Peltola twists her record to make her look like she passed bills. The reality is she never had a bill signed into law

By SUZANNE DOWNING

March 22, 2026 – Mary Peltola is highlighting her legislative record in a new social media post as she campaigns for US Senate, but the claim highlights the difference between bills passing one chamber of Congress and laws actually enacted.

“Choose your fighter. My first bill to pass the House was to make sure veterans wouldn’t go hungry,” Peltola wrote, referencing legislation she sponsored while representing Alaska in Congress from 2022 to 2025.

What the post does not mention is that the bill never became law. Although it passed the House, the measure stalled in the Senate and was never signed by the president, leaving it without legal effect.

Peltola represented Alaska’s at-large congressional district from 2022 through early 2025, spanning portions of the 117th and 118th Congresses. During that time, she introduced multiple bills addressing Alaska Native land issues, fisheries, veterans, and food security.

None of the bills she introduced as the primary sponsor were enacted into law.

Her first legislative milestone came early in her tenure when a measure to establish an Office of Food Security within the Department of Veterans Affairs passed the House. The vote generated publicity at the time, but the legislation did not advance in the Senate and ultimately died at the end of the congressional session.

Two additional Peltola-sponsored bills in the 118th Congress — the Alaska Native Settlement Trust Eligibility Act and the Alaska Native Village Municipal Lands Restoration Act — gained bipartisan support and advanced through committee. However, neither passed the full House before the end of her term after she lost reelection in 2024.

Similar versions of those measures were later reintroduced by her successor, Congressman Nick Begich, and signed into law in July 2025.

Peltola is now challenging incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan in the 2026 Senate race and has begun contrasting her record with his, including messaging focused on veterans. The legislation she now objects to expands SNAP work requirements for “able-bodied adults without dependents,” now applying to adults aged 18–64 (previously up to 54) and to certain parents of older children. Recipients generally must work, volunteer, or participate in training for at least 80 hours per month to avoid a three-month limit on benefits within a three-year period. Peltola thinks this harms veterans.

Sullivan, a retired Marine colonel and member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, has sponsored and backed multiple veteran-related initiatives during his tenure.

Among those efforts, Sullivan authored legislation establishing the Alaska Native Vietnam-era Veterans Land Allotment Program, allowing eligible Alaska Native veterans who missed earlier land opportunities due to military service to apply for land allotments. He has also supported bipartisan extensions of the program, along with VA accountability measures and military infrastructure investments affecting Alaska.