Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) in Thursday’s debate defended supporting the Biden administration’s $3.5 trillion infrastructure package, while challenger Kelly Tshibaka ripped her for the money not making it to Alaska.

“You cosponsored the legislation, essentially admitting that there are significant flaws in the infrastructure bill and our ability to get access to this infrastructure,” Tshibaka said.

“The 25 percent of the money that was set aside for infrastructure has actually been buried by Biden’s bureaucrats under regulations designed to kill all infrastructure,” she continued.

“We got stuck with all the inflation from the infrastructure bill you wrote,” Tshibaka said about the soaring inflation fueled by the bill.

Kelly Tshibaka, a Republican, looks on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022, prior to a U.S. Senate debate in Anchorage, Alaska. She faces U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, also a Republican, and Democrat Pat Chesbro in the general election. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

“But the appropriations that have been made available are hiding in the executive branch behind Biden’s bureaucrats. They are not actually accessible. So she then sponsored legislation to get rid of this regulatory framework,” Tshibaka explained.

“One of the things we have to do in the next session is clearing the way of these regulatory hurdles from the Biden administration through the nominees that you confirmed have set up to block our access to infrastructure.”

Murkowski has voted with Senate Democrats nine times in the last two years.

“It’s important that we need this infrastructure,” Murkowski claimed. “it is funding that is coming out to the communities as we speak.”

Murkowski has outspent Tshibaka by about $7.5 million, though polling shows Tshibaka is leading by a slim margin. Eighty-five percent of Murkowski’s campaign contributions have come from out-of-state donors, such as the Sen. Mitch McConnell-backed super PAC, raising questions about where her interests lie.

Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.