Video Clips
Quoted moments from Alaska public meetings, hearings, and press conferences.
0:33
Nate Pamplin“Prior to lethal removal, listed winter steelhead faced an 89% risk of extinction. After 2 years of targeted removals, the risk of extinction fell to 11%. Future work should expand authorities to predation hotspots This bill increases flexibility by addressing the method of take and the geographic area where removals can occur.”
House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries (Begich): Legislative Hearing · Jul 21, 2026
0:18
Nate Pamplin“I want to characterize this as not something that is going to just be— sometimes I hear from the opponents, it's going to be like a rampant, you know, widespread cull. This would be a very focused removal.”
House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries (Begich): Legislative Hearing · Jul 21, 2026
0:28
Jared Blankenship
“on behalf of Texas Farm Bureau, I respectfully urge the subcommittee to advance the SAFE Cattle Act and move this legislation to the full House of Representatives.”House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries (Begich): Legislative Hearing · Jul 21, 2026
0:37
Harriet Hageman“Representative Jackson's bill would direct the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior to work together to establish a memorandum of understanding to eradicate the New World Screwworm and prevent its spread on federal lands. This will ensure effective coordination to address this urgent current problem.”
House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries (Begich): Legislative Hearing · Jul 21, 2026
0:03
Jared Blankenship
“we know the game plan: ramp up sterile fly production.”House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries (Begich): Legislative Hearing · Jul 21, 2026
0:38
Bruce Westerman“H.R. 6021, The Archie Kavanaugh Migratory Bird Treaty Amendment Act, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute offered by the gentleman from Alaska, Mr. Begich, designated Begich 174 A&S.”
House Natural Resources (Begich): Mark-up of · Jul 22, 2026
0:28
Bruce Westerman“H.R. 8454, To provide for the transfer of administrative jurisdiction over certain federal land in the state of California and for other purposes, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute offered by the gentleman from California, Mr. McClintock, designated McClintock 92 ANS. Without objection. So ordered.”
House Natural Resources (Begich): Mark-up of · Jul 22, 2026
0:12
Bruce Westerman“I thank the sponsoring members for the dedicated work on these bills. I thank Representative Huffman and the minority for working together with us on this package.”
House Natural Resources (Begich): Mark-up of · Jul 22, 2026
0:47
Jared Huffman“If we really want safe swimmers, we have to find a way to fund and staff our federal beaches. Unfortunately, my colleagues have been silent and keep just pushing bills directing agencies to collaborate harder, to find a way to make something out of nothing. We need to do better.”
House Natural Resources (Begich): Mark-up of · Jul 22, 2026
0:35
Bruce Westerman“H.R. 4931, The National Park System Long-Term Lease Investment Act, introduced by Representative Murphy of North Carolina, extends certain national park leases to encourage long-term investment. H.R. 5063, The Safe Beaches, Safe Swimmers Act, introduced by Representative Kiggins, helps ensure adequate lifeguard staffing at federal beaches.”
House Natural Resources (Begich): Mark-up of · Jul 22, 2026
0:20
Bruce Westerman“I ask unanimous consent that this notice be extended to all measures considered at the markup under House Rule 11, Clause 2L. This notice extends to all members. Without objection. So ordered.”
House Natural Resources (Begich): Mark-up of · Jul 22, 2026
0:36
Bruce Westerman“Today we are considering 8 bills on which the committee has reached bipartisan agreement.”
House Natural Resources (Begich): Mark-up of · Jul 22, 2026
0:36
Bruce Westerman“Representative Begich's H.R. 6021, Archie Kavanagh Migratory Bird Treaty Amendment Act, protects the cultural heritage and economic rights of Alaska Native artists by requiring clarifications to the Migratory Bird Treaty with Japan and corresponding updates to domestic regulations. To allow for the use of bird parts to create native articles or handicraft. H.R. 8454, Introduced by Representative McClintock, reduces the checkerboard ownership of federal land in California to better manage wildlife habitat, grazing operations, and ecological resources.”
House Natural Resources (Begich): Mark-up of · Jul 22, 2026
0:35
Jared Huffman“The Safe Swimmers Act, a good bill, would direct Interior Department to address lifeguard safety shortages at federal beaches by entering into agreements with local government to get more continuity and coverage. But this proposal is obviously— can't be the final solution to the problem. It doesn't address what Republicans in this administration have done to make this problem worse. And of course, the first rule of holes is you gotta stop digging. The National Park Service is reeling from President Trump's staffing cuts.”
House Natural Resources (Begich): Mark-up of · Jul 22, 2026
0:13
Bruce Westerman“Mr. Huffman, you're recognized. Mr. Chair, I give notice of my intention to file supplemental additional dissenting or minority views on the measures just considered.”
House Natural Resources (Begich): Mark-up of · Jul 22, 2026
0:28
Bruce Westerman“With the cooperation of Ranking Member Huffman and the other members of the committee, we have worked out an agreement on 8 bills scheduled for markup today. As we have done before, rather than going through, through a formal markup process for each of the bills, I will make a single unanimous consent motion to report out the bills favorably with any amendments that have been filed and agreed to.”
House Natural Resources (Begich): Mark-up of · Jul 22, 2026
0:19
Jared Huffman“This is a good agenda today. I'm pleased that the majority has worked in good faith with us to reach consensus on these 8 bills. It is nice to have an all-UC markup, and I want to recognize the collaboration and hard work that it takes to make that happen.”
House Natural Resources (Begich): Mark-up of · Jul 22, 2026
1:21
Ashley Carrick“I think that the Division of Elections, having Dan J. Sullivan back on the ballot in this particular situation, has responded appropriately to the Supreme Court decision, but I'm still concerned that the amount of information that voters would like to see and that candidates would like to have on their ballot creates a precedence that is not necessarily in the greatest interest of transparency.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260722-1300 · Jul 22, 2026
0:43
Andrew Gray“in the email from Daniel J. Sullivan to the Lieutenant Governor on June 10th, he states, quote, 'Like the incumbent, I also go by Dan. I have publicly gone by Dan Sullivan as long as I can remember,' end quote. So my question is, why must he be listed as Daniel, but the U.S. senator will be listed as Dan.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260722-1300 · Jul 22, 2026
0:38
Carol Beecher“we have been doing this for a while as part of the voter list maintenance. However, this was a larger list than we had anticipated, as well. So it was very concerning, but this is the process that we do we move— if we get a list of individuals from DMV, which usually is more like 200 names, then we send those individuals the notices, same letter, and ask them to confirm their citizenship. And again, they can do that by email, they can call us.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260722-1300 · Jul 22, 2026
0:31
Carol Beecher“we are under the National Voter Registration Act, which does not allow the division to do really an investigation or to require documentation regarding citizenship. We go by the oath and affirmation. So when we get information like this, that's why it seems probably very simple on its face that all they have to do is contact us. That's all they have to do is let us know. And then we go by their oath and affirmation on the last registration that we have.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260722-1300 · Jul 22, 2026
0:58
Carol Beecher“Evidence in the record showed that Mr. Sullivan had never previously used Dan Sullivan in state records. He had never affiliated before as a Republican in 40 years of Alaska voter history. His campaign website mirrored the incumbent's website design and branding, and he requested by email to appear as Dan S. Sullivan despite his middle initial being Gene J., even though he later corrected this himself.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260722-1300 · Jul 22, 2026
0:10
Carol Beecher“This was an unprecedented and unique situation, and to my knowledge, this has not occurred before. We also do not anticipate it would happen again.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260722-1300 · Jul 22, 2026
0:37
Carol Beecher“This unprecedented and challenging situation arose when two candidates, incumbent Senator Dan Sullivan and Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., requested to appear on the ballot with identical names and party designations, indicating that Mr. Sullivan intended to confuse voters, creating the risk that voters would, in fact, be confused.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260722-1300 · Jul 22, 2026
0:51
Carol Beecher“The Supreme Court specifically chose not to adopt the portion of the Superior Court's decision as to how the names should appear on the ballot, and that left the decision to the discretion of the Division. The Division distinguished between the two candidates by using Mr. Sullivan's full name, omitting his party affiliation and adding the incumbent designation for Senator Sullivan. This was done to maximize the differentiation between these candidates so that we, we did not want any voters to be confused between the two candidates.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260722-1300 · Jul 22, 2026
0:25
Ky Holland“My first question was the same question that Chair Carrick just asked, so I'm just going to go straight to the follow-up because I had the same concern about connecting the dots between the data that was released and how that was maybe going to be used, and maybe this was a manifestation of what we were all concerned about was that that would happen.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260722-1300 · Jul 22, 2026
0:46
Ashley Carrick“you've been given a list of people that are considered potentially non-citizens and therefore by law are not eligible to be registered to vote. So you're saying all they have to do is contact you and say, yes, I'm a citizen, or no, I'm not a citizen, and that's all you do. But at what point do you say, well, it says the evidence that I have indicates that they are not a citizen and then make that referral for further investigation to the Department of Law, the Attorney General's Office, to find out if they are breaking the law?”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260722-1300 · Jul 22, 2026
0:33
Carol Beecher“The Division does not have a responsibility to specific candidates. It has a responsibility to the voters to make sure that the voter intent is clear, that we protect the integrity of the electoral process, and that we prevent purposeful manipulation of the ballot.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260722-1300 · Jul 22, 2026
0:46
Carol Beecher“currently what we do is if we see that someone has voted and is listed as a noncitizen and doesn't respond back to us, then we would refer that to the Department of Law. If we have someone who is a— has been identified as a noncitizen, they're registered to vote, but they haven't voted— or I said that backwards. So, if somebody is not a citizen, got registered, but didn't vote, We would not refer that, but I don't have a good answer for you. If you could send that to me in writing, then I can provide you with a much more full answer for that.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260722-1300 · Jul 22, 2026
0:39
Carol Beecher“It is, it is not an onerous request from the division to simply contact us and confirm, and that is what we have asked them to do. We don't require paperwork, we're not requiring documentation, nothing like that. And if they call us and say they are a registered voter because I do know we're within that 30 days prior to an election for registration purposes, then we go back to their previous filing as the date so that for sure they are registered and will be on the registrar.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260722-1300 · Jul 22, 2026
0:41
Carol Beecher“On this last time that we ran our list by the Department of Motor Vehicles, we received a large number of individuals had been indicated as noncitizens.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260722-1300 · Jul 22, 2026
0:16
Ashley Carrick“isn't it already illegal for a noncitizen simply to register to vote?”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260722-1300 · Jul 22, 2026
0:39
Carol Beecher“the division continually works to make sure that the voter rolls are clear and only have legitimate registered voters on them. If we get information from a verified source and DMV collects information on citizenship, then the division must act on that, and to not act means that potentially these individuals would end up on the voter register and vote a ballot and not be a citizen.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260722-1300 · Jul 22, 2026
0:40
Ashley Carrick“you mentioned that they simply have to tell you yes or no. That they are or are not a citizen, and then you'll move them back to active status.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260722-1300 · Jul 22, 2026
1:20
Ky Holland“how should we think about this question of whether someone is presumed to be a valid voter or presumed to be an invalid voter? It seems like in this case, and you've referred to him, I think, as kind of a trusted source, or indication, but it raises to me this fundamental question of can we trust that the voter rolls are good, or if anybody makes some allegation that there's some concerns with it, do we immediately take the position that they need to be removed from the active roll and placed into some sort of suspect category.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260722-1300 · Jul 22, 2026
0:19
Andrew Gray“Can you give us a ballpark figure about how many letters went out? I— my ballpark is around 3,500.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260722-1300 · Jul 22, 2026
0:28
Carol Beecher“it's very clear that we have not heard from the DOJ regarding any list— or the list that we provided, that they identified noncitizens on that. We have not heard back from them.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260722-1300 · Jul 22, 2026
0:27
Andrew Gray“I'm curious if the Division of Elections has ever asked other candidates to respond to questions under oath. And this was a June 8th request to Dan J. Sullivan. Through the chair— Chair Gray, so you are referring to the request from the Lieutenant Governor's investigation? Yes, that is correct. The division has not requested that prior to my knowledge.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260722-1300 · Jul 22, 2026
0:47
Patty Murray“I'm very concerned by the actions by this administration that have demoralized a lot of our VA research staff and created instability in research funding and really put up barriers that has slowed the research process. On the very first day of the Trump administration, all VA research staff became subject to a hiring freeze.”
Senate Veterans' Affairs (Sullivan): Hearings to examine advancing the mission, focusing on evaluating the future of VA research. · Jul 22, 2026
0:27
Glenn Graham
“No, in fact, Senator, I can't, particularly given the accomplishments of VA. I think this comes at a very bad time. It's already been alluded that other federal sources of funding, including NIH, are facing great uncertainties now. VA research being a constant, you know, reliable source of support for research helping veterans certainly would be, would be very welcome.”Senate Veterans' Affairs (Sullivan): Hearings to examine advancing the mission, focusing on evaluating the future of VA research. · Jul 22, 2026
0:24
Patty Murray“research at the Pittsburgh VA to predict stroke risk was put on hold. Enrollment into clinical trials for advanced cancer was delayed, and a clinical trial in Florida on preventing dementia and heart disease was canceled.”
Senate Veterans' Affairs (Sullivan): Hearings to examine advancing the mission, focusing on evaluating the future of VA research. · Jul 22, 2026
0:32
Patty Murray“a VA researcher's NIH grant for studying opioid use disorder among minority veterans was canceled. Why? It was deemed DEI. Large VA research sites are also reporting their non-VA federal funding is down a third or more compared to the previous year. And in one final blow to research, the Office of Management and Budget has proposed a— or published a proposed rule that would require all federal grants, including those for VA research, to be approved by political appointees.”
Senate Veterans' Affairs (Sullivan): Hearings to examine advancing the mission, focusing on evaluating the future of VA research. · Jul 22, 2026
0:40
Patty Murray“a planned study on RSV missed its enrollment window and could not even enroll participants. Another clinical trial closed after it took 6 months to hire a researcher. The study's principal investigator and its lead clinician both resigned from the VA after that debacle.”
Senate Veterans' Affairs (Sullivan): Hearings to examine advancing the mission, focusing on evaluating the future of VA research. · Jul 22, 2026
0:51
Richard Blumenthal“I'm concerned about the effects of staffing cuts, shortages in funds for research, various actions taken by this administration that may inhibit or impede the kind of research that is done by the VA in the past. The VA has been a pathbreaker, an innovative force in American medicine.”
Senate Veterans' Affairs (Sullivan): Hearings to examine advancing the mission, focusing on evaluating the future of VA research. · Jul 22, 2026
0:33
Patty Murray“it is my intention to rip Trump's budget up and write a new one.”
Senate Veterans' Affairs (Sullivan): Hearings to examine advancing the mission, focusing on evaluating the future of VA research. · Jul 22, 2026