Lisa Murkowski
85:19 - 86:48
"through what we've been able to do with self-determination, self-governance, in working through our Alaska Tribal Health Compacts, it's really quite remarkable. And I think that Secretary Kennedy saw that in his visit last summer when he came. Not only are we building infrastructure that meets the need, but we are in a place where our ability to deliver care is probably some of the best example that you will see in Indian Country, and some would argue that in rural areas, how we have done it through our compacting is the promise and the model for that."
“through what we've been able to do with self-determination, self-governance, in working through our Alaska Tribal Health Compacts, it's really quite remarkable. And I think that Secretary Kennedy saw that in his visit last summer when he came. Not only are we building infrastructure that meets the need, but we are in a place where our ability to deliver care is probably some of the best example that you will see in Indian Country, and some would argue that in rural areas, how we have done it through our compacting is the promise and the model for that.”
- Speaker
- Lisa Murkowski
- Timestamp
- 85:19 – 86:48
- Community
- Alaska News
- Captured at
- June 24, 2026
From the transcript
We've got 229 federally recognized tribes in Alaska. And yet through what we've been able to do with self-determination, self-governance, in working through our Alaska Tribal Health Compacts, it's really quite remarkable. And I think that Secretary Kennedy saw that in his visit last summer when he came. Not only are we building infrastructure that meets the need, but we are in a place where our ability to deliver care is probably some of the best example that you will see in Indian Country, and some would argue that in rural areas, how we have done it through our compacting is the promise and the model for that. And I'm not suggesting that we can take the Alaska model and replicate it everywhere, but it is a reminder to me of the extraordinary disparity that we have when we think about situations in your state of South Dakota and what Native people experience, the failures that they experience.
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