Senate passes stopgap funding bill 90-6; both Alaska senators vote yes

The Senate approved a stopgap spending bill on Aug. 8 by a 90-6 vote, extending federal funding for Alaska programs through Dec. 11 if the U.S. House also passes it. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan both voted yes, but the measure now returns to the House before it can become law.

The bill makes continuing appropriations and extensions for fiscal year 2027. The White House called it "a clean, short-term continuing resolution (CR) that would prevent a Government shutdown by funding Government agencies at current levels through December 11, 2026."

Federal transfers to Alaska state and local governments totaled $5.69 billion in fiscal 2023, 34.8 percent of the state's total government revenue and 9 percentage points above the national average, according to USAFacts. That figure had already fallen 12 percent from the prior year.

Murkowski said a stopgap is not her preferred method of funding but was necessary to avoid a shutdown affecting federal employees and people who rely on federal services. She said Congress should use the four-month window to pass individual appropriations bills. House Appropriations Committee Republicans objected to relying on a stopgap instead of completing regular fiscal 2027 appropriations.

The senators split earlier on Aug. 8 on a motion to table an amendment from Sen. Budd to strike section 2019. The motion carried 61-32, with Murkowski voting nay and Sullivan voting yea.

A day earlier, on Aug. 7, the Senate voted 91-6 to invoke cloture on Collins Amendment No. 6732, a substitute for the bill. Murkowski and Sullivan both voted yea.