Senator Murkowski Attends Homer's "First Annual Senator Lisa Murkowski is Coming to Town" Luncheon
She spoke of Federal spending and the impact on Alaska, by saying, "The sobering reality is that where we are as a nation, we are going to see the impact of that as a state that is really reliant traditionally on federal spending, and not because we have legislators and Senators that have sharper elbows than most," She continued,"Alaska has over 60% of our lands that are federally owned. We have, per capita, more veterans in the state of Alaska than anywhere else in the nation. We have our Alaska Native population recieving IHS dollars, and we have our military installations, because of that, we get dollars from DOD. So rightfully, we claim a fair amount of federal dollars. But, I think as a consequence of that, we will also feel perhaps more acutely, the pain that will come when these cuts come to all of us."
The Senator brought to light the election year atmosphere of Washington to the people of Homer, and how it has gotten in the way of responsible governing of the country. She told of the conversation that she had on KBBI earlier in the morning, she said, "There was discussion this morning on KBBI about the vote on contraception that was an amendment on a transportation highway re-authorization bill, it was not designed to bring out the debate and pros or cons on contraception , but because it was going to force a vote on an issue and put people on one side or another."
She said that in Washington it was all about winning, "I don't think most of you care about the winning, what you care about is the governing. What I think you care about are policies that are made whether it's a national energy policy that is going to work to make sure that we are reducing our emmisions so we are good environmental stewards, while at the same time powering our country in a good and responsible way."
"I think you want to know that we are making policy decisions that are actually going to reduce your health care costs and increase your access to healthcare. It doesn't make a bit of difference to you whether or not we have positioned ourselves so that we're taking a vote so that I can say in my campaign or I can say against my opponent that you oppose healthcare or you support health care."
"I wish that I could tell you the collective wisdom in your governing bodies right now was that we are in here to govern, but right now, its about elections, and I say that with a lot of frustration." She went on to say, "Right now I am not convinced we are making headway... it is important for you to understand that on the political scene right now I don't think that your congress is doing you any favors. I have to include myself in that because I am one of them, and it is my responsibility to try to change this dynamic to try to make sure that we are governing ...and not just taking votes on the wedge issue of the day."
