Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said Monday she wished her female colleagues from across the aisle had lobbied her to vote against the Blunt amendment, legislation that would have enabled employers to opt out of providing health insurance that covered medicine or procedures they morally objected to.
Murkowski, who voted for the GOP-backed bill, has since said that she regretted her vote.
"I wish that we had had that discussion, I can honestly tell you that," Murkowski said.
The Alaska senator sat for a CNN special with Sens. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) to celebrate Mikulski becoming the longest-serving female member of Congress.
"I think that my party is in an unfortunate place right now as viewed by many women in this country, who are feeling very anxious about what they believe to be attacks on women's health," Murkowski continued.
The four female senators went on to talk about how an informal sisterhood that crossed partisan lines had grown in the Senate.
Murkowski credited her personal friendship with Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) as helping in negotiations over the highway bill, while Gillibrand credited Snowe and Murkowski in helping forward legislation that provided benefits to 9/11 first-responders.
"I remember when I was trying so hard to pass the 9/11 health bill, both Lisa and Olympia were encouraging me. They said we're not going to be named sponsors in the bill, for instance, but we believe in what you are doing, and I think that if you approach it A, B and C, you'll be more effective," Gillibrand remembered.
Murkowski said that female senators tended to have less of an ego than their male counterparts.
"I don't think that we have as much ego attached with who's getting the credit," said Murkowski.
"We're all pretty competitive or we wouldn't have gotten here in the first place, but in order to achieve the results that we are looking for, I think there is less personal ego on the line," she added.
