What Lisa Murkowski said, and what was done

“Mr. President, we go through periods here in the U.S. Senate where there are frustrating issues that we deal with. There are hours of unknown as to what is going to happen.”

“Madam President, I come to the floor today to congratulate my friend and former colleague in the Alaska State Legislature. This is an individual for whom I have great respect, Senator Lyman Hoffman.”

“Mr. President, I come to the floor this evening to speak about legislation that I have recently introduced as chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee, alongside my friend Vice Chairman Schatz.”

“Mr. President, I appreciate being here on the floor with my colleague from Oregon and working on this very important Ocean Observatories Initiative. As he has outlined, understanding what is happening in our oceans is so key; it so critical.”

“Mr. President, I want to thank my colleague from Oregon. This was fast-moving. He and I were able to join together with letters. We were able to gather additional colleagues who weighed in on this.”

“Madam President, like so many of us here in the Senate and really across the country, I think we have all been watching the news this weekend to see whether or not we would have an announcement from the Trump administration on a possible agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and ensure that Iran never develops a nuclear weapon, among other objectives.”

“Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order following the remarks of my Democratic colleagues.”

“Mr. President, I am here to speak this afternoon about the conflict involving Iran and more specifically, the role of Congress within it. At the outset, I want to reiterate something that I think gets lost in these discussions.”

“Mr. President, I come to the floor this evening to speak about the SAVE America Act. Before I do that, though, I want to take a pause for maybe a little break in the conversation about elections to update people on Alaska's greatest sport, and that is the Iditarod.”

“State public assistance--it is a concern that you have the ability to not only put an additional requirement to them, an additional responsibility that comes with certain liability.”

“COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR, AND PENSIONS The Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions is authorized to meet in executive session during the session of the Senate on Thursday, February 26, 2026, at 10 a.m.”

“Mr. President, I come to the floor with my friend and colleague from Nevada Senator Cortez Masto to seek unanimous consent to pass two noncontroversial bills as a bipartisan pair.”

“Vegas Valley. This is critical infrastructure for hundreds of thousands of people. These are House-passed bills, OK, so they can go directly to the President's desk to be signed into law.”

“Mr. President, we speak about the frustrations. There is always room for frustration around here. But I share the many concerns of my friend from California. Three of my bills and ones that he also cares about and more that I have cosponsored are also pending over there.”

“Mr. President, I come to the floor this afternoon to speak in strong support of the appropriations package that will soon be pending on the Senate floor. We overwhelmingly voted to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed last night, and so we are in a good place with these appropriations bills.”

“And, as I say, I absolutely appreciate the work that went into the CJS and the Energy and Water bills. I certainly support them. But, this afternoon, I want to direct my comments to the Interior bill, as we begin the debate.”

“I now ask for a second reading, and in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I object to my own request.”

“Mr. President, as we are starting this new year, there is certainly no shortage of issues to be talking about. You and I have been engaged in fruitful discussions, I believe, about how we address health coverage for millions of Americans that are looking at dramatically higher costs, in many cases, and recognizing that there is a pretty short window here in front of us.”

“We are talking about them. But we are not talking to them. That is what you do with your friends. That is what you do with your allies.”

“Mr. President, there has been a lot of discussion today following the votes on the floor this morning about healthcare and healthcare costs. It was just about a year ago exactly--it was December 12 of last year--I spoke to a reporter from Alaska, and we were talking about just the staggering costs of healthcare costs and what we were seeing with the rise at that time.”

“As I was coming over here, I asked some of the folks that were with me--and I said: What day is Festivus Day? Festivus, for those who are not familiar, is kind of like the day of grievances, which apparently is December 23, just before Christmas.”

“Mr. President, I have come to the floor this morning as we begin debate on two identical disapproval resolutions. This is S.J. Res. 91--I filed it with Senator Sullivan--and then H.J.”

“Mr. President, I know that we are getting ready to wrap up the day here, on this Saturday, and I just wanted to take just a couple minutes.”

“Mr. President, we will soon have a voice vote on a motion to adjourn the Senate until next week. Had there been a recorded rollcall vote on that motion, I would have been a resounding ``no,'' and I ask to be recorded as a ``no'' based on my strongest opposition to Members leaving town.”

“Mr. President, I have come to the floor to join my colleague from Alaska Senator Sullivan in support of S.J. Res. 80, as Senator Sullivan explained earlier. This resolution will disapprove the integrated activity planned by the administration, issued back in 2022, to manage the National Petroleum Reserve in northwest Alaska.”

“Madam President, we are in day 27 of a government shutdown--27 days where the government is shut down--and yet we are here. You are presiding. We have pages on the floor.”

“Mr. President, I came in at the tail end of the comments from my colleague and my friend from Delaware. He has underscored some points that I think are important to remind us here in the Senate but also people who are watching as we are in day 16 of the government shutdown.”

“Mr. President, we have all talked about what the primary goal is right now in the Senate. It is to reopen the Federal Government, but that is not all we need to reopen right now.”

“The North Slope of Alaska spans an area nearly the size of the state of Minnesota and, within that expansive area, there are eight Inupiaq communities--Anaktuvuk Pass, Atqasuk, Kaktovik, Nuiqsut, Point Hope, Point Lay, Utqiagvik, and Wainwright.”

“Mr. President, I have a news alert. This afternoon, we had a 7.3 earthquake off of the coast of Alaska. Pretty big. We got the alert from KUCB staff members who felt this earthquake out there in Alaska.”

“Madam President, I know we are approaching the hour that was planned for the vote on this motion to discharge this rescissions package. I just want to take a couple of minutes.”

“Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order, following the historic remarks of my Democratic colleagues, led by the Senator from Rhode Island after 300 floor appearances on 1 subject.”

“Mr. President, I am really very glad we were able to reach agreement today to pass these four bills by unanimous consent and will send them to the President to be signed into law.”

“Mr. President, yesterday was a day that really captured the attention of the world. We have all been talking about tariffs for a little bit, but yesterday was the day that really brought the focus to what was going on here in the United States.”

“And the answer lies in almost a century-long series of bills that we have seen here that Congress has voluntarily--voluntarily--enacted and laid down its authority for the Executive to pick up.”

“Mr. President, before I begin my comments, I wanted to acknowledge the extraordinary life and the contributions of Senator Alan Simpson from Wyoming. I had an opportunity to hear several of my colleagues speak to the accomplishments of Senator Alan Simpson.”

“Mr. President, I am pleased to be on the floor today with the Senator from New Hampshire as well as other colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support Ukraine.”

“Mr. President, I am scheduled to be part of a colloquy here in just a couple minutes, but I wanted to make a comment about what the Senator from Washington has shared.”