Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan of Alaska held a teleconference with members of the Alaska press on Thursday. They discussed the COVID-19 emergency relief legislation that passed the U.S. Senate on Wednesday night in a 96-0 vote.
Murkowski lauded seeing a bill pass that was bipartisan, rather than one that required bickering. She keyed in in four key priorities that make the bill effective: “It really comes down to four priorities. We really focused on direct financial assistance to individuals that are hurting. A key priority on aiding our small businesses, so that employers can keep their folks and keep people on a payroll to the extent that they can. To stabilize key industries. And, of course, continued help for the healthcare workers and the materials and supplies that they need.”
She added details on how the $1200 per adult, and $500 per child, will be dispersed to Americans, if the House passes their version of the bill: “The commitment is to try to get it out as quickly as possible, the $1200 check that will go to anyone with a Social Security Number, $500 for kids. It is capped based on income, phasing out at $99,000 for an individual. What we’re trying to do here is to get cash in people’s pockets as quickly as we can.”
There will also be money headed directly to the state: “Alaska will receive $1.25 billion to the state, which when you think about where we are even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic impacting the state, the financial situation we were in was pretty tough. It’s even tougher now as we see the hit to our economy.”
Senator Sullivan said that the issue that may be most important to Alaskans is the issue of small business loans: “What we don’t want to hvae happen is when we get out of this, that our small businesses are so disconnected from the people that they employ, that we’ll have a harder time really coming out strongly. So, that’s a key focus of this legislation from last night. It’s $377 billion of it to backstop that small business component.”
The Senators say they personally fought for higher tribal funds for Alaskans, as well as fighting to secure $300 million in relief for fishermen. When asked how this level of spending would impact the budget, Senators Murkowski and Sullivan each countered by posing the dire state of the nation and economy if this action were not taken. They noted that the impact is something that would be talked about for decades: “There is no alternative to not acting in a responsive way, and in a way that demonstrates the urgency and the emergency of where we are now.”
The two closed by reminding Alaskans that this situation is still evolving, including the fact that the House must still pass the bill, but that the Alaskan delegation has worked hard to protect Alaska’s interests.
