Former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) thinks she knows why Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) voted to support the GOP's 2026 budget legislation.
Speaking to MSNBC on Tuesday, McCaskill said Murkowski likely told GOP leadership that she opposed the bill, so they asked what she wanted to get to "yes."
"And they said, well, let's do this for you. Let's do that for you, and she said, 'Well, if you'll do this for me,'" she continued. "And I'm betting that they kept giving her everything she asked for, and then she kind of was in a hole. She kept, you know — it would have been like her to keep moving the goalposts."
McCaskill said she refuses to make any excuses for Murkowski and asked why lawmakers like Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Dave McCormick (R-PA) supported the bill. McCormick, in particular, she said, "barely beat Bob Casey."
"And there is so much about this bill that is politically toxic," she continued. "I mean, you know, the fact that the mere pittance they're giving on taxes, on tips, and Social Security. Guess what? That goes away immediately. After the next presidential election, and then, on the other hand, the tax cuts for billionaires, they're permanent. And the cuts for Medicaid don't happen until after the midterms. So there's so much cynicism in this bill."
She said the GOP is likely banking on the idea that people will buy the "lie" that "they're selling."
See the clip below or at the link here.