117th Congress Featured Big Wins for Mat-Su Valley
Contributed by Senator Lisa Murkowski
Mat-Su Valley - In January, the 117th Congress formally adjourned, marking the close of a remarkably productive legislative stretch for Alaska. The last Congress was one of the best for our state in recent memory, and the bipartisan bills we passed during it will produce lasting benefits for the Mat-Su Valley.
Most significant is the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which I played a lead role on. In just over a year, roughly $3 billion from it has been announced for Alaska. Those dollars are helping us build, expand, and modernize everything from roads, bridges, ports, and airports to our water, energy, broadband, and ferry systems. In doing so, they’re creating jobs, boosting our economy, and transforming lives.
In addition to the formula funds the State of Alaska is receiving for roads and bridges, the Palmer, Wasilla, Big Lake, Talkeetna, and Willow Airports have all been selected to receive funding for improvements.
Working with leaders across the state, I also leveraged my position as a senior appropriator to directly fund nearly 200 projects—without adding to federal spending levels.
Here, again, the Valley stands to benefit. We provided funding for improvements to wastewater treatment in Palmer and Wasilla, for the Mat-Su Food Bank for new equipment and warehouse renovations, for Chickaloon for a community well, to expand the Sunshine Center in Willow, and to purchase a complete mobile medical unit to provide treatment across the Upper Susitna River Valley.
On the defense front, we secured hundreds of millions of dollars for military construction in Alaska. We made historic investments in the Coast Guard, and established the Ted Stevens Center for Arctic Security Studies to advance our strategic interests in the far north.
As we strengthened our national security, we approved a more than seven percent pay raise for active duty military members, special duty pay and quality-of-life benefits for those stationed in Alaska, and help and resources to address the crisis of soldier suicides head-on.
To honor our ironclad obligations to veterans, we passed the PACT Act, which will ensure healthcare access and treatment for all who are impacted by toxic exposures.
We celebrate the historic salmon returns in Bristol Bay, but other fisheries in our state – and the communities that depend on them – are in crisis. To provide relief and help tide Alaskans over, we secured multiple rounds of fishery disaster assistance. We also funded new fishery surveys, chartered a federal research task force to get to the bottom of these alarming declines, and provided funding to the Yukon River Drainage Fisheries Association to support their work.
We provided support for the Alaska LNG Project and funded a microgrants program I created to enable more food to be grown in Alaska. We passed my legislation to provide 360,000 acres to the University of Alaska—helping to fulfill its land grant in support of its students, faculty, and campus infrastructure.
We also ensured that Alaska will remain a place of unrivaled natural splendor. We invested in outdoor recreation and trails, including the Denali Park Road upgrades, and added new tools and resources to prevent and fight wildfires. We also created an EPA program to clean up contaminated lands that have been conveyed to Alaskans.
Finally, we took great care to address some of most acute sources of pain and suffering in our state. We reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act, continued to prioritize the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women and children, devoted real resources to reducing homelessness, and improved access to mental and behavioral health services.
As part of this, I provided $23 million to the MyHouse Mat-Su Homeless Youth Center to fund construction of a new building, and $5 million to Set Free Alaska to build a therapeutic campus in Wasilla consisting of recovery residence facilities.
While we still have a hole in our hearts from the loss of Congressman Don Young, we honored his legacy by passing many of the bills he was working on. We also named the Jobs Corps Center in Palmer and one of the most active volcanoes in the Aleutians after him.
As the 118th Congress begins, I’m proud about what our congressional delegation accomplished over the last two years, and grateful for the opportunity to continue serving the state and people I love. Rest assured that for as long as I have the honor of being your Senator, I will do everything I can to deliver for you and for Alaska.