In the News/Op-eds

12.05.16

How to Put Building Permits on a Fast Track

by Sen. Dan Sullivan

President-elect Donald Trump has made investing in U.S. infrastructure a priority. This country urgently needs to build and repair roads, bridges, airports, pipelines and rail lines. But a huge roadblock is the federal permitting system. Even with a more business-friendly administration, a trillion-dollar infrastructure plan won't accomplish much unless Congress reforms the way public-works projects are approved. America used to be the envy of the world in building great projects responsibly, e… Continue Reading


05.06.16

The truth about our continuing combat role

by Sen. Dan Sullivan

When the president is in open disagreement with the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on one of the most critical issues our nation faces - whether to send our sons and daughters into combat - it should be cause for significant national concern. President Obama has repeatedly told the American people that U.S. troops are not in combat in the Middle East. In 2010, he announced that "our combat mission is ending" in Iraq. He used the same words in 2014 regarding A… Continue Reading


04.26.16

Military investments should help Alaska weather economic challenges

by Sen. Dan Sullivan

Alaska is facing tough economic times. Budgets are being squeezed, workers are being laid off and families are making due with less. But it's important to understand that we've been here before, and we've come out stronger because of it. It's also important to remember that just like in past recoveries, the federal government has a significant role to play in Alaska. Working together again, Alaska's congressional delegation is united on this issue. We are making sure that Alaska gets its f… Continue Reading


03.17.16

Alaska must have clear path to pursue justice for young women in Allen case

by Sen. Dan Sullivan, Alaska AG Craig Richards

As many Alaskans know, the state still hasn't fully recovered from the corruption scandal that beginning in 2006 rocked the state and sowed the seeds of mistrust between the people and their government. Certain prior actions by the U.S. Department of Justice -- the most powerful guardian of justice in our country -- have contributed to that lingering mistrust. However, there is a new opportunity for U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch to right past wrongs. That's why we announced last month tha… Continue Reading


02.21.16

Pentagon recognizing Alaska's strategic value

by Sen. Dan Sullivan

World leaders are justifiably on edge about North Korea and its leader Kim Jong-Un. From executing senior members of his government and military to rocket launches and nuclear tests, the irrational and paranoid Kim Jong-Un has combined his nuclear goals and ballistic-missile ambitions into a volatile mixture of regional and global instability. In response, Congress has stepped up to lead by recently passing bipartisan legislation to broaden sanctions and punish North Korea for its nuclear progra… Continue Reading


02.02.16

Sullivan proposes new method of VA appeals

by Juneau Empire

Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, is cosponsoring the Express Appeals Act for Veterans Benefits Administration clients, his office announced by email Monday. According to figures provided by the federal government, there are 400,000 pending cases from veterans disputing benefit determinations made by the Veterans Administration. The Express Appeals Act would create a voluntary "express appeal" process that cuts several steps from the traditional appeals process. The Express Appeals Act has been ref… Continue Reading


01.31.16

Overstepped bounds on game management: Federal government goes too far in attempting to limit hunting in refuges

by Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Editorial Board

News-Miner opinion: President Jimmy Carter remarked at the signing ceremony of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act on Dec. 2, 1980 at the White House that the act "without a doubt is one of the most important pieces of conservation legislation ever passed in this Nation." The late Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, among the members of Congress invited to speak after the president, had a polite but different view. He noted that neither side achieved what it wanted. "So, we're not f… Continue Reading


01.22.16

Senator moves to halt proposed ban on Alaska predator hunts

by Associated Press

FAIRBANKS - U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan is looking to stop a proposed U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ban on some bear, wolf and coyote hunts on federal wildlife refuges in the state. An amendment to Sullivan's Bipartisan Sportsmen's Act of 2015 would prohibit the federal agency from enacting hunting restrictions the agency announced earlier this month, The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported. Federal wildlife officials on Jan. 8 proposed changes to hunting and trapping rules for national wildlife r… Continue Reading


01.11.16

My Turn: Support the RED Tape Act

by Curtis Thayer

As the president of the Alaska Chamber of Commerce, I read with interest Rich Moniak's criticism of Sen. Dan Sullivan's fight to combat federal overregulation ("Regulations in an imperfect people's democracy," Jan. 1, 2016). The Alaska Chamber supports public regulation and regulatory reforms that encourage responsible development of Alaska's communities and natural resources. Topping both the Chamber's state and federal lists of policy positions is an entire category of initiatives advocating … Continue Reading


12.23.15

Sullivan focuses on economy, regulation reform

by Elizabeth Earl

Economics, regulation and the military ruled the conversation during Sen. Dan Sullivan's speech to the joint Kenai and Soldotna chambers of commerce luncheon on Wednesday. Sullivan, who has just completed his first year in Washington, D.C., presented a crowd of about 80 with a rundown of his views on the current national political situation. Because it is the holiday season, he said he wanted to focus on the positive while still touching on future challenges. "Believe it or not, you can someti… Continue Reading


12.13.15

Obamacare hurts Alaska most

by Sen. Dan Sullivan

Recently, while home in Anchorage, in the course of two hours, three people in three different places - a gas station, Carr's and Lowe's - talked to me about how Obamacare is wiping them out. Hardly a day passes when I don't hear from or read about Alaskans harmed by Obamacare. One Alaska family tells me they now pay $1,200 per month in premiums with a $10,000 deductible. Another couple pays more than $3,000 per month in premiums, almost $38,000 per year. Here's an excerpt from a constitue… Continue Reading


11.12.15

Senate OKs Sullivan bill to promote free lawyers for domestic violence, sexual assault victims

by Casey Grove

FAIRBANKS-The U.S. Senate passed a bill Wednesday introduced by Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan that would encourage lawyers to provide free legal assistance to victims of domestic violence or sexual assault. It is Sullivan's first standalone bill to pass the Senate. If signed into law, the Pro bono Work to Empower and Represent Act would require U.S. attorneys in all 94 judicial districts across the country to hold at least one event every year promoting pro bono legal work on domestic viole… Continue Reading


10.27.15

NEW YORK TIMES: White House Moves to Reassure Allies With South China Sea Patrol, but Quietly

by Helene Cooper and Jane Perlez

WASHINGTON - For months, lawmakers and national security hawks have urged President Obama to stand up to China's land reclamation of disputed islands in the South China Sea. But now that the Obama administration finally has, the White House does not want to talk about it. In sending a guided missile destroyer late Monday into waters China considers its territory, the Obama administration sought to exercise what officials called the right to freedom of navigation in international waters. The m… Continue Reading


08.31.15

Sullivan brings Washington to vets

An idea that started in Alaska to provide better care by the Veterans Administration for vets known as the Veterans Access, Choice & Accountability Act seems to have backfired for Alaskan vets according to freshman U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R) Alaska. "Ultimately this was about bringing Washington D.C. to Alaska," Sullivan told the Dispatch in an interview before the Kenai hearing. "To have some of the senior VA officials here in Alaska. The Secretary of the VA was here two weeks ago and to… Continue Reading


08.27.15

President must experience 'real' Alaska through its people

by Sen. Dan Sullivan

Alaska has benefited from many Presidential visits, and it's always good to have the national spotlight shine on us. President Ronald Reagan's visits were particularly memorable, given his keen appreciation for Alaska's vast natural resources and understanding of the federal government's history of locking up those resources by taking Alaska lands. "It's absolutely ridiculous," President Reagan said in a 1979 campaign stop, bemoaning federal land-grabs. "It's gotten to the point where a tourist… Continue Reading


08.27.15

Fixing Alaska's model VA system: Used to reform national veterans' care, state system now needs help

by Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Editorial Board

News-Miner opinion: A year and a half ago, the national Veterans Affairs health system was in disarray. At clinics across the Lower 48, veterans waited for care for weeks and months, in some cases dying before receiving treatment. But the Alaska system was a different story. Thanks to reforms pushed by the state's congressional delegation, the Last Frontier's veterans had shorter waits and better access to care. So Congress developed a national system akin to Alaska's - only to have its rollout … Continue Reading


08.17.15

Sullivan: Russian moves highlight Arctic concerns

by Becky Bohrer

JUNEAU, Alaska - U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan said the Russians are looking to militarize the Arctic, making it all the more important for the U.S. to have a broad Arctic strategy that includes having sufficient troops based in Alaska. Sullivan said Monday that's why he has been critical of proposed troop reductions in Alaska as part of a cost-saving plan announced by the Army this summer. His office said Sullivan got included in the Senate version of a defense spending bill a provision to r… Continue Reading


06.01.15

Alaska, Washington state must work together

by Sen. Dan Sullivan

As an American, a U.S. senator and an Alaskan, I'm deeply concerned with the security of our nation and the economic wellbeing of my state, much of which depends on continuing the historic and mutually beneficial relationship between Alaska and Washington state. That relationship is strained and put at risk when officials in Washington use Alaska's economy as a platform to engage in political opportunism. I'm referring specifically to Seattle Mayor Ed Murray's recent actions to attempt to bloc… Continue Reading


05.26.15

Alaska Sen. Sullivan to join Sen. McCain on trip to Vietnam

by Associated Press

PHOENIX - Sen. John McCain is leading a U.S. Senate delegation that will visit Vietnam and Singapore this week. The Arizona Republican is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and his office says the trip is being made at a critical time for U.S. interests in the Asia-Pacific region. McCain's office says Sens. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Joni Ernst of Iowa and Dan Sullivan of Alaska also are making the trip, while Sens. Cory Gardner of Colorado and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii will… Continue Reading


04.26.15

Standing tall against sex trafficking: Sen. Dan Sullivan crafted worthy amendment to bill targeting sex trade

by Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Editorial Board

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner editorial: Sex trafficking is a difficult issue to confront. It's hard to think about people being placed in such a position, much less talk about it and develop effective strategies to combat it. Therefore, it's heartening the U.S. Senate, in a rare show of bipartisanship, came together this week to pass legislation aimed at protecting victims of sex trafficking and making punishing the perpetrators of such crimes more effective. Kudos especially to Sen. Dan Sullivan,… Continue Reading

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