02.05.20

Sullivan Reacts to President Trump’s State of the Union Address

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) released the following statement after attending President Donald Trump’s third State of the Union address:

“Hey, Alaska. Good evening. I just came from the President's State of the Union address here in D.C. I had a special guest with me at the State of the Union. This year, it was Matt Alward—the president of United Fishermen of Alaska. I was honored to take him around, having him meet a bunch of my Senate colleagues and talk about how our state is the superpower of seafood for the whole country. And Matt is certainly one of the great leaders in that regard. 

“I thought it was a strong speech. I thought it was an optimistic speech—optimism that was actually based on real results that we're seeing in America because of our policies that we’re working on with the Trump administration. Growing the economy. Seven million new jobs created in just the last three years. The lowest unemployment rate in over 50 years. Wages are going up, poverty is going down. We're going to be bringing this economic dynamism to our state. We have to. I think we're on the verge of that.

“But there are other things that [the President] talked about—finally making progress on the opioid crisis that's so important to Alaska and America; unleashing the power of energy and the promise of energy for American workers; the boom that’s impacting our hard-working men and women, union members, blue-collar workers, manufacturing; and, of course, rebuilding our military.

“The previous administration cut defense spending by 25%. We certainly saw that in Alaska. We are rebuilding our military, and the men and women [of our military] are more effective than ever. In that regard, he talked about how our military has done such a great job recently taking out terrorists, like al Baghdadi and Soleimani, who have been threatening American lives, killing Americans. Those terrorists are no longer. 

“But I will tell you, from my perspective, the thing that was most satisfying and gratifying for any American watching this speech [were] the heroes that the president highlighted—the young, the old, veterans, recovering addicts—they represent the best of our country. We saw that tonight. I think those examples bring us together. The example that, to be honest, I got a little teary eyed [about]—so did my wife, Julie—[was] when that heroic Sergeant reunited with his wife and young kids. A number of has been through that, and it's powerful, and it means a lot in so many ways.

“So we’ve got a lot of work to do. But I think that this was a good example of things that we could work on together. The President highlighted some of those, like infrastructure, continuing our work on the military, on the economy, strong jobs, and health care. We're going to get on it. So, a good evening in D.C.”

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