02.15.24

ICYMI: Murkowski Addresses the Alaska State Legislature

“Alaska has so much good to offer. We are resilient in so many ways.”

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) today delivered her annual address to the Alaska State Legislature during a joint legislative session at the Capitol Building in Juneau.

Murkowski highlighted recent accomplishments that are helping to create jobs, boost the economy, and strengthen infrastructure in Alaska. While celebrating those wins, she also underscored significant challenges—like workforce shortages and the need to boost quality of life—that the state is facing.

To address those challenges, Murkowski outlined her focus on legislative solutions. She thanked the legislators for their actions over the past year and called on them to work with the delegation to ensured continued progress toward a more resilient future for the state.

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Click here for high resolution photos from the address.

Click here to watch the address.

Click here to read the text of the address as prepared for delivery.

EXCERPTS

On Recent Wins that Strengthen Alaska:

  • “ConocoPhillips is hiring 1,800 people this winter for its construction activities at Willow. Santos is hiring more than 2,400 on the North Slope this season. That’s over 4,000 in total. When was the last time we could point to numbers like that, for anything in our state?”
  • “Graphite One has received a major award from the Department of Defense as it seeks to develop North America’s largest deposit of natural graphite.”
  • “More than $7.2 billion has been announced for Alaska under our bipartisan infrastructure law—the most per capita in the nation.”
  • “At the request of Alaska communities, I’ve now funded more than 200 projects through the congressionally directed spending process—from nursing education at UAA, to the renovation of the emergency room at the Alaska Native Medical Center, to the expansion of the Fairbanks Senior Center and housing for Alaska State Troopers.”
  • “We’ve boosted our ability to host the military, through strategic investments in everything from barracks to runways to the Arctic Angels of the 11th Airborne.”

 

  • “We’re also putting ourselves on the map as an Arctic capital. We’re building infrastructure, like the deepwater port in Nome. We’re establishing institutions like the Ted Stevens Center for Arctic Security Studies and UAA’s new Homeland Security Center of Excellence.”
  • “Think about this: electrical workers helping to install broadband and transmission lines. Engineers and construction workers building roads and repairing bridges. Plumbers and pipefitters installing water purification systems in rural villages. Teamsters and truckers hauling goods and materials to the North Slope. Longshoremen and Inlandboatman workers, busy thanks to a revitalized Marine Highway System. All while tourism, mariculture, and more continue to boom. That’s all right in front of us.” 

On the Challenges Facing Alaska:

  • “We’re at 11 straight years and counting with a net loss of working-age Alaskans.”

 

  • “Quality of life is everything—but inflation has made everything cost more, high interest rates add insult to injury, and we’re behind on housing, childcare, and education.”

  

  • “We aren’t taking good enough care of those struggling with hunger, mental health, or homelessness, either—roughly 40 percent of the funds I secured for Alaska to help homeless kids in school, through the American Rescue Plan Act, have not been spent.” 

On the Southern Border and Global Hostilities:

  • “The latest example of kick the can is border security—which Republicans rightly demanded be part of the national security supplemental, and then refused to bring to the floor for debate when presented with our best shot at reform in decades. We could have improved our failing border policies, but instead, we locked them in for the rest of the year and potentially well beyond.”
  • “Globally, I can’t recall a time when so many hostilities were flaring up in so many places.” 
  • “On Tuesday morning at about 6:00 am, the Senate passed a major package with security assistance for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. It helps our allies, it sends a strong message to our enemies, and it is crucial to reinforce our domestic defense base—but it’s also months late and faces resistance in the House of Representatives.” 
  • “This is the moment we’re living through. Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea are looking to unseat Western power. Our own southern border is in chaos. Cartels are poisoning our people with fentanyl. Times like these require leadership that brings us together. We’re seeing anything but that in these highly partisan times.”   

Partnership with the Legislature:

  • “We need to work together to keep our progress going in Alaska.”
  • “Provide state matching funds for infrastructure projects—particularly AMHS and GRIP—for federal programs like Head Start, and supplemental funding for programs like VOCA.” 
  • “Ensure our infrastructure projects are ‘built smart’—with broadband, for example, reaching our defense sites and weather observing stations.” 
  • “Make strategic state-level investments to help Alaska compete.”
  • “Ask yourself what we can do to keep Alaskans here, and attract those who might move here, but can’t afford a home or find childcare and worry about crime, drugs, and homelessness.”
  • “Invest in our kids’ education, and support the University. We know that only about 25 percent of those who leave our state for college come back home. But 70 to 90 percent of the University’s graduates stay in Alaska, and under President Pitney’s leadership, enrollment is up across the board.” 

On Alaskans’ Resilience:

  • “Alaska has so much good to offer. We are resilient in so many ways.” 
  • “As the elections approach, there’s going to be pressure to show whether you’re with the Republicans or the Democrats, with little in between. So let’s show the country that sure, we have our differences—but we work them out, by working together and putting Alaska ahead of all else.”
  • “That’s how we get things done. That’s how we reckon with hard things. That’s how we advance projects and create jobs and establish the quality of life that are at the root of everything we need and want for Alaska.”