GOP Rep. Don Young apologizes for suicide comments

Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, apologized for recent comments on suicide that upset high school students and touched off controversy in the state.

"I am profoundly and genuinely sorry for the pain it has caused the Alaskan people," Young said Friday during a speech before the Alaska Federation of Natives.

Young, the longest-serving Republican in the House, told students at Wasilla High School on Tuesday that people kill themselves when there is a lack of support from family and friends. A Wasilla student had committed suicide the previous week. Several people in the audience took offense and the situation got confrontational, according to Alaska Dispatch News. The next day, Young said suicide in Alaska "didn't exist until we got largesse from the government."

Alaska has one of the highest rates of suicide per capita in the nation and had 167 such deaths in 2012, according to the state's Department of Health and Human Services.

In his remarks Friday, Young said suicide is a "very personal" issue to him because a nephew took his own life. "It may have caused me to mangle some of my statements and comments that caused this uproar," he said.

He defended his legislative record and vowed to continue to fight for legislation addressing suicide prevention and mental health treatment. Young, first elected in 1973, is running against Democrat Forrest Dunbar.

Young has a history of sometimes offensive and colorful language. Earlier this year, Young apologized for grabbing the arm of a congressional aide.

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