U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, in his annual address to the Alaska Legislature, slammed national Democrats as bent on ruining Alaska.
“Now, I'm not being partisan here. These are just the facts,” he said at one point during his speech Wednesday. “And Alaskans should know who wants to help us and who wants to hurt us.”
As in past years, he blamed the Biden administration for trying to shut down Alaska. But under President Trump, he said, Alaska is in the midst of a comeback, with renewed emphasis on military expansion, resource development, Coast Guard icebreakers and a new rural health care fund.
“Our state will receive from this fund approximately $1.4 billion over the next five years to transform our health care system,” Sullivan said, to resounding applause in the state House chamber.
As he describes it, though, Democrats are still targeting Alaska. Sullivan referred to the U.S. Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, at least nine times.
Sullivan spoke for about 50 minutes and took questions from half a dozen legislators and then from reporters at the Capitol.
He doesn’t often take challenging questions in large public forums, so his yearly address to the Legislature is closely watched, especially now that he’s running for reelection, aiming to serve his third six-year term.
Rep. Genevieve Mina, D-Anchorage, who chairs the health committee, challenged Sullivan on the $1.4 billion achievement. She said she’s discovered that Alaska isn’t allowed to use the health care fund to help self-employed people cope with rising premiums, on clinic expansions or to build housing for health care workers, among other priorities.
“You helped shape the Rural Health Transformation Program Funds. Why are these funds so difficult for us to use to address Alaska's core issues?” she asked Sullivan. “And how will this finite fund help address the thousands of Alaskans who will lose their health insurance?”
She cited a new analysis finding that up to 12,000 Alaskans risk losing their Medicaid insurance coverage because of another provision in the same bill.
Sullivan said wasn’t aware of the report or of all the restrictions on how Alaska can spend its share of the health care fund.
“This is not going to be a panacea that solves everything,” he said, though he also said that the government might be able to remove some of the limits.
Sen. Forrest Dunbar, D-Anchorage, contrasted Sullivan’s negative take on Biden with his positive stance on Trump and asked how far his loyalty goes.
“You've said yes to Trump many times. I'm wondering if you're willing to say no,” Dunbar said. “For example, if we saw a deployment of federal forces to Alaska, like we've seen it seen in Minnesota, or if the federal government demands we purge our voter rolls, will you say no to Trump?”
Sullivan seemed irritated at Dunbar.
“I think you were the guy who asked me last year about Medicaid,” Sullivan recounted, and he began his answer there.
“You know who cut Medicaid for Alaska? Chuck Schumer, right? That's a fact,” Sullivan said. “So I wish that you and others could have gone to Schumer and said, Hey, why are you cutting Medicaid for Alaska?”
(Schumer didn’t cut Medicaid funding for Alaska, but Sullivan had tried to get an increase in the Medicaid payment rate for the state. Opposition was bipartisan.)
As for Dunbar’s current question, Sullivan said he goes after Trump administration officials when they deserve it, sometimes publicly.
“You want to put out a tweet smashing them on certain issues or criticizing them? Sometimes that works,” Sullivan responded. “But sometimes, if you want results, that's not always the best way to get results.”
Rep. Ashley Carrick, D-Fairbanks, said the speech was "par for the course" for Sullivan. Still, she said, the tone was jarring in the House chamber.
“His hyper-partisanship really showed in the speech today, and it does present a sharp departure from Alaska's bipartisan coalition governance and the spirit of Alaskans to not affiliate with parties as often as not,” she said.
She found it “surprising” that Sullivan suggested Alaska legislators lean on Schumer.
“We don't really have that authority to, you know, make demands of those that are not our senators,” she said. “And the insinuation that it's only Democrats in the United States Senate that are holding back progress is a mischaracterization of some of the biggest and most challenging problems that we have.”
It takes bipartisan solutions to solve the complex disputes facing the country, she said.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski is scheduled to address the Legislature late next month.
