--- title: Health Care: Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins Voted No description: Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski were instrumental in blocking the "skinny repeal" effort canonical: https://time.com/4877922/health-care-vote-senate-skinny-repeal-murkowski-collins/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-28T14:31:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T05:16:58.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Meet the Women Senators Who Helped Stop the Health Care Bill og:description: John McCain got all the attention, but they were instrumental as well. og:url: https://time.com/4877922/health-care-vote-senate-skinny-repeal-murkowski-collins/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt447562f260d8c6dc/6988d787656a3f3919bd1079/collins_murkowski.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2405 og:image:height: 1353 og:image:alt: collins_murkowski og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Meet the Women Senators Who Helped Stop the Health Care Bill twitter:description: John McCain got all the attention, but they were instrumental as well. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt447562f260d8c6dc/6988d787656a3f3919bd1079/collins_murkowski.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Meet the Women Senators Who Helped Stop the Health Care Bill > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, twice weekly), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=66d5abeb-adb4-460f-ae08-595b75414ecc&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Republicans Tell Trump to Come Clean on Possible Comey Tapes [Watch (HLS stream): Republicans Tell Trump to Come Clean on Possible Comey Tapes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/3tPCx9mb.m3u8) (1:24)  _Published 2017-06-12. Fellow Republicans pressed President Donald Trump on Sunday to come clean about whether he has tapes of private conversations with former FBI Director James Comey and provide them to Congress if he does._ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Updated: Dec 13, 2023 5:16 AM UTCPublished: Jul 28, 2017 2:31 PM UTC by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Updated: Dec 13, 2023 5:16 AM UTCPublished: Jul 28, 2017 2:31 PM UTC Sen. John McCain of Arizona’s vote against the “skinny repeal” of Obamacare may have been the most dramatic, but the objections of Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine had already put the bill’s fate in jeopardy. The Senate’s Republican women, including Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, had been left out of the initial drafting process and derailed the Majority Leader’s mid-July effort to repeal Obamacare in order to replace it further down the road. While Capito ultimately voted for the bill, Murkowski and Collins held firm on Friday morning and, along with McCain, joined with Democrats to kill the bill. Here’s who they are. ## Sen. Lisa Murkowski Lisa Murkowski has been a U.S. Senator since 2002, when she was appointed to finish out her father Frank’s term when he was elected governor of the state. She ran for the seat in 2004 and won, but in 2010 she lost the GOP primary to a Tea Party challenger. But ultimately, Murkowski beat both the Tea Party and Democratic candidates and became the [first successful write-in candidate](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-elections-murkowski-idUSTRE6AG51C20101118) since South Carolina’s Strom Thurmond in 1954\. She won reelection in 2016. Murkowski has been wary of the process to replace the Affordable Care Act since it began. She has said she [could not support a bill that did not expand coverage and left costs high](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/28/16054700/senate-obamacare-repeal-john-mccain-susan-collins-lisa-murkowski), but was largely concerned with the approach to Medicaid. She was also against including cuts to Planned Parenthood in a repeal measure. According to the Alaska [_Dispatch News_](https://www.adn.com/politics/2017/07/11/lisa-murkowski-isnt-happy-about-senate-health-care-negotiations/), a quarter of Alaskans receive health coverage via the entitlement program. In July, Murkowski said that while some Alaskans had told her that she should “stick with the president,” most wanted her to put her state’s citizens first. “Almost without exception, it was, ‘Please Lisa. Protect Alaska’s interests,” _the Dispatch News_ reports she said. “Help us with ensuring that the most vulnerable are cared for, and that when it comes to the access issues that we face, the costs that we face, that you can help us address these.'” Murkowski vocalized her displeasure with the secretive Obamacare repeal process in late June, [telling an _Independent Journal Review_ reporter](https://twitter.com/byrdinator/status/877875172874883072) that she had not seen a draft of the bill because she is “not a reporter and I’m not a lobbyist.” She, along with Sens. Collins and Capito of West Virginia, later came out against Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s plan to immediately repeal the Affordable Care Act, but hold off on replacing it, [effectively killing ](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/18/15991020/3-gop-women-tank-obamacare-repeal)that effort. Her opposition to the health care plan made her a target of President Donald Trump, who tweeted that she had “really let the Republicans, and our country, down” when she voted against a motion that led to the Friday morning vote. The administration also reportedly called Murkowski and Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan [threatening that there would be consequences](https://www.adn.com/politics/2017/07/26/trump-administration-signals-that-murkowskis-health-care-vote-could-have-energy-repercussions-for-alaska/) over her position on the repeal. ## Sen. Susan Collins Susan Collins, of Maine, was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996 and was last reelected in 2014\. She will be up for reelection again in 2020, though she is said to be seriously considering a run for governor of Maine. It would be her second time vying for the governorship—she lost to independent Sen. Angus King in 1994. Collins has said she could not support the Obamacare repeal because of the impact it would have had on Americans seeking coverage. “I can’t support a bill that will greatly increase premiums for our older Americans,” Collins told [MSNBC in June](http://www.msnbc.com/mtp-daily/watch/sen-collins-i-can-t-support-bill-that-takes-health-insurance-away-973935683875). “I cannot support a bill that is going to result in tens of millions of people losing their health insurance.” The Maine Republican was also dismayed by the deep cuts to Medicaid that had been proposed under the repeal legislation and the impact it would have on vulnerable citizens including disabled children and poor seniors.”We should not be making fundamental changes in a vital safety net program that’s been on the books for 50 years … without evaluating what the consequences will be,” she said on [_CNN_‘s State of the Union. ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ%5FDnWLScu0) In a lengthy statement issued Friday, Collins explained the many reasons [why she voted against the measures, ](https://www.collins.senate.gov/sites/default/files/2017-07-27%20Skinny%20Bill%20Statement.pdf)including her opposition to proposals that would have stripped funding from Planned Parenthood. “Let me be clear that this is not about abortion,” she said. This is about interfering with the ability of a woman to choose the health care provider who is right for her. This harmful provision should have no place in legislation that purports to be about restoring patient choices and freedom. Like Murkowski, Collins faced threats as a result of her position on the repeal. The [Associated Press](https://www.apnews.com/aa59b766a4294989a62c922112580af7/The-Latest:-Lawmaker-blames-female-senators-for-failed-bill?utm%5Fcampaign=SocialFlow&utm%5Fsource=Twitter&utm%5Fmedium=AP%5FPolitics) reported Texas Rep. Blake Farenthold complained about the opposition the repeal effort had faced from “some female Senators from the northeast.” During a radio interview, he reportedly said, “if it was a guy from south Texas, I might ask him to step outside and settle this Aaron Burr-style.” She was later [caught on a hot mic discussing the threat](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/07/25/senators-on-hot-mic-trump-is-crazy-im-worried/?utm%5Fterm=.0486a33f7dd9), with a Senate colleague telling her he thinks she could “beat the s–t” out of the Representative. “Well, he’s huge,” she said in response. “And he — I don’t mean to be unkind, but he’s so unattractive it’s unbelievable.” ## Transcript This is an issue that the president should have cleared up in his press conference. He should give a straight yes or no to the question of whether or not the tapes exist. And he should voluntarily turn them over, not only to the senate intelligence committee, but to the special council So I don't think a subpoena should be necessary and I don't understand why the President just doesn't clear this matter up once and for all. I've found Director Comey, former Director Comey's testimony to be candid, to be thorough. And he testified under oath. So I believe that the information that he gave our committee. Is what he believed happened. It doesn't eliminate the possibility that there was a misinterpretation. I would say it's very in appropriate. As Jim Comey said its awkward to be able to have the president of the United States to be sitting down with someone in the FBI, the leadership of the FBI. To be able to have direct questions and for the issue to come up about the Michael Flynn investigation, its inappropriate But the way they was handled with no follow up, with no other press, with no other return to that topic, it looks like what I called a pretty liked touch, if this is trying to interfere in a process of any investigation, it doesn't seem like it was number one very effective and number two came up more than once in a conversation ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4877922/health-care-vote-senate-skinny-repeal-murkowski-collins/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4877922/health-care-vote-senate-skinny-repeal-murkowski-collins/"},"headline":"Meet the Women Senators Who Helped Stop the Health Care Bill","datePublished":"2017-07-28T14:31:35.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T05:16:58.000Z","description":"Sens. 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