to be educated — to go to New Jersey. This is a sad day for this House." Young also called New Jersey a "a state that doesn’t have the greatest reputation," and suggested that they seek better representation.^[11]

Other Representatives stepped in to support Garrett. Republican Study Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) wrote in a letter, "Rarely have I seen a member embody the principle, courage and caring for the people of his state as admirably as Scott Garrett... There is no more obvious indicator of a weak argument than one member personally denouncing another — or the people of his state — during a substantive policy discussion on the floor of the House of Representatives," Hansarling continued, criticizing Young's attack, "In addition, any member of Congress who confuses taxpayer money with their own has clearly spent too much time in Washington."^[11]

Reparations for Japanese Latin Americans

Bio

Young was born June 9, 1933 in Meridian, California. He earned an associate's degree in education from Yuba Junior College in 1952 and a bachelor's degree from Chico State College (now California State University, Chico) in 1958. He served in the United States Army from 1955 to 1957.

Young moved to Alaska in 1959, not long after it became a state. He eventually settled in Fort Yukon, a 700-person city on the Yukon River, 7 miles above the Arctic Circle in Alaska's central interior region. With a lifelong taste for adventure, he made a living in construction, fishing, trapping and gold mining. He captained a tugboat and ran a barge operation to to deliver products and supplies to villages along the Yukon River. During the winter, he taught fifth grade at the localBureau of Indian Affairs elementary school.

Young began his political career in 1964 when he was elected mayor of Fort Yukon. After only one term, he was elected to the Alaska State House and served two terms before being elected to the Alaska State Senate in 1970.

Young is the 8th-longest serving House member, and the 3rd most senior Republican (ranked only by Bill Young of Florida and Ralph Regula of Ohio). Due to his long tenure in the House and that of Senator Ted Stevens, Alaska is considered to have clout in national politics far beyond its small size (it has long been one of the smallest states in population and is currently 48th, ahead of only Vermont and Wyoming). He is often called "Alaska's third senator."

Young's voting record is relatively moderate by Republican standards. However, he vigorously opposes federal control of Alaska's land and resources. He is also a strong proponent of opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.

According to The New Republic, Young is "well-known for his sharp elbows and generous appetite for legislative pork."[5] His reputation for steering federal dollars to Alaska is almost as legendary as that of Stevens. For example, in the 2005 Highway Bill, Young helped secure "$941 million for 119 special projects," including a $231 million bridge in Anchorage which a rider in the bill would name for Young himself[6].

Congressional elections

Alaska's congressman,Democrat Nick Begich, disappeared in a plane crash on October 16, 1972. He was reelected to the House that November, but was declared dead on December 29. Young, who had been the Republican candidate against Begich in November, ran in the special election in March 1973 and won, just barely defeating Democrat Emil Notti. He won a full term in 1974 in another relative squeaker, largely due to his role in fighting for the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline. He didn't face another serious opponent until 1990. That year, John Devens, the mayor of Valdez, nearly defeated him. Devens ran another close race against Young in 1992, but Young was reelected in 1994 with 57 percent of the vote and has not faced serious opposition since. He was reelected to his 16th full term in 2004 with the most votes ever for a single candidate in a statewide election in Alaska.

• 1998 elections: Young defeated Jim Duncan (D), 63% to 35%. ^[12]

• 2000 elections: Young defeated Mark Greene (D), 71% to 17%. ^[13]

• 2002 elections: Young defeated Mark Greene (D), 75% to 17%. ^[14]

• 2004 elections: Young defeated Thomas M. Higgins (D), 71% to 23%. ^[15]

2006 elections

In 2006, theDemocrats nominated Diane E. Benson, the Libertarian Party nominated Alexander Crawford, and the Green Party nominated Eva L. Ince to face Young in his November 2006 bid for reelection.^[16] (See U.S. congressional elections in 2006). Young defeated Benson, 57% to 40%, with the Libertarian and Green candidates each receiving 1% of the vote. ^[17] Young's margin of victory was the smallest in at least eight years (since 1998) ^[18] and he outspent Benson 10 to 1, spending $1,959,806 to Benson's $192,484 in the race. ^[19]

2008 elections

In 2008,Diane Benson again ran for the Democratic nomination to face Young in the general election. ^[20]

Main article: Diane Benson

Although Young is being investigated for countless charges relating to bribery, he has decided to run for re-election in 2008. If elected, this will be his 19th term being the sole Alaskan representative in the House. ^{[21] [22]}

Don Young narrowly defeated challenger Sean Parnell in the Republican Primary. The results of the close race were delayed almost three weeks while absentee ballots were counted. Young secured victory by a 340-vote margin.^[23]

More Background Data

Wikipedia also has an article on Don Young. This article may use content from the Wikipedia article under the terms of the GFDL.

Committees and Affiliations

Committees

• House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
  • Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation
  • Subcommittee on Highways, Transit & Pipelines

• House Committee on Natural Resources - Ranking Member

Committee assignments in the 109th Congress (2005-2006)

• House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee -- Chair since 2001
• Resources Committee - former chair from 1995 - 2001
  • Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources
  • Subcommittee on Fisheries Conservation Wildlife and Oceans

• House Committee on Homeland Security
  • Subcommittee on Economic Security Infrastructure Protection and Cybersecurity
  • Subcommittee on Prevention of Nuclear and Biological Attack

Coalitions and Caucuses

• Executive Committee on Committees
• Republican Steering Committee

Board and other Affiliations

Young serves on the advisory board ofNational Wilderness Institute, an organization that claims to be the "voice of reason on the enviornment." NWI is dedicated to weakening the Endangered Species Act and other environmental protections. [7]

Young is a board member of the National Rifle Association.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Don_Young

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Alaskan Rep. Don Young, one of the House's most senior Republicans, has called global warming "the biggest scam since the Teapot Dome," referring to one of the most notorious bribery scandals in U.S. history. Young's state has warmed at twice the national average during the past 50 years. According to scientists, the permafrost underlying Alaska is melting and causing thousands of miles of road that lay on top of it to buckle and crack as it loses its form. Sections along the northwestern coast are eroding tens of feet per year, which has forced several coastal villages to be relocated. Melting glaciers are also causing dangerous flood surges toward major cities like Juneau, the New York Times reported this month.

Neither Grimm, Tipton nor Young responded to requests for comment.

Scientists say that climate change is a major factor in the rise of more frequent and severe extreme weather. The trend will continue, they say, until governments make drastic greenhouse gas reductions.

Currently, the United States is in the midst of its most extensive drought since the 1930s. Tens of thousands of wildfires have charred millions of acres of land in the American West, and more than 30,000 temperature records were broken last year alone.

According to a new report by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), one of Congress's staunchest proponents of climate policy, the 10 congressional districts that experienced the highest number of temperature records last year are represented by politicians who voted against climate-related policies 97 percent of the time during the last Congress.

A Different Response

For Democrats, extreme weather events in their districts have prompted calls to action.

Months after taking office in 2009, Alaskan Sen. Mark Begich, a Democrat, took a handful of senators on a tour of Alaska to show them the damage being caused by global warming.

"Alaska is ground zero for climate change," Begich told InsideClimate News. "While some would rather debate the causes of climate change, I am focused on dealing with the very real impacts we see every day."

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, five senators from New