U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she didn’t want to be “lecture-y,” but she told state lawmakers that they needed to step up their game in a few areas.
“And one of those areas – I’m just going to offer it up here – is matching funds,” she said in her annual address to the Alaska Legislature Tuesday. “When the delegation secures a federal allocation, we really need you to come through with your share in a timely manner. We need you to meet the match.”
The match requirement varies across programs, but typically, federal transportation projects require state or local governments to provide 20% of the money.
Murkowski got a lot of money for Alaska in the bipartisan infrastructure law during President Biden’s term, including nearly $1 billion that could go to Alaska ferries. Murkowski envisioned a revitalized Alaska Marine Highway System, with electric ferries and other modern improvements. Instead, Gov. Dunleavy has used the federal money on operating costs. Murkowski said that’s not a wise use of money that is available for a limited time with no guarantee it will be renewed.
“It's not a good strategy to rely on a temporary, competitive federal grant program to cover 45% of our state's operating costs, all of which used to be paid for by the state,” she said. “That's the case that we're facing right now.”
Each member of Alaska’s congressional delegation has an opportunity to address a joint session of the Legislature. Rep. Nick Begich and Sen. Dan Sullivan delivered their speeches earlier in March. They portrayed Alaska as being at the dawn of a new era of resource development that would bring jobs and a better economy.
Murkowski lauded the momentum Alaska is seeing in oil development and mining, too, but her speech had an element of tough love. She encouraged legislators to have a fiscal plan, to balance revenue and spending. She said the state can’t rely on federal funding or high oil prices for long.
On healthcare, Murkowski said the state has to have a good plan for the money it is getting from the $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Fund. That was part of last year’s reconciliation bill. To win her vote, Senate Republicans doubled the fund and gave Alaska $1.5 billion of it, the largest per-capita share.
“But the state needs to do dramatically better on this five-year effort than we did on ferries – putting it out there – because if we don't, Alaska's funds can be redirected elsewhere, and we will miss a generational opportunity to improve care,” she said.
Federal rules say the money can’t be used on construction projects. Murkowski said she knows that’s an area of great need but she advised focusing on technology projects instead.
Later, Murkowski acknowledged to reporters that she didn’t solve the state’s problem when she was a member of the Alaska Legislature, either. In 1999, she recalled, she joined the Fiscal Policy Caucus.
“We know what the contours of a fiscal plan need to be,” she said. “But political will to make it happen — still waiting 20 years later.”
She also told reporters that she's spent a lot of time weighing how to preserve the balance of powers in a time when President Trump asserts he can take action without Congress. The longer she's in the Senate, she said, the more she becomes an "institutionalist" — a defender the Senate's traditions and authority.
"Because I can see and I can appreciate the beauty of the checks and balance that we have in place, that's been there for a couple hundred years now," she said. "Brilliantly designed. But if we disregard our role, there is no check, and then we're out of balance."