I think it was a little unfortunate that we had this very spontaneous vote on an extraordinarily significant matter without the considered debate and analysis. People had to make really quick decisions, i'm not saying there's bad faith, but I do think this is significant enough that it deserved greater consideration by this body and I think what you've seen now is people have been forced to take a quick position. Whether or not that changes as we move forward I think remains to be seen.

Lisa Murkowski

Lisa Ann Murkowski is the senior United States Senator from the State of Alaska and a member of the Republican Party. Murkowski has served in the Senate since 2002 and became the senior Senator after Ted Stevens, who served for over forty years, left office in January 2009 after losing a re-election bid. Born in Ketchikan, she is the daughter of former United States Senator and Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski. She received her B.A. from Georgetown University and her J.D. from Willamette University College of Law. After working as an attorney, she was elected to the Alaska House of Representatives in 1998 and was eventually elected House Majority Leader. Murkowski was appointed to the United States Senate by her father to take the seat that Frank Murkowski vacated to take the governorship and was sworn in on December 20, 2002. Murkowski served the remainder of her father's unexpired term, electing to run for a full term in 2004 which she won. Murkowski decided to run for a second term in 2010 but was defeated by Tea Party candidate Joe Miller in the Republican primary.

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