On March 5, 2025, Dan Sullivan voted for a resolution that ended federal supervision of the largest payment apps, including Google Pay, Apple Pay, Venmo and Cash App, which passed 51 to 47. Consumer Reports said the repeal puts the privacy of their sensitive financial data at risk. On July 1, 2025 he cast one of the 50 votes for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which cut the consumer bureau's funding cap nearly in half and gave ICE $75 billion over four years that it has spent in part on facial recognition, phone tracking and spyware.
Sullivan voted to confirm the officials who shared Americans' tax and Medicaid records with immigration enforcement. The IRS turned over more than 47,000 records to ICE before an appeals court held the agreement illegal, and ICE has personal Medicaid information about all enrollees in the remaining 28 states that did not sue.
Dan Sullivan's Votes and Confirmations on Data Privacy
- Sullivan Voted to End Federal Privacy Oversight of the Biggest Payment Apps in March 2025. On March 5, 2025, Dan Sullivan voted yes on S.J.Res. 28, which passed 51 to 47 and repealed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule that let it supervise Google Pay, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Venmo, PayPal, Cash App, and Facebook, including for compliance with the privacy provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, according to the Congressional Research Service. Consumer Reports said the repeal puts the privacy of their sensitive financial data at risk, because payment app providers collect extensive personal data from users.
- Sullivan Voted Against Restoring the Consumer Bureau's Funding in June 2025. On June 30, 2025, Sullivan voted no on a motion to strike the One Big Beautiful Bill Act's cut to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding cap; it failed 47 to 53. The cut decreased the funding cap in FY2025 to $446 million from $823 million, nearly a 50 percent reduction in funding for the agency that supervises payment apps, credit bureaus and data brokers.
- Sullivan Cast One of the 50 Votes for the Law That Paid for ICE's Surveillance Buildup. On July 1, 2025, Sullivan voted yes on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which passed 50 to 50 with the Vice President's vote and gave ICE $75 billion over four years. Brookings found ICE's surveillance tools, some of which were funded by the law, include facial recognition technology, automatic license plate readers, cell-site simulators and phone location databases. ICE also resumed a $2 million contract with the spyware manufacturer, Paragon, and its phone app checks the pictures it takes against a database of 200 million photos, the Electronic Frontier Foundation reported.
- Sullivan Voted to Confirm the Two Officials Who Sent Taxpayers' IRS Records to ICE. Sullivan voted to confirm Kristi Noem as secretary of homeland security on January 25, 2025 (roll call 17) and Scott Bessent as treasury secretary on January 27, 2025 (roll call 19). In April 2025 their departments agreed that the IRS would give ICE taxpayers' addresses, and the IRS had already turned over more than 47,000 records, and a court found it broke the tax privacy law approximately 42,695 times. In September 2026 a federal appeals court held that the agreement indisputably contravenes the requirements of the law.
- Sullivan Voted to Confirm the Health Officials Who Gave ICE Access to Medicaid Records. Sullivan voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary on February 13, 2025 (roll call 52) and Mehmet Oz to run Medicare and Medicaid on April 3, 2025 (roll call 167). Their agency agreed last spring to give ICE officials direct access to a Medicaid database that includes enrollees' addresses and citizenship status. A court limited the sharing for the 22 states that sued, but deportation officials have access to personal Medicaid information about all enrollees in the remaining 28 states. Court filings showed ICE shared Medicaid data it shouldn’t have with Palantir.
- Sullivan Voted to Confirm Russell Vought, Who Dropped a Rule to Stop Data Brokers From Selling Americans' Information. On February 6, 2025, Sullivan voted to confirm Russell Vought as budget director; he was confirmed 53 to 47. As acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Vought withdrew a proposed rule against data brokers. The bureau had warned that identity thieves and scammers purchase detailed financial profiles and that countries of concern, like China and Russia, buy data on service members. By March 2025, 90% of the CFPB's staff had been cut, the AP reported.
- Sullivan Voted to Confirm the Social Security Commissioner Whose Agency Admitted DOGE May Have Misused Records. On May 6, 2025, Sullivan voted to confirm Frank Bisignano as commissioner of Social Security. In a January 2026 court filing, the government conceded that DOGE associates may have improperly accessed sensitive data at the agency, including sharing of data via a third-party Cloudflare server; a whistleblower had alleged the copying put more than 300 million people's personal information at risk.
- Sullivan Voted to Confirm the FCC Commissioner Who Helped Repeal Phone-Network Security Rules. On June 18, 2025, Sullivan voted to confirm Olivia Trusty to the Federal Communications Commission. In November 2025, Chairman Brendan Carr and Commissioner Olivia Trusty approved the reversal of a rule requiring phone companies to secure their networks, which had been introduced in the aftermath of the China-linked Salt Typhoon intrusions into U.S. carriers.
What the Privacy Decisions Dan Sullivan Backed Mean for Alaskans
- Immigration enforcement in Alaska. With the money the law gave ICE, so far in 2026, ICE has arrested at least 47 people in Alaska, and because Alaska lacks a federal detention facility, they are held in state jails, Alaska Public Media reported.
- Payment app users. Alaskans who use Venmo, Cash App or Google Pay no longer have their accounts covered by the bureau's supervision of the privacy provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.
Frequently Asked Questions About Dan Sullivan on Big Tech and privacy
What is Dan Sullivan's record on big tech and privacy under Trump?
Dan Sullivan voted to end the consumer bureau's supervision of the largest payment apps, which passed 51 to 47, and against restoring the bureau's funding. He cast one of the 50 votes for the 2025 law that gave ICE $75 billion, money ICE has spent in part on surveillance tools. He voted to confirm the officials who shared Americans' tax and Medicaid records with ICE.
Did Dan Sullivan vote to confirm the officials who shared IRS data with ICE?
Yes. Dan Sullivan voted to confirm Kristi Noem and Scott Bessent, whose departments agreed to share taxpayers' addresses with ICE, and a court found the IRS broke the tax privacy law approximately 42,695 times. An appeals court held in September 2026 that the agreement indisputably contravenes the requirements of the law.
How did Dan Sullivan vote on oversight of Venmo, Cash App and other payment apps?
Dan Sullivan voted yes on March 5, 2025 on S.J.Res. 28, which repealed the rule that let the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau supervise Google Pay, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Venmo, PayPal, Cash App, and Facebook. The law that followed cut the bureau's funding cap to $446 million.
Last updated: 2026-10-25