Alaska News

Alaska lawmakers cross party lines in vote to arm Syrian rebels

Democratic Alaska Sen. Mark Begich on Thursday voted against a measure backed by President Barack Obama to equip and train moderate Syrian rebels fighting the Islamic State, breaking with the Senate majority leader, other Alaska lawmakers in the Capitol and his Republican opponent, Dan Sullivan.

The measure was contained in a larger Senate bill to temporarily keep the government funded. The Senate passed the bill right before lawmakers began leaving Washington, D.C., to campaign in midterm elections.

Begich, facing a tough re-election race, spoke Thursday on the Senate floor before the vote and said the fight against terrorism should not have been lumped with the issue of funding the U.S. government.

"It shouldn't be just shoved into a continuing resolution just for the purpose of getting all this done because we all think we have to leave by Thursday night or Friday morning," Begich said. "It's a pretty significant issue. "

He said he does not support arming Syrian rebels and said Arab nations need to "step up to the plate" and get combat troops on the ground.

Begich joined eight Democrats, 12 Republicans and one independent in voting against funding the Syrian rebels. Supporting the plan were 33 Republicans, 44 Democrats and one independent.

Sullivan was quick to offer a rebuttal to Begich's vote. His campaign released a strong-worded statement Thursday attacking Obama for showing "weakness overseas" and blaming Begich for enabling that weakness by "taking options off the table."

ADVERTISEMENT

"Saying no to everything is not foreign policy," Sullivan said, adding that he would have backed the Senate bill because ISIS is a real threat.

"Moving forward, we need a serious strategy to ultimately destroy ISIS that encompasses all instruments of American power -- diplomatic, finance, military and above all economic," Sullivan said in the statement.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski supported the bill, though she said in a prepared statement that she voted yes mainly to keep the government funded. She said she had doubts about Obama's strategy in Syria and said while his plan does contain short-term reporting requirements, it focuses on only a narrow time frame.

"While I am extremely frustrated by funding the government through stopgap continuing resolutions, I could not threaten our state's economy by voting otherwise as a protest vote," she said.

In the statement, Murkowski called on Congress to make it a priority to debate defense legislation when it returns in November.

On Wednesday, the House moved the funding bill forward in a 273-156 vote, with 114 Democrats and 159 Republicans supporting the measure and 85 Democrats and 71 Republicans voting against it.

Alaska's lone congressman, Republican Don Young, sided with the majority. In a press release, he said he voted to arm and train Syrian rebels to lessen the chance of another war in which masses of U.S. forces would be sent overseas.

"Ultimately, I supported this amendment because I believe we cannot turn a blind eye to the atrocities against humanity currently going on in Iraq and Syria," Young said.

Young, the most senior Republican in the House, will face Democrat Forrest Dunbar in November's election.

Tegan Hanlon

Tegan Hanlon was a reporter for the Anchorage Daily News between 2013 and 2019. She now reports for Alaska Public Media.

ADVERTISEMENT