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Senator Murkowski Tells Legislature Federal Spending Will Drop
Sequester or not, Alaska will see less federal money
By Bill McAllister
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ANCHORAGE - Whether the so-called budget “sequestration” happens next week or not, Alaska can expect to see cutbacks in federal spending.

That was the message delivered by U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski in her annual address today to a joint session of the Legislature in Juneau.

Without a new deficit-reduction deal by March 1, existing law calls for $1.5 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years, including about $85 billion this year.

The result is expected to be massive job losses in the federal government.

Murkowski told state lawmakers that they need to brace for less federal money because of the political state-of-play in Washington, D.C.

"Despite the seriousness of our nation's challenges and what we're facing, I think it's fair to say that Americans have witnessed an atmosphere of perhaps unprecedented dysfunction and partisanship in Congress that has compromised our ability to govern."

Murkowski noted that Alaska has the third highest number of federal employees and a Native population that relies on significant federal assistance.