Warrenweldon

Alaska’s experience shows why the hepatitis B birth dose is essential. Before vaccination, hepatitis B was endemic in parts of Western Alaska, with infection rates as high as 30 percent in some communities. In the early 1980s, after the vaccine, Alaska responded by launching a statewide screening and vaccination effort, offering Alaska Native infants the vaccine starting at birth, alongside school-based catch-up programs. Now, for more than 30 years, there have been no new symptomatic hepatitis B cases among Alaska Native children under 20. Weakening or delaying the birth dose risks undoing decades of progress—especially in rural Alaska. I wholly disagree with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s decision to sign off on these recommendations. axios.com/2025/12/17/hepatit…

Twelve years ago today, I was informed the Interior Department would be rejecting a short, one-lane, gravel road to connect King Cove to Cold Bay. That was a horrible setback, and the community has endured more than 200 medevacs since then. But we didn’t give up; we pushed on, and this year, a land exchange agreement was finally completed. Here on December 23, 2025, I’m thinking about the good people of King Cove—and hopeful their life-saving road will be a reality in the very near future.

Happy New Year, Alaska!

I continue to hope the administration’s rhetoric on Greenland is nothing more than posturing for a new era of cooperation, because any effort to claim or take the territory by force would degrade both our national security and our international relationships. We have a long history of close cooperation with Greenland, dating back to World War II and continuing today with the Pituffik Space Base, and have always been able to achieve our mutual goals through strong diplomacy with its people. As Greenland charts its future, we must see it as an ally, not an asset, and focus on continued partnership rather than possession.

Many of those facing significant landslide hazards lack access to sufficient data, monitors, and forecasting abilities to warn residents when they are in danger. Our passage of my bills puts us on track to ensure that federal agencies have the resources they need to help keep communities safe. alaskabeacon.com/briefs/land…

Today, my colleagues and I voted to bring a resolution to the Senate floor that would require Congressional approval for further military operations against Venezuela. This will allow the Senate to begin debate on this measure following President Trump’s statements yesterday suggesting that the United States could remain in Venezuela for years, while failing to rule out the deployment of American troops on the ground. Such outcomes clearly require Congressional authorization. I want to acknowledge and commend the remarkable bravery, technical mastery, and operational precision demonstrated by the U.S. servicemembers and intelligence professionals involved in the January 3 mission to remove Maduro. This operation exemplifies the level of coordination and advanced capability that only U.S. military power can deliver. Nicolás Maduro is a dictator who led a brutally oppressive regime, and Venezuela—along with the rest of the world—is better off without him in power. However, there remains deep uncertainty surrounding the path forward for Venezuela’s political transition, the implications for regional stability, and whether the United States has a clear and achievable end goal. I have long been an advocate for the relevance of Congress in its constitutional role over the use of military force, and Venezuela is no different. Any future use of force or significant policy shift in Venezuela must include robust Congressional oversight and authorization, consistent with our Constitutional responsibilities, the rule of law, and a clear assessment of the benefits to the American people.

The videos I’ve seen from Minneapolis yesterday are deeply disturbing. As we mourn this loss of life, we need a thorough and objective investigation into how and why this happened—which will require full cooperation from the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, along with the local authorities—and for the political rhetoric to be toned down. Immigration enforcement activities have greatly increased, leading to heightened tensions across the country. We need to ensure ICE officers have the necessary training and resources to safely—and with empathy and respect for human life—carry out these activities. As part of the investigation, I am calling for recommendations and policy changes to help prevent future tragedies. Yesterday was devastating, and cannot happen again.