heinrich: i am really proud today to come and join my fellow senator from new mexico, senator udall, to recognize the life and service of the longest serving senator from our incredible state of new mexico, senator pete domenici. senator domenici dedicated his entire life to the state and the people that he loved. he served our state in the senate for 36 years. his decades of service to new mexico left a lasting impact that will continue to be felt in every corner of our state for many years to come. many in new mexico called him st. pete because of how relentlessly he fought on the appropriations and the budget committees to secure resources for the people of new mexico. and you can still see the fruits of his labors at our state's national labs, at our military installations, at our colleges and universities and water systems and community centers all over our state. and that is because while he worked on the forefront of major policy debates here in the senate, pete domenici always put the interests of new mexico above all else. like myself, senator domenici's first public service

udall: thank you, madam president. madam president, i wanted to rise today to talk a little bit about something very obscure that's buried in this budget bill but something that's very, very important to me. i -- first, before i talk about the specific policy issues, i just wanted to talk about a personal exploration i had, and this is with regard to the arctic wildlife refuge and this area called the 1002 area. i had the opportunity in the 1980's to take a raft trip down across this arctic coastal plain and down to the sea. and part of the reason was that many of the alaska senators at the time said if you're going to make policy in alaska, you ought to see that part of alaska. i took the opportunity to see it and took a raft trip down the river called the houla river which flows into the beauford sea there. i can say from my personal experience this is one of the wildest, most magnificent places on the earth. and to talk a little bit about the creatures and critters that we saw there. we saw the beginning of the cari