Alaska Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan honored the life and legacy of Congressman Don Young on Wednesday evening on the Senate floor. There, they highlighted his incredible life of service.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski:
“He accomplished an incredible amount across the many decades that he served Alaska and served his country, but that doesn’t make the loss any less sudden or any less devastating and it doesn’t change the fact that we are now left with a hole the size of Alaska in our Congressional Delegation. Mr. President, we were a team. We were small but mighty. You’ve heard me on this floor talk about the last great race, the Iditarod, and no dog team can make it without the leader, we all know that, but you’ve got the swing dog and you’ve got the wheel dog and we’ve all kind of taken different points on that team, but it’s always been with Don Young.”
Sen. Dan Sullivan:
“We heard this from so many people over the weekend, his spirit, authentic, tenacious, indominable, a man of the people, epitomized our state to such a degree that there was this sense that he would always be there. Think about, almost three quarters of our state’s history, Don Young was our congressman.”
Sen. Sullivan spoke on Young’s love for Alaska:
“He could have done anything but anything, but he chose to stay and work for the people up until the last moment of his life. You can make all the money in the word, he said, but if you aren’t happy, it doesn’t count for anything, and Don Young was a happy man.”
