Murkowski to vote 'present' on Kavanaugh so Daines won't have to leave daughter's wedding [View all]

[Donkees]

Updated 10:30 PM ET, Fri October 5, 2018

Excerpt:

Washington (CNN)Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Friday that she remains a "no" on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh but will vote "present" for Saturday's final vote, which won't affect Kavanaugh's confirmation but will allow Sen. Steve Daines to stay at his daughter's wedding in his home state instead of flying to Washington to cast his supporting vote.

Daines, a Montana Republican who has supported Kavanaugh's nomination, has been scheduled to attend his daughter's wedding on Saturday for months and made it clear he wouldn't be skipping the ceremony.

"I will be a 'no' tomorrow," Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, said on the Senate floor. "I will, in the final tally, be asked to be recorded as present and I do this because a friend, a colleague of ours, is in Montana this evening, and tomorrow at just about the same hour we're going to be voting, he's going to be walking his daughter down the aisle and he won't be present to vote."
"I have extended this as a courtesy to my friend," she added. "It will not change the outcome of the vote."

If no senators change their votes from Friday's cloture roll call, the final tally will sit at 50-48 at Saturday's final confirmation vote, enough for Republicans to confirm Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court with no senator holding the sole deciding vote.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/05/politics/lisa-murkowski-senate-vote-present-kavanaugh/index.html