The government will be funded through September 2023 thanks to a $1.7 trillion spending plan approved by Congress on Friday.
With $773 billion for domestic funding, $858 billion for military spending, and around $45 billion for support to Ukraine, the omnibus measure funds every part of the federal government. The bill was passed by Congress just in time to avoid a government shutdown that was about to begin after funding for the government ran out on Friday.
The bill also passes laws that will have an instant impact on Alaska and provides millions of dollars for initiatives that are unique to that state. There is absolutely no area of our state that this measure doesn’t benefit, according to Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Although House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who is widely considered to be the new speaker of the House, promised to veto their bills if they voted for the package’s approval, Murkowski was one of the 14 Senate Republicans to support it.
Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska, a Republican, criticized the 4,155-page bill when it was initially made public late on Tuesday night. Sullivan admitted that the bill has elements relevant to Alaska that he supports but stated that a “broken budget process” and the roughly 48-hour delay between the bill’s introduction and the Senate’s ultimate passage were reasons for his decision to vote against the measure.
Rep. Mary Peltola of Alaska joined the majority of House Democrats in voting to support the measure on Friday. Around 200 of Peltola’s House colleagues registered their votes by proxy, reportedly to get home in time for the holidays despite the widespread winter storms, while Peltola cast her vote in person.
