Sen. Murkowski pushes for a half-billion dollars in earmarks for Alaska
As Congress raced toward a Dec. 16 funding deadline, Alaska's senior senator sought $491 million across more than 130 projects, more than double what she requested a year earlier.
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski pushed to secure nearly half a billion dollars in earmarked funding for Alaska projects as Congress raced toward a December 16, 2022 deadline to fund the government, according to the Anchorage Daily News. Murkowski, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, requested $491 million for Alaska projects for fiscal year 2023 -- more than double the $230 million she had requested for FY22.
The request spanned more than 130 individual projects across Alaska communities, per the Anchorage Daily News, ranging in scale from $17,000 to support child care facility improvements at a social services provider in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough up to $99 million to fund a fitness center annex at Fort Wainwright.
'I am one who believes very strongly that it is the prerogative of Congress to take seriously the role of appropriations rather than cede that to the agencies,' Murkowski said, according to the paper's reporting.
Where the money would go
The Anchorage Daily News reported that Murkowski's priorities spanned workforce development, housing, healthcare, water and wastewater infrastructure, community safety, fisheries research, wildfire mitigation and response, working waterfronts, and support for Alaska's military members and their families. Congressional earmarks -- formally called Community Project Funding or Congressionally Directed Spending -- had been banned in 2011 amid corruption concerns before being restored in 2021 under new transparency rules capping earmarked projects at 1% of discretionary spending.
Murkowski's own announcement of the request, published on her Senate website, itemized the spending across seven appropriations subcommittees: eight projects under Agriculture, Rural Development and the FDA, including $10 million for a Bethel campus expansion and $5 million for the design phase of a Utqiagvik college building; 13 projects under Commerce, Justice and Science, including $2 million for Anchorage police vehicles and $3 million for statewide domestic violence services; seven projects under Energy and Water Development, including $25.6 million for a Dutch Harbor expansion and $5 million for the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation; three Homeland Security projects, including $5 million for shoreline protection in Dillingham; 39 projects under Interior and Environment focused on wastewater infrastructure, wildfire mitigation and water systems; 24 projects under Labor, Health and Human Services and Education, including $7.9 million for a Kodiak Community Health Center expansion; three Military Construction and Veterans Affairs projects totaling $167.2 million, including the Fort Wainwright fitness center annex and aircraft hangars; and 24 Transportation and Housing projects, including $7.5 million for permanent supportive housing in Anchorage.
A split Alaska delegation
Murkowski's approach contrasted with that of her Alaska Senate colleague, Dan Sullivan, who made no earmark requests, according to the reporting. The paper also noted that Alaska had no House earmark requests in this cycle: Rep. Don Young, the state's longtime lone House member, died in March 2022, and his eventual successor, Rep. Mary Peltola, took office after the relevant request deadline had passed.
US In News compiled this archived account from contemporaneous coverage by the Anchorage Daily News. It restores a story originally published on this site in November 2022; figures are as reported at the time.