Sen. Murkowski voices frustration with D.C. politics

WASILLA — Disappointment best describes U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s mood toward the political climate in and outside the nation’s capital.

In an interview before speaking to the Alaska Family Services 30th annual Women’s History Month luncheon, Murkowski was certainly disappointed with the heath-care reform bill just passed by Congress. But even worse, she said, is what has happened since.

“I’m horrified, I’m upset,” the senator said. “There are many ways to express your dissatisfaction, your irritation, your anger, … but acts of violence are not one.”

Murkowski was referring to the threats and vandalism from members of the public who oppose the health-care reform bill. Close to home, a brick was thrown through the window of the Alaska Democratic Party headquarters in Anchorage.

“When I first heard and saw there were acts of vandalism and violence going on, I thought that’s incredible, but that would never happen in Alaska,” Murkowski said. “And then to see this this weekend was hugely, hugely disappointing.”

Back in Washington, D.C., Murkowski is disappointed by the partisan divide the health-care bill caused within the halls of Congress. It set a divisive tone for the year at a time when the country is facing huge challenges.

A pressing concern, she said, is reform of the nation’s financial system. The concept of “too big to fail” needs to change, and federal regulators need to keep up with financial innovation.

She wouldn’t be specific about what changes she would like to see, but said members of the Senate Finance Committee had been working on a bipartisan bill for months. A few more weeks and the committee would have had a compromise with support from both sides of the aisle. But, instead, the Democratic chairman was pressured to get the bill out before it was done.

“It went through the committee completely on partisan lines. There wasn’t a single Republican in support,” Murkowski said. “And now the well has been poisoned a little bit on this issue. Whether or not we will be able to get around it, I don’t know.”

One area where Murkowski sees the potential for bipartisanship is in her fight against the Environmental Protection Agency regulating greenhouse gas emissions. Democrats from states with significant energy and agriculture industries are standing with her, and she said even the EPA knows it doesn’t have the staff to properly regulate emissions.

“I believe that the Congress needs to direct the path for climate policy,” Murkowski said.

As to what direction this policy should take in Congress, the senator was less concrete. Support for setting a cap on sources of emissions then allowing the trading of carbon credits is dwindling, and there is debate about where to go from here.

“We’re looking at different ways that we can provide for a reduction in emissions — a meaningful reduction in emissions — without kicking the economy in the gut,” she said.

But, Murkowski said she’s worried the Senate majority leader is still clinging to the cap and trade provision, a provision she said will kill an otherwise good energy bill. Once cap and trade is out, the Senate can focus on conservation, energy independence and renewable energy. Included in the energy bill is an increase in the loan guarantee the federal government would offer for a trans-Canada natural gas pipeline to take gas from the North Slope to the Lower 48. Murkowski got an $18 billion guarantee in 2004, and there is language in the new bill to increase that to $30 billion.

Murkowski said the most important thing is to get Alaska’s gas to market, whether across Canada or exported from a liquefied natural gas plant at the end of an in-state line. But she warned the loan guarantee might not be available unless the gas gets to the Lower 48.

“If it’s coming to benefit Alaskans for our in-state use, and then we sell it to foreign nations for our benefit, … to have a federal loan guarantee for that will not be viewed favorably by the Congress,” Murkowski said.

By week’s end, Murkowski did find something to be happy about. She released a statement praising the Obama administration’s plan to allow oil and gas development off the northern coast of Alaska.

“I will work with the administration on proceeding with important future lease sales off Alaska’s coast, as well as along the Atlantic coast and the Eastern Gulf of Mexico,” she says in the statement.

Contact Todd L. Disher at todd.disher@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.