Murkowski's Alaska Gold Rush Loses Some Gold Plating

[justaprogressive]

The pork-barrel deal with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) was enough to get her to vote for the motion to proceed to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) late last night, which passed by a count of 51-49. But the deal lost a lot of its luster this morning, when the Senate parliamentarian ruled several provisions out of order.

That gives Murkowski, whose state could see more rollbacks when the parliamentarian rules on various food assistance provisions, a choice to make. She could honor a deal that is evaporating by the minute, or she could turn against the bill, which as written would devastate millions of Americans, including those in her home state. And by the time amendments are voted upon, Alaska could see dramatically worse federal payments for Medicaid in particular.

The parliamentarian ruled that the boost to the federal share of Medicaid for certain “high-poverty” states, which happened to be Alaska and Hawaii, did not comport with the Byrd rule, which requires everything to have a primarily budgetary purpose. That would have increased Alaska’s federal share by 25 percent. In addition, a boost to health care reimbursement payments for Alaska and Hawaii for hospital outpatient services was also tossed. Hawaii, the other noncontiguous state, was added to these so Senate Republicans could make the case that they were not singling out Alaska; that gambit did not work.

This potentially interacts with an upcoming amendment vote to completely reverse Alaska’s Medicaid situation. In addition to Murkowski, deficit hawk Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT), Rick Scott (R-FL), Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) were holdouts on the motion to proceed last night. As a condition of their support, they got a guarantee for an amendment in the “vote-a-rama” phase that would phase out the Medicaid expansion, a key part of Obamacare.

https://prospect.org/politics/2025-06-29-murkowski-alaska-gold-rush-loses-plating-medicaid/

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. Maddow Blog-Alaska's Lisa Murkowski criticizes megabill after voting for it: 'We're not there yet'

The Republican senator tried to explain why she advanced a far-right megabill despite serious reservations, but her reasoning doesn’t make sense.

Among the many problems with Lisa Murkowski’s odd rationale for voting for a megabill she didn’t like: She expects House Republicans to “recognize that we’re not there yet.”

GOP leaders fundamentally reject her vision — and have every intention of ignoring it. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-07-01T17:49:27.107Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/alaskas-lisa-murkowski-criticizes-megabill-voting-re-not-yet-rcna216281

Around this time eight years ago, House Republicans had already passed a right-wing heath care bill intended to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act, but Senate Republicans were struggling to keep their members in line. Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, in particular, said she simply couldn’t get on board.

To win her over, GOP leaders came up with a variety of ideas intended to help Alaskans so they wouldn’t feel the punishments that Republicans were eager to impose on the rest of the country. The proposed carve-outs and schemes were even given memorable, albeit unflattering, nicknames: “Alaska Purchase,” “Klondike Kickback” and, my personal favorite, “Polar Payoff.”

The core of the party’s offer was simple: If Murkowski let Republicans repeal Obamacare, GOP leaders would agree to let Alaska keep Obamacare.

It didn’t work. Murkowski remained unconvinced, and she ultimately helped derail the gambit and rescue the country’s health care system......

This time, however, it did work. NBC News reported:

[Murkowski], who had expressed concerns throughout the process about the bill’s cuts to social safety net programs, was a key vote for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to win over. ‘I struggled mightily with the impact on the most vulnerable in this country, when you look to Medicaid and SNAP,’ Murkowski told reporters after the vote, adding that she didn’t get ‘everything’ she wanted but ‘I had to look on balance.’

Even more striking, however, was something the Alaska Republican said after the dust settled on the dramatic vote: Murkowski said she hopes House Republicans make changes to the Senate’s version of the bill......

But that’s a difficult position to take seriously. For one thing, if she’d joined the bipartisan minority that opposed this bill, it wouldn’t have “killed” the legislation; it would’ve opened the door to a new round of negotiations in the Senate — where Murkowski could’ve exercised enormous influence. By giving up her leverage, she’s apparently hoping to see House members do the work she could’ve been involved in directly.

For another, Republican leaders fundamentally disagree with her entire vision of the process. Murkowski apparently believes it’ll be up to the House to “recognize that we’re not there yet,” but as far as the White House and GOP leaders are concerned, the negotiations are over. There’s nothing left to talk about. The bill is done. The House’s job is to approve it, as is, quickly and with as little fuss as possible.

If, as expected, House Republicans do as they’re told and approve the Senate version of the bill without changes, it means Murkowski will have made it possible to implement the most regressive piece of legislation in modern history — a bill she admits remains flawed and in need of changes — and that will further mean that she bears responsibility for the consequences the package imposes on the nation.