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Senate Republicans blasted through Democratic and internal opposition to pass President Donald Trump’s multibillion-dollar clawback package early Thursday morning. The final vote tally was 51-48, with Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joining every Democrat in voting against it. The package will now be sent to the House, which has until Friday to pass it. The $9 billion rescissions bill tees up cuts to "woke" spending on foreign aid programs and NPR and PBS that Congress previously approved. Republicans have pitched the bill as building on their quest to root out waste, fraud and abuse...

There will always be three who give us heartburn. Shockingly, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), who has become the new John McCain of the Senate regarding being a thorn in the side, opted not to break ranks on the recissions package, which codifies some $9 billion in cuts. The gutting of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and National Public Radio is included in this package, which barely advanced on a key vote to move the bill forward. Vice President JD Vance had to go up to the hill to break the 50-50 tie. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Susan Collins (R-ME), and...

Nothing will ever be easy with congressional Republicans. The reconciliation package aged all of us 35 years, as Sen. John Thune (R-SD) and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) had to whip votes, hold the line, and make some phone calls. President Trump was also working the phones heavily when final passage was at stake in the House. Republican leadership held the line, but with Rep. Mark Green (R-TN) retiring after the reconciliation vote, delivering what’s left of the Trump agenda before the 2026 midterms is about to get even tougher. The House did its job and passed the rescission package, but...

Senator Murkowski (AK) is now seeking to delay the DOGE cuts package as time runs out to pass the measure into law. The House of Representatives last month passed the measure which seeks to codify $9.4 billion in spending cuts. The Senate has until July 18 to pass the DOGE cuts and said it to President Trump’s desk for a signature. Only 51 votes are needed in the Senate but the RINOs are once again stalling the passage of the measure. ..... Snip..... On Wednesday, it was reported that Murkowski is going to set up another ‘vote-a-rama’ as times runs...

Monday on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said she had “many questions” about the success of President Donald Trump’s military strike on three Iranian nuclear facilities. Cooper asked, “You’re somebody in Washington who’s, you know, people on both sides of the aisle consider a straight shooter. You have your what you believe in and you stand by it, sometimes it’s out of favor, sometimes it’s in favor with your own party. Do you think it was the right move by President Trump to order air strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities given what we have seen now as...

Within weeks of the embarrassment of the 2022 red trickle midterm elections, Tillis thought it would be a good idea to get into bed with the Democrats on a hideous amnesty bill that was an homage to Barack. The timing was almost as bad as the bill itself. ... Now Tillis is throwing his second hissy fit of the year — opposing Pete Hegseth's confirmation as Secretary of Defense — and has become a fly in the ointment regarding Ed Martin’s nomination as U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. Tillis takes umbrage with Martin's support of J6 defendants, especially...

A single Republican senator — Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) — voted against the nomination of Harmeet Dhillon to serve as assistant attorney general, veering away from the rest of her GOP colleagues who voted in favor. After her nomination in December, lawmakers finally held a formal vote Thursday and Dhillon was approved in a 52-45 vote. However, Murkowski opposed the nomination and sided with Democrats. President Donald Trump announced in December the nomination of Dhillon to work as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice. “Throughout her career, Harmeet has stood up consistently to protect our...

"You do NOT disrespect those who have worked hard--who have done good and honorable public service.... When you're dealing with employees, there is a right way and a not-so-right way to treat them."

President Trump on Friday said he wasn’t expecting Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine) to vote against his controversial nominee for secretary of Defense, Army veteran and former Fox News host Pete Hegseth. “I was very surprised that Collins and Murkowski would do that,” Trump said. The president also nodded to the yes vote from Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to advance Hegseth’s nomination, saying he is “always a no vote. Was Mitch a no vote? How about Mitch?” McConnell voted to advance Hegseth’s confirmation. “Let’s see what happens,” the president said. The Senate voted largely along party...

WASHINGTON—Two centrist Republican senators said they opposed the nomination of President Trump’s defense-secretary pick, Pete Hegseth, injecting new drama into what was expected to be a nail-biter of a vote Friday. In a statement Thursday, Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said Hegseth’s “nomination to the role poses significant concerns that I cannot overlook,” pointing to worries about his character and his lack of experience running large organizations, as well as his past opposition to women serving in combat roles in the military. “I cannot in good conscience support his nomination,” she said. Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine) followed with...

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said on Thursday she can't support Pete Hegseth to be President Donald Trump's secretary of Defense. "Given the global security environment we’re operating in, it is critical that we confirm a Secretary of Defense, however, I regret that I am unable to support Mr. Hegseth," she concluded in a lengthy statement posted to X. In her reasoning, Murkowski cited infidelity, "allegations of sexual assault and excessive drinking" and Hegseth's previous comments on women serving in the military.

Crews are putting up large anti-scale barricades around the White House and the Treasury tonight.. Big news coming this weekend? ... Any guesses? ... Lisa Murkowski, who had a high chance of voting NO, just voted YES to advance the Big Beautiful Bill after she spoke with Vance 3 to go! ... JD Vance is on the Senate floor lobbying Republican holdouts to vote YES on the Big Beautiful Deal

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told Senate Republicans to expect to see the legislative text of the budget reconciliation package on Friday evening and then to vote at noon Saturday to begin debate on President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.” Several GOP senators, however, refused to say whether they would vote to proceed to the bill, including Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) says he’s a hard “no” on the legislation because it includes a provision to raise the debt limit by $5 trillion.

Breitbart News @BreitbartNews Lisa Murkowski says that if the balance in the Senate goes from 53-47 back to 50-50, she's open to joining with the Democrats to give them the majority From Galen Druke 3:14 PM · Jun 23, 2025

Aseismic shift has occurred in the Trump administration’s new defense spending plan that is just emerging when it comes to the USAF’s airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) predicament. The service’s E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft are dwindling in number and rapidly aging into unsupportability. The proven and in-production E-7 Wedgetail, based on the Boeing 737 and serving with multiple allies, was supposed to bridge the gap between the E-3’s retirement and pushing the sending part of the mission to space-based distributed satellite constellations. You can read all about this here. Now, if the administration gets...

The Democrat and RINO effort to blow up Trump’s global tariffs suffered an embarrassing failure in the Senate this evening after two senators failed to vote. As The Gateway Pundit reported, Senator Rand Paul (RINO-KY) had sponsored a resolution that would have terminated ALL of Trump’s tariffs, including those on America’s top adversary, China. The vote deadlocked 49-49, meaning it failed by one vote. But there were three Republicans who voted to stab Trump in the back and end the global tariffs: Rand Paul of Kentucky Susan Collins of Maine Lisa Murkowski of Alaska Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Senator...

The White House is warning that President Donald Trump will veto a bipartisan Senate resolution that would terminate his sweeping global “Liberation Day” tariffs. The statement of administration policy from the Office of Management and Budget, sent to congressional offices Monday, comes ahead of an expected vote this week forced by several Democrats led by Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky. “This resolution would undermine the administration’s efforts to address the unusual and extraordinary threats to national security and economic stability, posed by the conditions reflected in the large and persistent annual U.S. goods...

Establishment anti-Trump Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said she is “anxious” about using her voice, claiming that “we are all afraid” because “retaliation is real.”When asked what she would say to people who are afraid or who represent people who are afraid, Murkowski took on an incredibly somber tone. “We are all afraid,” she said, pausing dramatically. “It’s quite a statement.”“But we are. … We’re in a time and a place where I don’t know, I certainly have not — I have not been here before,” she said.“And I’ll tell you I’m oftentimes very anxious myself about using my voice...

Four Republicans – Sens. Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky; Susan Collins, of Maine; and Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, sided with Democrats in voting for a resolution that would repeal the emergency declaration that permitted Trump to levy taxes on Canada by citing deadly fentanyl flowing across the border. The measure, introduced by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., passed the upper chamber of Congress by a 51-48 vote.

A group of Republican senators voted along with Democrats on Wednesday for a resolution to undo President Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on Canadian imports, dealing an embarrassing blow to Trump. The resolution expresses the sense of the Senate and doesn’t have the force of law, but its 51-48 passage is unwelcome news for the president on the very day he announced a host of new tariffs.