Chairman Murkowski has issues with Interior budget

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Chairman of the Interior Appropriations subcommittee, today criticized the Interior Department’s $12.1 billion budget proposal for programs within the subcommittee’s jurisdiction– including the over $1 billion increase – for ignoring the statutory caps placed on Congress by the Budget Control Act. Senator Murkowski also pressed Interior Secretary Sally Jewell on a number of issues important to Alaska: Arctic infrastructure, offshore oil development, revenue sharing, tribal courts and the administration’s commitment to Alaska’s coastal communities. “Your budget proposes new spending as if we had already lifted sequestration,” Murkowski told Interior Secretary Sally Jewell at Wednesday’s hearing of the Interior and Appropriations Subcommittee. “That amounts to wishful thinking, not responsible governance.” “Your approach conveniently avoids the tough choices that must be made between programs in the constrained fiscal environment in which we’re operating,” Murkowski said. “In all likelihood, we will have roughly the same amount to spend this year as we did last year under the budget caps, yet you have proposed $1.4 billion above that level. This subcommittee is forced to make very difficult choices in how to prioritize among the many programs in this bill, and your budget does not help by giving us guidance as to programs the administration sees as a priority.” Senator Murkowski raised with Secretary Jewell a number of issues important to Alaska’s economic and cultural future, including the more than 22 million acres the administration has withdrawn from energy development in recent weeks...more