Murkowski vs Trump: Senator sides with Democrats on Iran after series of breaks with president
The Senate was two votes away from taking a step toward handcuffing President Donald Trump's war authorities in Iran this week. It’s the closest Senate Democrats have come to trying...
By Fox News · Fox News
The Senate was two votes away from taking a step toward handcuffing President Donald Trump's war authorities in Iran this week. It’s the closest Senate Democrats have come to trying to reassert Congress’ authority on the matter, and was nearly successful thanks to one Senate Republican known for an independent streak: Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska. That vote, in particular, came after Congress had sprinted past the 60-day deadline to either authorize or halt Trump’s war. Murkowski argued that she hoped the administration would give more clarity on next steps, but so far hadn’t received such information. SENATE DEMOCRATS FINALLY CRACK GOP UNITY ON TRUMP'S IRAN WAR AS MURKOWSKI FLIPS "So I felt that it was now time to advance a discharge so that we can discuss our responsibilities through the War Powers Act," Murkowski said. "So it's — we're in a different place than we were last time we voted on this." Many of her votes for or against any given piece of legislation are determined by a simple principle: how will this vote affect Alaska? "Senator Murkowski approaches every decision thoughtfully, always asking what is best for Alaska," Joseph Plesha, a spokesperson for Murkowski, told Fox News Digital. "When she believes a policy advances those priorities, she supports it, regardless of party or politics." That style of decision-making was on full display last year, when Murkowski cast the deciding vote for the president’s "big, beautiful bill," his most significant legislative accomplishment of his second term to date. But at the time, Murkowski described the decision as "agonizing," and one that she came to only after securing a spate of wins for Alaska. "I had to look on balance, because the people in my state are the ones that I put first," Murkowski said. "We do not have a perfect bill by any stretch of the imagination. My hope is that the House is going to look at this and recognize that we’re not there yet." Murkowski had hoped that the Senate and House would go…