Two Alaskan lawmakers—together with one Republican and one impartial—simply revealed a hand-wringing op-ed in The New York Occasions warning that the GOP’s newest funds reconciliation invoice will throw their state into chaos. The headline? “Alaska can’t survive this invoice.”
The record of horrors is lengthy: Practically 40,000 Alaskans will lose their well being protection, tens of hundreds will go hungry as SNAP advantages are slashed, rural clinics and grocery shops will disappear, colleges shall be defunded, and full communities shall be left to fend for themselves.
All of it’s true. And all of it’s the direct results of the agenda that Alaska voted for.
President Donald Trump campaigned on gutting the federal authorities—slashing Medicaid, killing meals help, ending clear vitality tax credit, and defunding companies that maintain rural America afloat. Greater than 54% of Alaskans voted for him in 2024 anyway.
This isn’t new. Crimson states have lengthy relied on the very federal applications that their politicians vow to destroy. When Trump cuts the Federal Emergency Administration Company, it’s the governors of crimson states who panic. When Medicaid is attacked, it’s rural hospitals in deep-red counties that go below. With SNAP on the chopping block, crimson states undergo probably the most. West Virginia, for instance, has 16% of its inhabitants on meals stamps.
And thru all of it, blue states maintain footing the invoice—solely to be smeared as “socialist” for insisting that the federal government ought to truly assist folks.
In reality, the small-government crowd is probably the most depending on help from the federal government. The identical politicians who rail towards handouts out of the blue demand carveouts when the axe swings their manner—like Sen. Lisa Murkowski scrambling to defend Alaska from the very legislation her constituents voted for. It’s a sample, and it’s getting previous.
Of their op-ed, the authors warn that “Alaska can’t afford to lose well being care funding,” citing the state’s excessive charges of suicide, tuberculosis, and sexually transmitted infections, together with a dire scarcity of behavioral well being companies. The kicker? They declare that the GOP cuts “will solely make these issues worse,” as if Alaska is uniquely burdened with public well being crises and subsequently deserves a everlasting federal subsidy whereas voting to disclaim one to everybody else.
Apparently, when it’s a crimson state in bother, the federal government must step in. Instantly. With money from blue states, who get nothing however scorn in return.
Alaska receives extra federal cash per capita than virtually another state. Greater than 40% of its state funds is federally funded, one-third of Alaskans is on Medicaid, and greater than 70,000 depend on SNAP—about 10% of the inhabitants. That funding comes overwhelmingly from blue states like California, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Washington—states that vote for a functioning authorities.
So, sure, Alaska is true to be scared. The invoice will devastate them. However they aren’t harmless. They helped construct the wrecking ball—and now they’re shocked to search out it swinging of their route. Actions have penalties.
“What’s the finish recreation right here? How does it assist anybody to terminate well being care protection for our most weak by crimson tape or take away meals for households who’ve restricted to no choices for gainful employment?” the op-ed says.
Nice questions. You understand who’s not making an attempt to do any of that? Democrats.
If this invoice passes and the lights begin going out in Alaska, there shall be no confusion about who flipped the swap.
