Murkowski remains unhappy about GOP negotiations for the Senate health bill
In an interview after a tumultuous
Reporters asked how a lunchtime Republican caucus meeting went as Murkowski waited for an elevator to arrive Tuesday afternoon. "Icky," she responded, a word that she quickly noted was not "very senatorial." But she fell short in her immediate search for another descriptor.
"Any progress made on issues that are important to you for the health care bill?" another reporter called out as the doors opened behind her. She paused. "No."
Murkowski is one of a seemingly not-shrinking number of Republican senators who remain unhappy with her party's offering for the long-promised repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act.
On Tuesday, she expressed increasing frustration with being left out of the process, which has been mostly overtaken by staffers of Senate Majority Leader
Murkowski said the Republican senators were told at the meeting that changes to the draft bill would be shared Thursday. "Who's laying them down? There were apparently a fair number of staff that were working over the (
Crafting a major overhaul of the Medicaid program "without process ... without working with the other side ... is just, I just think fundamentally wrong," Murkowski said.
"The (majority) leader was very -- at 30,000 feet in terms of what we might expect on Thursday, so I can't tell you if I think there's anything in there that would be helpful to us or not," Murkowski said.
On Monday, McConnell told senators they would see a "score" from the
Sen.
Long-term cuts to Medicaid have caused some of the greatest concerns for Murkowski. One-quarter of Alaskans receive health insurance through Medicaid.
Murkowski said Tuesday that she thinks
For now,
During her week back in
"I had some people say, 'You know, we think that you should stick with the president. But by the way, you know, I've got some real problems here with access and cost and, you know, I've got a family member who is disabled and Medicaid is really important to them,' " she said.
"But almost without exception, it was, 'Please Lisa. Protect
Murkowski said she had some interest in suggestions to offer lower-cost plans for healthy people, if there were ways to establish shared risk to keep costs down for everyone. But proposals gaining traction with McConnell's staff remain a mystery, she said.
McConnell has told reporters that he expects a vote sometime next week.
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