The return of pork earmarks to Congress has reignited a battle inside the Republican Party, raising questions about whether lawmakers can pass government funding bills before the Sept. 30 deadline.
At the center of the fight is Alaska’s senior senator, Lisa Murkowski, who has submitted nearly $345 million in Congressionally Directed Spending requests for Fiscal Year 2026. Her requests, publicly posted on the Senate Appropriations Committee’s website in accordance with transparency rules, span a wide range of projects:
- Agriculture, Rural Development, FDA, and Related Agencies: $10.25 million
- Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies: $22.23 million
- Energy and Water Development: $74.25 million
- Financial Services and General Government: $11.75 million
- Homeland Security: $13.25 million
- Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies: $48.14 million
- Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies: $58.35 million
- Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies: $36 million
- Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies: $70.75 million
The total — $344,714,000 — reflects projects ranging from infrastructure upgrades to health and Native initiatives. As a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Murkowski is positioned to shepherd at least some of these projects into law.
Many of the appropriations are for rural areas of the state, including $1 million for the Alaska Native Women’s Resource Center to provide “Alaska Tribes with justice program implementation support,” and $498,000 for Tanana Chiefs Conference to “provide sexual assault response services in rural Alaska.”
There’s also Robert Aqqaluk Newlin Sr Memorial Trust earmark for $241,000 for “The Uqapiaqta Inupiaq Language Year will provide an opportunity for adult Inupiaq learners to acquire conversational Inupiaq language speaking ability, grounded in Inupiaq ways of life. Federal funds will support elder gatherings and staffing to develop needed curricular materials.”
Murkowski has earmarked $300,000 for the Alaska Native Justice Center for “Support the assessment of, and writing a report on, the status of Tribal justice for Congress.”
A $500,000 appropriation to Alaska Native Women’s Resource Center would be to “support the AKNWRC hosting Tribal Community Response Plan (TCRP) gatherings to identify gaps in services and challenges in developing and sustaining supportive and sufficient transitional housing in Alaska’s remote tribal communities for all survivors.” Cook Inlet Tribal Council would get $500,000 for “dissemination of the 2024 Alyce Spotted Bear and Walter Soboleff Commission on Native Children’s report to the President and Congress, ‘The Way Forward,’ and the development of a toolkit to assist with implementation.”
The Alaska Council of School Administrators would get $500,000 “to create an online Alaska Native Civics game.” The International AIDS Association would see $548,000 for “Design and engineering for a new building” in Fairbanks.
Most of the big appropriation requests are for infrastructure projects, however — roads, ports, new buildings and leaky roofs on old buildings, flood mitigation, landslide data collection and more.
Perhaps no community has more Murkowski earmarks per capital than Nome, with at least $63 million for the deepwater Port, and another $14.4 million for other projects.
Not all members of Alaska’s delegation share Murkowksi’s earmark approach.
Sen. Dan Sullivan, who has long opposed earmarks, submitted no requests for FY26. Since first running for office, Sullivan has argued that earmarks contribute to wasteful spending. Instead, he leverages his committee posts to secure federal investment in Alaska through other channels.
The divide in Alaska mirrors a broader rift among Senate Republicans. Fiscal conservatives, led by Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, warn that earmarks are incompatible with the GOP’s brand of fiscal discipline and is incompatible with having $37 trillion in debt. The Senate conference rules, passed in a closed-door vote of 28-12 in 2019, still ban earmarks within the Senate Republican caucus.
That ban has eroded in practice, with appropriators like Murkowski continuing to request projects while others refuse.
Murkowski’s full list of requests is available on the Senate Appropriations Committee’s website here.
Everything Trump does will be undone if this isn’t dealt with.
Congress will just find new and creative ways to bribe themselves back into office.
Maybe(?) // Probably(?) … Unless, Fate and/or DeVine intervention prevails!
Let’s all pray for speedy results so the Guv can act quickly in replacement.
If Alaska does not receive that money other states will, plus Trump owes her one for saving the BB Bill.
soooo wee!
sooo, sooo, sooo wee!
That gal can root in the garbage with the best of them.
Hogzilla down in Georgia got nothing on her.
Senators spend money for they’er respective states, then it’s up to the executive (president) to confer or veto.
Sullivan has my support. Earmarks are the most corrupt method of enticing crime within government. Remember Stevens and his earmarks? The bridge to no-where! Waste, fraud and abuse by Murkowski is the usual. No to earmarks and I suggest all who read this to call and talk with offices of other Senators and tell them the same thing.
Whether it’s through earmarks or strong arming investments through your committee assignments it doesn’t matter. When corporations control the reelection dollars you will find money to pay them back, doesn’t matter how you accomplish it. Nor what party you belong to. It’s all slimy.
It is worth looking through the Murkowski list. This time she really likes the military bases, with multiple large projects to create some facilities that actual Alaskans will never see or use and provide employment for temporary construction workers. There are a handful of handouts to Anchorage utilities but no big deal. Overall, her favorites continue to be soft projects that are not much more than operational grants for the entities involved. Southcentral streets and highways will continue to crumble. It would be fun to see the elimination of all earmarks. The effect on the average Alaskan would be minimal.
“Sullivan has argued that earmarks contribute to wasteful spending.”
I can see where he gets that idea. Look at some of the things Murkowski is trying to fund and tell me they are not wasteful. If an adult wants to learn Inupiaq why should taxpayers fund it? Same with the panel to study stuff, and the justice group. Oh… and the on-line civics game? iCivics already has it. Why build a copy?
.
Tell me that is not just buying votes with my money.
You would think their native corporation would fund it, right??? I mean it’s so important to them. Isn’t that what the corporations were for???? How many more hand outs do the natives need I wonder.
There is this stupid belief, unfortunately fed and maintained by whites, that the natives deserve to be take care of. They do not.
.
The Europeans came to this land and conquered the inhabitants. And, the conquerors owe nothing to the conquered. That anyone tracing their lineage to a native tribe still breathes air is proof of the benevolence of the conquerors.
.
But, here we are. Speaking land acknowledgements, handing over taxpayer money to preserve native cultures, and perpetuating the myth of the noble savage. It is nothing other than leftists trying to diminish their own culture in favor of another.
Ray, think Musk, Boeing, Raytheon, oil companies, and Trumps Golf trips to his resorts. etc,etc that get government money for their endeavors.
OLe lisa gotta buy those alaskan votes
The Pork Princess has gone off the rails:
– Uqapiaqta Inupiaq Language Year? If they want to learn, tax dollars are not necessary.
– Tribal Justice report? Exactly how will a report equate to more justice? It hasn’t in the past.
– An online native civics game?
– A half Mil for engineering a new AIDS building?
Roads, infrastructure: Yes. BS like this. Heck no!
345 million?! Good God. It’s like a glutton ordering a feast for one.
If these things are very important their costs need to be balanced by removing other items from the budget in an equal amount to help bring the deficit under control, at least holding the line on spending. Of course many other senators are probably doing the same and it’s all important and nobody wants to be the one to be financially prudent and step back from the pork spending. They would be viewed as suckers to hold back or fools. Hence the massive deficit.
I doubt Lisa is smart or sophisticated enough to do anything but plead for money. Earmarks are the lazy way to go about it. She is venal, and hardly gives a rat’s backside about most of the people in Alaska. If she did, she would have learned to be a Conservative. But that would take a backbone, something she couldn’t have inherited from her father.
How many of the earmark recipients donate to Lisa’s ‘campaign’? Follow the money….
So native this, native that, native language, native AIDS, la la la la la. Oh and a port project.
What’s in it for real Alaska?
Like I always told Lisa, if you can’t beat them fair and square, buy them off.
That’s what you always told your bank officers, Frankie. And later, your Senate staffers. And after that, your governor staffers and cabinet officers. Lisa inherited the Murkowski method.
Yes, Murkowski Family, buy them off. All of them. Use taxpayer’s money. Not your own. You need your own money (government pensions) to buy your next recreational home in the sun. How is Palm Desert treating you?
For somebody who really likes to bring home the bacon, Skin-And-Bones Lisa sure doesn’t seem to eat any of it herself.
I keep telling her, Jefferson, to pack on a few more pounds around the areas that are eye-appealing. You know, the derrier’. Her wrinkles and saggy skin are largely inherited. But when I was running my noodle stand in Anchorage I had her on a high carb diet. But the Murkowski family is chincy about everything. Frankie’s favorite restaurant was Denny’s. Frankie ate like a horse, and as a result, his triple chin.
Many communities in rural AK are too small to bond for needed infrastructure projects. I say, thanks Lisa!
I cannot resist: The rest of us stupid souls in non-rural Alaska pay our own bills.
Exactly Jmark.
Welfare much Colleen
For or against earmarks it’s worth noting that $345mm doesn’t do anything for Alaskans. I know that seems suspect so pardon my hillbilly arithmetic and bear in mind that most of this is infrastructure which we’ll lean on for the example:
Roughly 1/2 the cost of a construction project is typically materials. $345mm /2 = 172,500,000
There are roughly 730k people in Alaska. $172.5mm /730k = $236 for each Alaskan.
Sure, there may be a seller of construction goods that profits to a greater degree than shown in the example but absent the minor flaw in the example is any average Alaskan you know going to reach new heights bouyed by an extra 200 bones in their pocket? Nooop. Murkowski botched this one, too.
Who cares? Republicans aren’t the party of fiscal responsibility and have made no effort to be. The democrats never were. So why not just continue to spend? As long as I get mine, right?
Native corporations are some of the richest people on earth But too greedy to take care of their homeless, There is big money donations for Murkowski in all of this
She brings home the bacon, which you all enjoy, yet you continue to slag her off. Amazing.
Take a second crack at it, Dog; the math isn’t that hard. For a $200 per capita impact to lift your condition you’d have to be living in a Maytag box. Subtract the embedded gifts to already rich native groups and the impact doesn’t become greater.
Bacon is carcinogenic and bad for the heart.
I can completely do without Princess’ rotten bacon.
Actually most of us don’t like hand outs whidbey. I prefer to make my own way. You on the other hand.
Whidbey, our token troll from the lower 48; has spoken. /s
She’s wanting pr crap to use when she runs for governor. Or for reelection. She’s absolute trash and has lied to Alaskans ever since daddy appointed her.
Let’s check to see if this comment gets through. Look, most of us are hurting. But here is a fictional Presidential statement from Rand Paul in the future. And it would go something like this.
Here’s a fictional presidential address imagining a scenario where President Rand Paul has successfully paid off the national debt and transitioned the U.S. dollar to a gold-backed system. It’s written as a mix of inspirational vision and hard-nosed realism, suitable for a fictional publication or speech:
—
📜 “The New American Standard” — A Fictional Address by President Rand Paul
My fellow Americans,
Today, we mark a turning point in the history of our Republic — not with fanfare, but with clarity, courage, and conviction.
For decades, the United States lived under the weight of unsustainable debt, runaway inflation, and a monetary system untethered from reality. We borrowed from the future to pay for the present. We traded discipline for convenience. And we allowed an unelected central bank to manipulate the value of your labor and your savings.
But that era is over.
Today, I am proud to announce that the United States has paid off its national debt in full, and that the U.S. dollar is once again backed by gold — solid, measurable, and immune to political gamesmanship.
—
🏛️ A New Foundation
We did not arrive here easily. It required a decade of bold reform:
A leaner, constitutional government.
An end to reckless spending and unfunded promises.
A shift from dependence to self-reliance — from Washington-driven policy to locally led solutions.
We faced hard choices. But together, we chose freedom over fear, solvency over short-term comfort, and truth over political convenience.
—
🪙 A Currency You Can Trust
Under the new Gold Reserve Standard Act, every dollar in circulation is now backed by physical gold reserves held transparently at Fort Knox and certified by independent audit.
No longer can Washington quietly erode your savings through inflation. No longer will the value of your money be at the mercy of Federal Reserve bureaucrats.
This is your currency again — stable, sound, and sovereign.
—
🌍 America’s New Role in the World
Some critics warned this move would isolate us. The opposite has happened.
Nations around the world now look to America not just as a military power, but as a model of financial sanity.
The dollar has become more than a reserve currency — it is a moral standard, a promise that what is earned cannot be diluted, and what is saved cannot be destroyed by inflation.
—
👷 An Economy Rebuilt
We have watched capital return home. Manufacturing, technology, and agriculture are booming — not because of handouts, but because of confidence.
We’ve restored a system where what you produce is more important than who you know, and where long-term investment is finally worth more than short-term speculation.
—
🏁 Conclusion: Back to Principles
This was never about gold alone. It was about trust. It was about liberty. It was about returning to the principles that made America the greatest engine of human freedom and prosperity the world has ever known.
We may have taken the harder road. But in doing so, we have ensured that our children and grandchildren will not be born into debt — they will be born into freedom.
The age of inflation is over. The age of American solvency has begun.
Thank you, and may God bless the United States of America.
Would be no more of importing Latin-Americans to work on farmlands, would be no more of importing doctors from other countries or not as much anyways, would be no more of college students to have to sell their bodies to help pay for students loans in this country, would be no more of exporting American factories to Asia or Mexico anymore, or we could watch them come back home under future President Rand Paul. Store clerks would become actual good paying jobs again. Would be no more of continuing to create this One World Government through the Federal Reserve bank, and the US government. But remember, Satan mostly controls all those in high places, especially the media.
Vance-Pepe 2028? Harris-____2028?
Thanks Lisa
Two uses for your tax money. You either get blackmailed through the threat of withholding it from you or you get bribed for your vote with someone else’s.
Is it still considered taxes if it hasn’t yet been collected from your great-grandchildren? Don’t forget to thank them.
chuga-chuga woo-woo
She’s just can’t resist whipping out the taxpayer funded debt card and going on a,shopping spree SpendaholicPrincess
I am so disappointed in Lisa and in we Alaskans for this! It proves she has learned nothing. She is happy with so many Alaskans choosing welfare over work, productive work. She is happy with 37 percent of Alaskans being on Medicaid, and the highest adult food stamp enrollment rate in the nation. She is either too stupid or too grifting to acknowledge that people in rural Alaska choose fentanyl over work because government spending discourages work, especially productive work. The counselors, community organizers, and planners who live off these grants need nonworking adult Alaskans choosing drugs and food stamps over work, real work. So disappointed.
Well said, Kayak.
But it’s gonna take money,
A whole lot of spending money.
It’s gonna take plenty of money,
To do it right, child.
All of this is grift to repay the support and cover up the criminal financial entanglement with Tribes that Bribe