The US Senate is voting on the budget megabill; here’s how supporters and opponents say it will affect Alaska
- Mark Sabbatini
- Jun 28
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 29
Cuts to Medicaid, food stamps, renewable energy among cited worries; more oil and mining development, icebreaker funds among touted plusses
Alaska’s Republican governor says it will bestow many blessings on "a resource-rich state like ours." Two top state legislators — a Republican and an independent — told a nationwide audience it will "throw state budgets into chaos."
The federal budget megabill — labeled by supporters the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" — is being taken up this weekend by the U.S. Senate, after which a reconciliation process with the U.S. House to resolve differences in their competing versions is expected. Both versions make sweeping cuts to federal programs — most notably programs for the needy such as Medicaid — and extend tax cuts that critics say mostly benefit the wealthy.
Among the most controversial items affecting Alaska are provisions boosting natural resource development and cutting programs rural communities rely upon. In Juneau, the impacts may include $300 million toward the homeporting of a U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker and the loss of one-third of KTOO public broadcasting’s operating budget.
A group of protesters gathered Friday outside the Juneau office of U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), a strong supporter of President Donald Trump’s agenda that includes the major provisions of the budget bill. The people gathered were part of a statewide "Death by a Trillion Cuts" protest focusing primarily on possible cuts to Medicaid that healthcare officials have stated may result in a loss of insurance for a large percentage of the more than 200,000 Alaskans covered by the program.
"The proposed cuts would have catastrophic consequences for Alaskans of all ages — eliminating behavioral health services, shifting massive costs to the state, and endangering lives in a state where Medicaid is a lifeline," declared a press release by Protect Our Care Alaska, which co-organized the protest with Alaska Caregivers and the Alaska State Employees Association.
As of Saturday morning the House’s version of the budget bill requires most adults without children to document 80 hours of work a month or prove they qualify for an exemption, according to The New York Times. The Senate’s version "expands the House’s work requirement to include adults with children who are 15 and older."
Supporters of the changes — including Sullivan and U.S. Rep. Nick Begich III (R-Alaska) — have stated they are seeking to ensure the fiscal sustainability of Medicaid for those most in need by imposing the work requirements for able-bodied people. A spokesperson for Sullivan also told Alaska Public Media this week the senator is seeking “exemptions and carve-outs to protect vulnerable Alaskans” for programs such as Medicaid and SNAP benefits.
“He will continue to work during implementation to ensure that paperwork and administrative burdens do not prevent people from accessing the critical safety net programs they rely on,” an email by Amanda Coyne on behalf of Sullivan stated.
An argument such changes "are particularly ugly for our home state" was made by Alaska House Speaker Bryce Edgmon (I-Dillingham) and Alaska Senate Majority Leader Cathy Giessel (R-Anchorage) in an opinion column published Friday in The New York Times with the headline "Alaska Cannot Survive This Bill."
"Nearly 40,000 Alaskans could lose health care coverage, thousands of families will go hungry through loss of benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and the shift in costs from the federal government to the state will plunge our budget into a severe deficit, cripple our state economy and make it harder to provide basic services," Edgmon and Giessel wrote.
Alaska’s rural communities will also suffer setbacks in energy infrastructure and costs, the two legislative leaders argue.
"To keep up with rising energy costs, our Arctic communities have also relied on innovative renewables to cut costs and reduce dependence on imported diesel fuel for over two decades," the article states. "Unfortunately, the reconciliation bill ends tax credits for wind and solar, which will drive up the utility bills and make it nearly impossible for Alaskans to achieve independence from foreign energy."
A counterargument about the energy-related benefits the bill offers Alaska is being made by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, another strong supporter of Trump. In a social media post on Friday, Dunleavy stated the budget bill will require regular lease sales in Alaska for oil, gas and mining development — and redirect a larger share of royalty and other payments from such sales to the state in upcoming years.
The governor also states the bill "provides $4.379 billion for targeted investments in shore facilities, including $300 million for the homeporting of the existing polar icebreaker commissioned into service in 2025."
"This funding helps address a multi-billion-dollar backlog in shore infrastructure, which is currently impeding mission performance and reducing servicemember quality of life," he wrote.
The spending cuts in the bill are intended to help pay for $4 trillion in tax cuts during the next decade. An analysis by the Tax Policy Center shows more than one-third of the tax cuts would go to households making $460,000 or more, while households making $35,000 or less would get a tax cut of less than 1%.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
