Sen. Lisa Murkowski told the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention that high energy prices are this year’s crisis, just as the Halong storm disaster was last year’s, and Murkowski was blunt about the cause.
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“It is wrong. It is wrong that fuel prices are so high,” she said. “For six months now, I have voted to responsibly end the war in Iran, which drove the prices up and is key to bringing them down.”
Hundreds of attendees stood to applaud that assertion.
Murkowski said more federal assistance may be on its way. She said she and other senators are pressing for an early release of funds from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
War-driven high fuel costs, especially in rural Alaska, are a huge issue this election year, and Murkowski’s position on the war puts her at odds with Sen. Dan Sullivan.
Sullivan is in a tough fight to keep his seat. His opponent, former Congresswoman Mary Peltola, is hammering him for voting 14 times against war powers resolutions that could’ve allowed Congress to end the war in Iran.
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Murkowski has endorsed Sullivan and was scheduled to be a featured guest at a “Women for Dan Sullivan” rally Thursday evening. In the hallway after her speech, she declined to get into her differences with Sullivan on the war.
“We all make our own decisions. We all come to our own conclusions,” she said. “I think he respects mine, and I respect his.”
Sullivan, in his own speech to the convention, said the key to lowering Alaska energy costs is in developing the state’s natural resources. He said Democrats will block that if they get control of the Senate.
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