07.17.08

Senator Murkowski

Murkowski Looks for Balanced Energy Approach



Senator Murkowski speaks to reporters about energy solutions.

I joined several of my colleagues at a news conference this week to urge the Senate to consider a balanced approach to rising gas prices. The Senate is considering legislation that targets energy speculators, but does not deal with increased oil and gas production, conservation or alternative fuels. America needs a three-pronged energy strategy that focuses on domestic production, including ANWR development; increased conservation and an emphasis on alternative and renewable fuels.


Happy Birthday Cake for Alaska

Sen. Stevens and I invited our colleagues for cake to celebrate Alaska's 50th statehood anniversary at a celebration on a balcony of the U.S. Capitol overlooking the National Mall. I recently penned an op-ed that ran in the Anchorage Daily News recapping some of the Senate debate leading up to Senate passage of the Alaska Statehood Act on June 30, 1958.

Click here to read my op-ed. And for more 50th anniversary information, go to https://www.murkowski.senate.gov/statehood.

Alaska Students Intern In Senator Murkowski's Office

  Each year, I host 20 Alaska graduating high school seniors as interns in my Washington office. These fine students come from all over Alaska, and each day two of them "shadow" me through my Senate meetings and functions. I always look forward to the interns' summer arrival as it reminds me of my own internship in the office of Sen. Stevens in 1975. This group pictured above interned with us in June. I will run a photo of our second intern class, who arrived earlier this month, in my next newsletter.

Front row (left to right): Sen. Murkowski, Lindsey Haas (Petersberg), Haleigh Zueger (Unalaska), Kristen Coan (Palmer), Kelsey Eagle (Sitka), Alexis Kress (Wasilla), Samantha Novak (Anchorage) and Intern Coordinator Rochelle Hanscom (Fairbanks).Second row: Intern Coordinator Brian O’leary (Kodiak), Wes Stephl (Kenai), Cameron Piscoya (Nome), Nychele Fischetti (Chugiak) and Taryn Moore (Anchorage).

Senate Honors America's Last Living WWI Veteran

I was pleased to be able to meet Frank Buckles, of Charles Town, W. Va., the last living American-born veteran of World War I, when the Senate honored him recently at a U.S. Capitol ceremony. Mr. Buckles, who is 107 years old, joined the Army in 1917, convincing a military recruiter that he was 21. Mr. Buckles was an ambulance driver in France and England during the war. He was in the Philippines in 1940 when the Japanese invaded, and became a prisoner of war for nearly three years. Mr. Buckles is a true American patriot, deserving of our respect and gratitude for his service to his country.

Also in the news...

- There was good news on the Alaska health care front this week. I voted for the Medicare Improvement for Patients and Providers Act, which provides for a permanent 35 percent increase in Medicare reimbursement rates for Alaska's physicians. The legislation, which is now law, also blocks a 10.6 percent cut in Medicare provider reimbursement rates.

- The Senate also passed a global AIDS bill that would make Alaska Native service providers eligible for a slice of $290 million in new federal funding to meet urgent health, public safety and sanitation infrastructure needs. As Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, I was proud to have cosponsored amendments to the five-year AIDS spending bill that would create an "Emergency Fund for Indian Safety and Health."