Murkowski pledged to de-authorize and defund any attempt to further restrict responsible development of Alaska's natural resources.
De-authorize and defund any attempt to further restrict responsible development of Alaska's natural resources.
Occurrences
Evidence
Murkowski's office said she helped shape the FY26 appropriations package to protect Alaska fisheries, energy security, Arctic research, and coastal infrastructure, and the release says the package directs the administration to follow the law and permit access from the Ambler Mining District while improving critical-mineral permitting timelines.
Congress.gov shows H.R. 6938 became Public Law No. 119-74 on January 23, 2026. In the enacted text, Congress barred federal funds from implementing the Alaska small remote incinerator rule and restricted certain Alaska timber-sale practices, while keeping Alaska-specific land and resource provisions in force.
The executive order directs agencies to rescind or revise Alaska restrictions affecting ANWR, the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, Ambler Road, and related land and resource rules, explicitly saying prior punitive restrictions targeting Alaska resource development should be reversed.
Assessments
Murkowski can claim some later-term delivery because, while still serving in the Senate, she materially helped advance a 2026 appropriations law that blocked funding for selected Alaska-specific regulatory restrictions and preserved resource-development provisions. That fits the promise in part, but not in full: the pledge was sweeping ('de-authorize and defund any attempt' to further restrict development), and the cited enactment only addressed some restrictions rather than comprehensively ending such efforts. Additional 2025 executive actions moved in the same direction, but those were primarily actions of other officials, so they support only limited credit for her promise.