Lisa Murkowski's not good after 'Big Beautiful' vote

Lisa Murkowski does not seem to be enjoying the summer. Perhaps it’s the insane heat and humidity. She is from Alaska, after all. But judging from the Republican's responses to questions on the Senate's passage of President Donald Trump's “One Big Beautiful Bill” last week — where she once again was a pivotal holdout... until she wasn’t — Murkowski’s demeanor of late has more to do with the ‘damned if you do, damned if you don't' position her independent streak has fated for her. Asked by The Independent Thursday about her keen hope that the House of Representatives would fix what troubled her about the bill she voted to pass — which extends the 2017 tax cuts that Trump signed while also significantly slashing welfare programs like Medicaid and forcing states to shoulder more of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps — Murkowski bristled.

- Eric Garcia, The Independent

“Yeah, and they didn’t do it,” she said of the House's unchanged passage of the bill in time for Trump to sign it into law on July 4. When pressed about it, Murkowski sniped back, “You know what happened today? A whole new crisis.”

“And so I wish I had the luxury of time to regret things, but we just got to keep moving forward,” Murkowski concluded in her brush off of the question. She didn't elaborate on what that new crisis might be.

“That's it,” she snapped. “You got one.” And then she walked away from the gaggle.