Senator Elizabeth Warren just tweeted out that the GOP tax scam includes a rider aimed directly at buying Senator Murkowski’s vote: opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.
I found more details here on Vox.
When Senate Republicans set up “budget reconciliation,” the special legislative procedure that would allow the tax bill to advance with only 51 votes instead of the usual 60, they added a special rider that would appeal to Murkowski and her Alaska colleague Sen. Dan Sullivan.
The provision would open sections of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and natural gas drilling — achieving a dream that Murkowski has been working on for the better part of a decade, a pursuit she picked up from her father Sen. Frank Murkowski.
Murkowski, whose top campaign donors include oil and gas companies, made it one pillar of an ambitious energy plan she released in 2015. She accused President Barack Obama of declaring “war” on Alaska when his administration tried to expand protections for the refuge in his second term. After Trump’s victory last November, Murkowski tabbed ANWR as a top priority.
I am beyond disgusted with the whole lot of them.