{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.murkowski.senate.gov/press/release/murkowski-sullivan-welcome-official-coast-guard-announcement-icebreaker-will-be-homeported-in-juneau", "Murkowski, Sullivan Welcome Official Coast Guard Announcement: Icebreaker Will Be Homeported in Juneau", "2024-08-14", "2024", "2024-08", "Republican", "Senate", "AK", "Lisa Murkowski", "M001153", "www.murkowski.senate.gov", "murkowski", "https://www.murkowski.senate.gov/press/press-releases?PageNum_rs=11", "scraper", "ANCHORAGE, ALASKA\u2014U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan (both R-Alaska) today applauded the official announcement by the Coast Guard (USCG) that a commercial icebreaker will be homeported in Juneau. Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Linda L. Fagan, who is currently traveling with the senators in Alaska, had previously committed to the senators that the icebreaker would be homeported in Juneau. However, until now, the decision had not been made final.\n\nIn March, Sullivan and Murkowski successfully secured $125 million to purchase the icebreaker in the FY 2024 Homeland Security Appropriations Act after years of advocacy. The United States currently has only one operational heavy icebreaker, the Polar Star, which is on its second life extension. Our one medium icebreaker, the Healy, recently underwent an operational fire and was forced to cancel an Arctic mission. Russia has 55 icebreakers and they are building more.\n\n\u201cThis announcement is a long-awaited landmark for Alaska and our nation\u2019s icebreaker fleet, reflecting the simple fact that icebreakers belong in Alaska,\u201d Senator Murkowski said. \u201cSince 2016, I have overseen nearly $2 billion in investment to build out our icebreaking capacity, including the appropriation of $125 million to purchase this vessel and over $1.8 billion for the Polar Security Cutter program, in an effort to bring the United States\u2019 fleet up to par with Arctic and even non-Arctic nations. Homeporting this commercial icebreaker in Juneau is also an acknowledgment of the importance of Alaska\u2019s strategic role in America\u2019s defense, especially as China and Russia increase their presence in the Arctic and encroach upon our borders. My thanks go to Admiral Fagan and the U.S. Coast Guard for working with our congressional delegation to get us to today\u2019s announcement.\n\nFederal appropriations to purchase the ship is just the first step, however. In addition to outfitting the Aivuq to meet Coast Guard specification, more must be done on shoreside infrastructure, housing, and preparing for more Coast Guard families in Juneau and I stand ready to help facilitate that along with the rest of the delegation. As I repeat often, we are an Arctic nation because of Alaska and we require the assets and manpower to fully and competently carry out our mission in the Arctic.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis is an exciting day for Juneau, for Alaska, and for America. I want to commend Admiral Fagan for making this important announcement in our state, among Alaskans, and for keeping her commitment to homeport an icebreaker in Juneau,\u201d said Senator Sullivan. \u201cThe need to build up our icebreaking capacity could not be more urgent: Just days ago, the Healy had to abort its summer Arctic patrol due to a fire, and the 50-year-old Polar Star remains out of commission undergoing its own repairs. Our national security interests in the Arctic have also never been more critical, demonstrated by the joint Russian and Chinese naval and air task forces that have operated off Alaska\u2019s coastline these past two years. Since coming to the Senate, I\u2019ve been working relentlessly to wake up our federal government to the strategic importance of this region. The sea change we\u2019ve achieved since 2015 is unprecedented: serious Arctic security strategies from the Department of Defense (DOD) and each of the military services, a new DOD Arctic Security Studies Center at JBER, a new Department of Homeland Security Arctic Domain Awareness Center at UAA, America\u2019s first deep-water Arctic port in Nome, a massive increase in Coast Guard vessels and infrastructure throughout Alaska that I secured working with the previous commandant, and now, an icebreaker will officially be coming to Juneau. We have a lot more work to do, but this is an important milestone and I know that the entire community of Juneau is working hard to prepare for it.\u201d\n\nBackground:\n\nThe United States\u2019 only operational heavy icebreaker, the Polar Star, is currently undergoing repairs in California. America\u2019s one medium icebreaker, the Healy, recently suffered an engine fire and is in process of returning to port for repairs. Russia has 55 icebreakers and is in the process of building more. By 2025, China, which has no sovereignty over any Arctic waters, is set to surpass the United States\u2019 icebreaker fleet. The Alaska congressional delegation has long since recognized this as a competitive disadvantage in the Arctic and advocated for additional resources to bolster the USCG icebreaker fleet.\n\nThe Coast Guard section of the FY 2024 Homeland Security Appropriations Act allocated $125 million to purchase the icebreaker, so that the medium icebreaker would be available for use by the USCG. This funding is a result of over four years of advocacy by both Senators and engagement over the span of two administrations with senior leaders in the USCG, Department of Homeland Security, National Security Council, Office of Management & Budget, and colleagues in the House of Representatives and Senate. Specific authorization for the acquisition of the vessel and expedited procurement authority for the vessel as part of the Don Young Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2022. That bill also authorized the conveyance of 2.4 acres of waterfront property from NOAA to the Coast Guard to facilitate the icebreaker homeporting in Juneau. That transfer was completed on February 7, 2024. Sen. Sullivan also put a hold on certain USCG promotions until the Coast Guard produced a long-promised study on the homeporting of an icebreaker in Alaska\u2014which ultimately recommended Juneau as the preferred homeporting location.\n\nIn this year\u2019s budget process, Senator Murkowski further worked to minimize harmful cuts to the Polar Security Cutter (PSC) Program. This program is vital to recapitalizing the USCG\u2019s icebreaker fleet with new assets capable of bolstering essential U.S. national security interests and our presence in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Since FY 2017, Senator Murkowski has overseen $1.88 billion towards the PSC Program.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:41:32Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.murkowski.senate.gov/press/release/murkowski-sullivan-welcome-official-coast-guard-announcement-icebreaker-will-be-homeported-in-juneau"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3632539194077253, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}