Republican Alaska Rep. Nick Begich said that Senate Republicans passing his Congressional Review Act (CRA) overturned a Biden-era plan that hindered America from unlocking key resources and challenging China’s critical mineral chokehold.
The Senate passed legislation Thursday that nixed former President Joe Biden’s move to lock up more than 13 million acres of resource-rich regions across Alaska in the name of conservation. Begich told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the Biden administration made a “concerted effort to lock up Alaska’s resources,” as former President Joe Biden signed 70 executive orders targeting the state, harming rural Alaskan economies, giving China an edge in the critical minerals market and cracking down on mining, oil and gas development.
“Under the Biden administration, there was a concerted effort to lock up Alaska’s resources. We saw about 70 executive orders and actions from the Biden administration targeting Alaska specifically,” Begich told the DCNF. “It didn’t apply to other areas of the nation, and they were only Alaska specific. And so, it’s going to take some work, and we’ve started that work to unwind the attempts from the far left to close Alaska’s resources to the rest of America.”
By a vote of 50-46, the #Senate passed H.J.Res.106, Sullivan Biden BLM’s Central Yukon Regional Management Plan CRA.
Party line vote with Senators Cortez Masto, Cotton, Cruz and McConnell not voting.
— Senate Press Gallery (@SenatePress) October 9, 2025
Begich introduced the CRA to the House in July, where GOP representatives passed it in September. Republican Alaska Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan introduced the CRA to the Senate, where it passed by a 50-46 vote on Thursday. The legislation now awaits President Donald Trump’s signature.
The Biden administration’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) November 2024 plan locked up lands across Central Yukon, a resource-rich region in Alaska. The CRA will allow Alaska to advance mining projects and a key gas pipeline that will bolster the state’s economy and help provide vital energy resources to the rest of America, Begich told the DCNF.
“Alaska has 49 of the 50 critical minerals on the critical minerals list, and we have those minerals in economic quantities. Some of them are actually located in this part of the state,” Begich said. “We have copper, we have zinc, we have cobalt, we have graphite, we have germanium and rare earths as well in this part of the state. And that’s what makes this action so important.”
China has a monopoly over critical minerals despite America’s vast rare earth mining opportunities. The U.S. imports 80% of the rare earth minerals it uses, primarily from China, which accounts for a majority of the world’s rare earth mining and 92% of refining capacity.
Begich explained to the DNCF previously that his state can significantly aid America in achieving energy dominance through its natural gas and mining opportunities. He added that Alaska’s vast oil and natural gas reserves can play a key role in meeting the country’s growing energy needs.
“Alaska has, by some estimates, well over 100 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, both discovered and estimated undiscovered, on the North Slope,” Begich said, and added that Central Yukon was a “critical component of ensuring” Alaska can develop a liquified natural gas (LNG) pipeline that traces much of the route for the existing key oil pipeline in the state.
The Biden administration imposed tighter restrictions on Alaska’s energy sector by rejecting key components of proposed mining projects, halting oil and gas leasing across 13 million acres on the North Slope and canceling drilling leases, among other actions.
The GOP representative also referenced the Trump administration’s recent Monday reversal of the block placed on the Alaska Ambler Road project by the Biden administration. Trump signed a day-one executive order to unleash the state’s energy resource potential for America’s economic and national security while Biden set up barrier after barrier for energy development in the state.
“What the Biden administration tried to do in this region of the state was they tried to seal off access to state of Alaska lands, to federal lands, to Alaska Native lands, by strategically selecting parcels of land and giving them a designation that would prevent us from building roads,” Begich continued.
Murkowski and Sullivan also stressed the necessity of passing the CRA.
“I didn’t want to have to overturn this RMP, because I really do respect much of the work that was done,” Murkowski said on the Senate floor Thursday. “But the problem that we’ve got here… is that the Biden administration… left us with no choice. They lost sight of the need for balanced management. They dropped any pretense of it from the final plan.”
Sullivan recalled in his Thursday Senate floor speech confronting Biden over his actions locking up Alaska’s resources.
“I said, ‘Mr. President, why are you doing this? Why are you going to war with my people, working families [and] Americans? You’re sanctioning Alaska more than you sanction Iran and Venezuela and they’re terrorist regimes!’ He didn’t know. I don’t think he knew what was going on,” Sullivan said. “Critical minerals that our country needs are in this area. … Let us develop critical minerals in Alaska as opposed to relying on them from China.”
The CRA is the third bill introduced by Begich that will head to the president’s desk, the other two also centered around aiding impoverished communities in his state.
Begich also stressed that many regions the Biden administration locked up, including Central Yukon, host some impoverished communities that depend on energy for economic development.
“In Alaska, when we talk about rural, we’re talking about communities that cannot be reached by road… In these towns, you can see diesel prices higher than $15 per gallon,” Begich said, noting that delivery costs can drop by up to 90% for these communities when they are connected to a road. “That’s why connecting these communities is so important.”
Notably, though Biden invoked “indigenous knowledge” to crack down on energy development in some key regions in Alaska, some native community leaders told the DCNF previously that they did not feel respected by the administration and that these moves endangered their whole economy.
“We’re here to do work the voters of Alaska sent me to Washington to get done. Proud to say that we have a great team and great support within the congress that’s allowing us to get a lot done. There’s more to come,” Begich told the DCNF. “I’m excited about being here and seeing a House, a Senate and a presidency aligned so that we can deliver on the promises that were made during the campaign for the American people.”
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