On July 16 and 17, 2025, Dan Sullivan voted against a motion to spare public stations that primarily serve rural areas or Tribal communities and then for the Rescissions Act, which ended federal money for public broadcasting. The law took more than $20 million in funding for Alaska's 27 public stations, and KYUK in Bethel has lost federal funding that was up to 70% of its budget. Weeks earlier he voted against protecting rural hospitals from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act's Medicaid cuts and then cast one of the 50 votes that passed the law, which KFF estimates cuts federal Medicaid spending in rural Alaska by $824 million over 10 years.
Sullivan voted against ending the emergency behind the global tariffs in a 49 to 49 vote that his yes would have reversed, as China answered with tariffs on U.S. farm goods and seafood. He also voted to confirm Brooke Rollins as agriculture secretary; her department canceled about $1 billion in purchases of local food for food banks and schools.
Dan Sullivan's Votes on Rural Stations, Rural Hospitals, Farm Policy and Tariffs
- Sullivan Voted to Cut Funding for Rural and Tribal Public Radio Stations in July 2025. On July 16, 2025, Dan Sullivan voted no on Sen. Ruben Gallego's motion to exempt public stations licensed to or primarily serve rural areas or Tribal communities from the rescissions. It failed 48 to 51. The same day he voted no on an amendment to strike the rescissions of funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and on a motion to protect stations in the Emergency Alert System. On July 17 he voted yes on the Rescissions Act, which passed 51 to 48. The law took back $1.1 billion in funding for public broadcasting through fiscal year 2027. For Alaska that meant more than $20 million in funding for Alaska’s 27 public radio and television stations. KYUK in Bethel has lost federal funding that was up to 70% of its budget and plans to severely cut staff and some programming.
- Sullivan Voted Against Protecting Rural Hospitals From the Medicaid Cuts in June 2025. On June 30, 2025, Sullivan voted no on Sen. Ed Markey's motion to strike any provision of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that would raise the likelihood of rural hospitals being forced to close, convert, or reduce services, including emergency care and labor and delivery. It failed 49 to 51. KFF estimates the law cuts federal Medicaid spending by an estimated $137 billion in rural areas over 10 years nationally, and by $824 million in rural Alaska.
- Sullivan Cast One of the 50 Votes for a Law That Cuts Rural Medicaid and Tilts Farm Subsidies Toward the Largest Farms. On July 1, 2025, Sullivan voted yes on H.R. 1, which passed 50 to 50 with the Vice President's tie-breaking vote, so it would have failed without his vote. The law raised crop reference prices in a change the Congressional Budget Office says will cost $50.5 billion over the next ten fiscal years. That money goes only to farms in programs that cover just 27% of US farm acres, and the law let large farm businesses multiply their payment limits, a change the University of Illinois's farmdoc daily says will harm most the younger farmers. The same law cuts SNAP benefits by nearly $186 billion, money that rural grocers depend on.
- Sullivan Cast a Deciding Vote Against Ending the Tariff Emergency in April 2025 as China Retaliated Against U.S. Farm Goods and Seafood. On April 30, 2025, Sullivan voted no on S.J.Res. 49, the resolution to end the national emergency used to impose the global tariffs. It was defeated 49 to 49, so a yes vote from Sullivan would have passed it. In October 2025 he voted against three more resolutions to end the Brazil, Canada and global tariff emergencies (roll call 594, 598, 600). In March 2025 China said it will impose additional tariffs of up to 15% on imports of U.S. farm products, and the list included sorghum, soybeans, pork, beef, seafoods, fruit, vegetables. North Dakota State University estimated U.S. farm shipments to China from March 2025 to February 2026 were almost $15 billion less than they would have been in the absence of the tariffs.
- Sullivan Voted Against Removing Cuts to Rural Programs From the 2025 Budget Plan. On February 21, 2025, Sullivan voted no on an amendment to strike reconciliation instructions requiring damaging cuts to programs critical to rural Americans and food assistance. It failed 47 to 53. On April 4, 2025 he also voted no on a reserve fund relating to preventing Trump's tariffs from increasing the cost of groceries, which failed 46 to 53. The budget instructions led to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, whose SNAP cuts reach the rural stores and the farmers who supply them. The tariffs on imports have cost Alaska $115 million since January 2025, according to tariffs.org.
- Sullivan Voted to Confirm Brooke Rollins, Whose Agriculture Department Canceled $1 Billion in Local Food Purchases. On February 13, 2025, Sullivan voted to confirm Brooke Rollins as secretary of agriculture; she was confirmed 72 to 28. He also voted to confirm her deputy, Stephen Vaden. In March 2025 Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins cancelled about $1 billion of funding to the LFPA program and the Local Food for Schools program, which bought food from local farms for food banks and schools, and her department abruptly cut $500 million in deliveries from a program that supplies food banks. Farmers had to scramble to find new buyers for crops already planted, Civil Eats reported.
What the Rural Cuts Dan Sullivan Voted For Mean for Alaska Communities
- Rural public radio. On the Kenai Peninsula, the rescission meant the loss of 40% of each of their annual operating budgets for KBBI in Homer and KDLL in Kenai. KYUK in Bethel is one of the few sources of local news and native language programming for the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.
- Rural health care. KFF puts the 10-year cut to federal Medicaid spending in rural Alaska at $824 million, the money that pays rural clinics and hospitals for Medicaid patients' care.
- Tariff costs. The executive tariffs cost Alaska importers $115 million since January 2025, and that's equivalent to $420 per Alaska household.
Frequently Asked Questions About Dan Sullivan on Agriculture and rural communities
What is Dan Sullivan's record on agriculture and rural Alaska under Trump?
Dan Sullivan voted for the 2025 law that ended federal money for public broadcasting, which cost Alaska's 27 public stations more than $20 million, and against sparing stations that serve rural and Tribal communities. He voted against protecting rural hospitals and then for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which cuts rural Alaska's federal Medicaid money by $824 million over 10 years. He cast a deciding vote to keep the global tariff emergency in place, which was defeated 49 to 49.
How did Dan Sullivan vote on funding for rural Alaska public radio stations?
Dan Sullivan voted no on July 16, 2025 on the motion to exempt stations that primarily serve rural areas or Tribal communities from the cut, and the next day voted for the bill. The Kenai Peninsula stations KBBI and KDLL each lost 40% of each of their annual operating budgets.
Did Dan Sullivan vote to keep the tariffs that China retaliated against?
Yes. Dan Sullivan voted against ending the global tariff emergency on April 30, 2025, in a vote defeated 49 to 49, and against three more resolutions in October 2025. China's retaliatory tariffs covered sorghum, soybeans, pork, beef, seafoods, fruit, vegetables.
Last updated: 2026-10-25