What’s Wrong With Alaska’s Congressional Delegation?
Most Alaskans know that their congressional delegation is pretty liberal, with the some-times exception of the ethically-challenged Don Young. Anyone watching this past week’s Senate votes by Senators Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich would have a hard time disagreeing with that conclusion.
Here’s a recap:
Photo ID for Elections. Sen. David Vitter proposed an amendment requiring photo ID for voters. Only two Republicans voted against it. Yep, you guessed it: Lisa Murkowski was one of them, joining her Democrat colleague Mark Begich in sending the measure to defeat.
Abortion Mandate for Religious Groups. Pro-abortion Democrat Jeanne Shaheen offered an amendment reaffirming the requirement that religious groups, notwithstanding their sincerely-held moral objections, must provide abortion drugs and birth control to their insureds. The measure passed with both Murkowski and Begich’s supporting votes.
Banning Former Illegal Aliens from Healthcare Benefits. Sen. Jeff Sessions offered an amendment that would have banned former illegal aliens from receiving government medical benefits. His effort failed. Both Murkowski and Begich voted against the proposal.
United Nations Funding/China’s Abortion Policy. See this article on Murkowski and Begich’s votes opposing Senator Cruz’s point of order against funding the United Nations as long as any of its member nations have a policy of involuntary abortions.
Finally, both Murkowski and Begich supported President Obama’s controversial anti-gun judicial nominee, Caitlin Halligan. That support went down in defeat this week with Obama’s withdrawal of the nominee after a lengthy GOP filibuster.
