One Republican has an 'urgent reason to be outspoken' about Trump’s megabill

02 June

Donald Trump gestures at Turning Point USA's AmericaFest in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S., December 22, 2024. REUTERS/Cheney Orr/File Photo

Although Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) isn't a full-fledged Never Trumper, she is, at times, more willing to openly criticize President Donald Trump than other GOP senators.

Murkowski voted "guilty" in Trump's second impeachment trial, said she wouldn't vote for either Trump or Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in the United States' 2024 presidential election, and voted against confirming some of Trump's nominees (including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and FBI Director Kash Patel). Conservative but not far right, Murkowski says she considers herself "more of a Ronald Reagan Republican" than a "Trump Republican."

In an article published on June 2, the New York Times' Catie Edmondson describes the role Murkowski could play in shaping Trump's "big, beautiful bill — which was narrowly passed, 215-214, in the U.S. House of Representatives and is now being considered in the U.S. Senate.

"Now, as Senate Republicans take up sprawling legislation carrying Mr. Trump’s domestic agenda," Edmondson reports, "Ms. Murkowski is poised to become one of the most influential voices demanding changes to her party's signature bill. She has already indicated that there are at least two major provisions in the measure that she does not support: adding stringent new work requirements to Medicaid, and the termination of clean energy tax credits established under the Biden Administration — a repeal that Speaker Mike Johnson accelerated to help win the support of conservatives to muscle the legislation through the House."

Murkowksi said of the bill, "There are provisions in there that are very, very, very challenging, if not impossible, for us to implement."

Edmondson notes that the conservative Club for Growth is pointing to Murkowski as someone who may "block Trump's agenda."

"Mr. Trump has made it clear that he does not appreciate Ms. Murkowski's dissent, including her among a group of Republican senators he called 'unbelievably disloyal,'" the Times reporter observes. "Ms. Murkowski, who, at 68, is serving her fourth full term in the Senate, has never been easily cowed by the prevailing political winds in her party…. Now, Ms. Murkowski has another, more urgent reason to be outspoken."

Edmondson adds, "Alaska relies more heavily on federal funding and programs than perhaps any other in the country, with roughly 37 percent of the state’s annual budget coming from the federal government, according to the Foraker Group, a nonpartisan group that serves Alaska’s nonprofit and tribal organizations."

Read Catie Edmondson's full New York Times article at this link (subscription required).

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