Lisa Murkowski talks to the press shortly after she voted, quietly, "aye" on Trump's tax bill.

[In It to Win It]

Steven T. Dennis
‪@steventdennis.bsky.social‬

Lisa Murkowski talks to the press shortly after she voted, quietly, “aye” on Trump’s tax bill. She said she hopes the House and Senate go to conference to improve it and called her vote “agonizing.”

Lisa Murkowski talks to the press shortly after she voted, quietly, “aye” on Trump’s tax bill. She said she hopes the House and Senate go to conference to improve it and called her vote “agonizing.”

— Steven T. Dennis (@steventdennis.bsky.social) 2025-07-01T17:26:38.689Z

[niyad]

1. BS, you gutless coward.

[chowder66]

9. My bet is the this was going to pass anyway. If Murkowski voted against it, then Collins or

Rand would have voted for it.


On edit: Just so I'm clear. I agree that she is a coward.... as they all are!

[Trueblue1968]

30. She is a horrible woman. I hate her guts. Stupid bitch

[Ocelot II]

2. Her "agonizing" vote apparently wasn't agonizing enough to keep her from doing it.

I hope the blowblack will be extremely agonizing.

[kacekwl]

23. If it was so agonizing maybe

she'll do something about it when she looks in the mirror tonite. Just saying.

[Moostache]

3. Fuck her.

She deserves to die broken, in pain and reviled by all who she knows before her mind is destroyed and she expires utterly alone.

[Autumn]

4. I like the way you think.

[OrlandoDem2]

5. Fuck off!

[Nikossitti]

6. Let me fix that for her

Cowardly. Her vote was cowardly.

[Samael13]

7. Go get fucked with a cactus

[La Coliniere]

8. Moderate? Bwahahahaha

I’ve never believed she was a moderate, not for a second. Collins either. They are useful pretenders.

[newdeal2]

10. Was she looking at her reflection in a mirror?

She looks horrified by herself.

[Captain Zero]

11. Alaskans should drop their elderly off at her door

When their nursing homes close.

I'm giving my kids permission to drop me off at Indiana Senators homes if I ever am homeless.

[Ping Tung]

12. "She reminds me of the man who murdered both his parents then pleaded for mercy because he's an orphan.

Abraham Lincoln

[CentralMass]

13. She weaseled waivers from new SNAP work requirements for Alaska.

Murkowski votes to advance GOP megabill after early misgivings over Medicaid, SNAP cuts

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5375462-murkowski-votes-to-advance-gop-megabill-after-early-misgivings-over-medicaid-snap-cuts/

"She won a victory Friday night when GOP leaders added language to the revised text of the bill that made Alaska eligible for waivers from new SNAP work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependent children.


GOP leaders increased a rural hospital relief fund from $15 billion to $25 billion and made other legislative changes to provide more money to Alaska’s hospitals and health care providers."

[EndlessWire]

29. Boy, I have to laugh at that.

"More money to Alaska's hospitals and health care providers."

That's a slippery slope. When Medicare/Medicaid is devastated, where's the money coming from? Not to mention that they will probably try to sell Alaska to Russia. What she got seems very paltry.

She agonized over this? Oh, puhleeze! The vote count was clear that her vote counted, same as everyone else's who voted for it. And, now she thinks that somehow they'll reconcile this in the House? How stupid is this woman? Real stupid! Wait til she sees how it works out.

[Mz Pip]

14. Not agonizing enough

Such a coward.

[Luciferous]

15. Agonizing... fuck off, you knew

what you were doing

[Midnight Writer]

16. Not as agonizing as a family losing its healthcare. Not as agonizing as an invalid being pushed out of a nursing home.

I appreciate that politicians sometimes have to take a hard vote, and sometimes those votes inflict hardships upon people.

But this isn't a hard vote.

Not for a human being. Not for an American who loves their fellow citizens. Not for an honest representative of the people. Not for a politician NOT in a corporate pocket. Not for someone who believes in human potential and dignity.

This should be the easiest vote ever. The vote should be NO.

[Martin Eden]

17. Her vote will cause agony for millions

Is that what she meant, and meant to do?

[ShazzieB]

35. I don't think that is what she wanted to do.

That's one of the worst things about this, imo. Call me a credulous fool if you must, but I don't think she is one of those for whom "the cruelty is the point." I don't think she really wanted to vote in favor of this bill but was likely threatened and manipulated into it by means of which we are not fully informed. Sure, they threw a few extra crumbs to Alaska in return for her vote, but I really don't think that's the only reason she did this.

The fact that she caved and voted "aye" on a bill that I'm sure she doesn't fully support is more disturbing to me than the votes from all the obvious sociopaths in the Senate. I'm very disappointed in her but also horrified to see how much power the GOP is able to exert over its members.

I think the GOP slogan is "When they (the Democrats) go high, we go low. When the Democrats keep going high, we go lower and lower, even if it means tunneling under the ground."

I don't think beating them at their own game is the answer, because no matter how low the Democrats were to go, Repubs would be willing to go much, much lower. I'm not sure we want to find out just how low the party would be willing to go in service to Trump.

[Martin Eden]

36. Yes, all the more disappointed in Murkowski

Because she's not a fiend like so many other Rethugs these days.

Unless she and/or her family were credibly threatened with violence, Murkowski deserves every ounce of criticism she gets.

Show some courage. Her political career counts for naught compared to the suffering and death that will result from this legislation.

[ShazzieB]

37. I think there's a good possibility that there have been threats of violence.

I think it's highly possible, maybe even probable, that she and/or her family have received threats of violence from Trump's deranged followers. I can't prove it, of course; it just a feeling I have.

If I were to learn that she voted for this bill for no reason other than concern for her political future, I don't think I could ever forgive her. But I can't shake the feeling that it's more than that.

[global1]

18. What Ever Lisa Got To Get Her To Vote For This.......

Some other State got stiffed and got nada.

I'm surprised that other Repugs didn't hold up this vote trying to get what they wanted.

Bottom line it's the American People that were and are being screwed.

[Solly Mack]

19. Snort

[DET]

20. She looks like...

…she just saw Trump naked. That would be traumatizing.

[SheltieLover]

21. Revolting magat

[WhiteTara]

22. she looks like a ghoul.

[kacekwl]

24. I would rather she just be an honest prick like

so many others not pretend she cares.

[Paladin]

25. I expected no better from her. To hell with her, nonetheless. (nt)

[BComplex]

26. Just another two-faced republican lying her ass off to please her owners.

I can't stand republicans.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

27. 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.

[ShazzieB]

33. And another spineless Republican bites the dust!

(With apologies to Freddie Mercury.)

[LetMyPeopleVote]

28. Sell out

[GaYellowDawg]

31. Profiles in Cowardice.

She knew it was wrong and still voted for it. If she had voted against it, it would have failed 51-49.

What a completely contemptible person.

[thought crime]

32. In the Senate, 740K people in Alaska have as much representation as 40 million people in California

Over twenty states (40 Senators) with a total population less than California (2 Senators)

That's why bills like this pass. That's why the Supreme Court is skewed to the far right. Etc. Etc.

[Jit423]

34. Alaskans are part of the problem. They are mostly Trump cult. nt