'Awful process': Murkowski bemoans 'frantic' megabill rush after voting for it
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) took to X to talk about how difficult it has been to support the 2026 Republican budget bill. Murkowski was effectively a deciding swing vote that got the GOP to 50 votes, allowing Vice President JD Vance to cast the tie-breaking vote.
In her Tuesday afternoon post, Murkowski wrote, "This was one of the hardest votes I have taken during my time in the Senate. My goal throughout the reconciliation process has been to make a bad bill better for Alaska, and in many ways, we have done that."
Murkowski was given a "deal" in the legislation that allowed her to stop any cuts to Medicaid in her state.
She listed off provisions in the bill that she liked and talked about negotiating a "slightly longer phase-out for wind and solar tax credits while deleting a punitive excise tax targeting them."
"It is the people of Alaska that I worry about the most, especially when it comes to the potential loss of social safety net programs—Medicaid coverage and SNAP benefits—that our most vulnerable populations rely on," she said. "To address the bill’s shortcomings, we have helped our communities through a $50 billion rural health fund. This will mean hundreds of millions of dollars for Alaska hospitals, community health centers, and other providers."
She also listed some of the delays that Alaska will face before it's issued penalties.
"But, let’s not kid ourselves. This has been an awful process—a frantic rush to meet an artificial deadline that has tested every limit of this institution," she closed. "While we have worked to improve the present bill for Alaska, it is not good enough for the rest of our nation—and we all know it. My sincere hope is that this is not the final product. This bill needs more work across chambers and is not ready for the President’s desk. We need to work together to get this right."
Murkowski told the press immediately after the vote some of the same things, namely that the artificial deadline was absurd. As a deciding vote, Murkowski could have negotiated with the leadership to fix the bill. She also told reporters that she hopes the House fixes the bill.