Press Releases
Media Requests: Members of the media can contact the press office by emailing Joseph_Plesha@murkowski.senate.gov or by calling 206-302-8317 and asking for the press office.
Murkowski, Sullivan Introduce Landless Legislation to Rectify 50-Year Injustice
U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, both R-Alaska, introduced updated legislation to allow the Alaska Native communities of Haines, Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, and Tenakee to form urban corporations and receive land entitlements under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). The five Southeast communities were not included in ANCSA, which divided 44 million acres of land among more than 200 regional, village, and urban corporations to resolve land claims throughout Alaska… Continue Reading
11.22.21
Grant Roundup: Senator Murkowski Announces Grants Going to Alaska
U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), a senior member on the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced the following grants heading to organizations, Tribal entities, and communities in Alaska: Cordova: $20 million for the Cordova South Harbor Rebuild from the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability & Equity (RAISE) grant program. This project will restore South Harbor floats and docks, including sheet piling and dredging, and construction of a new drive-down floatplane a… Continue Reading
11.20.21
Alaska Delegation Criticizes Biden Administration Rule to Restrict Economic Activity Across the Tongass
U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan and Congressman Don Young, all R-Alaska, issued the following statements after the U.S. Forest Service announced it will attempt to re-impose near-blanket restrictions on road construction and other economic activities across millions of acres of the Tongass National Forest. The Forest Service will seek to do this by proposing a new rule to reinstate the 2001 Roadless Rule, despite finalizing a different rule to exempt the Tongass from the 2001 rule … Continue Reading
11.19.21
Delegation Condemns Harmful Resource Provisions in Partisan Reconciliation Bill
U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, Congressman Don Young (all R-Alaska) today sharply criticized the House of Representatives' passage of a partisan reconciliation bill that would repeal the oil and gas program for the non-wilderness portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). That provision is among several in the bill that would harm Alaska's ability to responsibly produce energy and mineral resources needed by the rest of the country and the world. "The House reconcili… Continue Reading
11.19.21
Senators Introduce Bill Focused on Blue Carbon Ecosystems
Senate Oceans Caucus Co-Chairs U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) reintroduced the Blue Carbon for Our Planet Act, legislation focused on conserving, restoring, and understanding coastal blue carbon ecosystems. Blue carbon ecosystems-which include mangroves, tidal marshes, seagrasses, and kelp forests-provide a buffer from storm- or wave-driven coastal erosion, improve water quality, and serve as habitat for juvenile fish while also removing carbon from the ocean … Continue Reading
11.17.21
Murkowski Announces Anchorage, Alaska Chosen as Home for Ted Stevens Center for Arctic Security Studies
U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski today announced that the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) selected Anchorage, Alaska as the location for the new Ted Stevens Center for Arctic Security Studies. Named in honor of the late U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, the Stevens Center will support and strengthen advances DoD is making in the Arctic, using security cooperation, research and academia, and diplomacy. The Center will be the sixth DoD Regional Center and the only one specifically focused on the Arctic. "I h… Continue Reading
11.16.21
Senator Murkowski Joins Indian Boarding Schools Commission Legislation
Today, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, made the following statement after signing on as the lead Republican co-sponsor of S. 2907, the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding Schools Act. "For many years, thousands of Native children were taken from their families, homes, and communities, and forced to attend boarding schools far away. These Indian boarding schools stripped Native children of their identities and forced them to ass… Continue Reading
11.15.21
Alaskans Voice Strong Support for the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) today attended a White House signing ceremony during which President Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) into law. The measure provides historic investments into roads, bridges, ports, airports, broadband, ferries, water and wastewater, resilience, and energy projects-modernizing and upgrading the nation's core infrastructure. As a lead author and negotiator of this bipartisan infrastructure package, Murkowski secured a range of provi… Continue Reading
11.15.21
Senators’ Statement on Historic Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Being Signed into Law
U.S. Senators Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), Rob Portman (R-OH), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Susan Collins (R-ME), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Mitt Romney (R-UT), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Jon Tester (D-MT), and Mark Warner (D-VA) issued the following statement after the historic Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was signed into law. The law represents the largest investment in infrastructure in our nation's history. "Today's signing of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act i… Continue Reading
11.11.21
Murkowski Welcomes New Federal Land Allotments to Alaska Native Vietnam-era Veterans
U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) issued the following statement after the Department of the Interior (DOI) announced it has finalized the first federal land allotments under the Alaska Native Vietnam-era Veteran Land Allotment Program. Murkowski worked with Senator Dan Sullivan and Congressman Don Young (both R-AK), as well as Alaskan champions such as Nelson Angapak, Sr., to establish the new allotments program through her omnibus public lands bill in 2019. "We worked hard to enact this prog… Continue Reading
11.11.21
Senator Murkowski Speaks in Honor of Veterans Day
U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) released the following statement in honor of Veterans Day: For video of Senator Murkowski, click here. "On Veterans Day, we express how grateful we are to all who served in America's armed forces, and for the sacrifices that they willingly made on our behalf. We also know that many veterans endure the toll of their service well beyond the days of being in uniform. Their military service might be complete, but their sacrifice remains. "Our country and w… Continue Reading
11.08.21
ICYMI: Historic Infrastructure Package Heading to President’s Desk
Late Friday night, the House passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, legislation U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and her bipartisan group of nine other Senators worked for months to negotiate, draft, and pass through the full Senate. The infrastructure package - which drew the support of 228 members of the House, including Congressman Don Young (also R-AK) - will now head to the President to be signed into law. In case you missed it, Senator Murkowski recently highlighted some of… Continue Reading
11.06.21
Vice Chairman Murkowski: Historic Infrastructure Package Heading to President's Desk
Today, U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, applauded the House passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, legislation she and a bipartisan group of nine Senators worked for months to negotiate, draft, and pass through the full Senate. Included in the legislation that will now head to the President's desk is substantial funding for Federal programs and Native communities to address water and sanitation, transportation, broadband… Continue Reading
11.05.21
Historic Infrastructure Package Heading to President’s Desk
Today U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) applauded the House passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, legislation she and a bipartisan group of ten Senators worked for months to negotiate, draft, and pass through the full Senate. The bipartisan bill will upgrade and modernize our core infrastructure-making critical investments in roads, bridges, rail, ferries, ports, airports, energy, water systems, and broadband. The landmark legislation also strengthens electric grid resiliency … Continue Reading
11.03.21
Schatz, Murkowski Lead Bipartisan National Native American Heritage Month Resolution
U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai'i), chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), vice chairman of the Committee, introduced a Senate resolution recognizing November 2021 as National Native American Heritage Month. "Every November we observe Native American Heritage Month to celebrate Native Hawaiian, American Indian, and Alaska Native peoples and their diverse cultures, achievements, and contributions," said Chairman Schatz. "I am honored to… Continue Reading
11.02.21
Leahy, Murkowski, Durbin And Manchin Announce Bipartisan Compromise On The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act
U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) Tuesday released a bipartisan compromise on the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. This proposal - which builds on the version introduced earlier in October - reflects months of bipartisan negotiations and seeks to garner broader support in the Senate. Leahy, Murkowski, Durbin, and Manchin are committed to continuing their work on this compromise bill that will serve as a substi… Continue Reading
11.01.21
Vice Chairman Murkowski Welcomes November as National Native American Heritage Month
Today, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs (SCIA), issued the following statement on November as National Native American Heritage Month. "This month brings awareness to celebrate, and recognize the many contributions made by Native people in the United States-Alaska Natives, American Indians, and Native Hawaiians-along with other Indigenous peoples in our country from across the globe. Alaska is home to nearly 40 percent of all federally recog… Continue Reading
10.29.21
Sullivan, Shaheen, Capito and Murkowski Introduce POWER Act 2.0 to Combat Domestic Violence and Expand Pro Bono Legal Resources
U.S. Senators Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) have introduced legislation to permanently extend the authorization for the Pro Bono Work to Empower and Represent (POWER) Act. The POWER Act, which helps combat domestic violence and sexual assault by encouraging lawyers across the country to offer pro bono legal services to victims and survivors of these crimes, was originally signed into law in 2018, but is set to expir… Continue Reading
10.29.21
Vice Chairman Examines Barriers to Voting for Native People
This week, U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs (SCIA), welcomed the opportunity to hear from Native witnesses about the issues that continue to pose barriers to voting access during an oversight hearing she requested entitled: Voting Matters in Native Communities. "The right to vote has evolved tremendously over time, including with respect to the voting rights of our First peoples. American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians-all… Continue Reading
10.26.21
Murkowski, Sullivan Introduce Bill to Establish Offshore Revenue Sharing for Alaska
U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, both R-AK, today introduced legislation to provide for equitable revenue sharing from energy production and development in Alaska's Outer Continental Shelf. The bill, Alaska Offshore Parity Act, will facilitate the establishment of a revenue sharing program for Alaska to provide parity with onshore and offshore development in the outer Continental Shelf. This program will provide support for onshore infrastructure for coastal communities, mitigatio… Continue Reading
