Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) is positioning herself to become the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee next year, putting her in line to replace Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) on the influential spending panel following her defeat in last week’s midterm elections.
A spokesperson for Murkowski confirmed to the Washington Examiner that the Alaska Republican intends to seek the ranking member position, which would make her the committee’s most senior Republican as Democrats prepare to take control of the Senate and its committees in the next Congress.
Murkowski is next in line for the position following Collins’s departure, though she could reportedly face competition from Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS), who has been contacting Republican colleagues about his own interest in becoming the party’s top appropriator.
The leadership change comes as the Senate Appropriations Committee prepares for a significant reshuffling. Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) is expected to take over as chairwoman next year, while Republicans could lose as many as five of their 15 current members, depending in part on the outcome of Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith’s (R-MS) reelection race.
Murkowski has served on the Appropriations Committee for years and has held leadership positions across several of its subcommittees. She currently chairs the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, which oversees funding for the Interior Department, the Environmental Protection Agency, and other agencies. She has also served on the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies; Defense; Homeland Security; and Energy and Water Development subcommittees.
Her committee assignments have given her a significant role in shaping federal spending priorities affecting Alaska, a state with substantial federal land holdings, military installations, energy development, and rural infrastructure needs.
Murkowski acknowledged that Collins’s defeat would put her in a position to assume greater responsibility on the committee in a recent interview with Alaska radio station KNOM,
“It’s going to be putting me in a position of higher leadership on the Appropriations Committee,” Murkowski said, while expressing regret over Collins’s loss.
Murkowski also said she wants to help repair what she described as a “broken process” in Congress and improve lawmakers’ ability to deliver for their constituents.
“My goal is to be an individual who is involved in making things happen for the good of the whole, to get the Senate functioning again,” she said.
Asked about the concerns she has been hearing from Alaskans, Murkowski pointed to the rising cost of living and the effects of climate change, particularly extreme weather events that have left some communities feeling increasingly vulnerable.
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“People are seeing and coming to fear — coming to fear — the fall and what it may bring, and it’s not just here,” she said. “We’re seeing weather events in other parts of the state where people are feeling not only a vulnerability but an insecurity in being in their own homes, and what are we doing about it?”
The committee is among the most consequential in Congress, with jurisdiction over federal discretionary spending and the annual appropriations bills that fund government agencies and programs. Its members also play a significant role in directing federal dollars toward projects in their home states.