What Dan Sullivan said, and what was done

“Mr. President, today we honor the extraordinary bravery, sacrifice, and devotion of Hmong American veterans who stood alongside the United States during the Vietnam war. From 1961 to 1975, Hmong soldiers fought in the CIA-backed operation known as the Secret War in Laos under the leadership of Vang Pao, risking everything to defend freedom and support American forces.”

“Mr. President, I want to commend my colleague Senator Lee and my colleagues Senator Ricketts, Senator Moreno. We are all on the floor to seek unanimous consent to a bill that actually just makes common sense.”

“Mr. President, I would like to echo and reinforce the words of my good friend Senator Barrasso, the majority whip, Senator from Wyoming, who was doing a great job yesterday and the beautiful service that we had here in the Capitol and at the National Cathedral in honor of my very good friend and Senate colleague, Senator Lindsey Graham.”

“Mr. President, I wanted to come down and make a few remarks on a couple of important topics, but I wanted to begin by just letting the American people know--and my constituents back home in Alaska--what just happened here, just a couple of minutes ago, on the Senate floor.”

“Mr. President, I rise today to honor Matthew P. Goodman as he retires from his leadership position at the Council on Foreign Relations, marking the conclusion of an exceptional career spanning more than three decades of service to America's economic security and international leadership and to the American people.”

“Mr. Goodman served as senior adviser to the Undersecretary for Economic Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, where he contributed to the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review.”

“Then they are told: Oh, by the way, that allotment that you wanted, sorry. When you were serving your country, fighting in Vietnam, the deadline passed. A triple whammy, in my view, of injustice.”

“Mr. President, we are here on the floor, a number of Senators from both sides of the aisle, trying to move some important legislation for all of us, our different States, and different constituencies.”

“Mr. President, I rise today to urge my colleagues to reject the Biden administration's unlawful attempt to stifle Alaska's congressionally mandated oil and gas leasing program in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, ANWR.”

“However, following the election of President Biden, DOI reversed direction in 2021. On June 1, 2021, DOI issued a Secretarial Order temporarily halting all activities in the Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program.”

“Congress mandated lease sales to be offered under the same terms and conditions set forth in the August 2020 ROD for the FEIS of the original Coastal Plain leasing program.”

“Bottom Line: The 2024 ROD Must Be Nullified The 2024 ROD's restrictive approach is unlawful, unworkable, and deeply harmful to our people whose lands and livelihoods are directly affected.”

“Mr. President, I am coming down on the Senate floor, once again, to talk about another Congressional Review Act resolution that I am encouraging all of my colleagues, Democrats, Republicans--by the way, our last one on the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska, right here, was bipartisan.”

“There is also what we call the VOICE of the Inupiat, another group similarly situated--all Alaska Natives, all from this area. They were established to speak with a unified voice for the Native people on the North Slope, to preserve the advancement of the Inupiat culture and economic self-determination.”

“Finally, Mr. President, it is important to know that the Trump administration is also fully supportive of our Senate resolution in terms of this CRA. This is a statement of administrative policy, where it States: The Administration strongly supports passage of H.J.”

“Why do our Alaska Native people so strongly support this CRA and the one that we did on the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska a couple of weeks ago?”

“Mr. President, I am coming down to the Senate floor for the second time in about a month to try to pass a really important bill for some really heroic constituents of mine, Alaskan Native Vietnam veterans, and I am going to explain this bill a little bit.”

“Hopefully, the Senate is going to work well, because when I tried to pass this a month ago, Senator Padilla said: Hey, I am going to object, but if you work with us on some bills that you can move in a pairing, then we will pass this.”

“Mr. President, I am disappointed in this. Now, I was trying to pass the H.R. bills from the House because those bills have already passed--the Gallego bill, the Sullivan bill, the lands transfer bill for Arizona, the Alaska Native Vietnam vets bill for my brave Alaska Native veterans.”

“Mr. President, I am just going to end by saying I am very disappointed. I tried to do this a month ago. This bill of mine is really for some great heroes in America, and the program is going to expire in a month.”

“Madam President, I rise today to urge my colleagues to reject the Biden administration's sweeping plan to lock down nearly half of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska to responsible oil and gas development in contradiction to congressional mandates.”

“Following the discovery of oil at Prudhoe Bay and the ongoing oil embargo, Congress passed the 1976 Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act, NPRPA, transferring jurisdiction of the Reserve from the Navy to the Department of the Interior and redesignating the area as the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, a 23-million-acre area roughly the size of Indiana.”

“The way this came to the floor--Senator Johnson and I were making the case in the conference. I had a bill that actually was a bill about paying our troops.”

“I want to thank Senator Johnson for coming to the floor and making this very strong case. It is about safety, and it is about the American way.”

“Mr. President, we are getting ready to vote on my CRA, S.J. Res. 80. And, by the away, I appreciated the strong bipartisan vote yesterday to get on this bill.”

“What am I talking about? This is the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska. The Congress of the United States--us--in a law said that we are going to develop this part of my State for oil and gas production.”

“Mr. President, I rise to urge my colleagues to overturn the Biden administration's sweeping restrictions of what we call in Alaska the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska--so to pass the CRA, the S.J.”

“There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows: [From the Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget, Oct. 29, 2025] Statement of Administration Policy S.J.”

“So why would we want to do this? Again, we have the highest environmental standards in the world, but when you unleash Alaska energy, when you unleash Montana energy, when you unleash American energy, it helps with jobs, it helps with our environment because we have the highest standards in the world, and it really helps with national security.”

“I would also like to submit for the Record a letter from The Alliance, which is all of our companies--not just energy companies but all related companies, the biggest group of businesses, workers in Alaska, who also strongly support my CRA.”

“Let me just end with this: I hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle can vote for this CRA. I talk about jobs, I talk about national security, and I talk about working families, all of which are very important.”

“Mr. President, I rise today to urge my colleagues to overturn the Biden administration's restrictive Central Yukon land management scheme, which threatens Alaska's self-determination and resource development. I ask my colleagues to support our resolution of disapproval, H.J.”

“North Slope Borough, the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope, which is the regional Tribe, and the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, the Alaska Native Regional Corporation for the Inupiat people living on the North Slope of Alaska.”

“Mr. President, I want to thank my colleague Senator Murkowski for her remarks on the vote that we are getting ready to take on the CRA that deals with the Central Yukon plan.”

“Mr. President, now I hope we can move to the next bill that, to be honest, should be even easier because the bill I am going to try to pass right now passed the U.S.”

“Mr. President, I appreciate my colleague from California's cooperation on the first bill, the ARTIST Act. I am a little disappointed here on this one because, you know, it is a little bit of a delay tactic, but he certainly has my commitment to work with him, if they need to try to pair this.”

“Mr. President, I am down on the Senate floor here to try to pass two really important pieces of legislation for a great part of Alaska, and this is the Alaska Native community in my State.”

“Mr. President, I want to let people know back home that means that that bill, the ARTIST bill that we have been trying to get moved for a long time, just passed the U.S.”

“Madam President, I am very hopeful that my colleagues here will move forward on this bipartisan, clean continuing resolution so we can get our government open again. I do want to just explain to the American people and maybe some of our friends in the media a little dirty secret that is going on down here on the Senate floor.”

“Madam President, I am here on the floor today to ask unanimous consent to pass a very important resolution that I try to move forward every year. It is my Choose Respect Day resolution.”

“So when I was attorney general a number of years ago, the Governor and I launched this big initiative called the Choose Respect Initiative. We changed the laws.”

“Mr. President, I have three requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority Leaders. Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate: COMMITTEE ON HEALTH.”

“Mr. President, I certainly hope my Democratic colleagues can let us move forward on this, or we are going to stay all night until we get the President's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs confirmed.”

“I happen to respect him a lot. He said: Hey, I am not comfortable. I am moving to another Chairman. President Obama fired two very senior, four-star generals inside of 2 years.”

“U.S. Senators on both sides of the aisle, including those who don't even get out much, according to Mr. Friedman, have recognized this truth. It would be good progress if an insightful observer of the international system, like Thomas Friedman is, would do so as well.”

“Madam President, my amendment says we are going to strengthen Medicaid and Medicare so that they are available for years to come because these are important programs. They are certainly important programs to the Alaskans I represent.”

“Talk about a ruse. This is the worst kind of partisanship, using people's healthcare to fearmonger. We should all want to weed out waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicaid and Medicare, and we must keep these programs going.”

“We should do both. I ask my colleagues to vote for this amendment. And all my colleagues who voted for this amendment in 2017 should simply vote for it again.”

“Mr. President, like all of us, last week, I was back home in my great State--the great State of Alaska. And, actually, I try to be home every weekend, even when we are in session.”

“The Federal Government using all its power to crush one State--often illegally, and I will get into that--and nobody wrote one story. Why? Because most of the media loved it.”

“Hmm, why did that happen? Well, it happened for two reasons. One, unfortunately, these are a lot of the areas where our Alaska Native communities live, and they started at really low levels of life expectancy--really low, 50-, 55-years-old average lifespan.”

“And at full capacity, given how much natural gas we have on the North Slope, the estimates are that this will reduce our trade deficit by $10 billion a year.”

“Mr. President, I want to add to what my colleagues have been saying here. It is a big disappointment for us on this side of the aisle that our Democratic colleagues blocked this bill to do what needs to happen with regard to the ICC.”