The D.C. circus
Voters have been disgusted with the bickering, partisan debate-fearing Congress long enough.
Category Archives: Lisa Murkowski
Alaska senators tell Trump they want mountain’s name to stay
U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan said the Alaska mountain came up during an hourlong meeting he and fellow Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski had with Trump and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke in March. Sullivan said during a weekend speech to the Alaska Federation of Natives that Trump asked if the senators thought the name change from Mount McKinley to Denali should be reversed, the Alaska Public Radio Network reported .
Alaskan picked to lead regional EPA office
Gov. Bill Walker says Hladick will leave his state role Nov. 1. Mike Navarre, the outgoing mayor of the Kenai Peninsula Borough, will succeed Hladick. In joining the EPA, Hladick will oversee a region that includes Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington and about 270 tribes.
A look back at the original Alaska Purchase
Wednesday marks the 150th anniversary of the US taking possession of Alaska following the 1867 purchase of the territory from Russia. The idea of an "Alaska Purchase" saw a renaissance last month, when the phrase was borrowed to describe the possibility of sweeteners in the GOP health care bill meant to woo Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
Donnelly Receives Award for Efforts to Address Opioid Epidemic
Tuesday, U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly received the 'Legislator of the Year' award from the National Council for Behavioral Health for his efforts to address the opioid and substance use disorder epidemics in Indiana and across the country. The National Council for Behavioral Health specifically highlighted Donnelly's bipartisan Strengthening the Addiction treatment and Workforce Act , introduced in June with Senator Lisa Murkowski , which would provide incentives for providers to practice at substance use disorder treatment facilities in underserved areas.
These are GOP sticking points on tax reform
Fresh off a blistering loss over health care, many lawmakers are cautiously optimistic their party can be more successful in overhauling the U.S. tax code, a system they say is seriously lacking in popularity and in dire need of change. Fewer than 24 hours after Republicans were forced to pull the plug on their second effort to repeal and replace Obamacare, the party released a framework, held a bicameral news conference and discussed details about how they plan to revamp the tax code.
“a a bill of goods”
In their effort to pin a star on their chests, Republicans are offering concessions to Alaska that other States will not have access to in an effort to win Sen. Lisa Murkowski's vote. They want to add exemptions for Alaska in order to get her to support their last-ditch bill to overhaul the American health-care system.
A New Obamacare Repeal Draft Is Out And It Attacks Pre-Existing Protections More Severely
Based on initial inspection, it is a lot like the original bill, which would have decimated existing federal health programs. But the new legislation, which Politico and Vox first reported, also includes two key sets of changes - an even more aggressive assault on protections for people with pre-existing conditions, as well as some extra money for a handful of states.
Trump trying to turn around GOP holdouts on health bill
Unwilling to concede defeat on a bedrock GOP promise, President Donald Trump on Saturday tried to sway two Republican holdouts on the party's last-ditch health care hope while clawing at his nemesis who again has brought the "Obamacare" repeal-and-replace effort to the brink of failure. Trump appealed to Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a possible "no" vote, to swing around for the sake of Alaskans up in arms over high insurance costs, and suggested that Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul might reverse his stated opposition "for the good of the Party!" Arizona Sen. John McCain, whose announcement Friday that he would not vote for the proposal seemingly scuttled efforts to revive the repeal, came under renewed criticism from the White House.
Despite setbacks, Republicans ‘still working’ on health care push
Despite Arizona Sen. John McCain's decision to oppose the latest Republican health care plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, the effort is still ongoing, GOP aides say -- at least for the moment. Multiple aides involved in the process say the focus on winning Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski's vote has continued into the weekend, with changes seen to benefit her state related to the state's funding formula in the bill and the timeline for implementation.
Graham-Cassidy: Not Technically Dead But Yeah
With John McCain's defection yesterday afternoon, Republicans are scrambling to try and salvage one of their most notable campaign promises: Getting rid of the Affordable Care Act. In an effort to make sense of what's been happening, here's the state of play for the Obamacare The bill has been rendered all but dead thanks to the efforts of Rand Paul and John McCain.
Trump threatens to brand Rand Paul as ‘the Republican who saved Obamacare’
President Donald Trump on Friday urged Republican senators on the fence about voting for the Graham-Cassidy healthcare legislation to not be the "Republican who saved Obamacare," zeroing in on Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky. "Rand Paul, or whoever votes against Hcare Bill, will forever be known as 'the Republican who saved ObamaCare,'" Trump tweeted.
With CBO sidelined, key senator turns to Trump administration’s …
A key Republican senator, who is likely to decide the fate of her party's latest effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act and phase-out Medicaid , says she will rely on a Trump administration office with a history of producing cooked figures in order to determine whether to back the bill. Earlier this week, the Congressional Budget Office announced that, due to the rushed process Senate Republicans are using to try to pass the latest version of Trumpcare, it will not be able to fully evaluate the bill until after a vote is expected next week.
EJ Dionne Jr.: The priority is still to save Obamacare
Before supporters of universal health coverage get all wrapped up debating a single-payer system, they need to focus on a dire threat to the Affordable Care Act likely to come up for a vote in the Senate before the end of the month. The latest repeal bill is an offering from Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., that would tear apart the existing system and replace it with a block grant to the states.
Opinion: How Donald Trump Made Congress Great Again
President Donald Trump's rocky relationship with lawmakers has made Congress free enough to act in the country's best interests, Murphy writes. If you were a member of Congress, especially a Republican member of Congress, you could be forgiven for having at least some contempt for President Donald Trump.
Insurance commissioners say help offered by Congress is not enough to save market
A key Senate committee Wednesday launched a set of hearings intended to lead to a short-term, bipartisan bill to shore up the troubled individual health insurance market, but a diverse group of state insurance commissioners united around some solutions that were not necessarily on the table. Sen. Lamar Alexander , the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said at the outset of the hearing he hoped to reach consensus on "a small, bipartisan, stabilization bill" by the end of next week.
McCain returning to Senate next week and other news in brief
Sen. John McCain will return to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday after undergoing treatment for brain cancer over the past several weeks during the Senate's August recess.
Editorial: GOP shares Obamacare blame
It was former president Barack Obama who is primarily responsible for this travesty, which was supposedly going to make health care affordable for all . Have your health care costs decreased in the past few years since Obamacare was unleashed? However, Republicans could do well with a brief history lesson - and how they are culpable in Obamacare's existence and its survival.
‘Very Presidential’: Trump applauds himself for not naming…
President Donald Trump threw darts at members of his own party on Tuesday night during a fiery campaign rally in Phoenix, Arizona. In remarks about his party's failed attempts to repeal and replace Obamacare, Trump lamented that Republicans were "one vote away" from passing a bill, and hinted that Sen. John McCain of Arizona was to blame .
Murkowski hopes for a limited health-care vote this fall
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski was in Ketchikan on Monday, continuing her visits to Southeast communities. She sat down with local media to talk about some of the current issues facing the nation.