Rep. Don Young (R-At Large) Elected Mar. 1973, 16th full 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.
DC Office	2111 RHOB20515, 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.
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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.

For his first 21 years in the House, Young was in the minority, outvoted on what was then the Interior Committee and often on the floor by environmentalists--whom he once called a "self-centered bunch, the waffle-stomping, Harvard-graduating, intellectual idiots." Since the Republicans won their House majority in 1994, he has been a committee chairman, and one with ambitious objectives which he has not always achieved. He steered to passage in the House bills allowing oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in 1995 and 2001, only to see them defeated or bottled up in the Senate. His attempts to roll back some environmental rulings, like allowing logging in the Tongass National Forest, were frustrated in the 1990s by vetoes by Bill Clinton, or by adverse votes cast by Republicans from the Northeast, Florida and Arizona. But he also showed 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. In May 2000 he got the House to pass, by a 315-102 vote, 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, and it was not a popular cause in the Senate, which passed a scaled-down version which authorized $12 billion over six years, subject to appropriators, with about $50 million a year for Alaska. In 2004 Young was backing a similar version, with $175 million for Alaska; but Alaska Republicans concerned about rights of private property holders opposed it.

After the 2000 election, Young was term-limited out of the Resources Committee chairmanship and became chairman of Transportation and Infrastructure instead. It was a different sort of assignment; as he has said, "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." Under his predecessor Bud Shuster, Transportation had become the largest and arguably the most bipartisan committee in the House, because Shuster made sure every cooperating member received plenty of highway (or mass transit) projects and fought ruthlessly to keep transportation money flowing directly from the gasoline and airplane fuel taxes without any review by the Appropriations Committees. Young lost some skirmishes with the appropriators in 2001 and 2002, but maintained Shuster's bipartisan approach.

His biggest task was to reauthorize Shuster's masterpiece, the 1998 $218 billion TEA-21 surface transportation act, which expired in 2003. In November 2003 Young presented his TEA-LU (named after his wife Lu) version, with $375 billion in spending. It was financed with an increase in the gas tax--retroactive indexing, he said, to the last time the gas tax was increased in 1993, and indexed to rise in the future. But the Bush administration and the House Republican administration were stoutly opposed to any gas tax increase. The administration set a limit of $256 billion; the Senate in early 2004 approved a $318 billion bill. In March 2004 the Transportation Committee approved Young's $375 billion package by voice vote, but Young promised the House leadership not to bring it to the floor; and in early April the House approved a $275 billion bill, without Young's gas tax increase. The Senate bill readjusted the funding formula, to give some states more money per dollar of gas tax revenue; the House bill didn't. The conference committee split the difference at $284 billion, a number the administration threatened to veto. The expiration date of TEA-21 was extended, and extended again, as conferees and the administration failed to agree. John McCain argued against the many earmarked highway projects and called for formula changes (Arizona got 90 cents for each dollar of revenue under the old formula, and 92 cents under the Senate formula; Alaska got $6.60), while Richard Shelby of Alabama wanted $319 billion in spending and wanted to shift mass transit money to highways; with Senate Democrats all voting against agreement, the conference was stymied.

Problems proliferated. There was reaction against the Alaska earmarks Young included, especially against his $200 million for a bridge from Anchorage across Knik Arm to a largely uninhabited area and a $100 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with its airport, which could be reached more rapidly by the local ferry: "bridges to nowhere," critics said. Colorado's Marilyn Musgrave, resisting Young's tax increase, was rebuked. "I have never had a man talk to me the way Mr. Young talked to me," she said. Earlier, Young said, "I have the pencil, and I can erase something very quickly if things don't go the way I'd like." At one point it was discovered that the February 2004 omnibus spending bill subtracted earmarked projects from formula funds: the Alaska delegation had to scramble to get them back. At the end of 2004 the transportation bill remained unreauthorized, and with no clear solution in sight. But it seemed that Young's drive for a gas tax increase was dead, and the ability of the Transportation Committee to roll the House leadership was unclear.

Young had to deal with other 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. In summer 2004 Young and committee Democrats moved to require national biometric identification standards for personnel at U.S. airports; in October they pressed legislation to implement recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. In the midst of this, Young was stopped, mistaken for a suspected terrorist, another Don Young, in September 2004. "Apparently the guy is not a nice person. They had a reason for doing that and that is their job … It was sort of a shock, though. I'm the chair of the Transportation Committee. I actually behaved myself."

Young has two more years as chairman of Transportation; he has suggested he might run for speaker after the election of 2006. He is ninth in House seniority, and third among Republicans, and remains unashamed of his support of Alaska projects. "If I had not done fairly well for our state, I'd be ashamed of myself." He remains responsive to Alaska opinion. After the Alaska legislature and the Anchorage Assembly passed resolutions against the Patriot Act, he voted to repeal part of it and said that it was "not really thought out."

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 the last three elections, against weak opposition, he was reelected by 70%-17%, 75%-17%, and 71%-22% margins.

Committees

• Homeland Security (2d of 19 R): Economic Security, Infrastructure Protection & Cybersecurity; Prevention of Nuclear & Biological Attack.
• Resources (2d of 27 R): Energy & Mineral Resources; Fisheries & Oceans.
• Transportation & Infrastructure (Chmn. of 41 R).

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2004	0	5	0	0	67	54	100	95	84	84	--
2003	5	--	13	0	--	60	93	83	--	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2003 LIB	--	2003 CONS		2004 LIB	--	2004 CONS
Economic	16%	--	83%		17%	--	83%
Social	21%	--	78%		30%	--	69%
Foreign	31%	--	69%		38%	--	61%
For National Journal's complete 2004 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 108th Congress (More Info)
1. Drilling in ANWR Y 2. Approve Bush Tax Cuts Y 3. Medicare/Rx Bill Y 4. Bar Overtime Pay Regs. * 5. DC School Vouchers Y 6. Ban Human Cloning Y		7. Restrict Gun Liability Y  8. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion Y  9. Ban Same-Sex Marriage Y 10. Fund Iraq War Y 11. Bar Cuba Embargo Funds N 12. Intelligence Reorg. N

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2004 general	Don Young (R)	213,216	71%	$1,747,897
	Thomas Higgins (D)	67,074	22%
	Timothy Feller (Green)	11,434	4%
	Other	8,272	3%
2004 primary	Don Young (R)	unopposed
2002 general	Don Young (R)	169,685	75%	$1,378,269
	Clifford Greene (D)	39,357	17%	$980
	Russell DeForest (Green)	14,435	6%
Prior winning percentages: 2000 (70%); 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%)

2004 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 190,889 (61%) Kerry (D) 111,025 (36%)

2000 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 167,398 (59%) Gore (D) 79,004 (28%)

For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the At-Large District, please see the Almanac 2000 online. Please note that these older returns reflect district lines as they existed prior to 2002 redistricting.

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: R +14
• District Size: 663,267 square miles
• Population in 2000: 626,932; 65.7% urban; 34.3% rural
• Median Household Income: $51,571; 9.4% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 22.4% blue collar; 60.5% white collar; 17.1% gray collar; 16.4% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 67.6% White, 3.4% Black, 3.9% Asian, 15.4% Amer. Indian, 0.5% Hawaiian, 4.9% Two+ races, 0.2% Other, 4.1% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 12.5% German, 8.1% Irish, 7.2% English
• Click here for statewide demographic data.