U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy visited Anchorage’s international airport and the Don Young Port of Alaska on Tuesday, becoming the latest in a string of members of President Donald Trump’s cabinet to visit the state this month.
Duffy held a roundtable Tuesday at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport along with U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan and Rep. Nick Begich, after which he touted federal funding for improvements to aviation safety included in the budget reconciliation bill that was signed into law last month.
That law authorized $12 billion in spending on air traffic control across the country. Of that, $120 million was already dedicated to Alaska, Sullivan said.
“For too long, the Lower 48 and specifically the swamp in Washington, D.C., hasn’t heard the plea from Alaska for more help. And really, we need better technology,” said Duffy during a press conference held at the airport. “If we’re going to bring people and supplies and services into our communities, we use aviation, and we need it to be safer. That message has been heard loud and clear from your delegation.”
“This administration doesn’t see you as their playground. They see you as a state that deserves respect,” Duffy added.
Sullivan is known for asking cabinet nominees to commit to visiting Alaska as a condition for his vote to confirm them.
“I had never met Sen. Sullivan before, and one of the first things he asked me is, if confirmed, do I promise to come to Alaska,” said Duffy. “It’s not a hard ask. It’s an easy yes.”
Duffy said he had last been to Alaska in 1994, when he participated in a lumberjack competition at the state fair in Palmer.
Following the airport visit, Duffy toured the Port of Alaska alongside Sullivan and U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski. They were joined by Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance and several Anchorage Assembly members, who spoke about the importance of port improvements to the state.
Duffy visited the port two years after former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited it. Efforts to modernize the port — funded in part with grants secured under previous administrations — are underway.
Murkowski also spoke with Duffy about the importance of constructing a deepwater port closer to the Arctic. Though federal funding has been allocated to the Port of Nome, the project has been repeatedly delayed.
Duffy’s visit came on the same day that the Federal Highway Administration awarded $37 million to the Alaska Marine Highway Administration.
“Ferries are critical,” Duffy said. “Probably more critical here than in other places.”
