Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) slammed President Joe Biden over the weekend for taking action to restrict energy exploration and mining in his state while not enforcing sanctions against some of America’s top adversaries.
Sullivan made the remarks during a Sunday CBS News interview with Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation.”
“I know you’re also passionate about this and what the Biden administration just announced about your state of Alaska,” Brennan said. “He has limited oil and gas drilling in parts in the National Petroleum Reserve to protect polar bears and other things. And then he also blocked a road crucial to operating a copper and zinc mine.”
“You said this is ‘suicidal’ and ‘lawless,’” Brennan noted. “Those are strong words.”
Sullivan responded: “Well, it’s lawless. He doesn’t have the authority to do it. And I could go into all the laws that support me on that. It’s, as I say, national security suicide. Look, this president won’t sanction the Iranian oil and gas regime. You may have seen Senator Blumenthal and I put a – sent a letter to the president on Friday, saying you need to do that.”
“But he has no problem sanctioning Alaska,” he said. “This administration has issued 63 executive orders and executive actions singularly focused on Alaska to shut our state down. Now, that, of course, hurts my constituents. But, Margaret, the national resources, energy, critical minerals, that’s an American strength.”
“This should concern all kinds of Americans,” he continued. “I will mention one final thing that I really wanted to highlight here. You know, I have been in the Senate nine years. I have never seen such a cynical and dishonest display coming out of any presidency when this president on Friday, with Secretary Haaland, announced that they did this because the Alaska Natives, the indigenous people on the North Slope of Alaska asked them to, they wanted them to.”
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“The leaders of the North Slope of Alaska were unanimous in opposition to this,” Sullivan added. “They tried to meet with Secretary Haaland. She wouldn’t meet with them. This is a rule that focuses on their land where they’ve been living for thousands of years. And then the president says, well, I did it because the indigenous people of Alaska wanted it. That is a lie.”
Sullivan said that in addition to lying about what the indigenous people of Alaska wanted, Biden was also “canceling their voices and now stealing their voices.”
“It was really a despicable move,” he added.
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