On July 1, 2025, Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan voted against a motion to make the One Big Beautiful Bill Act's Child Tax Credit as large and as widely available as the 2021 expanded credit, then cast one of the 50 votes that passed the law. Under it, 41,000 Alaska children, a quarter of the state's children, are in families that earn too little for the full credit, and a new Social Security number rule strips the credit from about 2.6 million children nationwide. The law also extends SNAP and Medicaid work rules to parents of teenagers.
On July 30, 2026, Sullivan voted against taking up a resolution to overturn the Health and Human Services rule that ended the federal cap on child care co-payments at 7 percent of family income. He voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose department closed half of the regional Head Start offices, including the Seattle office that oversees Alaska's programs. In August 2024 Sullivan voted against cloture on H.R. 7024, a House-passed bill that would have enlarged the refundable Child Tax Credit for 2023 through 2025.
Dan Sullivan's Votes and Confirmations on Child Care and Family Credits
- Sullivan Voted Against Restoring the Expanded Child Tax Credit in July 2025. On July 1, 2025, Dan Sullivan voted no on a motion to send the tax-and-spending bill back to committee with changes that would increase the amount and availability of the Child Tax Credit to match the 2021 expanded credit, adjusted for inflation. It failed 47 to 53. Under the law as passed, more than 1 in 4 children (28%) under age 17 will be ineligible for the full Child Tax Credit because their families earn too little, the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University found, including 48% of American Indian or Alaska Native children.
- Sullivan Cast One of the 50 Votes for a Law That Strips the Child Tax Credit From Millions of Children and Adds Work Rules for Parents. Later on July 1, 2025, Sullivan voted yes on H.R. 1, which passed 50 to 50 with the Vice President's vote. The law requires a parent to have a work-eligible Social Security number to claim the Child Tax Credit and makes parents of children 14 and older meet SNAP work rules. The National Immigration Law Center found the Social Security number rule strips the Child Tax Credit from the approximately 2.6 million or more children in the United States with no parent on their tax return who has a work-eligible number. CBO estimated that states collectively will reduce or eliminate SNAP benefits for about 300,000 people who are parents or caregivers of children 14 and older, and the law's new child care credit is not refundable, so Only about 8.5 percent of families with children will receive a larger credit in 2026, the Tax Policy Center found.
- Sullivan Voted Against Protecting Food Aid for Families With Young Children in June 2025. On June 30, 2025, Sullivan voted no on a motion to strike any provision of the bill that cuts any food assistance benefits for families with children under the age of 12. It failed 47 to 53. Since the law took effect, the number of children receiving SNAP has dropped by more than 1.5 million since July 2025, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found.
- Sullivan Voted to Keep the Rule That Ended the Cap on Child Care Co-Payments in July 2026. On July 30, 2026, Sullivan voted no on taking up S.J.Res. 199, a resolution to overturn the Health and Human Services rule "Restoring Flexibility in the Child Care and Development Fund." It failed 47 to 52. He had voted to confirm Alex Adams, who runs the agency that wrote the rule, as part of an October 7, 2025 group of nominees. The rule rescinds the requirements to limit family co-payments to 7 percent of family income, a limit that 31 states, the District of Columbia, and 5 territories had adopted. Before the cap, co-payments ran as high as 27 percent of income in Ohio, the Center for American Progress found. The program it governs provided subsidies to more than 1.6 million children from 994,000 families each month.
- Sullivan Voted to Confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Whose Department Closed the Head Start Office That Oversees Alaska. On February 13, 2025, Sullivan voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of health and human services; he was confirmed 52 to 48. In April 2025 his department closed five of the 10 regional Head Start offices, which oversaw nearly 318,000, or 44 percent of, funded slots, including the Region 10 office in Seattle: Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. It also fired roughly 500 from the Administration for Children and Families, which runs Head Start and child care aid, and the third-quarter child care money for states was not awarded to states on May 22, 2025, weeks late.
- Sullivan Voted Against Advancing a Larger Child Tax Credit in August 2024. On August 1, 2024, Dan Sullivan voted no on cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 7024, the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act, which would have raised the refundable part of the Child Tax Credit to $1,800 for tax year 2023, $1,900 for 2024 and $2,000 for 2025. The bill needed 60 votes to advance; cloture was rejected 48-44, so the Senate did not take it up. Had the bill passed, an estimated 16 million children would have benefited, including 400,000 that would have been lifted out of poverty, according to an estimate from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reported by The 19th in 2024.
What the Family Policies Dan Sullivan Backed Mean for Alaska Children
- Child Tax Credit. In Alaska, 41,000 children, or 25 percent, will be ineligible for the full Child Tax Credit under the 2025 law because their families earn too little, up from 34,000 under the prior law, according to the Center on Poverty and Social Policy's state table.
- Head Start oversight. Alaska's Head Start programs lost their regional office when HHS closed the Region 10 office in Seattle: Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, the Center for American Progress reported.
- Parents and Medicaid. Under the 2025 law's Medicaid work rule, which exempts only parents of children 13 and under, (18,905 individuals) would need to submit paperwork to manually report work or an exemption to keep coverage, the Alaska Department of Health projected, including parents of teenagers.
Frequently Asked Questions About Dan Sullivan on Child care and families
What is Dan Sullivan's record on child care and families under Trump?
Dan Sullivan voted against restoring the expanded Child Tax Credit and against protecting food aid for families with young children, then voted for the 2025 law that leaves 41,000 Alaska children short of the full credit. In July 2026 he voted to keep the rule that ended the 7 percent cap on child care co-payments. He voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose department closed the regional Head Start office that oversees Alaska.
How many Alaska children get less than the full Child Tax Credit?
In Dan Sullivan's state, 41,000 children, or a quarter of Alaska's children, will be ineligible for the full credit under the 2025 law because their families earn too little, according to Columbia University's Center on Poverty and Social Policy. Sullivan voted against the motion that would have made the credit as large and available as in 2021.
Did Dan Sullivan vote to cap child care costs for families?
No. Dan Sullivan voted on July 30, 2026 against taking up a resolution that would have overturned the rule ending the federal cap on child care co-payments at 7 percent of family income. The rule is final and in effect.
Last updated: 2026-10-25