Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, smiles on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, as she exits the Alaska House of Representatives following her annual address to the Alaska Legislature. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, encouraged members of the Alaska Legislature – and the public – to work together to get things done, despite major uncertainties caused by the Trump administration, as well as its cuts to budgets, personnel and programs.
“I’ll tell you I accept the challenge. I want you to know that I’m going to do everything in my power to make the best of this,” Murkowski said, of her role in advocating for Alaska’s priorities in Congress. “We are engaging every day to try to identify where we are seeing challenges presented to us here in Alaska, and ways that we can work to address it.”
In her annual speech to the Legislature on Tuesday, Murkowski highlighted continued priorities over the past year, including infrastructure, fisheries, the Alaska Marine Highway System, military and resource development. And, she acknowledged she came directly from Congress narrowly avoiding a government shutdown.
“You’re not going to find anybody who is happier about being home right now than me,” she said, and called the outcome a “Morton’s fork” dilemma. “Basically it’s a choice between two equally bad options, and that’s what we were faced with, a shutdown — not ever good — but also a continuing resolution that doesn’t do much, if anything, to reduce the level of spending.”
She criticized the Trump administration’s handling of mass federal firings and budget freezes.
“These terminations are indiscriminate and many, we’re now learning, are unlawful,” she said, referring to recent court orders ruling fired employees be reinstated. “And they’re being made regardless of performance, and with little understanding of the function and the value of each position.”
Murkowski said she supports the mission of DOGE, or the “Department of Government Efficiency,” and agrees there are inefficiencies in the federal government that should be addressed, but she does not agree with the way it is being carried out. “The approach that we’re seeing lacks the type of planning that you need to avoid unintended consequences. It lacks the fundamental decency that you need when you’re dealing with real people,” she said.
“Public servants are not our enemies. They are our friends. They are our neighbors,” she said. “They are integral to our economy and to our ability to function as a state and as a country.”
She cited examples of the U.S. Forest Service staff expected to handle 14,000 daily cruise ship tourists coming to visit Juneau’s Mendenhall Glacier, weather forecasters and firefighter support staff as some of those essential jobs. “The fire season started yesterday, earliest ever,” she said. “Do we really want to gut the support staff for the firefighters who are going to be on the front lines here?”
She also criticized federal funding freezes, another area where Alaska will have a disproportionately negative impact. “And keep in mind: With what’s being targeted,” she said, “it’s not going to put a dent in the deficit or balance the budget.”
Murkowski promised to keep working for Alaska’s priorities, and repeated that she and her office welcome calls from legislators and members of the public.
“I’m just one of three in a delegation,” she said. “We all need your help. I can’t do my job alone. And so when I ask you for these stories, when I ask you to share with us what you’re hearing from your folks back home, take us up on the offer. Don’t be afraid to give us too much. We can be more responsive, and we can help more Alaskans when we do this all together,” she said.
Murkowski promised to fight against any cuts to health care benefits, like Medicaid. “I just can’t be on board with anything that hurts our people or puts you in a budget hole,” she told lawmakers.
In her address, Murkowski also took issue with the Trump administration’s changes in foreign policy, and repeated her continued support for Ukraine in the war against Russia. “How we came to a place where we’re fighting now with Canada, and we’re making nice with Russia — It’s beyond me,” she said.
She noted incursions to the airspace around the state, known as the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone.
“And as long as we’ve got to send up fighter jets to chase off Russian Bear bombers from our ADIZ, I’m not going to trust Putin here, and I’m not going to be quiet about it. I’m going to stand up and say so,” she said.
Murkowski said there are many areas where she agrees with the Trump administration, including securing borders, stopping the flow of fentanyl, and negotiating better trade deals. “So these are things that we can be working on, and are working on in a strong way,” she said. She added that she supported Trump’s focus on opening more lands to mining, timber harvesting, and oil and gas development. “He’s really given air underneath the Alaska natural gas pipeline proposal.”
In closing, she emphasized that industries as well as the public need government services. “Our industries require people, and they depend on the essential workers who build houses, who keep us healthy, who teach and watch the kids while we work,” she said. “To bring it full circle, our opportunities also depend on functional government, the men and women who do the trawls and do the surveys, who issue the permits, who maintain the visitors facilities, who forecast the weather, and so much more.”
After the address, Murkowski took questions from reporters and spoke candidly about pushing back against members of her party, and the Trump administration.
“I have to work with people that I didn’t vote for. I have to work with people that I don’t have as good a bond or connection with, because that’s what Alaskans have asked me to do. They’ve asked me to do some really, really hard things, and this is about as hard as it’s ever gotten,” she said.
But Murkowski said she’s committed to her role and representing Alaska. “Because I’ve never seen Alaskans that are so worried, they’re so panicked, there’s so much coming at them. And so I am going to stand there and say, ‘Come into my office, tell me … Maybe I can’t fix anything, but by God, I’m going to listen to you.”
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.