EXCUSES FROM LISA MURKOWSKI

July 1, 11 AM

She posts on FB:

This was one of the hardest votes I have taken during my time in the Senate.

My goal throughout the reconciliation process has been to make a bad bill better for Alaska, and in many ways, we have done that. In addition to extending pro-growth tax cuts, a larger child tax credit, and no tax on tips or overtime, we made a historic investment and modernization of the Coast Guard; enhanced our border security and national defense; funded aviation safety, including AWOS/VWOS systems that will save lives; and provided tax-exempt status for the Community Development Quota Program to help western Alaska communities establish a sustainable economy, among other provisions.

We have advanced new opportunities for resource development in the NPR-A, the Coastal Plain, and Cook Inlet that will help us create jobs and increase the share of revenues our state receives. I also co-led the Senate effort to restore a slightly longer phase-out for wind and solar tax credits while deleting a punitive excise tax targeting them.

Those provisions will benefit our economy, but it is the people of Alaska that I worry about the most, especially when it comes to the potential loss of social safety net programs—Medicaid coverage and SNAP benefits—that our most vulnerable populations rely on.

To address the bill’s shortcomings, we have helped our communities through a $50 billion rural health fund. This will mean hundreds of millions of dollars for Alaska hospitals, community health centers, and other providers. We secured commitments from the CMS Administrator to continue to address longstanding priorities which will directly help Bartlett, Fairbanks Memorial, Central Peninsula, and other hospitals in Alaska.

In the SNAP program, we have added tribal exemptions for work requirements, delayed cost-share penalties to help Alaska get benefits to the people who need them, and included work requirement waivers that align with our Medicaid policies. We also secured commitments from the Secretary of Agriculture to provide additional flexibilities to Alaska for SNAP.

But, let’s not kid ourselves. This has been an awful process—a frantic rush to meet an artificial deadline that has tested every limit of this institution. While we have worked to improve the present bill for Alaska, it is not good enough for the rest of our nation—and we all know it.

My sincere hope is that this is not the final product. This bill needs more work across chambers and is not ready for the President’s desk. We need to work together to get this right. 

https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1291561145665338&id=100044343943390&mibextid=wwXIfr&rdid=ad0hoGHTmkzVlh2I#

Parliamentarian Blocks 'Big, Ugly Bill' Public Lands Sale and Offshore Drilling Policies

 

While calling the public lands decision "an important victory," one campaigner also warned that "this threat is far from over."

Critics of Republican efforts to continue wrecking the planet celebrated some small victories after the U.S. Senate parliamentarian on Monday advised that multiple provisions cannot be passed as part of a megabill that only requires a simple majority.

Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough found that some GOP legislative proposals about offshore drilling and mandatory public land sales could not be included in the package due to the so-called Byrd Rule, which bars provisions considered "extraneous to the purpose of implementing budget resolution policies."

Specifically, MacDonough axed a provision that deems offshore oil and gas projects as automatically compliant with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), nullifying their environmental review processes. She also ruled against a proposal requiring offshore fossil fuel leases to be issued to successful bidders within 90 days after the sale, and a separate mandate for the sale of millions of acres of public land.

READ MORE:

Common Dreams

By Jessica Corbett
Jun 24, 2025

https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-public-lands 

Budget Reconciliation Bill Public Lands Giveaway!

 WRITE YOUR SENATORS TO OBJECT!

DON’T LET THEM SELL OFF OUR PUBLIC LANDS!

120 million acres of public lands eligible for sale in SENR budget reconciliation package

Top-Line Summary & Analysis of SENR Reconciliation Bill Text

The Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee budget reconciliation bill text released June 11 includes a range of extraordinary giveaways aimed at privatizing public lands and advancing energy dominance at the expense of public lands and resources.
Key takeaways on the public lands sell-off title:

The bill forces the arbitrary sale of at least 2 million acres of Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands in 11 Western states over the next five years, and it gives the secretaries of the interior and agriculture broad discretion to choose which places should be sold off. This, just weeks after bipartisan outrage over land sell off text threatened passage of the House bill. That provision was ultimately removed from the House bill and should be removed from the Senate accordingly.


The bill directs what is likely the largest single sale of national public lands in modern history to help cut taxes for the richest people in the country. It trades ordinary Americans’ access to outdoor recreation for a short-term payoff that disproportionately benefits the privileged and well-connected.


Public lands eligible for sale in the bill encompass over 120 million acres, including local recreation areas, wilderness study areas, inventoried roadless areas, critical wildlife habitat and big game migration corridors.


The bill’s process for selling off lands runs at breakneck speed, demanding the nomination of tracts within 30 days, then every 60 days until the arbitrary multi-million-acre goal is met, all without hearings, debate or public input.


The bill sets up relatively under-resourced state and local governments to lose open bidding wars to well-heeled commercial interests. It also fails to give sovereign Tribal Nations the right of first refusal to bid on lands, even for areas that are a part of their traditional homelands or contain sacred sites.


The public lands sell-off provision masquerades as a way to provide more housing, but it lacks safeguards to ensure land is used for that purpose, and it sets up a system where lands could be sold or resold for non-housing uses after just 10 years. Research suggests that very little of the land managed by the BLM and USFS is actually suitable for housing.


Land agencies already have ways to identify public lands for uses like housing if it serves community needs. Jury-rigging a new way to force such “disposal” as part of the budget reconciliation process sets up a precedent to quickly liquidate huge chunks of America’s treasured lands in the future whenever politicians have a pet project to pay for.

READ MORE:

https://www.wilderness.org/articles/media-resources/120-million-acres-public-lands-eligible-sale-senr-budget-reconciliation-package

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SAMPLE LETTER

Subject: Oppose Reconciliation Bill’s Public Lands Sell-Off Provision

Dear Senator [Last Name],

I am writing to express my strong opposition to the public land sell-off provisions included in the current Senate Energy and Natural Resources (SENR) budget reconciliation package. This bill represents the most sweeping attack on national public lands in modern U.S. history, with up to 120 million acres—including 77 million acres in Alaska—made eligible for sale.

The bill mandates the forced sale of at least 2 million acres of Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land over just five years, across 11 Western states. The pace of this liquidation is alarming: agencies are required to nominate tracts within 30 days of passage and then every 60 days until the quota is met—leaving little room for public input, environmental review, or community planning.

Even more troubling, the bill gives broad discretion to the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture to decide which lands are sold, with no real safeguards in place to protect lands of ecological, cultural, or recreational importance. This process sets a dangerous precedent—establishing a political mechanism to sell off America’s public lands in the name of short-term budget goals or ideological pet projects.

Though the bill claims to address housing needs, the policy is deeply flawed. Research shows that most BLM and Forest Service lands are unsuitable for development, and even when sold, the lands can be used or resold for non-housing purposes after just 10 years. The existing legal framework already allows land agencies to identify and reallocate land for housing when it serves the public good. There is no need for this reckless, large-scale liquidation.

In reality, this bill prioritizes tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans at the expense of our shared natural heritage. America’s public lands are not a bank account to be raided—they are essential to our identity, our ecosystems, and future generations.

I urge you to oppose this budget reconciliation package unless the public land disposal provisions are completely removed. Please protect our public lands, our communities, and our values.

Sincerely,
[Your Full Name]
[Your Address]
[City, State, ZIP]
[Email Address]
[Phone Number]

Budget Bill gives a $7 trillion tax cut on the backs of the poor and does NOT cut deficit!

 

Write a letter to your congressman or a letter to the editor about the new budget bill!

And, as I suspected, the new budget bill slashes services to the poor while handing out a tax cut to the billionaires. The U.S. House Committee on Financial Services wrote this: "Not only will this bill hand billionaires like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg a massive $7 trillion tax cut, but it also slashes $880 billion in Medicaid and funding for food stamps. At a time when our nation is facing a worsening housing and climate crisis, this bill guts funding for affordable, climate-resilient housing."

The US House Committee also says it will "Drive U.S. Toward 2008-Style Recession"


And it says the bill will " These sweeping deregulatory measures defund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau which was created after the financial crisis of 2008 to protect working-class families from financial fraud and abuse and has saved consumers $21 billion since. It abolishes oversight bodies like the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, established to regulate auditors after two major accounting scandals and the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), and Office of Financial Research (OFR), leaving millions of American families vulnerable to a financial crash."
https://democrats-financialservices.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=413304


Furthermore, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Government says that “The Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) estimated that the bill as written would increase deficits by $3.8 trillion through 2034, or 1.1 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP); if all of its expiring policies are extended permanently, we estimate it would add $5.3 trillion to deficits, or 1.5 percent of GDP.”
https://www.crfb.org/blogs/permanent-ways-means-bill-could-add-53-trillion-deficits


So, they have made very harmful cuts that will impact the poorest of Americans and asked us all to sacrifice but they are NOT reducing the deficit or the debt, but raising it, while giving tax cuts to billionaires. I feel that this is sinister, and that we should all object to this bill.


Crushing dissent. A quote from the ACLU (May 13th) regarding the new budget bill:

“In an apparent effort to aid President Trump’s discriminatory clamp down on free speech, Republicans on the House Ways & Means Committee have snuck a dangerous anti-dissent bill into their massive, new tax package.

“This provision, formerly known as H.R. 9495, would grant the executive branch the power to effectively shut down any non-profit organization — including news outlets, universities, and civil liberties groups — by accusing them of “supporting terrorism” and using that accusation to suspend their tax-exempt status without any real due process. It was defeated last year, yet extreme politicians are now trying to resurrect it once again.”

https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-urges-house-committee-to-remove-dangerous-anti-dissent-provision-from-tax-bill


Allowing the government to curb our free speech in this manner is a dangerous road to go down, and smacks of totalitarianism.

EDUCATION BILL HB 69 PASSES, GOES TO GOVERNOR

 

NOTE: 

FAIRBANKS EDUCATION RESOLUTION

Fairbanks Northstar Borough School District

A resolution setting our minimum education funding at 60 million passed on 4/11/25, so this is good news for the Fairbanks Northstar Borough, as it means our schools will continue to be funded in the way they need to be. Thanks to everyone who wrote letters!

By: Introduced: Grier Hopkins, Mayor 04/10/2025 / this passed.

https://www.fnsb.gov/DocumentCenter/View/21414/Resolution-No-2025-08

MEANWHILE 

STATE NEWS: HB 69

From Senator Kawasaki:

4/11/25

Education Latest Alert Update!

The education session began on day one with a flurry of bills to improve education outcomes, assure accountability and erase the years of flat funding by increasing the base student allocation or BSA. Schools are not failing, schools are starving. The flat state support of education over the decade has meant that local property taxpayers have had to foot the bill, but now most every school district is at the maximum cap they can provide in addition to state funding. Today, the Senate took up HB 69, which was legislation from the House that has been working through the chambers and contains both a permanent, predictable and sizeable increase to the BSA and a dozen policy initiatives to address accountability and education outcomes. The Senate Finance Committee stripped HB 69 of all additional policy but kept the main per pupil BSA increase which will help correspondence, homeschool, charter and neighborhood schools alike. Even though HB 69 does not contain necessary education reforms, it is still a big start in helping our underfunded schools. The move to simply increase funding for schools is important as local government is deciding on their budgets. School boards are beginning the process of sending out pink slips. I'm happy to support this first step knowing that the legislature still has 40 days to continue the important policy discussions. HB 69 passed by 11 to 9 in the Senate after much debate and posturing. The bill then went to the House for a vote to concur or reject the changes that were made by the Senate. There was more debate, but in the end the House voted to concur with HB 69 with a vote of 21 to 16 with 3 members absent from the vote. Now, the fate of HB 69 is in the hands of the Govenor who has 15 days from when this bill hits his desk to either sign or veto this legislation. (From his 4/11/25 newsletter)

Help the Fairbanks school district funding...URGENT!

  

If the Fairbanks Northstar Borough School District loses more funding ... will they even be able to function? 

They are already running on a minimal budget now. 

Send opinions by Thursday, 4/10/25.

Email address below

Also, sample letter at bottom.

Don't let them shut our schools down!

Who: You! 

What: Email the borough assembly to say you SUPPORT the proposed school district funding of $60M, not the reduced amount that would lead to EVEN MORE school closures. (Or even better - show up to testify tomorrow - 4/10)

Why:  A group of anti-education funding folks have started an email campaign asking people to email the Assembly and demand that they only fund the district to the minimum contribution, based on a dangerous misinformation campaign (message me if you want more details). This would mean the school board would have to cut an additional $21M from its current budget. That might look like 7-10 more schools closed and/or class sizes doubled across the board. 

When: Email before the assembly meeting tomorrow, 4/10, or show up in person to testify

How: Emails should be sent to: Barbara.Haney@fnsb.gov, Brett.Rotermund@fnsb.gov, Tammie.Wilson@fnsb.gov, David.Guttenberg@fnsb.gov, Kristan.Kelly@fnsb.gov, Mindy.Oneall@fnsb.gov, Scott.Crass@fnsb.gov, Liz.Reeves-Ramos@fnsb.gov, Nick.Lajiness@fnsb.gov

What else: Please spread the word!

TWO RESOLUTIONS FROM 

THE BOROUGH ASSEMBLY

A resolution setting our minimum education funding at 60 million.

By: Introduced: Grier Hopkins, Mayor 04/10/2025 

https://www.fnsb.gov/DocumentCenter/View/21414/Resolution-No-2025-08 

A resolution to acknowledge Canadian sovereignty

By: David Guttenberg 2 Scott Crass 3 Introduced: April 10, 2025

https://www.fnsb.gov/DocumentCenter/View/21401/Resolution-No-2025-09 

Sample email supporting Canada at: 

https://farnorth-indivisible.blogspot.com/2025/04/support-fairbanks-borough-resolution.html 

Both being heard tomorrow at the Juanita Helms administrative center. 

Contact info: fnsb.gov/142/Contact

Emails to Assembly@fnsb.gov

-------------------------------------------

SAMPLE EMAIL:

Subject: Please Support RESOLUTION NO. 2025-08 and Fully Fund Our Schools

Dear Members of the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly,

I am writing to urge you to support RESOLUTION NO. 2025-08 and approve $60 million in local funding for the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District for FY 2025-26.

There is a dangerous misinformation campaign underway by a small but vocal group demanding that you fund only the state-required minimum contribution. If their position were adopted, the school district would face an additional $21 million in budget cuts. This would have catastrophic consequences: potentially closing 7–10 more schools and forcing class sizes to double across the district.

This is not just a matter of budget lines—this is a matter of our community’s future. Our students, teachers, and families deserve better than shrinking resources and shrinking opportunities. Cutting education funding hurts all of us: families, employers, property owners, and the local economy.

The $60 million proposed funding level is a responsible and necessary investment. It not only helps maintain current levels of education and staffing, but it also ensures the borough can meet increasing needs due to population growth and inflation. Anything less risks undoing decades of community progress.

Please stand with our students, teachers, and the future of Fairbanks. Reject misinformation. Don’t let disinvestment hollow out the heart of our community.

Vote YES on RESOLUTION NO. 2025-08.

Sincerely,
[Your Full Name]
[Your Address or Neighborhood]
[Optional: Parent / Teacher / Local Resident / Voter]

.

Bernie Sanders: Why Democrats Must Vote NO on the CR - URGENT

You need to email or call your senators!

The CR: What does it do? 

(From a speech given by Senator Bernie Sanders posted 3-13-25)

The CR (as it stands on 3-13-25) is making a lot of cuts to our services and laying the groundwork for a massive tax break to billionaires. It lowers the taxes of the richest 1% by over 1 Trillion dollars over the next decades. Richest 5% will see their taxes go down, but taxes will go up for the lowest 95% of Americans. Bernie Sanders says that the congress should vote "No" on the CR (continuing resolution that keeps the country going). He said that it gives a "green light" to all these cuts. The senate will probably vote on this on 3-14-25.

Senior Citizens/Social Security. They have fired thousands of workers at the Social Security Administration with plans to cut that staff in half. This Department is already understaffed. If they cut the staff in half then it may be a death sentence for thousands of seniors who need their benefits. Musk called Social Security a ponzi scheme. 

VA. Understaffed. They had 36,000 unfilled positions this year. They are short 2400 doctors, 6300 registered nurses, 1800 social workers, Trump and Musk are threatening to dismantle the VA by firing 83,000 employees. The CR cuts $20 billion in needed funding. 

Department of Education. They have fired half the staff of the Dept of Education and they will have a hard time administering the Title 1 program, and harder to administer the IDEA and to pay for the 180,000 teachers that they fund money for. The PELL grant application page has already crashed and is not working. 

Healthcare. 85 million Americans are uninsured, underinsured. Over 500,000 of our people go bankrupt paying medical bills.  60,000 people die in American each year because they can’t go to a doctor. And our life expectancy is 7 years shorter for low income people compared to wealthy Americans.  The CR cuts community health center funding by 3.2%, cuts national health service corp by over 5%,  cuts funds for teaching health centers by 13%. 

Housing Crisis. Over 20 million Americans spent more than 50% of their limited income on housing. The CR cuts rental assistance by $700,000,000, which could lead to more than 32,000 families being evicted from their homes. 

Climate Change. Trump thinks it is a hoax, but scientists say it is an existential threat. It doesn’t even specify funding levels for Climate Change and Environmental Justice. And JD Vance has said that if the Trump’s administration doesn't like anything in the CR, they’ll ignore it.

This CR is laying the ground work to give a big tax cut to billionaires, paid for by massive cuts to Medicaid, nutrition assistance, housing and education. 

https://www.youtube.com/live/Qb0Fh7o1Y6s?si=HQm_huAyojaYcxIx

_______________________________________________________________________

SAMPLE LETTER TO YOUR SENATOR:

[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[City, State, ZIP Code]
[Your Email]
[Your Phone Number]
[Date]

The Honorable [Senator’s Name]
[Senator’s Office Address]
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510

Subject: Urgent Request to Vote NO on the Continuing Resolution (CR) on 3/14/25

Dear Senator [Last Name],

I am writing to urge you to vote NO on the Continuing Resolution (CR) currently before the Senate, as it stands on March 13, 2025. This budget proposal is unacceptable in its current form because it prioritizes massive tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans while slashing vital services that millions of working- and middle-class citizens depend on.

The CR lays the foundation for over $1 trillion in tax cuts to the richest 1% over the next decade while simultaneously raising taxes on 95% of Americans. This is an outrageous redistribution of wealth that benefits billionaires at the expense of hardworking citizens. Even Senator Bernie Sanders has called this bill a “green light” for devastating budget cuts, and I strongly agree.

If passed, this resolution will result in significant cuts to:

• Senior Citizens & Social Security – Reduced cost-of-living adjustments and eligibility restrictions will hurt retirees who rely on these benefits. The Trump administration wants to cut the staff in half this year.

• Veterans Affairs (VA) – A proposed budget reduction will limit healthcare, mental health services, and housing assistance for veterans who have served our country. Trump and Musk are threatening to dismantle the VA by firing 83,000 employees. The CR cuts $20 billion in needed funding. 
  
  

• Department of Education – Deep cuts will force schools to operate with fewer resources, worsening teacher shortages and reducing access to quality education, especially in low-income communities. They have fired half the staff of the Dept of Education.

• Healthcare – Medicaid and Medicare will see drastic funding reductions, increasing costs for the elderly and low-income families while further limiting access to life-saving treatments. 85 million Americans are uninsured, underinsured. Over 500,000 of our people go bankrupt paying medical bills.  60,000 people die in American each year because they can’t go to a doctor.

• Housing Assistance – Affordable housing programs will face funding cuts, exacerbating the housing crisis and leaving thousands more Americans at risk of homelessness. Over 20 million Americans spent more than 50% of their limited income on housing. The CR cuts rental assistance by $700,000,000, which could lead to more than 32,000 families being evicted from their homes. 
  
  

• Climate Change Initiatives – Critical environmental protections and clean energy programs will be stripped, further endangering our planet’s future. Trump thinks it is a hoax, but scientists say it is an existential threat. The CR doesn’t even specify funding levels for Climate Change and Environmental Justice.

This budget is a direct attack on the majority of Americans while serving only the interests of the ultra-wealthy. I urge you to stand with the people who elected you and vote NO on the CR. Instead of passing a resolution that enriches billionaires while gutting social programs, Congress should be focusing on fair taxation, strengthening essential services, and protecting the most vulnerable in our society.

I appreciate your time and consideration and hope to see you take a stand against this disastrous proposal. Please do the right thing and vote NO on March 14th.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[City, State, ZIP Code]