By FRITZ PETTYJOHN
Democrats in Juneau want to zero out the Permanent Fund Dividend, and it’s up to Republicans in the minority to stop them. They need to make a non-negotiable demand that a 2026 PFD of no less than $1,000 be approved this session.
They have the power to do it.
In 1989, when the proposed constitutional amendment creating the Constitutional Budget Reserve (CBR) came to the House floor, the Republican Minority, in which I served, demanded an amendment. We insisted that a ¾ vote of each House would be required for any withdrawals from the CBR that were to be made in the future. A 2/3 vote wasn’t good enough. It would be too easy to “buy off” a few minority votes to get to 2/3.
So, if six Republican state senators, or 11 representatives, refuse to allow any withdrawal from the CBR without the dividend, the Democrats who control the legislature will be in a box. All their budgetary planning needs money from the CBR to work.
Unfortunately it will probably take public pressure to get the minority Republicans to take this stand.
The PFD has always been a Republican idea, going all the way back to its inception, by Republican Gov. Jay Hammond. Democrats didn’t like it then, and they don’t like it now. They want to spend the money on their priorities. They don’t trust the people with their own money. They are the party of, by, and for government.
So if Alaskans, whether Republican, Democrat, or independent, want their dividend, they need to tell the minority Republicans to show some courage, and take a stand for the PFD.
If the people want their dividend, they will need to make their voices heard.
3 thoughts on “Fritz Pettyjohn: Minority Republicans can stop a ‘zero PFD,’ if they have the courage”
I say, ” Don’t try and stop them”. Talk about a 3rd rail in a election year. Want to elect true Republicans? Let the Democrats and RINO’s do this and cancel the PFD in a election year. Some times, you have to just sit back and let the Dem’s screw up. Just like the mayor in NY city
If you think any parents who are liberals and want their $4-8 thousand dollar check for them and their kids go away, this is a vote for Republicans. Minority’s will all be R’s. Actually, the Republicans should fight back for at least a $1 PFD. Watch the polls change in October for November when people start getting a $1 check!
Your argument about the PFD in an election year is spot on. There is no way anybody in the Legislature is going to “zero out” the PFD this year. But there is also no way there will be $3500 dividends distributed, either. My prediction is another $1000 or so dividend as a kicking-the-can-down-the-road measure, after a fight at the end of the session, until next year. But you can kiss the BIG dividends goodbye. Increasing taxes ought to be another wake-up call. Eventually, as economic realities take hold, the parasites will fly south.
Any Republican that votes for the steaming pile of cow manure called the CS, needs to be censured by their district.
When did forward funding become “a thing” to put in a CS? When did throwing an extra $30 Million in for “crazy money” become “a thing” ⁉️
Monday just vote NO. That’s a real thing. Like Fritz says, deny them any money from the CBR and you effectively have a spending limit that blocks any of their insane new programs.