04.21.21

Sullivan Lauds Alaska Lawsuit Against CDC to Salvage Cruise Season

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) today released the following statement regarding Governor Mike Dunleavy’s (R-Alaska) announcement yesterday that the State of Alaska will join a Florida lawsuit against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) challenging the legal authority of the agency’s Conditional Sailing Order (CSO), which is preventing coastal communities and cruise lines from planning to safely resume operations this summer. 

“Enough is enough. I fully support Governor Dunleavy’s decision to sue the CDC given the agency’s many months of mixed messages, foot dragging and unresponsiveness. If not immediately addressed, the CDC’s inaction will needlessly cancel the 2021 Alaska cruise season, leaving the tens of thousands of Alaskans who rely on cruise passenger spending without any revenue until May 2022. The CDC has had every opportunity to work collaboratively with the cruise lines and Alaska port communities to issue timely guidance for safely resuming operations—a process that has been afforded to every other transportation and hospitality sector. If the CDC can’t agree to do its job and publish guidance for the safe resumption of cruise travel, then we’ll have a federal judge help them. I will be on the Senate floor today calling for an immediate vote on the CRUISE Act, legislation that I introduced with Florida Senators Rick Scott and Marco Rubio, which reinforces the state’s efforts.”

On April 13, Senators Sullivan, Rick Scott (R-Fla.), and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) introduced the Careful Resumption Under Improved Safety Enhancements (CRUISE) Act, which would revoke the CDC’s current Conditional Sailing Order on cruises and require the CDC to provide COVID-19 mitigation guidance for cruise lines to resume safe operations. Representatives Don Young (R-Alaska) and María Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) introduced companion legislation in the House of Representatives.

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