Articles & Op-eds
Cordova Times: Bill would strengthen data access between tribes, government entities
Newly introduced bipartisan legislation would help tribes access public health data and address health disparities that impact Alaska Native and American Indian communities especially hard. The Tribal Health Data Improvement Act, sponsored by Senators Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Tina Smith, D-Minn., called for more data sharing between tribes, tribal epidemiology centers and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, so tribes can be more effective in meeting public health challenges. T… Continue Reading
09.21.20
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner: Local and state representatives weigh in on fisheries and other issues at virtual ComFish
by Andrew Kenneson
Kodiak's representatives at the state and federal levels Zoomed into ComFish on Sept. 18 and 19 to tout their work on fishing and other coastal issues. U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, U.S. Rep. Don Young, state Rep. Louise Stutes and state Sen. Gary Stevens all spoke virtually via Zoom at the event. The federal delegation spoke on Friday. Sullivan touched on his work focusing COVID-19 relief on the fishing industry, as well as his efforts to push for the inclusion of seafood in … Continue Reading
09.21.20
HuffPost: Congress Finally Passes Bill To Address Missing And Murdered Indigenous Women
by Jennifer Bendery
After years of unnecessary delays, the House passed legislation on Monday to help law enforcement respond to a horrifying and largely invisible crisis: Hundreds of Native American women are mysteriously disappearing or being murdered. The bill, Savanna's Act, passed on a voice vote with little fanfare. It now heads to President Donald Trump's desk to be signed into law. The measure, authored by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), responds to a devastating situation in which nobody can say, exactly… Continue Reading
09.20.20
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner: Federal Arctic Energy Office to open on UAF campus
by Erin McGroarty
The University of Alaska Fairbanks campus will be the home of a new federal office focused on Arctic energy. The office was announced Thursday by Department of Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette and Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski in her capacity as a chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The office will focus on the advancement of Arctic energy studies in areas such as research on methane hydrates and development of advanced microgrids and nuclear power systems such … Continue Reading
09.16.20
Huffington Post: Senators Introduce Last-Minute, Bipartisan Bill To Prevent A Census Disaster
by Jennifer Bendery
Senators unveiled bipartisan legislation on Tuesday to give the Census Bureau more time to finish the 2020 census ? an eleventh-hour effort to prevent a potentially severe undercount of the U.S. population, particularly in Native, minority and rural communities. The census count, which is conducted every 10 years, was delayed for months because of COVID-19. Now the Trump administration is insisting on ending the count early, on Sept. 30, to meet end-of-year deadlines. The crunched schedule all … Continue Reading
09.16.20
Natural Gas Intelligence: FERC Nominees Tell Senate Public Interest Foremost if Confirmed
by Leticia Gonzales
The two nominees tapped by President Trump in July to fill vacant FERC positions pledged to be champions for the consumer by ensuring the reliability and fair cost of energy while remaining unbiased in their decision making. Speaking Tuesday before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Democratic nominee Allison Clements noted her "tremendous respect" for the Federal Regulatory Energy Commission and "its role as an independent, bipartisan commission." The attorney worked f… Continue Reading
09.15.20
Associated Press: Senators push for extra census time, as court prods deadline
by Mike Schneider
As lawyers in a court hearing argued over what would happen if the U.S. Census Bureau blew a deadline to turn over data used for redrawing congressional districts, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Tuesday introduced a bill pushing the deadline into next year, even though a previous effort hasn't gone anywhere in the Senate. During a federal court hearing on whether to extend the 2020 census by a month, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, asked government attorneys to exp… Continue Reading
09.14.20
Anchorage Daily News: $21 million federal grant to help build cold-storage cargo facility at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport
by Alex DeMarban
A $21 million federal transportation grant will help pay for the cost of building a huge cold-storage facility at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, boosting the airport's value as an international shipping hub between the U.S. and Asia, Alaska's congressional delegation announced on Monday. The grant has been awarded to the Alaska Energy Authority, a state agency, to support construction of the 190,000 square feet project, which has been previously announced. The facility will b… Continue Reading
09.12.20
Value Walk: Support For Bipartisan Restaurants Act Grows In The Senate
Support for Bipartisan RESTAURANTS Act Grows in the Senate; 12 More Bipartisan Senators Cosponsor Bill, Including Sens. Murkowski, Brown, Manchin, King, Booker and Gillibrand 40 Republican and Democratic Senators Support an Independent Restaurant Relief Program Bill, Including Sens. Cornyn, Schumer, Graham, Tillis, and Gardner. House Bill Is Cosponsored by 194 U.S. Representatives. Support for Bipartisan RESTAURANTS Act Grows WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the Independent Restaurant Coalition (IRC… Continue Reading
09.11.20
CBC News: Alaskan sisters beg Canada to let them go to school in B.C.
by Yvette Brend
It's back to school this week for students in Stewart, B.C., but five Alaskan children who were set to join them this year are stuck at home after pandemic restrictions have essentially closed the border between two remote cross-border communities that sit side by side and usually intermingle. Right now, people are only allowed to cross the border between Hyder, Alaska and Stewart, B.C., for essential travel or they must abide by two-week quarantine requirements. For two American sisters that … Continue Reading
09.11.20
Alaska Journal of Commerce: USDA announces tariff relief for seafood harvesters
by Elwood Brehmer
Harvesters in more than a dozen commercial fisheries across Alaska that have been hit in the pocketbook by foreign tariffs on American seafood are eligible for part of $530 million in federal aid from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA announced Sept. 9 that the money is meant to offset weaker market conditions for American seafood brought on by import tariffs. A statement announcing the availability of the funds, which will be dispersed through the USDA's new Seafood Trade Relief Pro… Continue Reading
09.09.20
The Hill: Top health officials pledge to keep politics out of COVID-19 vaccine process
by Jessie Hellmann
Top federal health officials tried to reassure lawmakers on Wednesday that politics will not play a role in determining whether a COVID-19 vaccine is approved, amid fears that President Trump is politicizing the process. "Science and science alone will be the way in which this decision is made, otherwise I'll have no part in it," Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, told members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Trump has suggested that a … Continue Reading
08.31.20
The Hill: OPINION: Child care has always been essential to our economy — let's start treating it that way
by Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Suzanne Clark
The COVID-19 pandemic's economic and societal disruptions have highlighted an important truth: child care is essential to our return to work and our nation's recovery. Parents heal our sick, stock our shelves, design our products, and run our businesses-and, as any parent knows, those roles are secondary to our main job: raising and protecting our children. So, if we want to get parents back to work, we have to prioritize child care. The economic benefits of child care are well documented. We … Continue Reading
08.31.20
Environmental and Energy Study Institute: New Act Highlights Little-Known Pathway to Absorb Carbon Emissions
by Anna McGinn and Joseph Glandorf
The Blue Carbon for Our Planet Act (H.R.5589/S.3939) draws attention to a little-known-but critically important-pathway to absorb carbon emissions: coastal wetland ecosystems that act as carbon sinks, otherwise known as "blue carbon" ecosystems. Blue carbon ecosystems, which include mangroves, marshes, and seagrass, store disproportionately large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) but are increasingly under threat. A blue carbon ecosystem acts as a highly effective carbon sink because wetland plan… Continue Reading
08.28.20
KTVA: Cold Case Office in Alaska will investigate cases of missing and murdered Indigenous people
by Danielle Rivera
Anchorage is now home to one of seven cold case offices opening across the country that will be dedicated to investigating hundreds of cases of missing and murdered American Indian and Alaska Native people. While the work has already begun, Alaska's congressional delegation, tribal leaders and public safety officials in Alaska gathered for a ceremony to formally announce the cold case office which will tackle the organization and prioritization of cold cases, assign and investigate those cases,… Continue Reading
08.28.20
Refinery 29: This Fertility App Shared Data Without User Consent. Here’s How Senators Are Fighting Back
by Molly Longman
Senators are urging the Federal Trade Commission to look into a fertility app that's allegedly engaged in shady data sharing practices. Premom paints a rosy picture of trying to get pregnant. The website features dewy blades of grass and smiling pregnant people holding lavender. It boasts that it's a "simple, effective, and affordable solution for all trying to conceive." But there's nothing simple about the allegations against the company. Premom's Android app was collecting a wide range of dat… Continue Reading
08.23.20
Anchorage Daily News: ‘Permanency navigators’ help Anchorage’s homeless youths find housing and stability
by Paula Dobbyn
Keegan Cranston-Stuckey used to wander Anchorage's streets at night, trying to keep herself awake and alive. Every day was a struggle to stay safe and fed, especially when she found herself pregnant. The 22-year-old, who gave birth last month to a healthy son, ended up without shelter after she aged out of Covenant House Alaska, which serves homeless youths 13 and older and young adults. Although Cranston-Stuckey often felt sick because of her pregnancy, she remained on the street until relentl… Continue Reading
08.23.20
Daily Energy Insider: Alaska lawmakers applaud DOE authorization of Alaska LNG project
by Dave Kovaleski
The Alaska Congressional delegation voiced their support for the Department of Energy's order authorizing the Alaska LNG project to export liquefied natural gas (LNG). The Alaska LNG Project is an 800-mile pipeline project that includes a treatment facility and a liquefaction facility. It is the nation's largest energy infrastructure project. "A final export license from DOE is an important asset for Alaska LNG," Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said. "After the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission … Continue Reading
08.18.20
Smithsonian Magazine: Women Senators Reflect on the 100th Anniversary of Suffrage
by Meilan Solly
When suffragist Jeannette Rankin was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1916, she made a prescient prediction: "I may be the first woman member of Congress. But I won't be the last." One hundred and four years later, a record-breaking number of women sit in both congressional chambers, with 26 serving in the Senate and 105 in the House. Now, on the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which extended the franchise to (mostly white) women on a federal… Continue Reading
08.17.20
Anchorage Daily News: The federal government will hold an ANWR lease sale. But drilling would be more than a decade away
by Alex DeMarban
The Trump Administration on Monday set the stage for a lease sale in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the coming months, but industry observers and Alaska leaders say oil won't flow for years. Drilling in the sensitive coastal plain faces strong resistance, questions about future demand for oil and vows from large banks not to invest in the region, they said. But some said that while litigation could slow the lease sale, the promise of a large discovery in a little-explored land land, wh… Continue Reading
