Sen. Murkowski cannot fix everything for Alaska

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, left, asks Curt Gookin, executive officer of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Storis icebreaker, a question about the equipment on the bridge of the ship during a tour on Friday, Aug. 8, 2025. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Independent)

The following editorial was published by the Wrangell Sentinel.

The senator is a hard worker who does her homework. She looks for compromises, albeit frustrating both sides of the political aisle who would prefer she not compromise on what they don’t like.

She has been effective at winning support in Congress for a long list of Alaska projects and programs over her more than 22 years in the U.S. Senate.

But no matter how much Sen. Lisa Murkowski has succeeded in the past, that list looks small when measured against the fights she is now waging in Washington, D.C.

The senator is trying to convince her colleagues that public broadcasting is worth saving, particularly radio stations in small communities in Alaska. President Donald Trump doesn’t agree, which is tough opposition to overcome in a Congress dominated by the president’s popularity and political threats — but she is trying.

Murkowski supports extending federal funding to hold down the cost of insurance premiums for Americans who buy their coverage through the Affordable Care Act marketplace. Unless Congress comes up with something that the president will sign, insurance premiums will go up by thousands of dollars a year for thousands of Alaskans.

She also hasn’t given up on Congress reducing the pain of changes the president has pushed through to Medicaid, which could knock an estimated 35,000 Alaskans out of the program, driving many to charity care when they need to see a doctor or go to a hospital.

The senator’s work list also includes protecting U.S. Forest Service offices in Alaska from closure. The Trump administration is pursuing a plan to close offices nationwide, including in Alaska, though the U.S. Department of Agriculture has not said which ones — other than closing the Forestry Science Laboratory in Juneau.

She also is looking for alternative funding after the Environmental Protection Agency canceled $280 million in grants for Alaska villages and small communities — including Kake and Metlakatla — for water and sewer installations to replace honey buckets, building erosion barriers to combat flooding, erecting solar arrays and wind turbines as an alternative to costly diesel fuel, and promoting kelp farming.

Murkowski may win a couple of the battles by persuasion and casting her votes wisely, extracting what she can for Alaska. She certainly will not make everyone happy, nor even most everyone happy in the country’s divided political world, but it won’t be for lack of trying.