On July 1, 2025, Dan Sullivan voted for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which passed only with the Vice President's tie-breaking vote. The Congressional Budget Office estimates its tax and benefit changes together leave the lowest-income tenth of households worse off and the top tenth better off, and that the law adds trillions of dollars to the national debt.
In the votes before passage, Sullivan voted against a motion to keep the bill from adding to the deficit, against restoring the expanded Child Tax Credit, and against budget rules to stop tax cuts for the wealthiest while Medicaid and food aid were cut.
A release from Sullivan on the day it passed said the bill would achieve historic savings for future generations.
Dan Sullivan's Votes on Tax Cuts, the Deficit and the Child Tax Credit
- Sullivan Cast One of the 50 Votes for a Tax Law That Costs the Lowest-Income Tenth $1,200 a Year, in July 2025. On July 1, 2025, Dan Sullivan voted yes on passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which passed 50 to 50 with the Vice President breaking the tie, so it would have failed without his vote. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that, once its Medicaid and SNAP cuts are counted, the lowest-income earners will lose an average $1,200 in overall household resources a year while the top tenth gain $13,600 a year. Its February 2026 estimate is that the law will add $4.2 trillion to the national debt through 2034.
- Sullivan Voted Against Requiring the Bill Not to Add to the Deficit in June 2025. On June 30, 2025, Sullivan voted no on Senator Alex Padilla's motion to send H.R. 1 back to committee with instructions that it "not increase the deficit" over 2025 to 2034. It failed 47 to 53. Brookings, summarizing estimates from the Congressional Budget Office, puts the law's cost with interest at a total deficit increase of $4.1 trillion through 2034, and the Congressional Budget Office projects federal interest costs will more than double from $970 billion in 2025 to $2.1 trillion by 2036.
- Sullivan Voted Against Restoring the Expanded Child Tax Credit in July 2025. On July 1, 2025, Sullivan voted no on Senator Michael Bennet's motion to raise the Child Tax Credit to match the expanded credit of 2021, paid for by corporations and the wealthiest taxpayers. It failed 47 to 53. The law instead raised the credit to $2,200 and denies it to a family unless a parent and the child have Social Security numbers (Public Law 119-21).
- Sullivan Voted Three Times Against Budget Rules to Stop Tax Cuts for the Wealthiest in February 2025. On February 20, 2025, Sullivan voted against waiving the budget rules for three amendments to the first budget resolution: Senator Chuck Schumer's "to prevent tax cuts for the wealthy if a single dollar of Medicaid funding is cut" (it failed 49 to 51), his amendment "to prevent unwarranted tax cuts for the ultra-rich" (47 to 52), and Senator Amy Klobuchar's "to stop tax cuts for the ultra-rich while families struggle to put food on the table" (48 to 52). ITEP estimates the law gives the richest 1 percent $1 trillion in tax cuts for the richest 1 percent over a decade, while it cuts federal SNAP spending by almost $187 billion over ten years.
- Sullivan Voted Against Middle-Class Tax Relief and Against a Rule on Record Debt in April 2025. On April 5, 2025, Sullivan voted no on Senator Jacky Rosen's amendment "To provide tax relief for the middle class," which failed 47 to 52. On April 4 he voted no on Senator Jeff Merkley's amendment for a point of order against legislation that would create more debt over 30 years than the country had accumulated in its history; it failed 46 to 53. ITEP estimates that more than 70 percent of the net tax cuts will go to the richest fifth of Americans in 2026.
- Sullivan Voted Against Returning Unspent Immigration-Enforcement Money to Cut the Deficit in June 2026. On June 5, 2026, Sullivan voted no on Senator Gary Peters's amendment to rescind unspent immigration-enforcement balances under the law and use them "to reduce the deficit". It failed 46 to 53. The money stayed with the enforcement agencies, and the law's borrowing stands without any offset; Congress also wiped out the balances on both PAYGO scorecards that would otherwise have required cuts to make up for it.
- Sullivan Voted for the Budget Steps That Let the Tax Cuts Add to the Deficit in 2025. On April 5, 2025, Sullivan voted yes on H.Con.Res. 14, which allowed the Senate Finance Committee to add up to $1.5 trillion to deficits (text); it passed 51 to 48. On June 30 he voted to sustain the chair's ruling that let the Budget Committee chairman use a "current policy" baseline, so extending the 2017 tax cuts was scored as costing nothing (Senate floor log). Brookings calls that scoring method "a fundamental break with 50 years of budget rules".
- Sullivan Said the Bill Would Achieve Historic Savings; It Adds Trillions to the Debt. On July 1, 2025, Sullivan's release on his vote said the bill would achieve historic savings for future generations. Independent estimates of the law's added deficits range between $3.7 and $5.1 trillion, and the Congressional Budget Office projects debt at a record 120% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2036.
What the Tax Law Dan Sullivan Voted For Costs Alaska
- Medicaid money. Alaska loses about $2.0 billion in federal Medicaid over ten years under the law, 11% of what it would otherwise receive, by KFF's allocation of the Congressional Budget Office estimate.
- State budget. The law shifts more of the cost of running food aid onto Alaska: the state's share of SNAP administrative costs is set to rise roughly $11 million each year. Alaska's share of the benefits themselves, which would shift nearly $40 million in costs to the state if it applied to Alaska today, is delayed, possibly until 2030, because Alaska's payment error rate is the highest in the country.
Frequently Asked Questions About Dan Sullivan on Taxes and the deficit
What is Dan Sullivan's record on taxes and the deficit under Trump?
Dan Sullivan voted for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act on July 1, 2025, after voting against requiring it not to add to the deficit, against restoring the expanded Child Tax Credit and against three budget rules to stop tax cuts for the wealthiest. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the law costs the lowest-income tenth of households about $1,200 a year and adds $4.2 trillion to the debt through 2034. His July 1, 2025 release said the bill would achieve historic savings for future generations.
Did Dan Sullivan vote for tax cuts for the rich?
Yes. Dan Sullivan voted for the law that ITEP estimates gives the richest 1 percent $1 trillion in tax cuts for the richest 1 percent over a decade, and in February 2025 he voted against a budget rule "to prevent unwarranted tax cuts for the ultra-rich". ITEP's 2026 estimate is that the law's tax changes, which leave out its Medicaid and SNAP cuts, still give the largest share to the top: the analysis does not include the $1 trillion cut in Medicaid.
How much does the tax law Dan Sullivan voted for add to the national debt?
Dan Sullivan voted for a law that the Congressional Budget Office's February 2026 estimate says will add $4.2 trillion to the national debt through 2034 and $4.7 trillion through 2035, counting interest and economic effects. Brookings writes that the money spent in the law would have been enough to resolve Social Security's long-term financing problem.
Last updated: 2026-10-25