Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a moderate Republican from Alaska, has a reputation for bucking her party.
She sometimes broke away from President Trump on key issues during his first term like the push to repeal the Affordable Care Act and the confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. She detailed some of those moments in her new book, "Far From Home: An Alaskan Senator Faces the Extreme Climate of Washington, D.C."
"I am one who when I see something that needs to be called out, I will call it out if it needs to be," she told NPR.
Murkowski sat down with All Things Considered host Juana Summers to discuss her memoir, her thoughts on Trump's sweeping domestic policy bill and the future of democracy.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Interview highlights
Juana Summers: What do you think that the American people should understand about what is currently in [the Republicans' One Big Beautiful Bill Act] and why you're not on board at this point?
Lisa Murkowski: I don't refer to it as the big beautiful bill. It is big and I'm not quite sure it's beautiful yet.
And there is much in it, quite honestly, that I really like. There are many aspects contained in the bill that I think are going to be important from a border perspective, from a defense perspective and from an energy perspective.
But having said that, where's the bulk of the attention right now? It's on Medicaid, the impact to Medicaid. We in Alaska, are a very high cost state when it comes to health care and, quite frankly, very limited access to care for many.
So, Medicaid is very important to so many in our state. I want to make sure that as we are looking to address some of the concerns that we know exist in Medicaid.
We can always do more when it comes to oversight and areas of reform. But I want to make sure that it works for those who are in greatest need.
Summers: And I'll ask you about just one other piece of legislation, which is the rescission package, which would take back $9.4 billion that were already appropriated for foreign aid, as well as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
I'll just note that about $1 billion of that funding goes to CPB, which sends much of it to local stations that carry PBS and NPR programming. I know that you're on the Senate Appropriations Committee that's going to hold a hearing on this package this week.
Murkowski: I am an unabashed supporter of public broadcasting in my state that is so highly rural.
It is the benefits of public broadcasting that allows people to not only get their news, but to communicate with one another, to be given alerts as to storms and what is happening with tides and landslides and the fishing report.
So for me, I am looking at this and saying the threat to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is very real with this rescission. And it's not something that I support. And likewise, within some of the global health programs, we have seen the benefit. One of the ways that we are able to help in many ways avoid conflict is through humanitarian efforts that our nation is engaged in. And so the role that we will play is important.
As an appropriator, I look at these accounts. These were all authorized and appropriated by Congress. Now you have an administration coming in and saying, "We don't like this. Get rid of it."
We have a role as the appropriators. We can listen to their advice ... but Congress has a role here. And I think we need to make sure that everybody remembers that ultimately it is the Congress that has the power of the purse, has the power to determine those appropriations.
Summers: You never voted for Trump, yet you're a member of a political party that has been largely defined by the president, his MAGA movement. I wonder, do you feel like there is still a place for moderates within the Republican Party, for people like you?
Murkowski: I think there is still a place in the Congress for moderates. We need more on the Republican side. We need more on the Democrat side. I think we need people who are willing to try to come together to solve problems, not on a partisan basis, but on the basis of, "Is this going to be good for a rural state like Alaska and an urban state like Massachusetts?"
Summers: A broad question for you. Do you think that the country's democracy is on unstable footing?
Murkowski: I mentioned I've been in the Senate now for two decades, a long time. There have been hard issues that have come before us. There have been matters of conflict that may turn to war. There has been an internal divide. I have never been part of more conversations where people have asked whether or not democracy is safe right now.
I think part of it is because we see within our own institutions greater politicization, greater politicization in the courts.
But when people stop believing in the integrity of their institutions. That's when I think there is fear about the fundamentals of our democracy.
It is not something that I would say, "It's all over." Absolutely, positively not.
Summers: What is your message to people who right now feel like they don't have a political home?
Murkowski: Don't assume that anybody else is going to speak up for you. Don't be ground down because you don't think that you're being heard.
It's when you stop speaking up that those of us who are in a position to listen start to think, "Well, maybe your silence means you think everything is OK."
And if you don't think it's OK. It is your obligation to speak up. I've never been to a protest as a protester.
What we saw the weekend before last with marches around the country where people were speaking up in some of the smallest villages in Alaska. We had people that were speaking out and maybe they were just speaking out to their neighbors. But I think that that's some of the best part of who we are. We're in a country where you feel like you can speak out, do it peaceably, do it without violence.
I need to send a voice of — I hope — positivity. And I think this is where I hoped people would be after reading my book, that there is a glimmer of hope. There should be a desire to be involved in your community, in your state, in helping others be better people.
You should want to do this. In fact, there's an obligation for you to do it at some different level. And you may think it requires a specific resume or a specific background. It doesn't. It just requires a heart to try to make a difference. You do that and we're going to be OK.
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