Latest news with #Murkowski
Boston Globe
an hour ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Lisa Murkowski isn't using ‘nice words' about life under Trump
She opposed the confirmations of Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, and Kash Patel, the FBI director. She has voted repeatedly to block Trump's tariffs on most U.S. trading partners. She has publicly lamented Republicans' obeisance to Trump as he tramples on legislative prerogatives, saying that it is 'time for Congress to reassert itself.' She said Trump's Oval Office dressing-down of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy left her 'sick to my stomach' and recently called his decision to end deportation protections for Afghan refugees 'a historic betrayal.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up And she has been frank about the dilemma faced by Republicans like her who are dismayed about the president's policies and pronouncements but worried that speaking out about them could bring death threats or worse. Advertisement 'We are all afraid,' she told constituents in April, adding: 'I'm oftentimes very anxious myself about using my voice, because retaliation is real. And that's not right.' Advertisement Now, as Senate Republicans take up legislation carrying Trump's domestic agenda, Murkowski is poised to become one of the most influential voices demanding changes to her party's signature bill. She has 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. 'There are provisions in there that are very, very, very challenging, if not impossible, for us to implement,' Murkowski said of the work requirements the day after the House passed its bill. Senate Republicans have a relatively small majority, with three votes to spare. And a number of other GOP senators have publicly aired qualms with the bill's provisions dealing with Medicaid, including Josh Hawley of Missouri and Susan Collins of Maine. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin have agitated for even deeper cuts to the program and others like it, warning that the bill as passed by the House would balloon federal deficits to unacceptable levels. But when the Club for Growth, the anti-tax group, unveiled an ad campaign last week pressing the Senate to pass the bill, they targeted a single Republican who they said must act to avoid a looming tax hike. 'It's in Lisa Murkowski's hands to stop it by extending and expanding Trump's tax cuts,' says the ad, which is running in both Alaska and Washington. 'Tell Murkowski: Don't block Trump's agenda.' Advertisement Trump has made it clear that he does not appreciate Murkowski's dissent, including her among a group of Republican senators he called 'unbelievably disloyal.' 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. She was first appointed to the Senate in 2002 by her father, Sen. Frank Murkowski, who had served there for two decades before resigning to become governor of Alaska. And she has held on to the seat through a period of remarkable political upheaval inside the GOP, maintaining a centrist bent and an independent streak along the way. In 2010, after she was defeated in her Republican primary and lost the support of party leaders in Washington, she won reelection in a write-in campaign. Most recently, she defeated a Trump-backed rival in 2022 to keep her seat, overcoming a conservative backlash against her independent streak and her vote to convict Trump in his impeachment trial for incitement of insurrection after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Now, Murkowski has another, more urgent reason to be outspoken. Alaska relies more heavily on federal funding and programs than perhaps any other in the country, with roughly 37% 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. She has said that it is not uncommon lately for her constituents — many of them simply address her as 'Lisa,' an informality running back to when Alaskans referred to late Sen. Ted Stevens as 'Uncle Ted' — to approach her in tears. 'I do feel like I'm shouldering the concerns from many Alaskans that have stopped me, that have shared their worries — whether it's reduction in forces, cuts to grants, impacts that we're seeing from some of the abrupt activities here in Washington, D.C.,' Murkowski, who declined to be interviewed for this story, said recently on Alaska Public Radio. Advertisement Already the reverberations from Washington have shaken the Last Frontier State. Millions of dollars in federal grants for public health initiatives and infrastructure projects were frozen or canceled. Firings and forced resignations have swept National Weather Service employees in the state and the National Marine Fisheries Service, responsible for managing the nation's seafood harvest. The behemoth, sprawling nature of the state also means that many everyday services typically provided by local governments — like emergency and utility services — are provided by nonprofits, which rely heavily on federal funds. 'There's a lot of anxiety, a lot of fear and — I think some would say by design — a lot of confusion,' said Laurie Wolf, president of the Foraker Group. 'There is no single source of information about what funding is in place or not in place, or frozen or under review. There's no source of information, so all we have is, one by one by one, people telling us what's happening.' Two laws passed during the Biden administration, a sweeping climate law and the bipartisan infrastructure law, which Murkowski helped write and called 'one of the most consequential legislative efforts I've worked on,' delivered Alaska billions of dollars of federal money. Under the infrastructure bill, Alaska received the most funding per capita in the country — a total of more than $8 billion. Advertisement Almost immediately after Trump began his second term, his administration moved to freeze or cancel those funds. 'We're having a crazy moment right now, where we're going from a once-in-a-lifetime infrastructure and infusion of money to resources to a change in policy where it's all uncertainty,' said Ben Mallott, president of the Alaska Federation of Natives, the state's largest statewide Native organization. That has turned Murkowski into a one-woman lobbyist. 'It has to be multifaceted, because everything and everybody is different,' she said recently at another event in Anchorage. 'I have been collecting a lot of new phone numbers to send texts to very busy people.' She has texted Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration planned to fire thousands of workers; called Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary, to express her opposition to the White House's proposal to eliminate Head Start; and pressed Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, on plans to gut AmeriCorps. She recounted the time she texted Lutnick, a former New York-based financier, about concerns among Alaska's fishermen that mass layoffs at NOAA would upend their halibut and sablefish harvests. 'Now for him, that's nothing but gobbledygook. So I sent a second text saying, 'Have you ever had black cod at a fancy restaurant when it's soaked in miso? It's really good. This is what I'm talking about,'' Murkowski said, referring to the dish made famous by Nobu Matsuhisa. 'He responded instantly after I said that.' Her biggest fight may be yet to come. Murkowski has said she worries that major cuts to Medicaid could be 'devastating' to her state, where close to 40% of Alaskan children receive coverage through the program. A report commissioned by the state government last year found that 24% of the state's adults receive services through Medicaid -- up from 11% a decade ago, primarily because of the expansion of the program spurred by the Affordable Care Act. Advertisement At issue are the work requirements that House Republicans approved for the program to scale back its cost, which would begin at the end of 2026, a timeline Murkowski has said may be difficult for Alaska to adopt. 'In Alaska, it's just a little bit different: if you're out in a rural area where you don't have the opportunity for jobs, unless you are to move into the city or you're the full-time caregiver for someone in your family,' she said. 'These are considerations that I think need to be taken into account. Having some level of flexibility that is directed by states, as opposed to a national level.' The Alaska Legislature voted in May to urge the state's congressional delegation to oppose cuts to Medicaid. Murkowski, by her own account, has encouraged her constituents to 'continue to raise your voice.' Referring to a series of demonstrations that Alaskans have held to protest cuts to federal programs, Murkowski said, 'I'm not running from that.' 'I'm saying, 'Good, continue to speak up,'' she said on a local radio show. 'Because as soon as Alaskans stop speaking up, it's going to let your lawmakers know that, I guess we're just OK with things. And as I've listened to Alaskans, I don't think Alaskans are saying things are OK.' This article originally appeared in .
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
6 Senate Republicans who could hold up Trump's ‘big, beautiful bill'
Senate Republicans will take control of the party's mammoth tax and domestic policy bill when they return to Washington on Monday — and seek to win over a diverse group of GOP lawmakers agitating for changes to the legislation. Members are staring down a key four-week stretch to hammer out provisions of the bill, with their Fourth of July goal in sight and pressure mounting to complete President Trump's top domestic agenda priority. The bill narrowly passed the House last month after Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) struck a fragile compromise with different factions of his conference. But there are still Senate Republicans who could gum up the works as Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) works to shepherd the legislation through the upper chamber with only three votes to spare. Here's a look at a half-dozen of those lawmakers to watch in the coming weeks. Murkowski, one of the foremost Senate GOP moderates, is atop the list of the members Thune and his leadership team will have to win over, and she has already indicated she has a number of concerns. Although Murkowski voted for the Senate GOP's budget resolution — which served as the blueprint for the bill — in early April, she told reporters she was worried about three items. Among those is the impact of potential Medicaid work requirements, as she believes her state will have trouble implementing them due to its outdated payment systems for the program. 'There are provisions in there that are very, very, very challenging if not impossible for us to implement,' Murkowski said. She has also expressed worries about what the Medicaid changes could mean for tribal communities in her state, which are heavily reliant on Medicaid for health coverage. On top of that, she and three of her colleagues have expressed concerns with language in the House bill that would nix wind, solar and geothermal energy tax credits that were put in place by the Inflation Reduction Act. He's not a name that usually ends up on these lists, but Hawley has been perhaps the most vocal member of the Senate GOP conference about potential cuts to Medicaid benefits. He has maintained that the Medicaid cuts are a red line for him in backing the final package — even as conservatives in the House have shown an interest in taking a hatchet to the health care program. And he has a key player in the entire effort seemingly on his side. 'We ought to just do what the president says,' Hawley told reporters last month after the House passed the bill. Two days earlier, Trump had told House Republicans in a closed-door meeting to 'leave Medicaid alone.' Hawley added that he spoke with Trump about the state of play. 'His exact words were, 'Don't touch it, Josh,'' Hawley told reporters. 'I said, 'Hey, we're on the same page.'' Hawley has also shown a willingness to take that stand on the floor. During the chamber's first vote-a-rama in February, Hawley sided with Democrats on an amendment that would have prevented tax cuts for wealthy Americans if Medicaid funding is slashed. Any cuts to Medicaid beneficiaries would hit the Show Me State hard in particular given that 21 percent of Missourians rely on the program or the Children's Health Insurance Program, the companion insurance program for lower-income children. Collins stands out as one of only two Republicans — along with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) — to vote against the party's budget resolution in April, though she is the far more likely of the two to vote 'aye' when push comes to shove on final passage. The Maine Republican has continuously expressed opposition to reductions in federal Medicaid funding and shifting costs to the states, sounding the alarm on the effect doing so would have on her state's rural hospitals. Maine's rural hospitals intensely rely on the health care program, and cuts could deal a crippling blow, she argues. Collins cited that issue in her vote against the budget blueprint, and she has kept up the drumbeat. 'Medicaid is a critically important program for Maine's health care system and a vital resource for many seniors, low-income families, disabled patients, and those who cannot work,' Collins said in a statement at the time. 'I cannot support proposals that would create more duress for our hospitals and providers that are already teetering on the edge of insolvency.' She said last week, on the eve of the House passing the measure, that 'we're still trying to figure out what the provider tax reforms are, but I'm very worried about our rural hospitals in Maine.' Collins was also the only other Senate Republican to vote with Hawley and Democrats for the vote-a-rama Medicaid amendment in February. Her up-in-the-air standing is nothing new for the GOP, especially on a single-party effort. Eight years ago, Collins was a split decision on the GOP's two reconciliation bills. She voted alongside Murkowski and the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) against the party's plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Months later, though, she backed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The GOP's current tax agenda would likely make those 2017 cuts permanent. If there's one Republican senator who is the most likely to oppose the package at the end of the day, it's Paul. The Kentucky Republican has been a loud critic of the bill over its inclusion of a debt ceiling hike and lack of deficit reduction. Paul has made clear that his red line for any bill is a debt ceiling increase. But Republicans on both sides of the Capitol are seemingly intent on following through on Trump's wishes to include it and help the party avoid giving Democratic concessions in any possible negotiation. This means that without any changes, Paul will be a 'no,' and Senate GOP leaders have less breathing room than they had hoped, capping their votes at 52 in the process. 'I've told them if they'll take the debt ceiling off of it, I'll consider voting for it,' Paul said last week after the House vote about his talks with GOP leadership. 'It's not conservative; I can't support it.' 'The spending reductions are imperfect, and I think wimpy, but I'd still vote for the package if I didn't have to vote to raise the debt ceiling,' he added. Senate GOP leaders have long had to worry about the concerns of moderates, but it's Johnson and his fellow conservatives who are making their complaints known over what they view as unacceptable levels of cuts. Johnson has not gone nearly as far as Paul in saying he is prepared to oppose a final bill, but he has hinted that conservatives may throw their weight around. 'We need to be responsible, and the first goal of our budget reconciliation process should be to reduce the deficit,' Johnson told CNN last weekend. 'This actually increases it.' 'I think we have enough [senators] to stop the process until the president gets serious about the spending reduction and reducing the deficit,' Johnson added. Johnson has been vocal about his desire to see greater spending reductions, pointing to the roughly $4 trillion the bill would add to the deficit in its current form. He has voiced a preference to move toward pre-COVID spending levels, arguing that this is the U.S.'s last chance to do so. Tillis, a moderate-leaning senator eyeing what could be a close reelection race in 2026, has aired multiple points of concern, headlined by the axing of energy tax incentives in the bill. He has told colleagues that the swift termination of the credits enacted by the Inflation Reduction Act will cause major harm to numerous companies in North Carolina and force them to scramble after years of planning. He pointed specifically to former President Biden's abrupt killing of the Keystone XL Pipeline four years ago and how it has left investors second-guessing whether to back similar projects. 'A wholesale repeal, or the termination of certain individual credits, would create uncertainty, jeopardizing capital allocation, long-term project planning, and job creation in the energy sector and across our broader economy,' Tillis, Murkowski and Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) wrote to Thune back in early April. Adding to the drama for Tillis, he is staring down one of the two most contentious Senate races on the 2026 map, forcing him to shore up potential weak points as Democrats look to pounce — and giving leadership an incentive to hand him a win for his voters back home. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
‘A historic betrayal': Murkowski slams Trump administration revoking protections for Afghan immigrants
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) denounced the Trump administration's decision to axe temporary protected status for Afghan immigrants — the latest break by the centrist Republican from President Donald Trump's administration. In a joint letter with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the senator urged the administration to reconsider the cancellation of the temporary protection, which affords Afghans a work permit and legal status in the U.S. 'This decision endangers thousands of lives, including Afghans who stood by the United States,' Murkowski and Shaheen — the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee — wrote. 'This decision represents a historic betrayal of promises made and undermines the values we fought for far more than 20 years in Afghanistan.' The letter — which was sent May 23 and released Friday — comes amid reports that the State Department is shuttering the office that coordinated Afghan resettlement for those who helped with the war effort, part of an agency-wide reorganization aligning with the Trump administration's moves to reduce foreign aid and assistance and refocus on 'America First' priorities. Murkowski has not been shy about criticizing her own party, while encouraging her fellow GOP senators to do the same. The Republican has rebuked President Donald Trump for his close relationship to Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing the U.S. of 'walking away from our allies.' But she also acknowledged a reticence within Republican circles of defying Trump — saying 'we are all afraid' of Trump's retaliation. She's also not the only Republican to raise red flags about the cancellation of TPS protections for some immigrants, with Miami's members of Congress also urging the Trump administration to continue the protections for Venezuelans and Haitians. The Alaska Republican first criticized the decision on TPS shortly after it was announced by the Department of Homeland Security, calling it 'concerning' in light of promises from Noem to address a backlog of asylum applications — which could dramatically increase as former TPS holders look for avenues to stay in the U.S. But eliminating TPS has been one of Trump's key campaign promises from the start, after calling the program corrupt and saying the legal status had been extended for too long. The battle over TPS has made its way to the courts. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to revoke TPS protections for roughly 350,000 Venezuelans. Murkowski has previously called out the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, which happened under the Biden administration, saying the 'botched' operation endangered many who then came to the U.S. — and that ending protections would only exacerbate the problem. 'This administration should not compound that misstep by forcing them to return to the Taliban's brutal regime,' Murkowski wrote on X earlier this month.
Politico
3 days ago
- Politics
- Politico
‘A historic betrayal': Murkowski slams Trump administration revoking protections for Afghan immigrants
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) denounced the Trump administration's decision to axe temporary protected status for Afghan immigrants — the latest break by the centrist Republican from President Donald Trump's administration. In a joint letter with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the senator urged the administration to reconsider the cancellation of the temporary protection, which affords Afghans a work permit and legal status in the U.S. 'This decision endangers thousands of lives, including Afghans who stood by the United States,' Murkowski and Shaheen — the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee — wrote. 'This decision represents a historic betrayal of promises made and undermines the values we fought for far more than 20 years in Afghanistan.' The letter — which was sent May 23 and released Friday — comes amid reports that the State Department is shuttering the office that coordinated Afghan resettlement for those who helped with the war effort, part of an agency-wide reorganization aligning with the Trump administration's moves to reduce foreign aid and assistance and refocus on 'America First' priorities. Murkowski has not been shy about criticizing her own party, while encouraging her fellow GOP senators to do the same. The Republican has rebuked President Donald Trump for his close relationship to Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing the U.S. of 'walking away from our allies.' But she also acknowledged a reticence within Republican circles of defying Trump — saying 'we are all afraid' of Trump's retaliation. She's also not the only Republican to raise red flags about the cancellation of TPS protections for some immigrants, with Miami's members of Congress also urging the Trump administration to continue the protections for Venezuelans and Haitians. The Alaska Republican first criticized the decision on TPS shortly after it was announced by the Department of Homeland Security, calling it 'concerning' in light of promises from Noem to address a backlog of asylum applications — which could dramatically increase as former TPS holders look for avenues to stay in the U.S. But eliminating TPS has been one of Trump's key campaign promises from the start, after calling the program corrupt and saying the legal status had been extended for too long. The battle over TPS has made its way to the courts. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to revoke TPS protections for roughly 350,000 Venezuelans. Murkowski has previously called out the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, which happened under the Biden administration, saying the 'botched' operation endangered many who then came to the U.S. — and that ending protections would only exacerbate the problem. 'This administration should not compound that misstep by forcing them to return to the Taliban's brutal regime,' Murkowski wrote on X earlier this month.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump takes credit (with God) for events that would've happened anyway
If you think every Republican on Capitol Hill is onboard with President Donald Trump's domestic policy megabill, think again. The sprawling bill, which takes on tax cuts, immigration policy, and domestic issues, narrowly passed the majority-Republican U.S. House. And it's already hitting speed bumps in the U.S. Senate. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, has said he wants to pass the bill by the July 4 holiday. And Republicans can only afford to lose three GOP votes to pass it by a simple majority and likely send it back to the House for more tinkering before it finally heads to Trump's desk. From The Washington Post, here are the seven big places where GOP lawmakers are split over the bill: This was a serious bone of contention in the House and is shaping up to be a similar fight in the Senate, according to The Post. U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has said she's worried about kicking Medicaid beneficiaries who are unable to work out of the joint state/federal program, according to The Post. She also has concerns about the bill's impact on rural hospitals. U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has said she's worried that her state will have a hard time imposing new work requirements because of outdated Medicaid payment systems, the newspaper reported. 'There are provisions in there that are very, very, very challenging if not impossible for us to implement,' Murkowski said, according to The Post. This is another big one. U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, who chairs the Senate's Finance Committee, wants to make permanent several business tax cuts that the House's version of the bill would allow to expire. That's also a priority for Thune, according to The Post. 'We believe that permanence is the way to create economic certainty, and thereby attract and incentivize capital investment in this country that creates those good-paying jobs and gets our economy growing and generates more government revenue,' Thune said last week, according to The Post. House Republicans from high-tax states refused to vote for the bill unless their constituents could deduct more in state and local taxes on their federal returns. The issue is pretty much a non-starter in the Senate, according to The Post. And some want to strip the language from the bill. 'I don't know why we'd give a huge tax cut to rich people who live in California, New Jersey, and New York,' U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, said. The House bill would scrap tax credits for wind, solar, and geothermal energy approved by Democrats in 2022 unless companies start construction within 60 days of the bill becoming law. Murkowski and U.S. Sens. John Curtis, R-Utah, Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, and Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, have told Thune they have concerns about such an approach. Tillis suggested that he would push for a more gradual phaseout to avoid blindsiding businesses, The Post reported. 'If we don't do that, then we're no better than Joe Biden when he canceled the XL pipeline,' he said last week, referring to Biden's 2021 decision to scrap a long-planned crude oil pipeline. 'We've got to figure out a way to strike that balance.' A cadre of Republican senators, U.S. Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Roger Marshall of Kansas, and Ted Cruz of Texas, are pushing for deeper spending cuts than what's included in the House-passed bill. This one is serious inside baseball. This rule, named for the late Sen. Robert Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat, limits what can be included in Senate bills under the reconciliation process, which Republicans are using to head off a Democratic filibuster. Republican Senate staffers are going through the legislation to look for any potential violations, according to The Post. Republicans will strip out violations, while Democrats can challenge anything that runs afoul of it, according to The Post. The House's version of the bill temporarily increases the child tax credit to $2,500. But Missouri's Hawly wants to make it more generous — 'I'd like it to be double that, but anything higher,' he said, according to The Post. U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Alabama, wants her fellow Republicans to expand two child care tax breaks. And the list, which also includes scrapping the estate tax, only gets longer from there. Mayor Wu slams rival Josh Kraft over big bucks infusion: 'Boston is not for sale' 'We are getting cut off at the knees': Trump's cuts hit US archaeologists Veterans cemetery in Agawam draws families honoring Memorial Day tradition Attendee bashes 'Walmart steak' served at Trump's dinner for $Trump crypto holders World Affairs Council hosts expert on global trade Read the original article on MassLive.
