The U.S. Supreme Court will gavel back into session Monday after the summer recess.
The justices have agreed to hear 34 cases so far, including cases involving the First Amendment and Second Amendment to the Constitution. On Friday, the court added 12 cases to the list.
One of the first cases will be a challenge to the growing administrative state, involving the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and how it is funded.
In that case, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the CFPB’s funding mechanism violates the Appropriations Clause of the U.S. Constitution. It vacated the bureau’s payday lending rule.
On Wednesday, the court will hear the case from a disabled person who sued hotels that she never even visited and was never likely to visit for failing to provide disabled accommodations information on their websites. The plaintiff, Deborah Laufer, sued Acheson Hotels for failing to make it clear whether the hotel was accessible, as required by the Americans With Disabilities Act.
At issue is a new tactic by the disabilities rights community, including the ACLU, that uses “testers” to scour the internet for violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act, when they clearly never intended to use the services.
In the First Amendment cases that will be heard, the justices will be asked to decide if conservatives can be discriminated against by social media and technology companies, as they currently are.
The Texas Legislature passed a law that bars social media companies with at least 50 million users from blocking, removing, or demonetizing content based on a user’s political views. In Florida, the Stop Social Media Censorship Act, S.B. 7072, outlaws the banning of candidates and journalistic enterprise from being able to use social media platforms.
The tech companies appealed the law in Texas, saying that it violates the First Amendment right of these companies to determine what speech appears on their platforms. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Texas law, which was then appealed to the Supreme Court by the social media companies.
In Florida, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked S.B. 7072, and the state appealed it to the Supreme Court.
Another social media case involves whether elected officials can block users from viewing or interacting with their social media accounts. In O’Connor-Ratcliff v. Garnier, the question is whether there is a First Amendment violation if an official blocks someone from the official’s personal social media account that typically has content related to their office and policy matters.
In the Second Amendment case to be heard Nov. 7, the question in U.S. v. Rahimi is whether a law that bans people who are under restraining orders due to domestic violence convictions from owning firearms violates the Second Amendment.
Several members of Anchorage Assembly and the Municipal Clerk practice what can best be called the “illusion of transparency and accountability.” Now they want even more control of our elections.
Currently the chair of the Anchorage Assembly and several assembly members are pursuing the events centered around the policy of thumb drive usage during the tabulation of votes in municipal elections.
There is no debate about whether or not the policy is a good one or not. It is good. The pursuit of information through the use of subpoena powers, which the Assembly may or may not actually have, is focused on the creation of the policy and how it was published.
In the case of one subpoena, only 25 hours existed between the time the subpoena was served and the time the subpoenaed election observer was ordered to appear, produce documents, and testify — or else suffer punishment of a financial and judicial nature.
The highest priority of the Assembly chair and several assembly members at this time is to establish a connection between the publishing of a very good policy and members of the Bronson administration through some sort of alleged and coordinated effort to overthrow the April 2023 municipal election.
Once the Assembly has either failed to prove or finds evidence to prove their theory, we are assured that the business of making our elections transparent and accountable will take center stage.
There are several areas where transparency and accountability can be improved immediately without the inquisition-flavored investigation going on in the Anchorage Assembly work session.
In the case of thumb drive (data transfer device), security disasters at the Election Center, you must first look at the April 2022 election.
In that election, the Municipal Clerk called in an employee from the software vendor to delete information from the server — during the election. We are told by the clerk that this was in order to remove some John Doe, Limited Road Service Area candidates mistakenly created during a logic and accuracy test conducted earlier.
The software employee was allowed into the locked cage that contains the server and was allowed to insert a thumb drive in order to make the requested deletions. The problem, of course, is that no person fully knows what was on that thumb drive or what else may have been deleted from or added to the server, either knowingly or unknowingly.
In other words there was no transparency. Election observers were not notified in advance that this actual security breech would take place. As far as anyone knows, there were no repercussions or reprimands from the Assembly to the clerk who is the Assembly’s employee. Election observers filed complaints, but for this event there was no accountability.
The Anchorage Assembly adopted the mail-in method of voting five years ago. With the practice of mail in voting came centralized tabulation of the votes. Ballots are run through three scanners at the Election Center. Votes are recorded in a central single server that is reported to be unconnected to the internet or “air gapped” for obvious security reasons.
Unfortunately, the air gap is violated routinely by the Clerk who runs the Election Center. She permits the use of a thumb drive to transfer vote tabulations to the municipal website for publication on election day and every day thereafter for about ten days total. Every time the thumb drive is inserted into the Municipal computer system there exists the opportunity for malware and viruses to be picked up and either knowingly or unknowingly, transferred to the server where vote tabulations are stored.
There is reportedly only one sweep or check for malware and viruses made each year to the one thumb drive that has been used to transfer vote tabulations. The one and only thumb drive has been in use since 2018 when mail in voting was brought to Anchorage without a vote of the people.
This should concern every Anchorage voter and was brought to the attention of the clerk and election officials through the complaint process by election observers. The complaint was not addressed to the satisfaction of observers and was elevated to the level of the Election Commission.
Regardless of how the thumb drive policy was created and published, it is almost universally accepted as good policy to check for viruses and malware before and each time the data transfer device (thumb drive) is inserted into the server. The peoples’ voice exists in electronic form within that server and can be modified by harmful electronic instructions.
At the public Session of Canvass conducted by the Election Commission, this risk was acknowledged by Commissioner Mead Treadwell. He offered the following analogy, “This is why we don’t use the same needle twice!”
The air gap provides an illusion of security, when it is routinely violated and breeched. No one is held accountable for this breech of security. The Anchorage Assembly has not addressed an obvious problem and could be seen to be at fault for the use of the thumb drive as practiced by their employee, the clerk.
Another concern expressed by observers is the management of voter roll information and selective ballot package mailing practices by the clerk and the election administrator.
Currently there is an outstanding Public Records Request No. 2023-24.
Unknown to the public is the identity of 1,730 voters who had their ballots returned to Election Center as undeliverable due to being temporarily away, having a damaged envelope or being from a previous election.
These 1,730 returned ballots were not reported to the State as undeliverable. Their undeliverable status was determined after certification of observers had expired on April 25 when the election was certified by the Assembly. A list of these undeliverable ballots was never created. It is understood the ballot packages have been diverted from the shredder and are available as a photo copy only, to the public at a price.
The physical presence of an observer or a member of the public at the time all 12,486 undeliverable ballots were run through the sorter would not have resulted in discovery of the phantom 1,730 voter identities.
Why should we care about 1,730 phantom ballot packages? Because observers cannot determine the total number of registered voters who were mailed a ballot in the 2023 MOA election, and to whom ballots were mailed.
A limited chronology of the 2023 Municipal Election regarding mailed ballots is outlined as follows:
December 30, 2022 – K&H Integrated Print Solutions, Invoice #064171
201, 029 – Printed and mailed ballot packages
January 31, 2023 – K&H Integrated Print Solutions, Invoice #064018
199,421 – Postcards advertising the election printed/mailed.
March 5, 2023 – State of Alaska voter roll list provided to Observer, verified by MOA Clerk
235, 564 – active registered voters in Anchorage
March 17, 2023 – Voters Receiving Ballots (VRB) list from Clerk
201,462 – Ballot packages sent – Difference of 34,102 between State Active Registered voter list and Clerk’s VRB list. Not mailing to all registered voters is allowed by AMC 28.40.020C. That practice appears to be repugnant to the State Constitution Article 1, Section 1, Inherent Rights – “…all persons are equal and entitled to equal rights and opportunities…”
More importantly, the clerk would later state at the public session of canvass on April 20, 2023, “This list (VRB) has somewhere around 1,800 duplicate names and/or bad addresses!”
The Clerk was asked by observers for the list of 34,102 not mailed a ballot.
April 13, 2023 – All Anchorage Eligible Voters list – by Ralph Duerre, Liaison
199,514 –RG – Registered Voters
26,642 – UN – Undeliverable
9,257 – LM – List Maintenance
93 – LU – List Maintenance Undeliverable
57 – ID – ID Required
235,563 – Total
This report was offered as a response to the request for a list of voters who were not sent a ballot. It is impossible to discern which voters did not get mailed a ballot from this report. This report was provided almost one month after the request was made. This report serves to only obfuscate and deny the information requested.
April 14, 2023 – A process question was posed to the clerk and election administrator. Noting a
difference between VRB and RG voters, how were additional 1,948 voters selected and
who were they?
April 17, 2023 – Clerks answer: Can’t tell you due to critical infrastructure risk.
AMC 3.90.040R
Also: “That procedure has a private outside contractors watermark on it and is
proprietary.” Gayle Gerk, liaison.
In other words, a private outside contractor has access to the process by which voters are selected to receive a ballot that observers and the public does not have. For all observers can tell, the private outside contractor may be the ones creating the list of voters who get sent a ballot in our selective system of sending out ballot packages.
There is problem with having private outside contractors involved with your election process at this level. Contractors do not swear an oath of office because they hold no elected office.
April 20, 2023 – Election Commission Meeting
April 25, 2023 – Assembly Certification
199,683 Ballot Packages were mailed on 3/14/2023, from Assembly memorandum, AM 324-2023, from the Clerk’s office to the Anchorage Assembly
May 1, 2023 – Observers were granted an extra Election Commission Meeting – Observers requested information from March 17, 2023 was received on a thumb drive from clerk. There were two lists of voters on that thumb drive. One list contained 35,974 voters who were excluded (not mailed a ballot). That makes 199,590 who were mailed a ballot. (235,564 – 35,974 = 199,590) or 76 less than had good addresses (RG) and 93 less than reported to the assembly for their certification on April 25th, 2023. UNLESS… you count the second list provided on the same thumb drive from the clerk, which contains 8,091 additional voters who did not receive a ballot bringing the total to 44,065 voters not mailed a ballot and results in 191,499 who were mailed a ballot or 8,015 less than had good addresses (RG) and 8,184 less than reported to the assembly for their certification on April 25th, 2023.
Similarly there is no clarity on voter turnout. From AM 324-2023 “voter turnout in 2023 was OVER 65,853voters or 27.96% casting ballots.” How many over? The same memo indicates 131,531 ballots were cast. Since there were potentially 2 ballots cast or 2 pages in this election, cast by each voter that would equate to a 65,765.5 voter turnout. That is actually 87.5 less voters than AM 324-2023 asserts. In any case 27-28% voter turnout is contrary to the promise that mail in voting would increase voter turnout.
So to be perfectly honest, there is not clarity whatsoever as to how many registered voters were sent a ballot, how they were selected or how many voted. And of equal importance to note, all of this confusion around who gets mailed a ballot is only a problem with mail in voting. This should concern every resident of Anchorage.
The people need clarity when it comes to their election process. The people should not have to pay extra to their trustees (elected officials) and appointed officials for transparency and accountability.
The State of Alaska provides voter roll information to the Municipality for use in its elections. The State is federally required to assign a unique identifier number, known as an ascension number, to each voter. This is different than the voter ID number which is private. It has been documented that the Municipality receives the voter roll information from the State which includes the ascension number. Anyone with $20 can receive the same list from the State.
It was discovered at the last Elections and Ethics Committee meeting that an effort is underway by the Clerk and the Assembly chairman to create a new and separate unique identifier number for Anchorage voters. Why would this be necessary if a unique identifier number is already provided by the State?
The purpose of the ascension number is to keep information organized and trackable. Ascension numbers allow data to be compared and aggregated by referencing a unique number instead of a name. Researching voter information by name is not accurate or reliable. As one example, John_ Doe is a different voter than John_ _ Doe even though they have the same address in Excel spreadsheets. John Doe gets confused with John Doe II as another example. A second unique identifier number only serves to confuse and obfuscate observers and prevent public oversight of Election Officials decisions regarding the selective distribution of ballot packages.
The Municipality’s Elections Center provides many different reports to observers. Curiously, the ascension number for each voter is missing from most of those reports.
A contest of the 2023 Anchorage general election was filed by 11 Anchorage voters on May 4, 2023. The contest raised issues regarding ballot package mail out practices by the Clerk’s office, failure to maintain an accurate “voters receiving ballots list” and removal of ascension numbers assigned to each voters name in the State of Alaska Division of Election database.
Each Assembly member received the Supplement to Petitioners’ Election Contest by email. Dean Gates, Assembly Counsel, was the point of contact for the MOA. The Supplement was received in a timely fashion as established by Mr. Gates.
Whether intentionally or unintentionally, the supplement authored by Joseph Miller, counsel for the petitioners, was not included in the printed Assembly agenda intended for public consumption. At the elections ontest hearing Assembly woman Meg Zaletel held up the initial one page Notice of Election Contest proclaiming this is all there is and it’s doesn’t warrant further consideration or a hearing of the merits of the contest, because this is all there is.
And now the Assembly is angling for more control of our elections. In his monologue as the chair of the Assembly and producer of subpoenas, Christopher Constant has alluded to one possible outcome of the investigations the Assembly has initiated. Constant stated that creation of a separate Information Technology Department under the Assembly might be what is needed.
In the opinion of many Anchorage voters, more control of the election process and facilities by the Anchorage Assembly is not warranted. The Assembly has not proven it has the capability or the will to manage the election process as administered by the Clerk for maximum transparency and accountability.
There are outstanding exceptional individuals on the Anchorage Assembly. In reference to the thumb drive policy, Assemblyman Kevin Cross asked the logical question. “If we have a policy that is reasonable, beneficial, and has merit why wouldn’t you want to implement it?” Assemblyman Randy Sulte stated, “Anytime you face question (in the election process) let’s make it more transparent. We are going to bore you with transparency to restore faith on all sides in our election process.”
Faith in our election process has most definitely been lost. Look at our weak voter turnout. Multiple generations are choosing not to vote. “It’s all rigged anyway,” they claim.
If implementing good policy was the goal, it could have started many months ago. Instead, a different agenda, one which appears as an attempt to punish political foes, has risen to the top of the Assembly’s “to do” list.
The Anchorage Assembly should not have its own Information Technology Department. It has not earned the trust and faith of Anchorage voters as evidenced by its actions, its lack of transparency, its quest for less transparency, its lack of accountability, and its pursuit of political opponents in the name of transparency.
Words will not be sufficient to restore faith in Anchorage elections. It will take actions. The only actions that will restore faith in Anchorage elections are the abolishment of machine counted ballots and mail-in elections. We must return to one day of voting, in person with picture identification where currency grade paper ballots are counted by poll workers, in the presence of observers, at the precinct where votes are cast. There is no other way.
The bidding period for State Land Auction #495, which started in June, closes Oct. 3. The bids will be opened Oct. 24.
Alaska Annual Land Auction #495 features approximately 209 parcels statewide, in a variety of areas from the Mat-Su Valley, Copper River area, with some on Baranof Island and Prince of Wales Island in Southeast. There are choices both on the road system and off.
Parcels on the list include some on the Kenai Peninsula that have minimum bids as low as $8,900.
Lands in this auction, which is one of three sales programs conducted annually by the Department of Natural Resources, are available to Alaska residents only. Bids are accepted online, in person, or by postal mail.
Who is forgotten in the management of Alaska’s Permanent Fund? The People of Alaska.
Let’s look at the current crisis of the fund, as reported by Chairman Ethan Schutt. He wants all Alaskans to read the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation’s annual report. I agree. We need to review its earnings and expenses.
In 2022, earnings were 1.45%. The simple reason why the dividend has been supported is that earnings were shared fairly, and expenses were capped. But now our earnings are low, and our expenses are quadruple the S&P Index.
Count me among those who think the Permanent Fund dividend is woefully short of what earnings could be by the Fund.
The dividend, as envisioned by the architect of the fund, Revenue Commissioner at the time, Sterling Gallagher, was created to build a bond to the people, a reason for the recipients to fight for the fund.
Now, government big spenders in and out of Alaska tell us not to worry about low earnings or lower distributions from the Permanent Fund. Outsiders have different priorities than the people of Alaska. It’s time to return to the advice of the PFD defenders on how we’re doing. I did, and came up with broad dissatisfaction with the rate of return.
I like to read the State of Alaska’s financial statements for fun. I read the financials of the Permanent Fund for the retirement of my family.
The age of Alaskans is extending. So the earnings of the Permanent Fund Corporation should be part of the retirement planning for all Alaskans. Ever since Gov. Bill Walker in 2016 declared a divorce between the earnings of the fund and disowned the dividend formulae, it’s been a crapshoot to determine the dividend. What is the latest excuse to spend the earnings of the fund on government instead of the dividend?
It’s critical for the people to understand this plan to spend the earnings on more government. Examine the Percent of Market Value: The Legislature set up the Percentage of Market Value approach to fence off 95% of the Fund’s earnings and spend the principal. The POMV draw is based on a percentage of the average market value of the Fund for the first five of the preceding six fiscal years. The draw is subject to appropriation and is set in statute at 5.25% for fiscal years 2019-2021 and 5% from fiscal year 2022 forward. This is unnecessarily complex and hard to follow.
Its effect is to force competition between the people’s dividends and all the lobbyists, nonprofits and big government spenders. Keep in mind that those same Legislators are protecting unconstitutional dedicated funds held by state agencies of $6.7 billion and more. Legislators want to make sure that the 5% includes the dividend faceoff with government spending setting up the battle.
The POMV is set up as direct competition with your dividend. And that is slow death for the dividend. Some Legislators don’t want you to have any dividend at all.
Let me show you a different approach that puts more money in your pocket that could be implemented next Session.
Let’s ignore the current debate over the amount of the dividend. Let’s change the approach and instead of a dividend, pay out an “energy rebate.” An energy rebate is not taxable according to actions of the IRS last year when an energy rebate was paid and was not taxed.
Currently, the percentage of tax going to the IRS is around 24%. If you switch to a non-taxable approach, you gross up the pay out by 24%. That means you can pay out 24% more that you have been paying out under a taxable dividend. Due to the IRS guidance on the 2022 dividend, the dividend ($3,284) was broken up in a taxable amount, ($2,622) and ($662) which was nontaxable.
If you agree that your kids’ dividend has been shorted, read the financial statements to find the hidden money. Remember that Jay Hammond’s approach to your dividend was 50% for Alaska government and 50% for the people’s dividend. Then call your Legislator.
Tracking the earnings and expenses of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation is not that difficult. Start with an index like the Standard and Poor 500 to compare income and expense. The S&P 500 compares the top 500 public companies in the United States. Since we invest internationally, the numbers are conservative for the PFC comparison. The index shows you what the rest of the market is doing.
Top companies to compare are segregated in the Index by sector. The sectors we’ll use are Technology, Communications services and Energy. Returns are judged by stock price, dividend and expense.
Stock price: Energy +34% Dividend: 1.53% Expense .1%
The entire index, all the sectors combined, earned a yield of 17% in one year and had an expense of .09%. Safe alternatives to existing investments such as covered calls or investments with returns on the index are available to reduce costs.
In FY 2022, our earnings through the Alaska Permanent Fund were $420.7 million. Our dividends were $82 million. Expenses are way out of line with earnings. The solution for investors like us is to cut expenses to the market average or increase earnings.
The Board should change the dividend formulae. Get it back to a percent of earnings, not the POMV. And let’s remember that it’s our fund and should be run so that the people of Alaska receive the maximum benefit.
Jim Crawford is a third-generation Alaskan entrepreneur who resides in Anchorage with his bride over 40 years, Terri. His current venture is Capital Alaska LLC, a statewide commercial lender which analyzes and may sponsor projects of sustained economic growth for the Alaska economy. Crawford, known as the Permanent Fund Defender, was a member of the Investment Advisory Committee, appointed by Gov. Jay Hammond to plan and execute the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation.
The Biden Administration has published a new rule that cracks down on gas furnaces in homes, essentially phasing out many existing models and requiring new ones to meet onerous standards. The Department of Energy now requires a 95% annual fuel efficiency standard, up from the 80% that was on the books before the new rule was published Friday.
New models will be mandatory by 2028, according to the Department of Energy, which says homeowners will save $100 a year on their utility bills. Some homes will require expensive retrofits to accommodate the requirements of the new furnaces.
The Energy Department says the rule will cut carbon emissions by 332 million metric tons, and methane emissions by 4.3 million tons over 30 years.
Furnace efficiency standards were last updated in 2007. Starting in 2028, residential gas furnaces must convert at least 95% of wasted energy into heat for the living space, accomplished through a secondary heat exchanger that capture excess heat from the furnace’s exhaust gases.
The upfront costs of these more efficient appliances are expected to be much higher, just as Energy Star rated appliances are more expensive. The average cost of a gas furnace in the United States is about $4,700.
The American Gas Association estimates the new regulation will remove 60% of current residential gas furnaces from the market.
With this rule, DOE has now issued proposed or final efficiency standards for 24 product categories so far this year, including gas cook stoves and washer-dryers. The rule goes into effect five years from date it is published in the Federal Register.
The Environmental Protection Agency is spending millions of dollars to build its own inventory of military-grade hardware, including advance combat equipment and reconnaissance gear. Sen. Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, wants to know why.
Grassley has written a letter to the agency asking for the justification for such heavy militarization.
“As of September 14, 2023, the Biden administration EPA has already spent $2,892,770 on these items, which is 143 percent more than what was spent during the entire Trump administration,” Grassley wrote, in his role as a member of the Senate Budget Committee.
The list of equipment, according to Grassley, includes:
From 2008 to 2023, the EPA spent $167,657 on “Night Vision Equipment, Emitted and Reflected Radiation.”
From 2007 to 2022, the EPA spent $1,826,070 on “ships, small craft, pontoon, docks.” One of those transaction descriptions included $40,119 for “hovercraft.”
From 2007 to 2019, the EPA spent $151,018 on “Radar Equipment, ExceptAirborne” and “Radar Equipment, Airborne.”
From 2005 to 2023, the EPA spent $8,193,741 on “motor vehicles, cycles,trailers.” Some of those transaction descriptions include “mobile command vehicle,” “mobile command post,” “segway,” and “all terrain vehicles.” There is also a $61,362 purchase for “unmanned ground vehicle.”
In 2013, the EPA spent $33,690 on “unmanned aircraft,”13 as well as $147,300 from 2021 to 2023 for instruments for the unmanned aircraft14 and $97,403 in 2023 for “unmanned aircraft systems flight services.”
From 2009 to 2023, the EPA spent $323,576 on “armor, personal.”
In 2010 and 2011, the EPA spent $207,442 on “camouflage and deception equipment.” Deceptive equipment can include dummy artillery, aircraft, and vehicles, as well as garnished nets.
Grassley characterized the militarization of the EPA as “frightening” to the Washington Free Beacon, which first obtained the letter.
In 2013, the EPA’s Environmental Crimes Task Force descended on miners in Chicken, Alaska with their loaded weapons and bullet-proof clothing. Then-Gov. Sean Parnell convened a task force to look into the harassment of the miners.
For Grassley, it’s about farmers in the nation’s breadbasket states.
“If the EPA had its way, nearly 97 percent of land in Iowa would be subject to onerous federal red tape. You’d have to get permission from Uncle Sam before moving dirt on your own land under this administration’s WOTUS regulations. Farmers could’ve faced steep fines if water pooled in a ditch after a rainstorm because of the EPA’s far-reaching rules. Thankfully, the Supreme Court saw through this federal overreach and unanimously determined that it violated the Clean Water Act,” Grassley said in May.
During the Obama Administration, the EPA spent nearly $6.6 million on guns, armor, radar equipment, mobile command posts, and various advanced weapons.
Then came the Trump Administration, which spent more than $2 million on these armaments. President Joe Biden has already spent nearly $3 million making the EPA into a weaponized force.
In all since 2003, the EPA has paid $8,193,741 for vehicles, some of which fit the description of mobile command vehicles, mobile command posts, and unmanned ground vehicles. The EPA has also spent money on camouflage and deception equipment and drones.
The EPA has staffed up with about 200 federal law enforcement officers armed with 857 guns and approximately 500,000 rounds of ammunition, Grassley said.
The U.S. Senate passed a short-term government funding bill that has averted a federal funding pause, which some have characterized as a shutdown. Nine senators voted against the bill, which does not provide funding of the war in Ukraine.
All of the funding authority voted on this week is essentially the ability for the federal government to borrow more money in the absence of a debt ceiling, which was lifted by Congress in June. Since there is no debt ceiling, the federal debt has risen by another 10% in three months, adding $3 trillion in debt for a total of $33 trillion that the federal government now owes, much of it to foreign governments like Japan, China, and the United Kingdom.
U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan voted in favor of the continuation of government, and released the following statement:
“I supported this short-term funding bill to avoid a government shutdown and give the House and Senate another 45 days to negotiate a longer-term, more substantive funding agreement. Importantly, today’s vote means our troops will continue to get paid as they defend our country—a priority I’ve been fighting for in spite of consistent opposition fromDemocratic leadership in the Senate. I’ll continue working, during these next 45 days, to ensure we have serious measures to secure our southern border in the wake of President Biden’s total dereliction of duty, and necessary funding to address the myriad of national security threats our country faces in this new era of authoritarian aggression.”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski also voted for the short-term spending bill: “Today, sanity prevailed. At the last minute, Congress came together to avert an irresponsible shutdown that would have harmed thousands of Alaskans. Now, the federal government will remain open, giving us more time to work on Appropriations bills through the regular order process. Our military will continue to be paid, federal employees will continue to work, and no services will be interrupted during this period,” Murkowski said.
This means that Fat Bear Week and all other federal programs can proceed as planned.
The resolution funds the federal government through Nov. 17 and extends the expiring authorizations for critical agencies and programs, including the Federal Aviation Administration, Community Health Centers, and the National Flood Insurance Program. The bill provides an additional $16 billion to refill FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund, along with authority to spend existing funds at an adequate rate to respond to ongoing needs.
Murkowski expressed disappointment that the bill does not do more to provide military and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine or address the growing crisis at the southern border.
“Our first priority is to keep our government open, because we can’t do much of anything or help anyone else if it is shut down. If you care about support for Ukraine as I do, or providing security at our southern border as I do, then we have to keep the government operating in order to do so,” Murkowski said.
“We have lost an extraordinary woman and a friend,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski said on Friday, during her six-minute eulogy of San Francisco Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who died earlier in the day at the age of 90.
Murkowski, a Republican, spoke about how close she was to Democrat Sen. Feinstein and expressed her admiration for her.
It was a eulogy that also revealed just how clubby it is in Washington, D.C. The club of senators supersedes politics, and while there is a theater art to telling the people back home you that are on their side, lawmakers end up in an exclusive club that has its own ways and means for keeping the rank and file. It’s the dinners, the gifts, the little gestures that build relationships that appear to be more important than constitutional values. Feinstein was the author of anti-Second Amendment legislation that was signed by President Bill Clinton and that expired under President George W. Bush.
Murkowski, without mentioning the anti-gun law that so defined Feinstein, said there would be many opportunities in the days ahead “to reflect on the life and the contributions of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, and as been noted, the significant legislation that she advanced over three decades here, what that meant to her state, to her constituents, really to her country, but also to us.”
Murkowski went on to note that Feinstein had assembled an extremely loyal staff.
“We acknowledge them at this same time, of this very significant loss of not only a colleague but as a friend. I think it’s important to note that here in the United States Senate, a place that can be so divisive at times, that true friendships actually exist,” Murkowski said, and then proceeded to tell stories of having dinners with Feinstein, and some of the chummy rituals that exist, such as the annual wearing of seersucker suits.
“The reality is the direct reminder of the spontaneous generosity of a woman. Dianne Feinstein was generous. she was gracious, she was thoughtful, she was kind,” Murkowski continued.
For many Alaskans, Murkowski standing pinned to a wall by Feinstein during the confirmation of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh is all they need to know about the San Francisco senator, but that appeared to be in the past and forgiven by Murkowski.
Feinstein’s body has been flown home to California on a U.S. military plane that left Andews Air Force Base near Washington D.C. to California, accompanied by Rep. Nancy Pelosi, along with the senator’s daughter Katherine Feinstein, and chief of staff James Sauls.
The funeral and memorial plans for Feinstein have yet to be announced, but meanwhile, California Gov. Gavin Newsom will soon appoint an interim senator, who he has said will be chosen based on racial and sex characteristics.
Government shutdowns are all the rage in Washington, D.C. But now, one leading Democrat has a new tactic to change the course of voting in the Republican-controlled House: Just pull a fire alarm to clear the building and prevent a vote.
On Saturday, the House of Representatives passed a resolution to keep borrowing money for another 45 days, which will keep government services like Fat Bear Week going, while a more permanent solution is negotiated for the massive federal budget. That resolution is now in the Senate for a vote. It contains no money to secure the border and no additional money for Ukraine’s defense against Russia.
The vote in the House occurred after Democrat Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York was seen on video and by witnesses pulling a fire alarm in the Cannon building to try to delay the vote.
It’s unclear if Bowman will be arrested by Capitol Police and charged with a felony, as this was obstructing an official proceeding of Congress, which is a federal crime. Creating a false fire alarm is also misdemeanor in the District of Columbia, punishable by up to six months in jail.
Although assigned to an office in the Cannon Building, Alaska’s Rep. Mary Peltola was not in danger as she is not at work this week.
Rep. Jamaal Bowman pulls fire alarm in Cannon Office Building.
Many Jan. 6, 2021 election protesters were indicted and convicted on charges of interfering with an official congressional proceeding when they entered the U.S. Senate chambers to protest the confirmation of the results of the 2020 presidential election. The so-called “Q-Anon Shaman” Jacob Anthony Angeli Chansley pleaded guilty to the felony of obstructing an official proceeding of Congress simply by entering the House Chambers and was sentenced to more than 41 months in prison.
It will be a much-watched Capitol drama to see if Rep. Bowman is given the same treatment as the Jan. 6 protesters that he has had many harsh words for on his X/Twitter feed.
“Rep. Jamaal Bowman pulled a fire alarm in Cannon this morning. An investigation into why it was pulled is underway,” said House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil. An evacuation was forced as Democrats tried to buy more time to consider a resolution to continue paying for government.
The alarm could be heard by those in the nearby Longworth Building, sources say.
Bowman’s spokesperson later said the congressman did not know that the alarm would go off. Bowman, however, has a Ph.D. in education, spent many years as a middle-school teacher and principal and would certainly understand the role of fire alarms in upending the functions of an institution.
Earlier in the day, Bowman was on a news show, during which he said, “Republicans don’t want to help our children. They aren’t working to end child poverty, stop gun violence, or address climate change. That’s why we need to vote the right people into office to address these issues.”
Bowman in 2022 authored the “COUP Act to establish a national commission to investigate the [Jan. 6, 2021] insurrection, keep the Capitol safe from more breaches, hold members of Congress who condoned Jan. 6. accountable.”
