Alaska’s Senator Lisa Murkowski was one of only five Republicans to vote against a GOP budget plan to privatize Medicare. It failed last night on a vote of 40 to 57, with no Democratic support. The plan, crafted by Wisconsin Republican Representative Paul Ryan, previously passed the House on GOP support.
The other Republicans who rejected it were Maine’s Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, Scott Brown of Massachussets, and Rand Paul of Kentucky. Paul says the budget doesn’t go far enough to curb the national debt. But the other four, including Murkowski, are expressing reservations about the Ryan approach.
Instead Murkowski supports a plan authored by Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey that does include many of Ryan’s ideas – but does not privatize Medicare. That failed 55 to 42.
Download Audio (MP3)
lcasey (at) alaskapublic (dot) org | About Libby
