My top priority is growing Alaska’s economy by creating good jobs right now for Alaskans and investing in critical basic facilities such as roads, bridges and harbors to help create jobs. To do that I have:
- Fought to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to responsible oil and gas development
- Worked to open Alaska’s Arctic lands and waters for energy development
- Secured more than $1 billion to build and fix Alaska’s public facilities
- Worked to get rid of regulations that harmed small businesses
- Sought tax cuts and state support to stimulate Alaska’s economy
- Championed small business tax relief
After 20 years of struggle by many, I successfully convinced the Environmental Protection Agency to approve several large new Alaska development projects, including the Kensington Mine in Southeast Alaska. The mine created hundreds of good-paying jobs in Southeast Alaska. I also pushed for new permits for the Red Dog Mine in Northwest Alaska and construction of the Tanana River Bridge in Interior Alaska.
Since2008, I have secured funding for critical road, port, airport and broadband investments to facilitate new economic development across Alaska, such as a new hospital in Nome, a new dock in Gustavus, new high speed broadband connections throughout Southwestern Alaska, and airport and road repairs throughout the state. I worked with Representative Don Young to fix the notorious Lake Otis and Tudor intersection in Anchorage. These projects created thousands of jobs across our state.
As chair of the Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard, I fought to protect the thousands of Alaska seafood industry jobs by championing investment in our coastal communities and protecting Alaska’s fishing industry from burdensome regulation and overfishing. I am leading the fight against genetically-modified fish, known as “Frankenfish,” and other threats to Alaska’s wild salmon.
I have been working to strengthen America’s role in Arctic development by fighting for new Coast Guard icebreakers, a multi-use deep water port, and pushing for approval of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.