Murkowski is the senior senator from Alaska and is a Republican. She has served since Jan 7, 2003. Murkowski is next up for reelection in 2022.
![Photo of Sen. Lisa Murkowski [R-AK]](/static/legislator-photos/300075-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2018 Report Card for Murkowski.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Murkowski is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the Senate positioned according to our liberal–conservative ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills Murkowski has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 6, 2015 to Dec 11, 2019. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Committee Membership
Lisa Murkowski sits on the following committees:
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Chair,
Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
- Ex Officio, Subcommittee on Energy
- Ex Officio, Subcommittee on National Parks
- Ex Officio, Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining
- Ex Officio, Subcommittee on Water and Power
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Senate Committee on Appropriations
- Chair, Subcommittee on Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies
- Member, Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies
- Member, Subcommittee on Department of Defense
- Member, Subcommittee on Department of Homeland Security
- Member, Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development
- Member, Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies
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Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
- Member, Subcommittee on Children and Families
- Member, Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security
- Senate Committee on Indian Affairs
Enacted Legislation
Murkowski was the primary sponsor of 28 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- S. 47: John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act
- S. 825: Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium Land Transfer Act of 2017
- S. 3673 (115th): Department of Energy Quantum Information Science Research Act
- S. 2503: Department of Energy Research and Innovation Act
- S. 724: A bill to amend the Federal Power Act to modernize authorizations for necessary hydropower approvals.
- S. 215: A bill to authorize the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to issue an order continuing a stay of a hydroelectric license for the Mahoney Lake hydroelectric project in the ...
- S. 2325: Northern Mariana Islands U.S. Workforce Act
Does 28 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.
We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
Murkowski sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Energy (30%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (26%) Native Americans (22%) Health (6%) Armed Forces and National Security (6%)
Recent Bills
Some of Murkowski’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- S. 3006: A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to establish a program ...
- S. 2879: Advancing FASD Research, Prevention, and Services Act
- S. 2799: Nexus of Energy and Water for Sustainability Act of 2019
- S. 2786: Arctic Shipping Federal Advisory Committee Act
- S. 2707: A bill to provide for a regional center for security studies for the ...
- S. 2657: Advanced Geothermal Innovation Leadership Act of 2019
- S. 2610: Tribal Energy Reauthorization Act
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2003 to Dec 2019, Murkowski missed 259 of 5,314 roll call votes, which is 4.9%. This is much worse than the median of 1.5% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses and major life events.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills