Murkowski blocks amendments that would have prohibited refurbishment, gift of Qatari 747 to Trump

Sen. Lisa Murkowski and all 14 other Republicans on the Senate Appropriations Committee voted against an amendment Thursday that would have banned the federal government from giving a refurbished 747 jet to Donald Trump at the end of his term.

Murkowski also opposed a defense bill amendment to prevent using military funds from other programs to fix up the luxury liner. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has claimed the cost is a secret.

Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed said the information should not be classified as secret, but as embarrassing.

In May, Murkowski said she had a lot of concerns about the jet. "I don't imagine it's going to go forward, but maybe? Maybe they're looking at it differently than me."

“When you get something of that value from a country, one typically thinks that there’s something in it for the country that is offering it,” the HuffPost quoted Murkowski as saying.

But the memo signed by Hegseth and his Qatari counterpart says the plane is not a bribe. Good to know that gold-plated promise is in writing.

The New York Times reports that fixing up the flying Qatari palace may cost $1 billion.

The Democratic amendment to stop Trump from getting the jet for use after his term failed 14-15.

It appears Murkowski doesn’t swallow the Republican line that Trump was just joking when he claimed the plane would be given to his presidential library after he leaves office. Or the lie by Sen. Mitch McConnell that it was just a “rumor” that Trump was spreading.

Still, Murkowski could have been performing “Both Sides Now,” summing up her opposition to the jet and her decision to do nothing about it with some classic weasel words:

“I don’t want my ‘no’ vote to be assumed that I’m OK with where we are with this transfer, that I’m OK not knowing the numbers behind it, that I am perhaps OK with the appearances because I have concerns about them. But what I have is the utmost respect and regard for the chairman (Sen. Mitch McConnell) and the vice chair (Sen. Christopher Coons) of this subcommittee that have executed a pretty strong defense bill. And I am going to vote no on this amendment, but that is because I think the imperative in passing this bill overrides any concerns that I may have now about where we are with this, with this transfer of this aircraft. I just wanted that stated for the record,” Murkowski said.

She’s not OK with the Trump jet. Got it.

She is OK with doing nothing about one of the world’s biggest attempted bribes, which creates more than an appearance of impropriety.

PUBLIC BROADCASTING: At the same hearing, Murkowski said her high school interns have surveyed the public radio stations in Alaska and found that some stations will be forced to close this year, some should be able to make it for one more year or so, and drastic changes are expected. Many do not have the ability to raise money in small communities. The budgets of almost half of the public radio stations in Alaska depend 50 percent or more on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Twenty of the 26 stations depend at least 30 percent on federal funds. She said she is not giving up on trying to restore funding.

Meanwhile, the Anchorage Daily News published my column on Sen. Dan Sullivan’s claims of support for funding public broadcasting and his vote against funding them. Sullivan’s office complained to the Daily News about the column.

Sullivan, named a “Champion of Public Broadcasting” in 2020, claims he has long told public stations their funding might be cut because of biased coverage.

Upon hearing about Sullivan’s complaint to ADN, I again asked Amanda Coyne, who speaks for Sullivan, to provide specific instances when he warned executives about ending federal support for public media and specific examples of what he claims of biased coverage.

I repeated the simple request Thursday that Coyne provide evidence and examples to back up the claims that Sullivan was saying one thing in private to public media officials, while expressing support for public media in public and collecting a Champion’s award from executives.

His office has again refused to respond.

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