U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski rebuked President Donald Trump during her annual legislative address, criticizing what she called the “traumatizing” firing of federal employees and “indiscriminate” freezing of federal funding.
Dozens of probationary federal employees lost their jobs in Alaska before a federal judge determined their firing was illegal and ordered them reinstated, including fishery biologists, federal land managers and meteorologists, among others. Separately, more than $1 billion in federal funding — including for renewable energy projects — remains in limbo, Murkowski said.
Murkowski on March 18 told the Alaska Legislature that she supports the goal of reducing the size of the federal government, but said she was “disturbed” by how federal employees have been treated by the Trump administration.
The firings are “being made regardless of performance, and with little understanding of the function and the value of each position,” Murkowski told legislators in a joint address to the Alaska House and Senate. “So at any human level, they’re traumatizing people, and they’re leaving holes in our communities.”
In a wide-ranging address, Murkowski said she was aligned with the Trump administration on expanding resource development industries in Alaska, only after questioning the White House’s actions in foreign policy and trade.
Murkowski said tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on China and Canada could harm Alaska’s economy. Retaliatory tariffs from China could halt some small logging operations that rely on Chinese buyers, and retaliatory tolls threatened by Canada on goods trucked to Alaska through British Columbia could make items like produce more expensive.
“We’ve got two close neighbors here in Alaska,” said Murkowski. “How we came to a place where we’re fighting now with Canada and we’re making nice with Russia — it’s beyond me.”
[Watch the full speech below:]
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Murkowski stands out among her Republican colleagues in Congress in her willingness to openly criticize the newly created Department of Governmental Efficiency. Alaska’s two other Republican congressional delegation members, Sen. Dan Sullivan and Rep. Nick Begich III, have so far refrained from publicly criticizing DOGE, which has led efforts to fire federal employees and slash spending under the leadership of billionaire Elon Musk.
[Previous coverage: Murkowski says she’s taking her concerns about federal workforce cuts in Alaska to the White House]
[‘We have to stand up’: Murkowski calls on Congress to resist mass firings by Trump administration]
Federal workers, grants and Medicaid
In her address, Murkowski repeated concerns raised by Alaska’s tourism and fishing industries — two of the state’s largest private-sector employers — over the impact of widespread federal layoffs.
Murkowski confirmed that some terminated probationary employees in Alaska were awarded back pay following a recent court ruling, but the workers had not been called back to their workplaces.
“What this is doing is causing anxiety and consternation and concern and a hit to the morale of your federal workforce,” Murkowski said. “Nobody knows for sure if they are secure in their position.”
Murkowski said that the approach taken to reducing the size of the federal workforce “lacks the fundamental decency that you need when you’re dealing with real people.”
“Public servants are not our enemies. They are our friends. They are neighbors. They are integral to our economy and to our ability to function as a state and as a country,” she added.
Murkowski expressed frustration over a federal funding freeze implemented by Trump. Even if the funding is eventually disbursed, project costs could go up and employees and contractors could be laid off, she said.
“This is happening in a very indiscriminate manner, with very little understanding of what the projects mean to us for Alaska,” she said.
Murkowski doubled down on her opposition to other Trump priorities and policies, including potential cuts to Medicaid that could be needed to help pay for tax cuts sought by Trump.
State legislators are broadly concerned that Medicaid cuts could balloon the state deficit, see thousands lose health care coverage and increase the cost of delivering care to Alaskans. Murkowski said she would be open to “reasonable reforms” in Medicaid, but did not elaborate on what such reforms she would support.
“I just can’t be on board with anything that hurts our people or puts you in a budget hole,” she said, eliciting loud applause from lawmakers.
Legislative response
Alaska Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom — who launched her legislative career by narrowly losing to Murkowski in a Republican legislative primary in 2002 — was among those who sat in the House gallery while Murkowski spoke.
“I always appreciate her honesty and her willingness to answer any question,” said Dahlstrom.
House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, a Dillingham independent, said Murkowski’s address was “as hopeful and forward-looking as it possibly could be, given the dire circumstances I think we’re all facing.”
Murkowski was more than halfway through her speech before she started discussing Alaska’s resource industry — an area Trump has sought to highlight since his first day in office.
House Minority Leader Mia Costello, an Anchorage Republican, said she was “encouraged” that Murkowski had emphasized alignment with Trump on boosting resource development in Alaska. Generally, though, Costello said that her caucus “is very supportive of what the president is doing.”
“Certainly there’s going to be some disruption,” she said. “But in the end, I think that we can work out some of that and make sure that when we look at our budget, that everything is efficient.”
Trump allies in Alaska — including Sullivan and Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy — have focused their attention on Trump’s backing of a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope long sought by Alaska leaders.
Murkowski said Trump’s support for the project has “really given air underneath the Alaska natural gas pipeline proposal.”
“I think Alaskans will be the beneficiaries of that, but we should not assume it,” she said. “We need to make sure that we are in that as part of the discussions going forward, so that we reap the benefits as well as those from a trade perspective.”
Senate Minority Leader Mike Shower, a Wasilla Republican, said after the address that it was “positive” Murkowski had highlighted the need to expand Alaska’s private sector.
However, Shower said he was more supportive than Murkowski of Trump’s efforts to cut federal spending through DOGE, and to deport immigrants living in the country illegally who have been convicted of crimes.
“I think that they’re doing exactly what they promised they were going to do, which is one of the reasons most Americans voted for him, and why he won Alaska by 14 points,” he said of Trump.
Murkowski was the only member of Alaska’s congressional delegation to respond to a letter sent in February by Edgmon and Senate President Gary Stevens, a Kodiak Republican. In it, the lawmakers warned the Legislature would not be able to fix the “financial havoc that is being wreaked on Alaskans by the federal government.”
Sullivan and Begich did not respond to the letter, Stevens said.
Murkowski vowed to do what she could to shore up Alaska’s federal funding and employees, but also challenged state legislators and Dunleavy’s administration in her address.
She lamented delays with Alaska’s state transportation plan that contractors fear could lead to a truncated road construction season.
“The reality is that Alaska is on pace to wind up hundreds of million of dollars short of where we could and where we should be,” said Murkowski. “I’m not going to point fingers. That is not my job. But here’s the deal: I can’t solve this one.”
Murkowski was part of a bipartisan group of federal lawmakers who in 2021 crafted an infrastructure bill that stood to send Alaska billions of dollars in new federal funding, including to shore up the Alaska Marine Highway System.
Now, she said that the infrastructure bill will soon expire without any solidified long-term plan for the ferry system that connects Alaska’s coastal communities.
“We’ve delivered $700 million and counting for AMHS, but our system still isn’t modernized,” she said. “Unless the state steps up on capital and operating expenses, I fear that we’ve wasted a once-in-a-generation opportunity to be right by all who depend on our ferries.”
“When the delegation manages to throw a lifeline, I’d hope that the state would grab it and use it to reach stable ground,” Murkowski told lawmakers. “We’ve got enough problems without creating more for ourselves.”
Contact Iris Samuels at isamuels@adn.com and Sean Maguire at smaguire@adn.com.