Sen. Lisa Murkowski was the guest on Tuesday's “Talk of Alaska.” She talked shutdown. She talked separation of powers. And she took questions from callers across the state. Did you miss it? You can listen to the full program here. But we’ve compiled some highlights.
1. She owns her budget reconciliation vote
She’s not sorry she voted in favor of the budget reconciliation bill this summer, despite its $1 trillion cut to Medicaid and other things she doesn’t like.
“It was not easy, because at the end, there were many things that I couldn't make any better than what I was able to,” she said. “But I own my vote, and I'm proud of the efforts that we made to make improvements.”
2. Trump is steering the Department of Justice to prosecute his foes, she says
She had an unequivocal take on President Trump’s installation of a loyalist as U.S. attorney for Eastern Virginia so that he could get an indictment against former FBI director James Comey.
“That's not how due process — that's not how justice for all works around this country,” she said. “And so when you have a campaign of political retribution, as the commander in chief, as the president of this country, that is not right. It is not who we are.”
3. She has a problem with Trump sending the military to American cities
She takes issue with President Trump’s deployment of military troops to Chicago to fight crime.
“I have concerns, again, about bringing in our military without the consent, without the agreement of a governor,” she said.
4. She thinks RFK Jr. did a switcheroo
She feels Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy didn’t keep his word when he told her, before she voted for his confirmation, that he was going to make chronic disease the centerpiece of his service, not vaccines.
“You listen to that, it's like, ‘Yes, (chronic disease) is what we need to be focusing on. Why is it that we're spending so much money and our outcomes are so bad? What more can we be doing when it comes to chronic diseases?’” she said. “Instead, he has spent so much of his time with this focus on vaccines.”
5. Why she was the only Republican to vote no on a Federal Reserve nominee
She believes the Federal Reserve Board should remain outside of President Trump’s control, which is why she voted against confirming a new Fed board member who also works in the White House.
“And you can't convince me that if you're on the president's economic advisor board that you can be truly independent when you're sitting over here in this confirmed spot on the Fed,” she said.
6. She says other Republican senators are reluctant to speak out
She said she understands that her Republican colleagues want to back a Republican president. She does, too, “when he’s doing good things for us.”
“I do think that you have many Republicans who are kind of walking a line here in terms of trying to avoid criticizing or being skeptical of actions of the administration, of President Trump's actions,” she said.
7. Yes, she has a backbone, she says
She rejected a caller’s suggestion that she’s all talk and no action on the administration’s use of recissions.
“You might not think that I have much of a backbone, to your words, but I am one of the few Republicans that has actually pushed back, stood up and said, ‘This is unlawful, and we as a legislative branch have a role in denying the executive what they're doing,’” she said.
8. No, she doesn’t know when the shutdown will end
She said she’s looking into a new claim from the White House Office of Management and Budget that furloughed federal employees might not get compensated for lost paychecks.
“I find this quite honestly, very, very unnerving, to see that they're suggesting that there might be a loophole, and that our furloughed federal employees would not automatically receive that back pay,” she said.
