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A bipartisan group of U.S. senators led by Republican Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Democratic Jeanne Shaheen will depart Friday for a tour of Arctic nations, aiming to reassure U.S. allies and partners in the High North. The delegation plans diplomatic visits and direct observation of regional conditions, and it will do so with a staffing structure that Murkowski described as leaving the men behind.
According to the Associated Press, the group will include eight senators—four Republicans and four Democrats—along with senators’ staff and military liaison officers. Murkowski and Shaheen said the trip was designed to stabilize relationships with allies in North America and northern Europe as U.S. policy toward the region shifts.
The senators said the tour is also shaped by recent moves in defense cooperation. The Associated Press reported that the Pentagon announced the U.S. would pause participation on a joint board with Canada for continental defense that dates back to World War II, and Murkowski and Shaheen said that is the wrong approach for a region with rising strategic value and unique operating conditions.
The delegation is scheduled to visit Arctic or sub-Arctic regions in Canada, Greenland—described in the report as an autonomous territory of Denmark—Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago, and Iceland. The trip is expected to include visits to government officials, as well as time intended to help lawmakers understand how militaries operate in a far-more remote environment than most other regions of the NATO alliance.
In describing what they want the delegation to learn, Murkowski and Shaheen emphasized both climate-linked change and the realities of military readiness in the Arctic. Murkowski said the lawmakers would see how military sites need airplane hangars because aircraft cannot be kept outside overnight in Arctic cold.
The Associated Press also reported that the senators plan to visit Indigenous communities that have lived in the region for generations. Murkowski said she hoped the senators would come away “excited and intrigued and hopefully inspired,” and the report framed the visits as a way for lawmakers to connect policy decisions to the lived experience of Arctic residents.
NATO’s recent effort to increase cooperation in the High North, including a series of joint military exercises, formed part of the backdrop for the delegation’s travel plan. The Associated Press said the senators will also see how such efforts intersect with broader pressures as nations including China and Russia increase activities in the region.
The trip is occurring as climate change thins Arctic ice, potentially reshaping routes and intensifying competition over resources. The Associated Press reported that as ice changes, it could affect the possibility of a northwest passage for international trade and could reignite competition among Russia, China and other countries for mineral access, and it cited undersea cable projects as additional infrastructure with strategic value.
Murkowski and Shaheen said they are pairing the outreach with discussions that could influence what Congress does when the delegation returns. The Associated Press reported that they previously worked together to push legislation aimed at preventing the U.S. from attacking any fellow NATO member, and that they are among lawmakers pushing to include language in this year’s defense legislation to prevent the Trump administration from withdrawing military commitments to NATO allies.
In a statement to the Associated Press, Shaheen said she wanted to discuss “what more we can do as members of Congress to support those relationships,” and she said she also wanted to know “if there are policy directives that we should be thinking about.” Murkowski, the report said, framed the trip as a chance for other senators to experience the Arctic firsthand, including remote communities that do not have road access.