Tumultuous certainly applies to the goings-on in the nation’s capital. And not in a good way.
While in Alaska’s Capitol, the goings-on are surprising too, but most definitely in a good way.
Unlike congressional leadership, which is putting up no public resistance to the Trump/Musk dishonest assault on public services, people’s lives, the rule of law and human compassion, Alaska’s legislative leaders are standing up to do their job. And they are doing it honestly, unlike the deceitful duo of Trump and Musk who seem to be vaccinated against facts.
The president of the state Senate and the speaker of the state House last week wrote Alaska’s congressional delegation, reminding them of the importance of federal programs to the state, imploring them to block the deep cuts and firings that “endanger the economic prosperity and social well-being of Alaskans.”
Cutbacks to mail service, early learning programs, food stamps, Medicaid and more will not just hurt individual Alaskans but will harm entire communities.
Staff firings at the National Weather Service endanger public safety; firings at the U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service threaten the all-important summer tourism economy in the state; and firings and spending cuts put responsible fisheries management at risk.
“The time to sound the alarm is over. It is time to act. Please reach across the aisle and restore the checks and balances that our founding fathers envisioned,” the legislative leaders wrote to U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, and U.S. Rep. Nick Begich III.
Coincidentally, in the same week, state lawmakers spoke publicly, and without police protection, about smaller Permanent Fund dividends, higher oil taxes and an expansion of corporate taxes.
The context for Alaska’s fiscal epiphany is a revenue shortfall that has put the state budget solidly into a deficit. At the same time, most lawmakers also want to make up for lost years by boosting state aid to local school districts.
No one threw bricks through the windows at the Capitol, nor did lightning bolts descend from the heavens. An increasing number of lawmakers agree that it’s time we did something to fix the leaky roof, rotten foundation and broken furnace of the state’s fiscal house.
Of course, there is no agreement yet on just how much repair work is needed, who should pay for it, or how much to spend on necessary furnishings like the dividend and public education. There is debate ahead on whether a large tax hike on oil production would deter future investment, which businesses should come under taxation, and why should individuals continue to live tax free.
But at least Alaska lawmakers are taking their responsibilities seriously — something Congress seems to have outsourced to Musk and his Department of Ginormous Ego, or DOGE.
There are still some state legislators who give out statements about bigger dividends like so many sacks of candy at Halloween. But they are shrinking in numbers.
Most lawmakers know that North Slope oil production is down more than 75% from its peak 36 years ago. More are understanding that the state lacks a broad-based tax on any economic activity other than a barrel of oil and that the state gasoline tax is at the same rate as when John F. Kennedy was president in 1961.
Meanwhile, schools are underfunded, as is the state ferry system, domestic violence, child care and rural law enforcement.
More Alaska legislators are trying to do what’s right, as painful as it is. Most members of Congress are not even trying.
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