Dan Sullivan on Veterans: A Vote Against PACT Act Funding, the VA Abortion Ban, and VA Staff Cuts in Alaska

In February 2025, Dan Sullivan voted against a budget amendment to guarantee full and uninterrupted funding for the health care and benefits of veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxins under the PACT Act, and in March 2025 against making fired veteran federal employees eligible for reinstatement. In July 2025 he cast one of the 50 votes for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which ended veterans' exemption from SNAP's work rules; in Alaska that rule takes effect on January 1, 2027. In March 2026 he voted against taking up a resolution to overturn the VA rule that ended abortion care at VA hospitals even after rape or incest.

Sullivan voted to confirm and publicly praised Doug Collins as secretary of veterans affairs. At the Alaska VA in Anchorage, the inspector general found that job applicants declined job offers and cited concerns about job stability, and unprocessed travel claims increased by more than six times from January 6 to July 6, 2025.

Dan Sullivan's Votes and Confirmations on Veterans

• Sullivan Voted Against Guaranteeing PACT Act Funding for Toxic-Exposed Veterans in February 2025. On February 21, 2025, Dan Sullivan voted no on Senator Richard Blumenthal's amendment to the budget resolution "to ensure full and uninterrupted funding for Department of Veterans Affairs health care and benefits provided by" the PACT Act, the 2022 law for veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxins. It failed 47 to 52. Burn Pits 360, a veterans' advocacy group, said the amendment would have ensured full and uninterrupted funding for veterans' healthcare and benefits. Days later the VA drew up a plan for cutting over 80,000 jobs; it dropped that plan in July and instead will shed 30,000 total employees through attrition.
• Sullivan Cast One of the 50 Votes for a Law That Ended Veterans' SNAP Exemption and Limits Their Medicaid Exemption. On July 1, 2025, Sullivan voted for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which passed 50 to 50 with the Vice President's vote, so it would have failed without his. Section 10102 ended veterans' exemption from SNAP's time limit, so veterans must show 80 hours a month of work or activity to keep their food stamps beyond three months; around 1.2 million veterans with lower incomes receive SNAP nationally. The law's Medicaid work requirement, which states must start by January 1, 2027, will exempt only a person who is a veteran with a disability rated as total under section 1155 of title 38, so veterans with partial disability ratings must prove their hours. The law does not end SNAP for all veterans, but those who cannot document 80 hours can keep it for only three months in three years.
• Sullivan Voted to Keep the VA's Ban on Abortion Care for Veterans in March 2026. On March 25, 2026, Sullivan voted no on taking up S.J.Res. 103, a resolution to overturn the VA rule on "Reproductive Health Services." The motion failed 48 to 50. The rule, effective January 30, 2026, prohibits the procedure at VA medical facilities unless the life of the mother is endangered and removed the exceptions for cases where the pregnancy was the result of an act of rape or incest; it also ends abortion counseling.
• Sullivan Voted Against Rehiring Veterans Fired From Federal Jobs in March 2025. On March 14, 2025, Sullivan voted no on Senator Tammy Duckworth's amendment "to make veteran Federal employees who were involuntarily dismissed without cause eligible for reinstatement and to require reports from Executive agencies on the number of veteran employees fired." It failed 47 to 53. In the weeks before, the VA had announced the dismissal of more than 1,000 employees and then more than 1,400 probationary employees, and House Appropriations Democrats estimated that nearly 6,000 veterans had been fired across the government.
• Sullivan Voted to Confirm Doug Collins, Whose VA Cut Staff and Contracts. On February 4, 2025, Sullivan voted to confirm Doug Collins as secretary of veterans affairs, after telling him at his January 21 hearing, "I look forward to strongly supporting your confirmation. I'm a big fan." Under Collins the department was on pace to reduce total VA staff by nearly 30,000 employees in fiscal 2025, killed nearly 600 contracts including one to maintain a gene sequencing device used to develop better cancer treatments, and stopped presuming that male breast cancer in toxic-exposed veterans was service-connected, so the department no longer presumes service connection for male breast cancer. By fiscal 2026 VA facilities reported a total of 4,712 severe occupational staffing shortages, the inspector general found.
• Sullivan Voted to Confirm Russell Vought, Who Ordered the Layoff Plans. On February 6, 2025, Sullivan voted to confirm Russell Vought as budget director; he was confirmed 53 to 47 with Republican votes only. On February 26, 2025 Vought's office and the Office of Personnel Management told agencies that Agency Heads shall promptly undertake preparations to initiate large-scale reductions in force, and a week later the VA's plan called for cutting over 80,000 jobs, later scaled back to about 30,000.

What the VA Cuts Under the Secretary Dan Sullivan Confirmed Mean for Alaska Veterans

• Recruiting. At the Alaska VA Healthcare System in Anchorage, applicants declined job offers and cited concerns about job stability, the VA inspector general found in August 2026.
• Travel claims. Unprocessed beneficiary travel claims at the Alaska VA, increased by more than six times from January 6 to July 6, 2025.
• Community care. Community care staff at the Alaska VA told inspectors they are unable to meet the requirement because of the high volume of referrals, leaving veterans waiting for outside appointments.
• Food aid. About 6% of Alaska veterans participate in SNAP, and the law's new work rule reaches them on January 1, 2027.

Frequently Asked Questions About Dan Sullivan on Veterans

Last updated: 2026-10-25

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