Rep. Mary Peltola stuck with the Democrats on Thursday and voted against an appropriation bill for energy and water development, and related agencies, for the fiscal year that ends next Sept. 30, 2024.
Congress is back to business now that Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana was approved on the House floor to lead the Republican-led body. The appropriations bills were front and center on Thursday to avoid further government shutdowns.
The bill passed along party lines after a series of amendments and now goes to the Senate.
Peltola offered no amendments during the lengthy amendment process, and in the end voted no on the bill because her Democrat caucus demanded its members vote no.
“Today’s Energy & Water budget bill includes a formal recommendation to the Department of Energy to provide loan guarantees to AK LNG, which would create Alaskan jobs and reduce demand for Chinese coal. That’s a great step forward!,” Peltola explained on X/Twitter,
But Peltola said the bill targeted the Denali Commission, and that’s why she couldn’t vote for it.
“This bill has some good ideas, but I can’t support making life in rural Alaska harder and more expensive. I’m focused on working with our Senators to fix this bill—to restore the Denali Commission and support Alaskan natural gas. Working together, I know we can do both,” she wrote.
Peltola may have not understood it, or may simply be lying. Why? She voted no twice against the very amendments that reduced the funding for the Denali Commission, so she’s aware that the two amendments failed by a large margin.
The original $17 million in funding for the Denali Commission was included in the bill Peltola voted against.
The projects she voted against funding included:
Only Republicans in the House supported the Denali Commission funding on the final vote, because Peltola actually voted against the Denali Commission on final passage.
