BT: Any idea how much of the fed spending goes towards fed lands in AK?
Ami: Military bases, Dept of Interior funds (which supports federal park / wilderness areas), road construction funding, and Indian tribe support are the major sources of federal money to Alaska. Defense spending is about 26% of the money spent in Alaska. Another 24% is direct payments to individuals (SS, Medicare, etc) which is the same as other Americans are entitled. 14% is various civilian operations, like road maintenance, construction, support of offices in Alaska (IRS, HUD, HHS, etc). So that's 64% of the money spent. The rest are various grants, which includes most of the pork-barrel spending, and support of Indian tribes (via treaty / BIA). The largest of the grant programs is the Indian Health Service.
Would she, as governor, have to request any of that? Would that be included in 'Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending', or would the funds Ami mentioned be funds that were already set aside for federal lands, etc, and not subject to a request by the state?