During his annual address to the Alaska Legislature last week, U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan hailed President Trump’s first two months in office, repeatedly waving around the president’s executive order that promises to “unleash” resource development in the state.
It wasn’t until the question-and-answer session with legislators that Sullivan was forced to confront the reality of what the president’s first two months in office have meant for Alaska as it’s been hit by mass layoffs of federal workers, seen millions of dollars of federal infrastructure money frozen and been subjected to whiplash on just about everything else.
One of the biggest issues raised by legislators and by residents at a series of town halls over the last week — which Sullivan did not attend — is the fate of programs like Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. While Republicans have claimed that they’re not aiming to gut the programs, many have pointed out that the spending plan passed by the House GOP makes cuts to Medicaid all but inevitable.
With federal funding, particularly Medicaid spending, making up a large chunk of the federal money that flows into Alaska, there’s been concern that any cuts to Medicaid would deprive Alaskans of care, upend care, particularly in rural communities and potentially blow a massive hole in the state’s already-tight budget.
“I wanted to ask you directly, yes or no, will you oppose any cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security?” asked Anchorage Democratic Sen. Forrest Dunbar.
Sullivan replied by holding up a copy of Trump’s executive order on resource development, a common response for the Republican throughout his appearance before the Legislature. He said that Republicans were committed to “strengthening and improving” the services, claiming that Trump is keen on achieving such goals.
However, he made no commitment to opposing cuts to those services. Throughout the speech, he also largely celebrated the haphazard cuts handed down by Elon Musk through the Department of Government Efficiency, suggesting that the nation’s debt requires cuts.
Instead, when it comes to Medicaid, he said the goal should be fewer Alaskans on it.
“Let me make an important point that I don’t think gets talked about nearly enough,” he said. “Almost one-third of Alaskans, 248,000 Alaskans, are on the rolls of Medicaid now. We, I think, accept that. Some see it as a good. I don’t see it as a good, OK. I think our goal should be to increase our private sector economy, and increase the opportunities for people to move off Medicaid and get private-sector insurance, from a stronger private sector economy.”
The point was met with applause from Republican legislators, who would later pen a letter apologizing to Sullivan for the tone of the Democrats’ questions.
Dunbar, speaking with The Alaska Current after the event, said the answer left him with serious concerns for the future of the state.
“He refused to answer yes or no and certainly left the impression that he was open to cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security,” Dunbar said. “Those programs are crucial to Alaska’s seniors, veterans, disabled folks and more. Cutting Medicaid, in particular, will drive out migration from our state, as providers leave.”
“Finally, his argument that his is because of the national debt is disingenuous,” Dunbar added. “He voted for the deficit-exploding tax cut for the rich during the first Trump administration, and he’s gearing up to do that again. Trillions of dollars of debt to give tax cuts to the richest people and corporations in the country, while cutting services for the middle and working class.”
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Bluesky.
