{"id":15309,"date":"2015-12-20T09:03:06","date_gmt":"2015-12-20T17:03:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/senators-split-on-federal-budget-package\/"},"modified":"2015-12-20T09:03:06","modified_gmt":"2015-12-20T17:03:06","slug":"senators-split-on-federal-budget-package","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/senators-split-on-federal-budget-package\/","title":{"rendered":"Senators split on federal budget package"},"content":{"rendered":"

JUNEAU \u2014<\/strong> Alaska\u2019s Republican U.S. senators split on their votes for a sweeping budget package Friday, with Sen. Lisa Murkowski voting in favor and Sen. Dan Sullivan voting against it.<\/p>\n

Sullivan said the vote was difficult for him. He said in a news release that the legislation contained provisions that benefit some Alaskans, small business owners and the energy sector.<\/p>\n

But he said he could not \u201cin good conscience\u201d vote for it without having had a chance to understand its implications or offer amendments. He said the package was negotiated behind closed doors and presented as a take-it-or-leave-it proposition.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlaskans are currently debating \u2014 through a transparent, open, and yes, contentious process \u2014 how to best address the state\u2019s very significant fiscal challenges,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cThe federal government should be doing the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murkowski, meanwhile, hailed provisions in the legislation that she helped push or supports. Murkowski serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee.<\/p>\n

Provisions detailed in news releases from her office include a labeling provision for genetically modified salmon, increased funding for a Defense Department program through which reservists build infrastructure and provide health care in rural Alaska to fulfill annual training requirements, and a prohibition against consolidating or closing small and rural post offices.<\/p>\n

In a teleconference with reporters Thursday, Murkowski said she doesn\u2019t like the process that led to the budget package and said the bill isn\u2019t perfect. But she said it avoids a government shutdown and advances spending priorities set by majority Republicans.<\/p>\n

She blamed Democrats for filibustering opportunities to take up spending bills, making it harder to finish them.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you get to the end of the year and you are in a situation where you\u2019re looking at a possible government shutdown,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s not good governance. That\u2019s not a way to legislate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The legislative package, which extends more than 50 expiring tax cuts and funds government agencies, passed the House and Senate, and President Barack Obama is expected to sign it.<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, voted in favor of the package. In a news release, he said end-of-the-year deal making is no way to legislate, but shutting down the government is worse.<\/p>\n

\u201cI supported this bill for the numerous Alaska-focused provisions we fought for and defended during the appropriations process, but I did so reluctantly,\u201d he said. \u201cThis massive spending bill is a tough pill to swallow mainly for what it lacks, but ultimately is provides a number of important reforms and provisions for Alaska and the nation that would not have been achieved otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JUNEAU \u2014 Alaska\u2019s Republican U.S. senators split on their votes for a sweeping budget package Friday, with Sen. Lisa Murkowski voting in favor and Sen. Dan Sullivan voting against it. Sullivan said the vote was difficult for him. He said in a news<\/a> release that the legislation contained provisions that benefit some Alaskans, small business<\/a> […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[230],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-15309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-state-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15309\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15309"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=15309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}