Alaska's Senior U.S. Senator blasted her colleagues in Congress on Thursday during her annual address to the Alaska Legislature. Senator Lisa Murkowski began her speech by suggesting that there is an atmosphere of unprecedented dysfunction and partisanship in Congress that has compromised the ability to govern.
"It seems that we went from impasse to crisis to kicking the can down the road and then we would just start that cycle all over again. We have simply been unable to muster the comprehensive solutions that this country demands."
Murkowski asserted that Federal spending and employment in Alaska is threatened due to the ongoing budget crisis that has stalemated Congress and the Administration.
"We have seen years of deficit spending that have generated unprecedented debt that jeopardizes the ability of our Federal government to meet even its basic obligations."
Murkowski remarked that the Federal budget crisis is likely to get worse before it gets better. That's because of the looming "Sequestration" that includes $1.2-trillion dollars in budget cuts that will go into effect over the next decade. Murkowski is not optimistic that a deal can be reached in advance of the March 1st deadline. In an effort to make some headway in addressing the crisis Murkowski called for Congress to reach a deal on targeted spending cuts, a dramatic overhaul of the current tax code, and to deal with entitlements. Senator Lisa Murkowski was appointed to her seat in 2002 and was subsequently elected by voters in 2004 and 2010. She is a member of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee and is the ranking republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. She made history in 2010 when she used a write in campaign to win reelection. It was the first successful write-in effort to the Senate since 1954.