By REP. KEVIN MCCABE
April 1, 2026 – I’ve fought for a full statutory Permanent Fund dividend since the day I got to Juneau, and I haven’t changed my position one bit.
The Permanent Fund dividend is not some gift from government, and it’s not a favor politicians hand out when they get around to it. It is your share of Alaska’s resource wealth. That money belongs to the people of this state, not the political class in Juneau, not the House Finance Committee, and not the endless appetite of government.
That’s why what happened yesterday in House Finance made me angry.
One of the Finance co-chairs, a Democrat, offered an amendment to start the budget process with a full statutory PFD, estimated this year somewhere around $3,600 to $3,900. That vote mattered for a lot more than just the final check amount, because in this building, where you start is usually where everything goes sideways.
If the budget starts with a zero PFD, then every extra revenue dollar gets treated like found money for government. This year we are looking at roughly a $450 million surplus because oil prices came in stronger than expected. Instead of asking how much of that should go back to the people, too many in this Legislature immediately start asking what else they can spend it on. They think your dividend is free money.
That’s the mindset in Juneau, government first, families second; programs first, the people second; agencies first, and finally, your dividend if there is anything left. That is exactly backwards, and it has been backwards in this town for far too long. It’s what this amendment was trying to force into the open.
Starting with a full statutory PFD would have forced a more honest conversation. It would have made people show their math. It would have forced every new spending request to compete against the reality that Alaskans are supposed to come first. If people want to talk about discipline or budget restraint, it starts there. You do not get there by pretending the PFD is optional while government is somehow always mandatory.
Most Republicans on Finance understood precisely what this was. It was a real opportunity to force the spenders to defend their priorities instead of just assuming your dividend is the first thing cut whenever government wants to spend more.
Unfortunately, two Republican members broke ranks, ignored you and the Republican Platform, voted with the Democrats, and the amendment failed. Your PFD is still zero.
Now the pro-PFD Democrat who offered that amendment gets to go home and say he fought for a full PFD while Republicans stopped it. That only works because we gave him the opening.
At the end of the day, those two Republican members are likely voting the way they believe their districts want them to vote: against a full PFD. I don’t live in their districts, and I’m not going to pretend to speak for the people who sent them here. But if you do live in those districts and you think they got this wrong, then it is up to you to tell them so. That’s how this is supposed to work.
If voters want a full PFD, then they need to make that unmistakably clear, not just in emails and phone calls, but eventually at the ballot box. The only thing that shifts this pattern is electing Republicans who do not just talk about supporting the PFD at election time, but who will actually vote that way when it counts.
What irritates me so much is not just the vote, but the fact that it was completely avoidable.
When we are talking about one of the biggest issues facing Alaska families, there should not be confusion about where Republicans stand. There should not be hesitation on whether the people come first or government comes first. This is one of the clearest issues we have, especially right now when families are trying to pay for groceries, keep up with heating fuel prices, cover insurance, stay ahead of housing costs, and deal with the cost of just about everything else going up around them.
And in the middle of all that, even some Republicans in Juneau still act like the first claim on your money belongs to government.
I reject that, and I always will.
The PFD belongs to the people of Alaska. It should not be treated like a slush fund for politicians who refuse to control spending, and it should not be the first place government goes every time it runs out of restraint. That does not mean we ignore the long-term health of the Permanent Fund or pretend the rest of the budget does not matter. We need a sustainable path, and we need to be responsible. But “responsible” does not mean automatically siding with bigger government every time there is a conflict between the bureaucracy and the people.
This vote did not end the fight. There will be more budget fights on the floor, and there will likely be a conference committee before this is over. I will keep pushing for the strongest PFD possible because that is what I was sent here to do.
You deserve to know what happened, and you deserve to know when the process is being set up against the people before the real debate even starts.
Starting with a zero PFD helps cap the big spenders. Starting with a full statutory PFD forces accountability and makes them justify taking your dividend.
I came to Juneau to fight for the people who actually pay the bills in this state, not to make excuses for the system that keeps picking your pocket. That has not changed, and it is not going to.
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13 thoughts on “Rep. Kevin McCabe: Why I’m angry about the latest PFD vote”
Voters do need to make it unmistakably clear! There are 10 senate seats up for re-election and we need to put 20 challengers against them in the primary.
All 40 representatives are up for re-election and we need to put 20 challengers up for their seats too. If we flood the primary we can throw them off the general ticket. As much as those in Juneau would like you to forget we still do have a primary. And it’s the top four vote getters that go on to the general ticket.
Well. If any of the gubernatorial candidates live in one of those districts and it hasn’t yet a Republican challenger. They should drop out of the Governor race for a district legislative seat.
The AkGOP Chairwoman has no leadership up skills who cares more about events and parties than keeping Leaders under control
There is important arithmetic, quite lop-sided arithmetic, to consider. Municipal governments pay lobbyists more than do our major productive industries combined; oil, mining & cruise ship tourism. So anyone paying local taxes is paying lobbyists and the AK Municipal League to work on minimizing or eliminating the PFD. NGO’s and gov construction contractors also have lobbyists working on adjusting the take, favoring state spending over the PFD. Public employee unions lobby every day for bigger government. Who is lobbying for PFD recipients? Where is the balance of power? Who lobbies for government to remain the same size or be reduced?
This is a huge election year. Soon we will see public employee unions, Planned Parenthood, environmental nonprofits and the like going door to door for candidates who support more government, often using people brought to AK just for that purpose. The League of Women Voters will be helping candidates. Muni assembly members will be working on selected campaigns. Alaskans who go to work every day, pay their taxes, and vote two or three times a year but don’t otherwise participate in the huge political process have very little real say, but worse than that their local taxes are in part spent against their interests.
Until there are real consequences (personal physical pain and/or financial loss), unfortunately I believe nothing will change, and the State elected leadership will continue to “steal” the PFD from Alaskans.
This is why they continue to skulk in their party town bunker of Juneau “can’t be where those wretched citizens might cause them personal discomfort”
Well then(!!!), maybe it’s appropriate and warranted to administer the personal … ‘discomfort’ // ‘pain’ // ‘financial loss’ to others within their circles? If we’re going to suffer from their poor actions, shouldn’t they???
I share the same sinking feeling sentiment that things in Alaska must worsen first to make the people of Alaska see it’s not the leaders that need changing so much as its the peoples hearts needing changing first
My greatest concern isn’t so much if things worsen it’s what will be the response from Alaskans living without Christ. You can live through a disaster and not lose your hope IF you have Christ. But if you don’t have Christ in you then you are utterly discouraged and hopeless and that kind of hopelessness ends lives prematurely. If God lets things that been already sowed on Alaska roll itself out people will need Christ to carry them through the Bad time as well events are worsening declining our standard of living
Something to think about from various bibke scripture about God. He cares more about peoples hearts than just our physical comforts. He cares about our physical comforts too, but it’s our hearts He’s after. Sufferings, Famines, Difficulties they are proven Tests that get us to see our own hearts and how far we had strayed chasing after idols and pleasures.
Just who were the two Republican “scum bags” that stole our PFD. Plz we need the names of these 2.
it was Stapp and Bynum. I just watched it.
These legislators you have to see they are government dependents that is they have never really worked in a private sector job neither had their friends and family members
Hold them accountable for what mistakes they make out of their ignorance but getting Furious at them for not knowing any better is like a parent screaming at a two year-five year old for not knowing any better, how could a small child know better when he’s been in the world less than 5 years and copies everyone around him.
Good written response about those legislators lack of basic understanding of the PFD, fiscal restraint, small governments and if it wasn’t for the private sectir government would have no money at all
Please tell us who the two were. Why wouldn’t you just name them in your blog?
Tavoliero frames it up.
https://mustreadalaska.com/michael-tavoliero-the-end-run-how-politicians-transformed-the-pfd-into-a-hidden-tax/#:~:text=The%20Alaska%20Permanent%20Fund%20Dividend%20was%20built%20to%20reverse%20that%20model.&text=Alaska's%20constitution%2C%20particularly%20Article%20VIII%2C%20was%20written%20to