U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Rep. Nick Begich both attempted to address constituent concerns this week in a series of telephone town halls.

The forums came amid recent mass firings of federal employees and residual fears of funding freezes on federal programs that support a substantial number of Alaskans, like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Medicaid. While both telephone town halls experienced technical difficulties that made it difficult or impossible for constituents to participate, both Begich and Murkowski spoke on a wide range of topics.

Rep. Nick Begich

The newly elected Republican representative began with a summary of his recent legislative accomplishments, including the passing of House Resolution 42 and House Resolution 43.

H.R. 42 excludes certain settlement trust payments to an Alaska Native or descendant of an Alaska Native who is aged, blind or disabled for purposes of determining the individual’s eligibility for certain need-based federal programs.

H.R. 43 removes the requirement that Alaska Native village corporations must convey lands to Alaska to be held in trust for future municipal governments. In essence, the bill would allow village corporations to regain titles to lands held in trust by dissolution through formal resolution by the village corporation and the residents of the Native village.

Begich acknowledged that they were originally introduced by his precursor, former Rep. Mary Peltola. Both bills have yet to pass in the Senate.

Begich then asked constituents not to read prewritten scripts when calling his office, stating that his office received over 2,100 phone calls the week before, in addition to emails and other modes of communication.

Constituents sometimes use prewritten scripts as a way to help get information across in a limited amount of time. Some utilize them as part of concerted campaigns in opposition to current national events.

“If you’re calling and you’re reading from a script, you know, I respect that you’re taking the time to do that, but it also jams up our office’s ability to respond to constituents who have issues with VA benefits or Social Security benefits or they have an issue with the IRS and we want to make sure that we’re available to help those people too. So, if you’ve had an opportunity to call and have your voice heard, please give other people an opportunity to do that,” he said.

Begich acknowledged the recent budget reconciliation efforts in his opening statement, before taking questions.

“We’re using that budget reconciliation process as a mechanism to ensure that we are putting Alaska priorities forward in a way that they can be signed into law by President Trump,” he said. “Many of you are aware of some of his expansive executive orders as it relates to Alaska — opening up ANWR, opening up NPRA — but it is the job of the Congress to lock in that ability for us to produce sources responsibly.

“Within that, we’re looking at things like, how do we promote the gas line? How do we stand up a gas line loan guarantee office, which will help to de-risk that project? How do we make sure that we’re rolling out guaranteed leasing in NPRA and ANWAR and opening up mining opportunities in Ambler so that we’re not subject to the whims of the Chinese Communist Party when they embargo exports to the United States.”

Begich’s telephone town hall meeting was hosted simultaneously on Facebook Live, where commenters from across the state grew agitated when they were unable to access the call or were dropped early.

Some comments on Facebook pointed out that those who were called upon to ask questions had nothing but praise and “softball” questions for the congressman.

When one caller, named Joel, asked about the current health of the country’s democracy, his call was lost.

“I heard you say that your top priority was the strength and resilience of the Alaskan economy,” he said. “I would say, given the historic nature of where we are as a country, our top priority probably should be — and maybe this was just unstated — but probably should be the strength and resilience of our democracy.

“I’m a lifetime Republican,” Joel continued. “But I am in the majority — I think — with a lot of Americans, a lot of Alaskans that are really concerned that we have an executive branch that is more than willing to push or remove the guardrails that are on the executive branch. What we need from Congress and from courts is to play that check and balances role, not to oppose, obviously … ”

His call dropped off quickly after, before he could finish.

Begich responded that he intended to uphold his oath to the Constitution and the division of responsibilities, checks and balances it provides. He said he also has faith in the Supreme Court to rule in accordance with the Constitution.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski

Murkowski held her telephone town hall Wednesday night. Many constituents were unable to access the call in the minutes before, during and after the scheduled call in-time. Instead, they were met with failed call notifications or messages saying the call could not be completed.

During the call, Murkowski acknowledged the recent mass firings of federal workers across the United States, recognizing that Alaska — which has one of the highest percentages of federal workers in the country — has been no exception. She noted that many of the firings seem to be indiscriminate.

“These are folks that have done good work, necessary work, important work and have been rewarded in their work and then they get a notice that says that their performance is poor and they’re being terminated immediately,” said Murkowski at the beginning of the call. “This is not how we treat our federal employees. They deserve better. They demand better.”

Murkowski also shared that she has become aware of longtime, dedicated federal employees who were recently promoted in their work for being exemplary, only to be terminated since their new position was technically in a probationary period.

“You do not treat people in this manner, who have been good public servants. Now they leave not only with no transition but now a black mark on their employment record,” Murkowski said. “There is a way and a manner that we can address if we feel that we have bloat or redundancy or inefficiency in our system, we can address that. But you do it with respect and dignity towards people and we are just not seeing that.”

On potential cuts to Medicaid or Social Security going forward, Murkowski noted that Social Security is untouchable in the reconciliation process, but that potential Medicaid cuts are being discussed in the House reconciliation bill. She reassured constituents that the president and vice president have reaffirmed as recently as this week that they have no intention of impacting Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid programs, with the rare exception in cases of Medicaid fraud. She also reiterated that her office is monitoring the issue, as she recognizes the vitality Medicaid provides Alaskans.

According to health policy research organization KFF, almost 250,000 Alaskans were receiving assistance from Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program in June 2024. That’s roughly 33% of Alaska’s total population.

A caller who identified herself as Terri weighed in with concerns stemming from the 18 forest service workers in Girdwood who were laid off this week and the effects that large numbers of unemployed individuals might have upon organizations and individuals working to fight food insecurity. She pointed out that potential cuts, limits or lack of funds from federal programs that support local food banks, food stamp programs and more might be impacted by the new administration’s radical restructuring of funding.

“I can’t tell you with any degree of certainty what might be coming with that with upcoming budgets but there is real pressure on Congress to ratchet down spending,” responded Murkowski. “We’re looking at more austere budgets. How that’s going to play out in regard to these very, very important safety nets remains to be seen.”

Murkowski noted that she worries about other social service organizations that are going to suffer from this federal funding freeze, including the impact on local domestic violence shelters.

“In the elimination of some of these programs that we have come to count on as communities, you have a lot of vulnerable people,” she said.

A caller from Anchorage named Judy asked about the recent appointment of billionaire Elon Musk to the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, a White House team tasked with cutting federal spending. She was concerned about the legality of his recent, widespread actions.

“In fairness, Judy, I had never heard of a special government employee until Elon Musk came around,” Murkowski said Wednesday. “I think it is fair to say what we’re seeing with Mr. Musk in this position is absolutely unprecedented. To be honest with you, it’s one of those situations where wouldn’t we all like to make sure that we’ve got a level of review and oversight by somebody who is focused on that and nothing more?

“But Musk is not really a person who has been part of the federal government system. He’s a private individual who has done extraordinarily well. It’s kind of the height of irony that the world’s wealthiest person is one who is making the overall decisions about whether or not people in Anchorage, Alaska, have a job.”

Murkowski went on to acknowledge that while the executive branch of government does have the authority to bring on such individuals in an advisory sense, those individuals (or the executive, for that matter) do not have unfettered authority.

“Elon Musk also has to follow the laws,” she said. “Does it pass the federal civil service laws the way these terminations are coming about? I don’t believe so and I think that’s why you see the number of cases being filed in the court. It goes back to the very first question, about the constitutional balance here. It doesn’t make any difference if you’re the president or if you’re somebody who’s been tasked by the president to take on a function. We all have to operate within the laws and when you fail to operate within the laws there are consequences to that.”

Rep. Begich delivered his first address to the Alaska Legislature on Thursday, Feb. 20. Sen. Murkowski is set to deliver her annual address to the Legislature on March 18 at 11 a.m. Sen. Dan Sullivan has yet to hold a virtual town hall meeting this year. His annual address to the Legislature is scheduled for March 20 at 11 a.m.

Both Sens. Murkowski and Sullivan’s addresses to the Legislature will be available to stream online at ktoo.org/gavel or live on KTOO 360TV.

Chloe Pleznac is a general assignment reporter for the Homer News. She can be reached at chloe.pleznac@homernews.com.