The U.S. Senate voted Tuesday to start working on a bill to stop the government from funding that will keep the federal government afloat until the middle of November.
Senator. Lisa Murkowski said she would like to reassure the public that the bill will be passed and avoid a shutdown of the government.
“But I’m not able to tell you that, because I’m worried,” she said. “And I’ve been concerned every day, as it seems that, in the House it’s become more complicated and tense, but also more threatening. It’s hard to accomplish your work when people are unable to communicate with each other. This is what’s happening within this House.”
Murkowski stated that a shutdown could be devastating to Alaskans especially hard since the state is home to a large amount of federal workers per habitant.
Alaska is home to around 11,000 federal civilian workers as per the Congressional Research Service. In the event of a shutdown, certain were furloughed, and others will be forced to work for free.
The bill that is a stopgap measure could go through the procedural vote and be approved by the Senate at the end of this week. However, in the House the House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is hamstrung by the demands of right-wing Republicans and a few members immediately resisted this Senate bill. They particularly don’t like the fact the fact that it contains $6.1 billion of defense assistance to Ukraine.
Murkowski She, who was in Kiev in spring, stated that aiding Ukraine will help protect democratic countries across the globe which includes ours. If the government shut down, she said could hurt America’s image internationally.
“That’s an easy step to ensure that your government is in operation,” she said, just outside of the Senate chamber. “If you send a signal that states we don’t even come to an agreement on that what kind of message does that convey to the public regarding our trustworthiness as a friend, an all-weather partner, as well as with peace?”
The first vote in the procedural process to discuss the stopgap measure was with a margin of 77-19. Sen. Dan Sullivan voted yes. He was the sponsor of an act last week to pay military personnel, including those of the Coast Guard, in the event of a government shutdown. The office of Sullivan did not respond to an interview request on Tuesday.
