Although Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) has received much of the media attention for stopping the Republicans’ plan to eliminate healthcare for millions of people, he is not the only Republican who stood up to President Donald Trump and his crew of flunkies. Two other Republican Senators, Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) also voted against the so-called “Skinny Repeal” of the Affordable Care Act, as well as a united coalition of Senate Democrats. In fact, Murkowski has frequently stood up to Trump, and continues to do so in the face of threats of retaliation from an angry White House.
The Hill reports that Murkowski, the head of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has postponed a vote that was scheduled to take place Thursday morning to move forward on several Trump nominees to the Department of the Interior. This decision came just hours after Murkowski allegedly received threats from Cabinet member Ryan Zinke, the Secretary of the Interior. He reportedly told her and Alaska’s other Senator, Dan Sullivan, that her decision to vote against the ACA repeal could cause the White House to punish the entire state of Alaska.
When asked for comment by the Alaska Dispatch News, Sullivan said:
“I’m not going to go into the details, but I fear that the strong economic growth, pro-energy, pro-mining, pro-jobs and personnel from Alaska who are part of those policies are going to stop,” Sullivan said. I tried to push back on behalf of all Alaskans. … We’re facing some difficult times and there’s a lot of enthusiasm for the policies that Secretary Zinke and the president have been talking about with regard to our economy. But the message was pretty clear.”
Despite these alleged threats, Murkowski continues to push back against the Trump administration. The nominees who now have delayed hearings, and the position they have been selected for, are:
- Brenda Burman, Commissioner of Reclamation at Interior
- Susan Combs, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Policy, Management, and Budget
- Doug Domenech, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Insular Affairs
- Paul Dabbar, Undersecretary for Science of the Department of Energy
- David Jonas, General Counsel of the Department of Energy
- Mark Wesley Menezes, Undersecretary of the Department of Energy
Despite Trump being inaugurated over six months ago, only Zinke and Energy Secretary Rick Perry have been confirmed by the Senate to serve in this department. Trump can rail about “Democratic obstruction” all he wants, but members of his own party are pushing back, too. Check out a New York Times report on Murkowski below:
Featured image via Flickr user NATO Training Mission – Afghanistan / CC BY-SA 2.0.
