Alaska Politics Blog : Murkowski on health care bill: "disappointing"

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Erika Bolstad

Erika Bolstad covers Alaska issues, including the congressional delegation, from Washington, D.C., for McClatchy Newspapers. Before joining the bureau in 2007, she spent seven years as a reporter at the Miami Herald, where she covered politics, government and the state legislature. E-mail Erika at ebolstad@adn.com.

Sean Cockerham

Sean Cockerham writes about Alaska state politics. He's worked for the ADN in Anchorage and Juneau, covered the legislature for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, and covered Washington state politics for the Tacoma News Tribune. E-mail Sean at scockerham@adn.com

Kyle Hopkins

Kyle Hopkins covers rural affairs, general assignments and politics for the ADN. He covered the 2006 campaign for governor, has blogged extensively about Alaska politics, covered Anchorage city government and was a reporter based in the Mat-Su. He grew up in Southeast Alaska and previously wrote for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and Anchorage Press. E-mail Kyle at khopkins@adn.com and also find him on our rural Alaska blog, The Village.

David Hulen

David Hulen, the ADN's state and local news editor, is responsible for political coverage. He has been an editor and reporter at the ADN for more than 20 years. E-mail David at dhulen@adn.com

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Murkowski on health care bill: "disappointing"

Posted by Alaska_Politics

Posted: November 19, 2009 - 1:30 pm

Comments (0) |

From Erika Bolstad in Washington D.C. --

Don't expect Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski to cross party lines to vote for the health care bill released this week by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada.

Murkowski calls it "deeply disappointing and in many ways is even worse than the Senate Finance Committee-passed proposal."

"First and foremost, the American people have said, and both parties have agreed, that health care reform must reduce health care costs," she said. "But this bill doesn’t do that. In fact, it’s laden with budgetary gimmicks that would massively increase the size and reach of government and send federal spending into the stratosphere."

She adds:
"At a town hall meeting on health care that I held last week in Chugiak, the one thing that constituents repeated was 'don't pass a bill that raises taxes, increases insurance premiums and cuts Medicare.' We should listen to the American people."

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