Daily Sitka Sentinel

Murkowski in Sitka After Historic Vote

By BRIELLE SCHAEFFER

Sentinel Staff Writer

At 1 p.m. today, only about 15 hours after her dramatic tie-breaking vote in the U.S. Senate to prevent a major scale-back of the Affordable Care Act, Sen. Lisa Murkowski stepped off Alaska Airlines Flight 63 in Sitka. 

Sen. Lisa  Murkowski gets a hug from Alaska Airlines Sitka Airport Manager Mandy Odenheimer as she arrives in Sitka this afternoon. Alaska’s senior senator is visiting constituents in Sitka today after voting early this morning in Washington, D.C., on health care repeal legislation. (Sentinel Photo)

Murkowski, looking fresh and cheerful despite a 3,500-mile trip that began only five hours after her historic vote in Washington, was greeted at the airport here by a small but enthusiastic group of supporters.

Among them were David and Cheryl Vastola and Alaska Airlines station manager Mandy Odenheimer,  who gave Murkowski an enthusiastic hug as she entered the terminal.

Few in Sitka knew in advance of Murkowski’s planned visit. Only Friday the Sentinel learned that her primary purpose is to tour the SEARHC Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital, meet briefly with Sitka city officials and to go fishing with her son Saturday. 

Sen. Lisa  Murkowski gets a tour of SEARHC Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital led by Greg McIntyre, facilities division director, right, in Sitka Friday. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)

Murkowski is sponsor of a bill in the Senate that will transfer 90 acres of federal land around the Mt. Edgecumbe hospital to SEARHC.

Murkowski, along with Maine Sen. Susan Collins and Arizona Sen. John McCain, broke ranks with the Senate’s ruling Republican majority to vote against the so-called “skinny” health care revision, creating the one-vote margin by which the measure – widely seen as a death blow to the Affordable Care Act – went down to defeat.

After the 2 a.m. EDT vote on the Senate floor, Murkowski had only about six hours to make the 8 a.m. departure of Alaska Airlines Flight 1 to Sitka by way of Flight 63 from Seattle.

“I got into bed at 4 a.m.,” she told reporters Friday. “And I had to be up at 5:30 a.m.” 

Shortly after she touched down, she had a quick lunch at Beak and then headed over to Centennial Hall for a round table with community leaders including Jay Sweeney of the City of Sitka, Lisa Busch of the Sitka Sound Science Center, Andrew Thoms of the Sitka Conservation Society, KathyHope Erickson of Sitka Tribe of Alaska and Rachel Roy of the Sitka Chamber of Commerce, among others. 

“It was a good snapshot of some of the things going on in the community,” she said, citing a need for more energy infrastructure and economic development in terms of expanding fisheries. 

Then, she was off to SEARHC for the hospital tour. 

She said the hospital tour was a good reminder that a one-size fits all approach doesn’t work for health care in Alaska.  

“When we think about health care and health care delivery in Alaska it’s always a little bit more complicated, a little bit more expensive and a little bit more difficult for some people to imagine in the Lower 48,” she said. 

Although a repeal of the Affordable Care Act was voted down, work on health care is far from over, Murkowski said.

During recent months she said she heard from numerous constituents who were concerned about the high costs of health care and the proposed cuts to Medicaid. She heard that there wasn’t a lot of transparency in the process and that people thought it was moving too fast and didn’t quite know how a repeal or new health care law would impact them, she said. 

Although a repeal of the Affordable Care Act was voted down, work on health care is far from over, Murkowski said.

“If anything we are just beginning,” she said. 

Murkowski said she expects committee hearings on health care to begin again as early as next week. 

“The reality is that the ACA has brought very good and substantive things for many people but it is not perfect there are some real flaws, not the least of which is the very unstable individual market,” she said, calling it a “crisis” in Alaska. “We are far from done but my hope is that the process we’ll use going forward will be broader and a more open process. We have to get this right, not get it passed.” 

Before Murkowski voted “no” on the revision Friday morning, she said she had a heartwarming conversation with Sen. McCain.

“I have a soft spot in my heart for John McCain because he’s the rough and tumble Ted Stevens-type and I miss Ted,” she said. “He said, ‘Lisa, do what you know is right.’ And it reminded me of something Ted Stevens used to say, ‘To hell with politics do what is right for Alaska.’”

While her stance has garnered some negative reactions from the White House, she is pushing onward. 

“I don’t believe threats and intimidation are a good way to win over friends and gain support,” she said about President Donald Trump.

Congress can do more to get things done in the current administration. she said. 

“Congress can stand up and get its act together,” Murkowski said. “We can do tough things together." 

But that’s not before she gets some rest and some family fishing time in Sitka this weekend before heading back to Washington D.C. in time for Monday’s session.