Sullivan Shares Optimistic Vision for Alaska’s Future in Annual Address to Legislature

Senator Emphasizes Working Together to Overcome Challenges; Announces Marine Debris Foundation Headquarters in Juneau

JUNEAU, ALASKA—U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), in his annual address to a joint session of the Alaska Legislature today in Juneau, called Alaska “the big state that can” in recognition of Alaskans’ consistent track record of overcoming challenges and naysayers, pointing to the Willow project—the latest example of Alaskans uniting on an issue critical to the state’s future. Sen. Sullivan also outlined his vision of Alaska becoming a global research and intellectual hub, and announced that the new congressionally-chartered Marine Debris Foundation, which was part of his larger marine debris bill, the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act, will be headquartered in Juneau. Sen. Sullivan also highlighted recent progress for Alaska's fishing communities, and announced that the full ban on Russian seafood imports took effect today.

“This is the most important speech of the year for me because it’s where we can chart our progress working together—where we are and where we want to go—particularly as we focus on building our state for the next generation,” said Sen. Sullivan. “We have big challenges—some of which we have little control over. But one area where we do have control is our own sense of destiny and optimism. It’s been said that optimism is a ‘force multiplier.’ I agree and our own history bears this out. On so many big Alaska issues, there have been doomsayers and naysayers and roadblockers, both in and out of our state—there still are today. But the optimists who dare greatly in our state have consistently won the day…We are the big state that can!”

Sen. Sullivan also spoke about the billions of dollars in federal and private sector investments coming to Alaska, and the need for a well-trained workforce and greater availability of affordable housing to meet the moment.

Below is a full transcript of Senator Sullivan’s address as delivered.

I. Introduction

Good morning, everybody. President Stevens. Speaker Tilton. Members of the House and Senate from the Great State of Alaska. Thank you for inviting me to speak this morning to all of you.

It’s always great to be back home and to be here with you.

I want to begin by introducing my outstanding team that’s here today. We have a whole bunch of them: Larry Burton, my chief of staff; Erik Elam, my legislative director; Chad Padgett, my state director; Carina Nichols, who I’m going to brag about a little later—does great work on fisheries; Amanda Coyne, my communications director; Ben Dietderich, my press secretary; Kara Hollatz, my Southeast Regional Director. You can tell, this is a very important speech for us. We bring the whole darn team.

But, of course, the most important person in my world, the love of my life—my wife, Julie, is also here today.

Before I start, Julie and I want to extend our prayers to Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom for the loss of her 100-year-old father-in-law recently, a patriot and a World War II veteran. We are thinking of her and her family.

I also want to thank all of you, especially the freshman legislators, who have chosen to serve their fellow Alaskans by entering into the arena, as President Teddy Roosevelt called it in his famous speech, “Citizenship in a Republic,” which, as you guys know, I quote often.

The arena is not a place for cold and timid souls—of which I don’t think there are any in this room as far as I can tell.

Heck, one of you, Navy Seal Laddie Shaw, regularly parasails down three-thousand-foot mountains! Another, I’m told, Forrest Dunbar, recently got engaged. Talk about entering into the arena…

But I do want to tell you that, in my view, in my team’s view, this is the most important speech I give all year. I do get a little nervous. You guys can be a tough crowd. It’s hard to get Lyman Hoffman’s approval. I think I may have done so a few times. I can just tell by the slight nod of his head, and I know I’m doing well when Bert Stedman isn’t reaching for his pocket watch.

In all seriousness, like I said, this is the most important speech of the year for me because it’s where we can chart [our] progress working together—where we are, and where we want to go—particularly as we focus on building our state for the next generation.

II. Challenges

We have big challenges facing Alaska and America: continuing inflation that squeezes middle class families; an open southern border that very negatively impacts Alaska; and an increasingly dangerous world with aggressive dictators on the march.

And then we have this—what I call the “Last Frontier Lock-Up.” Hopefully you have a copy. This is the example of 56 executive orders and executive actions specifically targeting Alaska by the Biden administration. 56. Something I’m fighting every day.

Take a look at it. It's an outrage. There’s no other state that gets singled out like this. I handed a version of this chart to the President when we met with him, the congressional delegation, last March when we were in the Oval Office meeting on the Willow project. I told him, respectfully: “Mr. President, this is wrong. No state should be targeted like this and we need a ceasefire in the war against Alaska.”

Unfortunately, this list is going to grow, particularly as it relates to the Secretary of the Interior’s current rule-making efforts that will negatively impact access to NPR-A, to ANWR, and the ability of our heroic Alaska Native Vietnam veterans to get allotments. Congress has directly and clearly legislated in these areas for the benefit of Alaskans. Nevertheless, the Department of the Interior ignores the law and the voices of our constituents, particularly those on the North Slope.

Eight times, top Alaska Native leaders from ASRC, the tribe—ICAS, and the North Slope Borough, now led by your former colleague, Mayor Josiah Patkotak—who, by the way, is doing a great job—they have requested, eight times, a meeting with Secretary Haaland to advocate against these proposed Department of the Interior rules. Eight times, traveling thousands of miles to D.C., when they’ve sought to have their voices heard, she has declined them each time.

III. The Big State that Can, and Did

So, yes, we have big challenges—some of which we have little control over. But one area where we do have control is our own sense of destiny and optimism. It’s been said that optimism is a “force multiplier.”

I agree and our own history bears this out. On so many big Alaska issues, there have been doomsayers and naysayers and roadblockers, both in and out of our state—there still are today. But the optimists who dare greatly in our state have consistently won the day.

As we all know, in the late 1800s, there was a fierce debate about the Alaska purchase, with the naysayers arguing that our state was a barren wasteland.

The critics came out again when Judge Wickersham, the then-territorial delegate to Congress, proposed that our state have its own legislature. Wickersham’s vision won the day.

In 1913, your predecessors from all over the state gathered in this city. The first order of business was this: To give women the right to vote, seven years before Congress ratified the 19th Amendment!

What a remarkable example for all Americans, and this Alaska leadership has continued.

Thirty-two years later, a strong Alaska Native leader named Elizabeth Peratrovich lobbied your predecessors to pass the nation’s first anti-discrimination bill. And your predecessors did—19 years before the 1964 Civil Rights Act!

By the way, on my morning run this morning in Juneau, I took a selfie with this great Alaskan. As you know, there’s that beautiful mural there. It’s on my Facebook page if you want to take a look at that.

But against often fierce naysayer opposition, big ideas for Alaska in the Congress have continued to win the day—Statehood in 1959, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in 1971, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Act in 1973, and ANWR in 2017.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are the big state that can!

But the doomsayers and road-blockers are still out there, ready to pounce. It is our job to continue to prove them wrong. And the best way to do that is to continue to work together.

How do I know? Because we are currently prevailing in another epic Alaska battle between the negative naysayers and the Alaskan optimists.

IV. Willow / Thank You

Last year, I focused a lot of my address to all of you on a respectful call-to-action. I told you that we needed an all-hands-on-deck approach to get the President to reapprove the Willow project.

Talk about naysayers. We were fighting an organized army. Every newspaper outside of Alaska, every Lower 48 environmental group, nearly all of the Democratic think-tanks in the country, 300 million TikTok users, Patagonia—literally, the whole darn company, and dozens of White House staffers all fiercely opposed Willow, and, of course, so did the Secretary of Interior. We all worked night and day against that army. We set up our own war room, held press conferences, gave speeches, wrote letters, and held dozens of meetings with federal officials.

First, we had to convince the President to reapprove the project, which happened. Then we had to convince the courts. I asked all of you to pass a unanimous resolution of support, which you did! Thank you! In addition to handing the President the Last Frontier Lock-Up chart in our meeting last year, I handed him that resolution.

“Mr. President, every Alaska elected official is for this.”

Then, we all joined together—every one of you—on an amicus brief to the federal court. The court, when you read the opinion, said your brief, your unanimous resolution was decisive in her decision.

And it wasn’t just all of us in elected office. It was so many Alaskans—Alaska Native organizations, the building trades, contractors, businesses. We showed what a united Alaska can do.

So, I want to thank all of you on that effort. Literally decisive. I’m sure you’re reading the papers: As we talked about this year, this is going to bring peak production of about 200,000 barrels a day for our communities and for our state. But think about this. This winter alone, ConocoPhillips has hired 1,800 workers to be working on Willow. 1,800! Unbelievable. It was epic, so thanks.

V. Investments

It’s not just Willow. We have other large-scale investments coming our way. We have the Pikka project, which will also generate billions of dollars in revenue and provide thousands of good-paying jobs.

We’re beginning to see the very significant funds from the bipartisan infrastructure bill coming to us—particularly as it relates to the broadband build-out that is so important for our state. Imagine the opportunities in terms of health care, education, entrepreneurship, if we have every community in Alaska connected.

Southeast Conference is predicting that this year is going to be another great year for tourism, rebounding from the dark days of COVID.

We just passed out of the Senate Commerce Committee the FAA Reauthorization Act, which is going to be a homerun for Alaska aviation. How do I know? Because I wrote a lot of it. Cargo and general aviation investments continue to surge in our state from both the private sector and the federal government—literally hundreds of millions of dollars.

We're building a strategic port in Nome and ice breakers for America, one of which is slated to be homeported right here in Juneau. Some of these big ideas we’ve been talking about for decades. Now we’re doing them.

We’re continuing our military build-up. We all know how strategically important Alaska is. This year, as Chinese spy balloons floated over our communities, joint Chinese-Russian naval exercises took place off our shores, and Russian bear bombers were flying near our coastline, the rest of the country finally seemed to get the memo about Alaska.

As a member of the Armed Services Committee, since I’ve been in office, we’ve secured close to $3 billion for a dramatic military build-up in Alaska. This year’s National Defense Authorization Act added close to another $400 million for our state.

This, of course, has enhanced America’s national security, but it’s also a great way to strengthen our economy and create good-paying Alaska jobs.

Last year, I spoke extensively about the dangerous new era of authoritarian aggression we have entered. I just got back from the Munich Security Conference, where assembled world leaders discussed many of these national security challenges. I highlighted to them just how important our state is—with our expanded military, our strategic location, and our incredible natural resources. More than any other state in the Union, there is no doubt, Alaska has a critical role to play during these dangerous times.

In keeping with the theme, it is important to note that we had to fight the national security naysayers who sought to shut down so many of our military bases. Many of them saw the Arctic and Alaska as a strategic backwater…Not anymore.

In sum, with all of these investments, in the next four to five years, we’re on track to see roughly $25 billion in private sector and federal investments in our state. This is not pie-in-the-sky. This is happening. And good-paying jobs by the thousands will part of this.

VI. Challenges

Workers and Housing

We have to be ready for these investments, particularly with a well-trained workforce. We want Alaskans—our kids, our constituents—to fill these good-paying jobs. I was at the pipeline training center recently in Fairbanks and they said it's going to be a banner year because of Willow and because of Pikka.

The University of Alaska system is doing a great job across the state providing an excellent, affordable education. Eighty percent of Alaskans who graduate from the university system stay in Alaska.

But it’s not just job training that we need. We also need housing.

The lack of affordable housing in our state is a huge issue. I hear about it everywhere I go—from our big cities to our smallest villages. It is a major obstacle and chokepoint to getting and keeping jobs, to having a family, to building communities, and to expanding our military—in particular, our Coast Guard—throughout Alaska.

This past summer, I invited the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to Alaska. She traveled to our state and I hosted a roundtable with her, with both urban and rural Alaskan stakeholders attending. Some of you did, and I appreciated that very much. She got an earful from all of us. We’re not shy. To her credit, she kept a commitment to establish a specific HUD task force with the Association of Alaska Housing Authorities to focus on HUD’s burdensome regulations that often make it very expensive to build housing in Alaska, particularly in rural Alaska. She also committed to fixing funding disparities between urban Alaska cities and the Lower 48. This is a good start. We need to do more.

I also introduced a bill with Senator Ron Wyden—the Democratic chair of the Senate Finance Committee—that would expand housing tax credits to include middle income workers, like teachers, police officers, nurses, and pipeline workers—the backbone of so many communities. This bill has strong bipartisan support in our state and in our Congress. I think it’s an idea whose time has come.

I’m really hoping that these initiatives can be part of a much broader, comprehensive approach with all of you on addressing this really big challenge of housing in Alaska.

Opportunity: Intellectual Hub

A few years ago, I laid out a vision to all of you about making Alaska a future intellectual research hub for so many critical areas that make us unique. Think about it: our vast minerals and natural resources, including boundless renewable energy; our unique role as America’s Arctic; our abundant oceans that we need to keep clean; and our strategic location that enhances America’s national security and provides us with huge economic opportunities.

This vision is becoming a reality and it’s really exciting. Of course, the University of Alaska is doing its part, pulling in over $225 million of research [funds] in the past year—the most they have ever done. But we’re just getting started. Let me give you some examples.

The Department of Defense’s Ted Stevens Center for Arctic Security Studies, which Senator Murkowski and I got into law a few years ago, already has 40 of the best minds in the world working on these issues at their headquarters at JBER.

Not to be outdone by DOD, just a few months ago, after a full court press by your congressional delegation, the Department of Homeland Security announced a $46 million grant to UAA to focus on critical Arctic security issues.

And it’s not just Arctic security research where we have made very big progress. The NOAA research vessel, the Fairweather, is finally homeported back in Ketchikan, bringing money and research scientists and the crew of this ship back to Alaska, where it belongs.

We all worked together on this important endeavor for years. I want to thank all of you, especially Bert Stedman and his staff. I will say: The ribbon cutting event that many of us attended in Ketchikan this past August—on a perfectly clear sky day—was one of the most satisfying celebrations I’ve ever attended!

Finally, you all have heard me talk about my passion for oceans. My Save Our Seas 2.0 Act—the most comprehensive ocean clean-up legislation ever passed by Congress—is now being implemented.

Save Our Seas 2.0 established a congressionally-chartered Marine Debris Foundation, which has enormous potential to bring innovative private sector funds and ideas to ocean clean-up.

For the past two years, I have been relentlessly pursuing this idea: This Foundation needs to be headquartered in Alaska.

Today, I am very pleased to announce that it will be… actually right down the road at an ideal place: the Juneau campus of UAF’s College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences and the UAS campus, which already do great ocean-oriented research. The Marine Debris Foundation based alongside these programs has enormous potential.

There are only a few congressionally-chartered foundations and they have a strong history of becoming important, large enterprises that can employ thousands. Think the American Red Cross, the American Legion, the National Parks Foundation.

Imagine the potential our state has with all of this research and these resources: our university systems, ocean and fisheries experts, NOAA’s research facilities here in Juneau and Ketchikan, Arctic security experts at JBER and UAA, and now, this new Marine Debris Foundation. The sky is literally the limit on Alaska becoming a world-class research hub, positively impacting our economy and providing opportunities for the next generation for years to come.

Challenge: Russia Fish

You all know, fish is in Alaska’s DNA. As a member of the Senate Commerce Committee, which oversees America’s fisheries, I like to brag to my colleagues about Alaska being the “superpower of seafood.” You all know this stat. I repeat it every day back in D.C. We harvest, in terms of commercial, sport, and subsistence fish over 66 percent of all seafood harvested in America.

I also never tire of educating federal officials about our role. For example, whenever a new Secretary of Commerce is appointed, I always say, “Congratulations, Mr. Secretary [or] Madam Secretary. I know you care about international trade and the economy. That’s great. But you’re going to get into your office and you’re going to look at your org chart and your budget, and you’re going to realize—holy cow, half of my work involves fish. And that’s where me and my staff come in!”

I’m proud to say that I have the best fish staff in the Congress. We do. No offense to anyone else, but it’s not even close. And we need great staff because we have a lot of challenges in this critically important area of our state. Let me talk about a few.

In 2014, when Putin invaded the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine, the United States put sanctions on Russia. Russia retaliated and essentially said no American exports of seafood [can enter] into the lucrative Russian market, while we were keeping our markets open to Russian seafood. This was a disaster for American fishermen, Alaskan fishermen, our fishing communities. I worked on this issue for almost ten years! It was so unfair.

It literally took a war to start to get it fixed.

After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Biden administration put together a sanctions package. We went to them saying, “You have to sanction Russian seafood coming back into the United States!” They did. So we thought, alright, we fixed it. [But] we didn’t. Why? Because there was a loophole. Russian oligarchs and seafood industry officials took their fish, sent it to China, and then China sent it into our markets. A “dictatorship loophole,” as I called it.

We have been working relentlessly, because this loophole is crushing our fishing community, which is going through a very difficult time.

My team and I worked relentlessly with our fishermen over the past year to get this dictatorship loophole finally closed. In late December, that advocacy paid off: The U.S. Treasury, in a new executive order, focused on finally closing that loophole, delivering a blow to the authoritarian regimes in Russia and in China, and significantly helping Alaska’s fishing communities. By the way, this executive order goes into effect today!

Trollers

Another challenge that I mentioned last year. Our trollers in Southeast were hit by a frivolous, manipulative lawsuit by a Seattle-based environmental group known for its extreme positions. They were seeking, and got a court order, to shut down Alaska’s small-scale, hook-and-line troll salmon fishery.

This would have crushed this industry, which is mostly small, family run fishing businesses in Southeast, with an economic impact of close to $100 million.

I asked all of you last year: Let’s work together on this one. You passed a resolution. We filed another amicus brief in the court to protect Southeast trollers and get this magistrate decision reversed. Again, working together, we did that. We were able to have our Southeast trollers fish last summer, and we’re going to make sure they can do it again this summer.

King Salmon

Still, another big fish challenge: We’ve seen shocking and unprecedented declines among some of Alaska’s most iconic salmon species, especially kings, while, in other parts of our state, we’ve seen runs at historic highs.

Last year, I told you that my Alaska Salmon Research Task Force Act had just been signed into law. And, now, the Task Force is up and running, with an added working group focused on salmon returns in the Yukon and Kuskokwim.

This Task Force brings together the best minds literally in the world—state, federal, university, Alaska Native—with the goal of better understanding the cause of these precipitous salmon declines and to identify the research gaps so we can start addressing this problem. I’m hoping that the research that comes out of this Task Force can be used to return our state to abundant and strong healthy salmon runs everywhere in Alaska.

Farm Bill

Finally, as it relates to fish, I believe it’s time to go on offense. Thousands of Alaskan fishermen are going through a very difficult time right now. Some of you, I know, know this directly. Our fishermen are the farmers of the sea. Think about this: American farmers get loans from the federal government. Why shouldn’t our fishermen? Farmers get crop insurance. Why shouldn’t our fishermen get some form of insurance? Farmers get federal relief when foreign markets are closed. Farmers get help when extreme weather hurts their harvest. Why shouldn’t our fishermen? Very analogous.

The Farm Bill that we’re currently negotiating presents an opportunity to de-risk our fishing operations in Alaska in ways that the U.S. government does for American farmers.

My legislation, called the National Seafood Supply Act, would begin to accomplish this.

It’s a big idea. It’s a fair idea. And, of course, there are many naysayers who are against my bill, even though it would dramatically benefit our hard-working fishermen and their communities. Stay tuned on that one. It’s going to be an epic battle.

Challenge: Energy

Let me conclude with our need to work together on two additional challenges for our state: energy and fentanyl.

In October, the Alaska Energy Authority was awarded more than $200 million—with a state match—from the bipartisan infrastructure bill to significantly expand renewables, modernize our grid, and help lower the cost of energy for thousands of Alaskans.

The delegation strongly supported this comprehensive AEA grant from the Department of Energy.

But we still have serious Southcentral energy challenges.

The good news is, we have been here before. Some might remember how, in 2011, we were facing a looming natural gas shortage in Cook Inlet. It was so bad, you might remember, in Anchorage, we started practicing brownouts. Some dooms-dayers said that the only solution back then was to import natural gas from Canada and Mexico. But we didn’t allow that to happen. We united together as a state: the Legislature—the Cook Inlet Recovery Act, by the way, that was 60 to 0—the executive branch, and the private sector. We came up with a bold plan to incentivize Cook Inlet exploration and production. And it worked!?I was the Commissioner of DNR at the time and was very involved with all of you on this successful strategy.

We need all options on the table for the challenges we’re facing right now with Alaska energy, including more gas from Cook Inlet, which I believe exists. Most recently, my team and I have been working hard to minimize federal risks and maximize international opportunities for a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope to tidewater that would provide affordable, abundant, clean-burning Alaska natural gas for generations to come—and transform our state.

I’ve briefed many of you about the significant progress we’ve made in advancing this project, including the three trips in the last two years I’ve made to Japan and Korea. There is a huge Asian demand for Alaska gas, particularly as our allies—whether in Europe or in Asia—are trying to get off of Russian oil and gas. I’ve heard this from the highest levels of elected officials in all of our Asian ally countries.

Because of the roughly $30 billion in federal loan guarantees that we were able to get in the infrastructure bill that we’ve secured, the Alaska LNG project is the only natural gas project right now in America backed by the full faith and credit of the United States of America—and it is the only West Coast American LNG project that already has all of the necessary federal permits and approvals, including the FERC export license.

The challenge, of course, is putting the pieces together. This is a very complex endeavor, I know. And I know there are other good ideas being discussed, all of which we need to consider collectively.

The cynics and the naysayers both in and out of our government are saying there’s no way that this can happen. Don’t believe them.

You have my commitment to work with every single one of you to help address these big energy challenges that are such a big deal for our state.

Fentanyl: One Pill Can Kill Campaign

One of the most frustrating things I’ve witnessed in my time in the Senate involves the Biden administration’s policies that have resulted in an open southern border. I’ve seen first-hand along the Rio Grande this national security and humanitarian catastrophe.

This past December, over 300,000 illegals entered the U.S.—an all-time monthly record. By the end of this year, it is estimated that over 10 million illegal immigrants will have crossed into America during this administration’s four-year term, shattering previous records.

I often speak out against this catastrophic open border policy, and I sometimes get asked the question: “Why do you care, Senator Sullivan, given that Alaska is 4,000 miles away from the southern border?”

Here’s my answer: Our state suffered the largest increase in fentanyl overdose deaths in 2021, with a 75 percent spike from the previous year.

Last year, a very intrepid reporter from the Louisville Courier Journal came up to Alaska for a number of weeks and extensively covered this topic. I urge every one of you to read this article.

It starts with this: “The infamous Sinaloa Cartel, once headed by notorious kingpin ‘El Chapo,’ and others in Mexico are targeting Alaska with drug pipelines, driving up the overdose death toll.”

The article goes on to say this: “Deadly fentanyl and other illegal narcotics continue saturating the urban centers of Anchorage, as well as Juneau to the east and Fairbanks to the north. From those main hubs, shipments are dispersed far and wide, stretching from tiny islands off the southern coast all the way up to the Arctic region.”

That’s what the open southern border is doing to our state. Ladies and Gentlemen: We all need to work together to stop this and to educate our fellow Alaskans—particularly our young people—about this deadly drug.

The DEA says that 7 out of every 10 pills seized contain a lethal dose of fentanyl.

I applaud the work that Governor Dunleavy and Rep. Craig Johnson are doing to increase penalties for those who bring this deadly substance to our state.

Education is also important. Our kids need to know that a pinprick of this substance can kill them. One pill can literally kill.

My team and I will be working with the governor’s office, the Attorney General, and the DEA on a “One Pill Can Kill” educational campaign for Alaska’s youth.

I hope that this is another important area where, once again, we can all work together and you can join with us on our efforts to literally save Alaskans lives.

VII. Conclusion.

Time and time again, our state has battled the skeptics. We have done what others said couldn’t be done.

We all know, it’s not easy to build a state—particularly with our harsh weather, our vast expanse, and our distance from the Lower 48. But through hard work, strong leaders, and great citizens, we have prevailed time and time again. I am convinced that we will continue to do so. We have to, for our children and the next generation.

On February 6, 1956, minutes before our state’s constitution was officially ratified, the following resolution—a message to our state’s children—was read on the convention floor:

“We bequeath to you a state that will be glorious in her achievements,” the resolution said. “…a land where you can worship and pray, a country where ambitions will be bright and real, an Alaska that will grow with you as you grow… you are our future. We ask you to take tomorrow and dream…We are certain that in capturing today for you, you can plan and build.”

That’s what that resolution from our founding fathers said to Alaska’s children.

Throughout the years, our state has made great achievements—despite great obstacles and the negative naysayers. We are the big state that could. Working together, with a sense of Alaskan optimism, we will continue to achieve where others think we will fail. We will continue to work tirelessly to realize the dreams of our children, and their children, so that they can plan, and they can build.

Thank you again, everybody. I really enjoy working with so many of you—with all of you. We’ve got a lot of work to do. I tried to lay out some of the big topics. It’s always a pleasure being home and working with so many of you. Thanks very much.

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