Video Clips

Quoted moments from Alaska public meetings, hearings, and press conferences.

Kris Curtis “likely we will have recommendations that come out of the audit.”

Alaska Legislature: Joint Budget & Audit - July 16, 2026 8:30am · Jul 16, 2026

Kris Curtis “The audit is an independent— it'll be an opinion based on sufficient appropriate evidence. We bring it to this committee, we present it during executive session. This committee will decide whether or not to release it, but this committee has never not released it because it's an independent process.”

Alaska Legislature: Joint Budget & Audit - July 16, 2026 8:30am · Jul 16, 2026

Kris Curtis “I have no concerns about our ability to conduct the audit. I always make sure that an audit request, that we have adequate criteria. We need criteria.”

Alaska Legislature: Joint Budget & Audit - July 16, 2026 8:30am · Jul 16, 2026

Matt Gruening “the Attorney General herself cited ethics violations in overturning the 5 proposals that are referenced in the letter. There are several other meetings and proposals that are under litigation right now, and I believe that consistently we have been hearing concerns over the course of you know, Representative Stutes' 8 years as Fisheries Chair, that folks are concerned about the process and whether it's being followed.”

Alaska Legislature: Joint Budget & Audit - July 16, 2026 8:30am · Jul 16, 2026

Ona Brause “This is, you know, the first year that we have had the rolling confirmation that the overtime allocations are not right. And so going in there and making them correct based on, one, the actual labor cost that these departments are experiencing, but two, The, um, the, the sort of more, uh, useful is to understand what those hours are that they use on a recurring basis for overtime.”

Anchorage Assembly: Budget and Finance Committee-of-the-Whole Meeting · Jul 16, 2026

Anna Brawley “you described, you know, the overtime budget has not been updated.”

Anchorage Assembly: Budget and Finance Committee-of-the-Whole Meeting · Jul 16, 2026

Ona Brause “that's exactly what the reason or the outcome of a continuation budget is. If, you know, we're working from a base budget of about 2010, and if the 2010 overtime number was never adjusted, then that would be the number we are working with every single year.”

Anchorage Assembly: Budget and Finance Committee-of-the-Whole Meeting · Jul 16, 2026

Anna Brawley “the intent is to bring this to our July 21st meeting. And of course, what we have before us is still a draft. And so part of the discussion today is to help inform that draft.”

Anchorage Assembly: Budget and Finance Committee-of-the-Whole Meeting · Jul 16, 2026

Ona Brause “the fire department's everyday operations function with a very high number of OT hours. And that number that is currently in the budget, to my understanding and the calculations that I have seen, is the number of OT hours that they work regular shifts plus a little tiny cushion. But because the wages have changed over a number of years and the allocation of those overtime hours, either through secondary callouts where we're assisting the state or the feds for other problems that they may have, and we send firefighters that way and we backfill with OT.”

Anchorage Assembly: Budget and Finance Committee-of-the-Whole Meeting · Jul 16, 2026

Ona Brause “one of the things that happened this last legislative cycle was, I think it's HB 28, that controls the amount of room that is allowed to accrue year over year between how much state funding we get and how much city funding is required. And that number has never been constrained. It's never been an issue before. But because we're seeing these wild swings in assessments, which changes the BSA— or not the BSA formula, it changes the contribution formula for the municipality.”

Anchorage Assembly: Budget and Finance Committee-of-the-Whole Meeting · Jul 16, 2026

Ona Brause “The bill changed it so that there is a 4% controlled— this is all my understanding— for a controlled 4% sliver. So I believe what our projected deficit of $12 million— the new paradigm is $6 million as opposed to $12 million. And now we know that there is a control allocation to budget to or to look at to know that's the amount that they could offload to the municipality to a year-over-year basis, so we can plan for it. Previously, there was not necessarily the option to plan for it.”

Anchorage Assembly: Budget and Finance Committee-of-the-Whole Meeting · Jul 16, 2026

Anna Brawley “we keep uncovering billion-dollar deferred maintenance liabilities, so I think at some point we are attempting to put a number, even if that number is rough, on what our problems are and trying to characterize those.”

Anchorage Assembly: Budget and Finance Committee-of-the-Whole Meeting · Jul 16, 2026

Sydney Scout “I'm curious, just for comparison's sake, as we think about— we have two scenarios presented that are within the text. Tax cap, and I don't mean to propose that we would take any major action on the tax cap this budget cycle, but I wonder if we could also take a look at what our budget would look like without that in place.”

Anchorage Assembly: Budget and Finance Committee-of-the-Whole Meeting · Jul 16, 2026

Erin Baldwin Day “if in fact we have some unused FTEs that are being used to fund non-labor items, then let's understand what that's actually looking like and what the departmental needs are, what the true departmental needs are, so that we can respond to those appropriately.”

Anchorage Assembly: Budget and Finance Committee-of-the-Whole Meeting · Jul 16, 2026

Anna Brawley “in terms of our budget process, so members got, and it's on the calendar now, multiple work sessions on our budget. Those are our typical work sessions that happen in starting in October, moving into November. And so we are really early in our part of the budget cycle.”

Anchorage Assembly: Budget and Finance Committee-of-the-Whole Meeting · Jul 16, 2026

Anna Brawley “typically every year the Assembly passes a policy priorities resolution at some point in the budget process. We're trying to do it earlier than we did last year, and really, you know, not, not to necessarily to the level of put, you know, $300,000 in this particular line, but really broadly giving direction to the administration as they are actively in the budget process themselves with departments, you know, of what we would like to see, either asking for more information and/or, you know, putting forward some broad priorities or requests.”

Anchorage Assembly: Budget and Finance Committee-of-the-Whole Meeting · Jul 16, 2026

Ona Brause “let's take the fire department because you mentioned them, and we've talked about the fire department overtime here regularly. We've done presentations on it. So in the relationship where we are working on a continuation number, and that number is based on a specific wage amount, you know, if we're averaging a firefighter hour, let's say it's $50 an hour fully loaded cost. With benefits, etc., and you multiply that by the required number of hours that AFD works OT, which is 3, 4 hours every single shift because they work 56-hour weeks, and the FLSA rules mean that the last 4 hours are mandatory overtime. We do not have overtime in that time frame between 40 and 53, but the 53 through 56 is mandatory OT.”

Anchorage Assembly: Budget and Finance Committee-of-the-Whole Meeting · Jul 16, 2026

Ona Brause “when it comes to how long do we wait to watch the actuals be different, the answer is depending on the category, anywhere between 3 and 5 years. And so, because we roll averages, if there is a 1-year spike in a spend, we're not gonna change the budget. We're going to recognize how and why that spike happens, try to control to it. If we know that it is an ongoing change, then we would have to address that budgetary change.”

Anchorage Assembly: Budget and Finance Committee-of-the-Whole Meeting · Jul 16, 2026

Ona Brause “the wages have changed dramatically, and so that that blended average, that $50, we think is now— these are numbers we're working on— we think are now closer to $60 an hour, which means that this OT amount would have to be recalibrated even for their regular accepted approved overtime that's in their operating budget. So those are the kinds of calibrations that we have to make.”

Anchorage Assembly: Budget and Finance Committee-of-the-Whole Meeting · Jul 16, 2026

Ona Brause “that's what we're doing as part of this budget cycle, partially because the Assembly has requested that analysis, but also because we ourselves, you know, I'm now in the 3-year range where we have stabilized the budget enough to know and compare across pre-pandemic operations and post-pandemic operations what those OT numbers have been and whether or not the, um, the spikes in the OT are attributable to cost increases or they're attributable to operational changes that we have to adjust for.”

Anchorage Assembly: Budget and Finance Committee-of-the-Whole Meeting · Jul 16, 2026

Erin Baldwin Day “the tax cap is not the only structural limitation or constraint that we have or the only place where we can consider how to better fund services and infrastructure in Anchorage. And I mean, I think there are other things that are in motion that do provide different structural options in terms of how we pay for things. And I think we need to have a— we as a body need to have more conversations about what those tradeoffs look like.”

Anchorage Assembly: Budget and Finance Committee-of-the-Whole Meeting · Jul 16, 2026

Ona Brause “the departments who have overtime and operate on overtime time like APD and AFD have the right amount allocated for their overtime because the overtime amounts— we don't have total numbers on it yet, but they haven't been changed in I think at least 4 years, which means that the labor rates that they're calculated on are out of date. So that's part of the overtime adjustment that you'll see as part of the budget process as well.”

Anchorage Assembly: Budget and Finance Committee-of-the-Whole Meeting · Jul 16, 2026

Ona Brause “we had a whole day of training workshops with directors and for directors on Monday about budget and how do we interact with the budget, what is our budget process”

Anchorage Assembly: Budget and Finance Committee-of-the-Whole Meeting · Jul 16, 2026

Ona Brause “The police department is a slightly different situation because the reason their overtime is so hot is because of their vacancies. So the amount of overtime that the, that the police department runs is particularly hot because they are missing 70 police officers. And so they're running shifts and people in voluntary overtime as much as needs to happen. And then that means that the labor amounts that are spent on the natural operating labor side are being spent in the overtime category.”

Anchorage Assembly: Budget and Finance Committee-of-the-Whole Meeting · Jul 16, 2026

Erin Baldwin Day “our recommendations are really led by a desire to set very realistic expectations with the community as far as what is possible and not possible as far as service delivery goes in this particular budget environment. And also the revenue or the delta that would be required to sort of sustain historical levels of service delivery.”

Anchorage Assembly: Budget and Finance Committee-of-the-Whole Meeting · Jul 16, 2026

Anna Brawley “In the past, our resolutions have really focused on what we would like to see happen. This one does take a little bit different tactic. It does certainly have some of that, and we would welcome other comments on that, but really asking for information, and this is not simply chasing or trying to make the administration do a bunch of extra work, right, but these are really trying to outline and characterize what we all need to have before us to make some of these big decisions, or at least understand kind of what is coming.”

Anchorage Assembly: Budget and Finance Committee-of-the-Whole Meeting · Jul 16, 2026

Erin Baldwin Day “We've also asked for a pretty robust review of our position with respect to deferred maintenance. And so we're asking for that in terms of roads, our fleet, stormwater, which we heard an update on at one of the more recent IEUC meetings, which was pretty sobering. Also major maintenance and other needs on our facilities and public buildings.”

Anchorage Assembly: Budget and Finance Committee-of-the-Whole Meeting · Jul 16, 2026

Erin Baldwin Day “this is also an attempt to understand perhaps with a bit more granularity, you know, how our labor and non-labor budgets relate to each other.”

Anchorage Assembly: Budget and Finance Committee-of-the-Whole Meeting · Jul 16, 2026

Douglas Schiess

“The threat China poses is real.”

Senate Armed Services (Sullivan): Hearings to examine the nomination of Lieutenant General Douglas A. Schiess, USSF, to be general and Chief of Space Operations. · Jul 16, 2026

Douglas Schiess

“the portfolio acquisition executives is trying to take all of the things that the SDA did correct and put those in all of the PAEs, and so, you know, Secretary Mink talks about giving 90% of contracting to them, and so what I would say to you, if confirmed, I promise you to continue to work that so that all of our PAEs take some of that capability to bring on fast systems”

Senate Armed Services (Sullivan): Hearings to examine the nomination of Lieutenant General Douglas A. Schiess, USSF, to be general and Chief of Space Operations. · Jul 16, 2026

Douglas Schiess

“we did have large folks that took the DRP and other programs. And so that, that was a significant cut to us. But we are working to bring those back. As a matter of fact, Space Systems Command is trying to hire 100 civilians a month”

Senate Armed Services (Sullivan): Hearings to examine the nomination of Lieutenant General Douglas A. Schiess, USSF, to be general and Chief of Space Operations. · Jul 16, 2026

Douglas Schiess

“The People's Liberation Army has rapidly expanded its space capabilities and is fielding systems designed both to exploit space for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, and to deny U.S. ability to use space capabilities in a crisis or a conflict.”

Senate Armed Services (Sullivan): Hearings to examine the nomination of Lieutenant General Douglas A. Schiess, USSF, to be general and Chief of Space Operations. · Jul 16, 2026

Douglas Schiess

“in our request, we also asked for an additional 2,000 civilians.”

Senate Armed Services (Sullivan): Hearings to examine the nomination of Lieutenant General Douglas A. Schiess, USSF, to be general and Chief of Space Operations. · Jul 16, 2026

Douglas Schiess

“they are using their intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance efforts to target our forces much farther than they ever have in the past. They've built a kill chain to be able to see our carrier strike groups, our bombers at much farther, pace, speed, and distances, and they've also developed missiles and weapon systems to go after that.”

Senate Armed Services (Sullivan): Hearings to examine the nomination of Lieutenant General Douglas A. Schiess, USSF, to be general and Chief of Space Operations. · Jul 16, 2026

Douglas Schiess

“weapon systems, facilities, uh, training capability, all of those things are in there. We are requesting an increase in Guardians, 2,800 personnel, but it is mostly equipment.”

Senate Armed Services (Sullivan): Hearings to examine the nomination of Lieutenant General Douglas A. Schiess, USSF, to be general and Chief of Space Operations. · Jul 16, 2026

Angus King “Your budget's increasing by 124% this year. This country is facing a serious budget and deficit problem, as you know, and please explain to the committee and to the American people why this really massive increase is necessary.”

Senate Armed Services (Sullivan): Hearings to examine the nomination of Lieutenant General Douglas A. Schiess, USSF, to be general and Chief of Space Operations. · Jul 16, 2026

Douglas Schiess

“the $71.1 billion that the president has asked for is exactly what we need in a couple areas in there.”

Senate Armed Services (Sullivan): Hearings to examine the nomination of Lieutenant General Douglas A. Schiess, USSF, to be general and Chief of Space Operations. · Jul 16, 2026

Douglas Schiess

“we need the ability to have space superiority, and what that means is we have to have the ability to counter someone else's ability to, to hold our satellites at risk and to be able to destroy them. And the vast bulk of that money is for, is for equipment, not, not personnel.”

Senate Armed Services (Sullivan): Hearings to examine the nomination of Lieutenant General Douglas A. Schiess, USSF, to be general and Chief of Space Operations. · Jul 16, 2026

Douglas Schiess

“what they are doing with what I'll call counter-space and space superiority capabilities is breathtakingly fast. They have watched the Space Force and the Air Force before that and the activities that we have had to enable the joint force, and they have determined that they need to come up with capabilities to do that. So we've seen anti-satellite tests from the ground. There are capabilities in space that hold our satellites at risk, and they continue to do that at a rapid pace.”

Senate Armed Services (Sullivan): Hearings to examine the nomination of Lieutenant General Douglas A. Schiess, USSF, to be general and Chief of Space Operations. · Jul 16, 2026

Keith Sonderling

“I would rely and have relied on the career ethics officials at the Office of Government Ethics to make that.”

Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (Murkowski): Hearings to examine the nomination of Keith Sonderling, of Florida, to be Secretary of Labor. · Jul 16, 2026

Patty Murray “You rescinded the overtime rule in May, slamming the door on time and a half pay for more than 4 million workers who already aren't making much to begin with. At the same time, you're working to rescind the independent contractor rule. You want to let giant corporations classify workers as contractors so they don't have to pay them minimum wage and overtime.”

Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (Murkowski): Hearings to examine the nomination of Keith Sonderling, of Florida, to be Secretary of Labor. · Jul 16, 2026

Keith Sonderling

“Like I said last year, the president wouldn't have me do that. And I would follow the law. And I said last year I would follow the law, and I will follow the law.”

Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (Murkowski): Hearings to examine the nomination of Keith Sonderling, of Florida, to be Secretary of Labor. · Jul 16, 2026

Patty Murray “You've run this department for 3 months, and in that time you formalized taking overtime away from 4 million people, moved to cut care workers' minimum wage, teed up longer hours for 14-year-olds, and defended a budget that leaves workers in the dust.”

Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (Murkowski): Hearings to examine the nomination of Keith Sonderling, of Florida, to be Secretary of Labor. · Jul 16, 2026

Patty Murray “this Department of Labor stood by while this administration stripped collective bargaining rights from more than 1 million federal workers. And you actually helped this administration pressure the federal agency that helps protect our civil servants.”

Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (Murkowski): Hearings to examine the nomination of Keith Sonderling, of Florida, to be Secretary of Labor. · Jul 16, 2026

Patty Murray “I'll tell you, the answer is none. None of them. And that is concerning because while some offices within your department are taking on a set of responsibilities they have no experience dealing with, they're also struggling to manage their own grant programs. As recently as this last January, a report from the DOL Inspector General noted The Employment and Training Administration is, quote, challenged in effectively managing its grant portfolio.”

Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (Murkowski): Hearings to examine the nomination of Keith Sonderling, of Florida, to be Secretary of Labor. · Jul 16, 2026

Patty Murray “if this draft rule is finalized, which is what my question was to you, it is 3.7 million workers, home care workers, who will be stripped of minimum wage and overtime protections. That's how many home care workers the department is ripping away minimum wage and overtime protections from.”

Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (Murkowski): Hearings to examine the nomination of Keith Sonderling, of Florida, to be Secretary of Labor. · Jul 16, 2026

Keith Sonderling

“I do not. That's a Department of Education program. But I would, to the extent we have the administration duties to administer that to the states, it will let me rely on the career education staff.”

Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (Murkowski): Hearings to examine the nomination of Keith Sonderling, of Florida, to be Secretary of Labor. · Jul 16, 2026

Keith Sonderling

“the current rule, you know, has essentially created a secondary market where workers are not getting overtime, they're not getting protections, those who are, you know, receiving the services aren't going through companies to get the proper background checks. So this rule will allow third parties to come back in to properly manage the payroll, to properly manage their ability to do background checks and have more workers in continuity of care.”

Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (Murkowski): Hearings to examine the nomination of Keith Sonderling, of Florida, to be Secretary of Labor. · Jul 16, 2026

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