Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) could have chosen to shrink the bill’s debt-ceiling increase to sway Rand Paul (R. Ky.), or adjust the Medicaid provisions to woo Sen. Thom Tillis (R., N.C.) and Collins. Instead, he gave more to Alaska—and it worked.

The pivotal yes vote came from Sen. Lisa Murkowski, whose support was secured following negotiated side deals for her home state Alaska

The fate of President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda was in Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s hands — and she used that leverage to force a series of changes that will deliver more federal dollars to her state.

A deal for Alaska’s whalers saved Donald Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill” by securing the vote of the state’s fiercely independent Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski.

Alaskan Senator Lisa Murkowski cast a pivotal vote in the Senate's passage of the president's sweeping tax cuts and spending reductions bill on Tuesday