Rep. Don Young is on the U.S. House’s negotiating team for the GOP’s tax cut bill.
Young will be among a team of nine representatives on the House committee that will hash out the differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill. Some of the significant differences between the bill are the Senate’s inclusions of provisions to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling and to repeal the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate.
The appointment came after the conservative Freedom Caucus members threatened to withhold support from the appointment of the conference committee over budget concerns.
Murkowski said in a press call with Alaska news outlets after the Friday-night vote that she would be pushing for Young to be part of the conference committee, according to a reported account in the Anchorage Daily News. It appears that Young’s involvement will be on issues outside taxes and spending, which means he’ll be there to go to bat for the portions of the bill that open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.
His involvement on the issue comes as a dozen House Republicans have registered their opposition to the ANWR provisions in a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Young is, was and always will be a prostitute for the oil companies and developers of pristine Alaska. He hates the fact that much of potential oil fields in protected areas of the State are owned by all Americans equally, not to Alaska alone. He rejects the public trust responsibility of federal agencies for public lands, as do most, though not all, Republicans. He is and has consistently been an embarrassment to all Alaskans and most other Americans.