With President Donald Trump's megabill of tax cuts, health care cuts, and deportation funding passed and headed to his desk, a fresh wave of anger and mockery has been directed at Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), the key undecided vote who ultimately helped the bill clear the Senate.
At the time, Murkowski called it one of the hardest votes she had ever made, and emphasized that the House should fix key problems in the bill and send it back to the Senate for another round of voting.
"My sincere hope is that this is not the final product. This bill needs more work across chambers and is not ready for the President’s desk. We need to work together to get this right," she said.
Even at the time, it was clear the House intended to pass the bill as is. Now that has happened, many commentators on social media want to know what Murkowski is thinking.
"So, how does Lisa Murkowski feel now that the bad bill she voted for wasn’t improved by the house?" wrote anti-Trump Republican pollster Sarah Longwell.
"Hard not to wonder how Lisa Murkowski is feeling about her vote now," wrote journalist Isaac Saul. "Her plan was literally to get changes and send it back to the Senate; instead, she was the decisive vote on a bill she insinuated shouldn’t become law."
"Does Sen. Murkowski have anything to say, now that the House passed it and the bill is not going back to the Senate?" wrote Democratic media strategist Victor Shi.
"Some dared not defy the president, others like Murkowski focused solely on their own state and not on the country," wrote journalist and former California first lady Maria Shriver. "This is where we are. So many do not know what’s in this bill. So many don’t even realize how it will impact them in really profound ways. Detrimental ways."
"POV: The House didn't send it back," wrote the Republican Accountability Project, posting a picture of a scowling Murkowski.
"I don’t think the bill is coming back," wrote Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ).
Meanwhile, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) had a different take, harshly criticizing Murkowski and GOP lawmakers in general for trying to get carveouts for their own states from the legislation, knowing it would kick millions of people off health care and food assistance.
"The fact that all these Republican lawmakers are running around trying (& often, failing) to get specific carve outs in their own bill so THEIR community isn’t subject should tell you all you need to know," she wrote. "If they think it’s so great, why don’t they want it as-is for themselves?"
