Lisa Murkowski says she backs general GOP plan to repeal Obamacare
Sen. Lisa Murkowski says she backs the general Republican plan to repeal Obamacare even though she opposed proposals that did just that over the summer.
In an op-ed published by the Daily News-Miner, the Alaska Republican wrote that she has always supported "the freedom to choose" and believes the federal government shouldn't force people to buy something or risk a tax penalty.
"That is the fundamental reason why I opposed the Affordable Care Act from its inception and also why I cosponsored a bill to repeal the individual mandate tax penalty starting as early as 2013. And that is why I support the repeal of that tax today," she wrote.
She explained that her opposition to some of the plans that have been introduced in the upper chamber would have "unnecessarily taken away access to care from those who need it most."
But a spokesperson for the senator said that her latest comments don't necessarily mean she would back the tax bill, which Republicans want to pair with a repeal of Obamacare's individual mandate.
"Senator Murkowski said on Friday that she will be reviewing the work of the Finance Committee over the Thanksgiving holiday and plans to look at the entire package before coming to any conclusion on the legislation," the spokesperson said, according to the report.
Murkowski was among three Senate Republicans to killed her party's last effort to repeal Obamacare. The other two were Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, and Susan Collins, R-Maine. One reason Murkowski objected to the earlier Senate repeal effort was that it would have rolled back Alaska's Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act.