Lisa Murkowski

Announces Funding for Alaska Projects in the Interior, the Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill

June 23, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, a member of the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee, today announced subcommittee approval of a number of important projects for Alaska in the Fiscal Year 2010 Department of the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies appropriations bill. Following today’s action by the subcommittee, the bill goes to the full Appropriations Committee for consideration.    » read more »

The Report Supports the Delegation’s February 2009 Letter Objecting to TSA’s Proposed Large Aircraft Security Program as Disproportionate with the Actual Threat

June 23, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. –The Alaska Delegation responded today to a recent finding by the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security that General Aviation poses little risk to aircraft security.

In a report entitled “TSA’s (Transportation Security Administration) Role in General Aviation Security,” the Inspector General’s office concluded, “We determined that general aviation presents only limited and mostly hypothetical threats to security.”    » read more »

June 15, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, this evening issued the following statement after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the Exxon Mobil Corporation to pay $507.5 million in punitive damages from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil disaster.

In addition, the Court also ordered Exxon Mobil to pay 5.9 percent interest accrued from the 1996 trial judgment:

“I am gratified by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision to award interest to the plaintiffs of the Exxon Valdez oil spill.    » read more »

June 3, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), today introduced legislation designed to protect and improve important aviation programs in Alaska, including an exemption that would allow the Iditarod Air Force to accept cost deferments for flying in support of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Murkowski’s bill, the Alaska Omnibus Aviation Improvement Act (S.1170), was introduced in advance of Senate consideration of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill during the 111th Congress. The U.S. House of Representatives passed its version of an FAA reauthorization bill (H.R. 915) last month.

“I hope the Senate will consider these Alaska priorities as we debate the upcoming FAA reauthorization bill,” Murkowski said.    » read more »

May 28, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki today told U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, that he wants to try to ease the serious VA healthcare access problems facing veterans in rural Alaska.

At a meeting in the senator’s office, Murkowski invited Shinseki to visit Alaska and see those challenges first hand. Shinseki said he would like to visit the state.

Murkowski used the 45-minute meeting with Shinseki to reiterate a variety of concerns regarding VA healthcare in Alaska.    » read more »

May 27, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today asked Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to fund a $1.2 million study designed to reduce the high rate of suicides among Alaska natives.

In a letter to the Secretary, Murkowski pointed to a study proposed by Commissioner Warren Zapol of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission that would examine the mental and behavioral health issues facing Alaska Native populations living in the Arctic. Zapol’s study would be conducted by the Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of Sciences.

This new study would seek to determine the specific genes that contribute to major depressive disorders and alcohol abuse leading to targeted treatment options for Alaska Natives.    » read more »

May 26, 2009 -- Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today commented on President Obama’s nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court:

"I congratulate Judge Sonia Sotomayor on being nominated by the President to the United States Supreme Court.

"As the Senate moves forward with her nomination, I will examine and review very closely Judge Sotomayor’s qualifications and background for a court appointment.

"As a member of the Senate, I take my advice and consent role very seriously, and I look forward to a fair and full debate on this nomination.”

Source: Senator Lisa Murkowski

May 22, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has a message for Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki when they meet next week in her office here: Get serious about fixing the serious VA healthcare access problems facing veterans in rural Alaska.

Murkowski, a member of the Senate Appropriations Veterans Affairs Subcommittee, laid out her concerns in a letter she sent to Shinseki today (see attachment).

Alaska’s senior senator expressed deep disappointment that a new $215 million VA funding initiative for veterans in rural areas would do little to ease the access problems for rural Alaska veterans, many of whom live in remote villages and have no direct road access to VA healthcare facilities.    » read more »

May 18, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Mark Begich, D-Alaska, have written to the chairman of a Senate subcommittee expressing concern over the panel’s investigation of Alaska Native Corporation participation in a federal contracting program.

U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight, has scheduled a hearing July 16, 2009, on government contracts awarded to Alaska Native Corporations under the Native American 8(a) program administered by the Small Business Administration.    » read more »