Report: Murkowski Says She Will Vote Yes on Tax Reform

Republicans picked up a key vote on tax reform when Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska on Wednesday said she would back the legislation, MSNBC reports.

GOP leaders are attempting to pass the bill using budget reconciliation so can only afford to lose two votes with 52 members in the chamber. Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Steve Daines, R-Mont., have come out against the bill while Republican Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake of Arizona, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Susan Collins of Maine, Marco Rubio of Florida and Bob Corker of Tennessee have yet to show their full support for it.

Murkowski on Tuesday told reporters she was "feeling better" and was more "optimistic" about the bill. The tax plan will be combined with a bill that would open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling, an issue important to Murkowski.

"I am certainly trying to be helpful and constructive, although, as you know, I've been focused on the energy committee's piece and how that all fits in," she told CNN earlier this month, adding she is "looking very, very carefully at what the finance committee is doing" on the tax bill.

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