Alaska’s Sen. Lisa Murkowski is in the health-care spotlight. Again.
Republicans are seeking her support for the Cassidy-Graham bill
Adapted from a story by The Washington Post’s Sean Sullivan.
On Tuesday, Senate Republicans and the White House pressed ahead with another effort to undo former president Barack Obama’s signature health-care law.
The Cassidy-Graham bill — named for Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) — would convert funding for the Affordable Care Act into block grants for the states and would cut Medicaid dramatically over time.
A bipartisan group of governors and several influential interest groups came out against the proposal. The AARP and the American Hospital Association urged a no vote.
But one key Republican senator hasn’t made up her mind.
The spotlight is on Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who was one of three key no votes on the GOP’s attempt to repeal the ACA in July. The other two senators, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), are undecided on the Cassidy-Graham bill. Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul opposes it.
But there’s a reason the public’s attention tends to lock in on Murkowski, a warm yet resolute senator who has shown a regular willingness to buck her party. No one has any idea what she will do.
Like the state she represents, Murkowski projects an independent streak. She regularly breaks with her party — yet she is also willing to play ball. Alaska is mysterious, complicated and needy:
- Alaska has a poor and vulnerable population, remote geography and inordinately high health-care costs.
- It is one of the handful of Republican-controlled states that expanded Medicaid under the ACA, meaning that the current bill’s proposed cuts and redistribution of federal health-care dollars could strip thousands of Alaskans of coverage.
“The problem last time was process and substance,” Murkowski said Tuesday, explaining why she might be willing to support the current measure despite voting against the last one in July. “Nobody knew what we were really looking to in voting on.”
Murkowski is trying to figure out what’s best for her state, and she’s been meeting with proponents of the bill. This week, she met with the office of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and has remained in close contact with those working with one of the bill’s chief sponsors, Sen. Cassidy.
“If it can be shown that Alaska is not going to be disadvantaged, you gain additional flexibility,” Murkowski said. “Then I can go back to Alaskans, and I can say, ‘Okay, let’s walk through this together.’”
Comparing it to the July effort, she added: “That’s where it could be different.”
Graham, another chief sponsor of the bill, said he is aware of Alaska’s unique circumstances but he believes his legislation gives the state sufficient funding. Alaskan Gov. Bill Walker (I) was one of the 10 governors who signed a letter standing against the bill on Tuesday.
“I’m not here to tell the governor of Alaska what to do,” Graham said this week. “I’m here to tell him that Obamacare is going to collapse and I’m not going to help them prop it up.”
The Cassidy-Graham bill gives President Trump and McConnell a second chance to keep Murkowski in the fold after their heavy-handed efforts to sway her in July appeared to backfire.
During the summer, Murkowski complained about McConnell’s secretive method of crafting a bill with a small clutch of aides and away from most Republican senators, including her.
In the lead-up to the final repeal vote in July, Trump took to Twitter to call out Murkowski for not being more supportive. He also placed a call that she described as unpleasant and dispatched Interior Department Secretary Ryan Zinke to make what some interpreted as a threat that federal resources for Alaska could be at risk if she voted no.
So far, Murkowski has been spared public displays of aggression from Trump — and some GOP Senate aides are keeping their fingers crossed that it will continue. She remains laser-focused on her state.
“Those that have asked: ‘Where are you? Where are you?’ It’s not that I’m being evasive. It’s that I’m trying to be diligent,” Murkowski said.
