Rep. Don Young (R-At Large) Elected Mar. 1973, 15th term
Born:	June 9, 1933, Meridian, CA
Home:	Fort Yukon
Education:	Yuba Jr. Col., A.A. 1952, Chico St. Col., B.A. 1958
Religion:	Episcopalian
Marital Status:	married (Lu)
Elected  Office:	Fort Yukon City Cncl., 1960-64; Fort Yukon Mayor, 1964-68; AK House of Reps., 1966-70; AK Senate, 1970-73.
Military Career:	Army, 1955-57.
Professional Career:	School teacher, Fort Yukon, 1960-68; Riverboat captain, 1960-68.
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Don Young has been Alaska's congressman-at-large since 1973. He was once tugboat captain on the Yukon and is the only licensed mariner in Congress--in his words, "not one of these smooth, namby-pamby politicians." He is a hot-tempered, salty-tongued true believer, given to malapropisms ("Pribilof's dog" and "bladderdash") and tough talk (when a Texas congressman blocked a motion for unanimous consent on an airline bill, Young replied, "Those in Texas will not fly; may you walk and may you die in the desert"). Young grew up in rural California, served in the Army and graduated from college, then moved to Alaska, captained his tugboat and was elected mayor of Fort Yukon. He was elected to the legislature in 1966 and ran for Congress in 1972. His opponent, incumbent Nick Begich, was killed in a plane crash in October and was reelected posthumously; Young won the March 1973 special election to succeed him. Young is not a free-market conservative--he casts many liberal economic votes--but he is a cultural and foreign policy conservative, and an unceasing advocate of what he considers Alaska's interests.

Young has done most of his legislating from the Resources and the Transportation committees. He was ranking minority member on Resources from 1985 to 1995 and chairman from 1995 to 2001. In 2001, he became chairman of Transportation. He summarizes his career, "On the Resources Committee I like to say I was in charge of everything God made, and now on Transportation I'm in charge of everything man made." Resources was more of a battleground, with supporters of environmental restriction groups having solid majorities (including some Republicans) when Democrats had control. Their numbers were trimmed after the Republican victory of 1994, but environmental groups still have great sway on the floor of the House, where many Republicans from the Northeast, Florida and Arizona are eager to score high on the groups' scoresheets. Often, that came at Alaska's, or Young's, expense. Alaska's two senators can use the Senate's dilatory rules to get their way; in the tightly controlled House, Young can be efficiently steamrollered, as he was often when in the minority--most notably when the Alaska Lands Act passed in 1980. He was stymied as well by Bill Clinton's vetoes, particularly after the House finally approved oil drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in 1995 and when Congress rallied to maintain logging in the Tongass National Forest. But he did succeed in allowing gambling on Alaska cruise ships inside the three-mile limit.

Young has also shown a talent for consensus. In 1997, he passed, by 419-1, the National Wildlife Improvement Act, which sets new guidelines for the nation's 500-plus wildlife refuges. The bill, endorsed by Clinton and environmental groups, allows for recreational activities that are compatible with the refuges' conservation mission. Another major issue for Young is missile defense. He vigorously and persistently opposed the 1995 Clinton National Intelligence Estimate that asked whether the U.S. would be safe from a hostile missile force for the next 15 years. Alaska and Hawaii, Young argued persuasively, are not excluded from the constitutional requirement that the federal government provide for the common defense.

Young's principal focus in 2000 was on the Conservation and Reinvestment Act, to dedicate royalties from offshore oil and gas wells to provide federal dollars for state purchases of land. His original version would require that $3 billion be spent every year, independent of the appropriations process, for 15 years; Alaska would be guaranteed $163 million a year in compensation for the environmental costs of oil drilling, more than all but two other states. Other money was directed to urban parks, to increase support in the House. Many conservative Republicans opposed this as a federal power grab, but Young pushed it through the House 315-102 in May 2000--"the crowning achievement" of his career, said the Anchorage Daily News. But it was not a popular cause in the Senate, where Rocky Mountain Republicans carry greater weight and others thought the money should be subject to the appropriations process, and the Clinton administration moved toward opposing it. Finally, in October 2000, a scaled-down version--CARA lite, Frank Murkowski called it--was passed as part of the Interior appropriation; it authorized $12 billion over six years, subject to appropriators, with about $50 million a year authorized for Alaska.

Even after he left the chairmanship, Young continued to work on Resources issues. He helped build support for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by getting unions to support it as a jobs bill; it was approved by the House 223-206 in August 2001, but never came to a vote in the Senate. Young resisted efforts by Louisiana Rep. Billy Tauzin to make it more attractive to opponents by granting wilderness status to parts of ANWR not so designated. Young has long worked to help Alaska's Natives, and he fought the Bush administration Interior Department to allow Natives who served in the military from 1969 to 1971 to get 160-acre allotments on federal lands (they were eligible under a 1906 law, but lost this right under the Alaska Native Claims Act of 1971); this was approved by the committee on voice vote in September 2002. He also fought for a bill to allow Native management of federal lands in Alaska.

From the sharp partisanship of Resources, Young passed to the bipartisan coziness of the huge Transportation Committee--the most popular assignment in the House under his predecessor, former Pennsylvania Rep. Bud Shuster, who made sure every cooperating member received plenty of highway (or mass transit) projects and who fought ruthlessly to keep transportation money flowing directly from the gasoline and airplane fuel taxes without any review by the Appropriations Committees. But Young also had to deal with contentious issues after September 11. There was sharp conflict over the details of emergency aid for Amtrak, over provisions for federal aid to the airlines and over whether airport security personnel should be federal workers. Even after the Senate voted 100-0 for federalization, Young and the Republican leadership held out for federal supervision of private contractors--the system used in Israel and Europe. But the pressure for action was too great, and when the Bush White House made it clear there would be no presidential veto, federalization prevailed. Young also fought the Bush administration on arming airline pilots. He and Florida Rep. John Mica introduced a bill to do so in April 2002, and watered it down by limiting it to 2% of pilots and making it a two-year test program. But in July 2002, Oregon Democrat Peter DeFazio passed an amendment gutting those provisions, and the bill passed by the veto-proof margin of 310-113. The Senate did the same by 87-6 in September, and the administration was overruled.

The fights between Transportation and the appropriators continued. In November 2001, appropriators raided $423 million from the Highway Trust Fund for other spending. In spring 2002, Young worked to get $4.4 billion from the trust fund for current projects. Observers were surprised that Young was as bipartisan as Shuster, but some thought he was not as ruthless in protecting and expanding the committee's jurisdiction. Looming in 2003 is the need to reauthorize Shuster's masterpieces, the $218 billion TEA-21 surface transportation law and the $40 billion AIR-21 airport construction act, both financed by dedicated fuel taxes. With gas and air fuel revenues running below expectations, it may be hard to put together such big packages. He is also expected to work on funding for the Coast Guard and fisheries issues.

Young has had his ups and downs with Alaska voters over the years, with significant opposition in 1978, 1984, 1986, 1990 and 1992. For years, the Anchorage Daily News' criticisms hurt him in that usually Republican city, and his reputation for abrasiveness and arrogance became such a problem that he cut an apology spot in 1992, when he was trailing in the polls. It worked--he has not had electoral trouble since. His work over the years on Native causes (he has pushed constantly for more federal jobs for Natives, as promised in the Alaska Native Claims Act) have enabled him to win by large margins even in the usually heavily Democratic bush. In 2000 and 2002, against weak opposition, he was reelected by 70%-17% and 75%-17% margins.

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DC Office
2111 RHOB 20515, 202-225-5765; Fax: 202-225-0425; Web site: www.house.gov/donyoung

State Offices
Anchorage, 907-271-5978; Fairbanks, 907-456-0210; Juneau, 907-586-7400; Kenai, 907-283-5808; Ketchikan, 907-225-6880; Mat-Su, 907-376-7665.

Committees

• Resources (2d of 28 R): Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife & Oceans.
• Select Committee on Homeland Security (4th of 27 R): Infrastructure & Border Security.
• Transportation & Infrastructure (Chmn. of 41 R).

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	CON	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2002	10	8	11	25	14	62	53	90	86	82	100
2001	5	--	0	0	--	--	65	89	91	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2001 LIB	--	2001 CONS		2002 LIB	--	2002 CONS
Economic	20%	--	80%		21%	--	73%
Social	20%	--	69%		0%	--	75%
Foreign	20%	--	80%		29%	--	71%
For National Journal's complete 2002 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 107th Congress (More Info)
1. Approve Bush Tax Cuts Y 2. Limit Patients' Bill of Rights Y 3. Campaign Finance Reform N 4. Ban ANWR Development N 5. Faith-Based Charities Y 6. Bar Gays in the Boy Scouts Y		7. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion Y  8. Arm Commercial Pilots Y  9. Trade Promotion Authority * 10. Bar Funds for Intl. Court Y 11. Authorize Force in Iraq Y 12. Deny Home. Sec. Dept. Union Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2002 general	Don Young (R)	169,685	75%	$1,378,269
	Clifford Greene (D)	39,357	17%	$980
	Russell DeForest (Green)	14,435	6%
2002 primary	Don Young (R)	unopposed
2000 general	Don Young (R)	190,862	70%	$1,030,168
	Clifford Greene (D)	45,372	17%	$412
	Anna C. Young (Green)	22,440	8%
	Jim Dore (AI)	10,085	4%
	Other	5,634	2%
Prior winning percentages: 1998 (63%); 1996 (59%); 1994 (57%); 1992 (47%); 1990 (52%); 1988 (63%); 1986 (57%); 1984 (55%); 1982 (71%); 1980 (74%); 1978 (55%); 1976 (71%); 1974 (54%); 1973 (51%)