Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) denounced the Trump administration’s decision to axe temporary protected status for Afghan immigrants — the latest break by the centrist Republican from President Donald Trump’s administration.

In a joint letter with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the senator urged the administration to reconsider the cancellation of the temporary protection, which affords Afghans a work permit and legal status in the U.S.

“This decision endangers thousands of lives, including Afghans who stood by the United States,” Murkowski and Shaheen — the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee — wrote. “This decision represents a historic betrayal of promises made and undermines the values we fought for far more than 20 years in Afghanistan.”

The letter — which was sent May 23 and released Friday — comes amid reports that the State Department is shuttering the office that coordinated Afghan resettlement for those who helped with the war effort, part of an agency-wide reorganization aligning with the Trump administration’s moves to reduce foreign aid and assistance and refocus on “America First” priorities.

Murkowski has not been shy about criticizing her own party, while encouraging her fellow GOP senators to do the same. The Republican has rebuked President Donald Trump for his close relationship to Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing the U.S. of “walking away from our allies.” But she also acknowledged a reticence within Republican circles of defying Trump — saying “we are all afraid” of Trump’s retaliation.

She’s also not the only Republican to raise red flags about the cancellation of TPS protections for some immigrants, with Miami’s members of Congress also urging the Trump administration to continue the protections for Venezuelans and Haitians.

The Alaska Republican first criticized the decision on TPS shortly after it was announced by the Department of Homeland Security, calling it “concerning” in light of promises from Noem to address a backlog of asylum applications — which could dramatically increase as former TPS holders look for avenues to stay in the U.S.

But eliminating TPS has been one of Trump’s key campaign promises from the start, after calling the program corrupt and saying the legal status had been extended for too long.

The battle over TPS has made its way to the courts. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to revoke TPS protections for roughly 350,000 Venezuelans.

Murkowski has previously called out the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, which happened under the Biden administration, saying the “botched” operation endangered many who then came to the U.S. — and that ending protections would only exacerbate the problem.

“This administration should not compound that misstep by forcing them to return to the Taliban’s brutal regime,” Murkowski wrote on X earlier this month.

A judge denied a request for reinstatement Wednesday from the ousted head of the national copyright office, rejecting for now her claims that President Donald Trump had no right to fire her.

Shira Perlmutter was fired as register of copyrights earlier this month, an office housed inside the Library of Congress. In a suit filed in Washington’s federal court last week, she alleged that Trump and his subordinates overstepped in both naming a new Librarian of Congress — the only official, she claims, that can hire and fire a copyright chief.

Perlmutter asked the court to issue a temporary restraining order keeping Trump’s appointees out of the Library of Congress and keeping her on the job, but U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly denied the motion from the bench in a hearing Wednesday.

Perlmutter’s lawsuit names as lead plaintiff Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, whom Trump attempted to appoint as acting Librarian of Congress, alongside Trump and several other administration officials. Justice Department lawyers representing Blanche & Co. asserted in a court filing this week that the Library of Congress is “part of the Executive Branch and is subject to presidential control.”

“The Library of Congress is not an autonomous organization free from political supervision,” the lawyers wrote.

The White House argues that Trump has the authority to name an acting librarian and register of copyrights who can serve temporarily under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act — much as the president can name acting leaders for any other federal agency with a presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed chief.

Key lawmakers on Capitol Hill, including some top Republicans, are questioning that assertion, and it has created a standoff at the Library of Congress over the attempted takeover.

Rep. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.), the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, said in a statement that the arguments in the recent administration court filing amount to “unlawful and unconstitutional efforts to wrest control of the Library and the Copyright Office from Congress and the American people.”

“The law is clear,” Morelle said. “The Library of Congress is a legislative branch agency, and the President has no authority to appoint an Acting Librarian or meddle in the Library’s personnel decisions.”

In addition to attempting to install Blanche as acting librarian, Trump also attempted to appoint Brian Nieves as acting assistant librarian and Paul Perkins as acting register of copyrights, replacing Perlmutter as director of the Copyright Office.

But Robert Randolph Newlen, who assumed the acting librarian role immediately after Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden’s removal, appears to remain in control of the library, and Blanche has not been seen at the library or sent communications to employees since the attempted takeover earlier this month.

While Kelly did not immediately grant Perlmutter’s request, her lawsuit will continue. Kelly indicated he will hear arguments in the coming weeks on whether to grant a preliminary injunction blocking Trump and Blanche while the litigation plays out.

In the meantime, the leadership of the library and copyright office will remain in limbo.

“If Mr. Blanche assumes the role of Acting Librarian of Congress, the Executive Branch will gain access to reams of confidential information that belongs to Congress and that Congress has zealously guarded from disclosure, as well as privately owned copyright deposits,” Perlmutter’s lawyer wrote in a Tuesday filing.

Republican chairs of the House and Senate panels with oversight responsibility of the library declined a request for comment.

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the Senate Rules Committee, called once again for Congress to take bipartisan action to codify full congressional control of the library, condemning the “unprecedented encroachment by the White House.”

The White House plans to send a small package of spending cuts to Congress next week, senior GOP officials told several House Republicans Wednesday.

The planned transmission of the “rescissions” bill, confirmed by two Republicans granted anonymity to describe the plans, comes after a long internal battle over how to formalize the cuts that have been made by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency initiative.

The package set to land on Capitol Hill is expected to reflect only a fraction of the DOGE cuts, which have already fallen far short of Musk’s multi-trillion-dollar aspirations. The two Republicans said it will target NPR and PBS, as well as foreign aid agencies that have already been gutted by President Donald Trump’s administration.

Speaker Mike Johnson said on X Wednesday that the House “is eager and ready to act on DOGE’s findings so we can deliver even more cuts to big government that President Trump wants and the American people demand.” He said the House “will act quickly” on a package without saying when it might be submitted or what it might contain.

Republicans on Capitol Hill have been growing impatient as they await the White House request, after the Trump administration confirmed more than six weeks ago that it intended to send a more than $9 billion package of proposed cutbacks.

It’s unclear whether the forthcoming submission will meet that target, which is itself a tiny fraction of the $1.6 trillion in yearly discretionary spending. The White House budget office did not respond to a request for comment.

“We’ve all said that we’re anxious to act on rescissions packages and hope they find a way to send them up,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said in a brief interview last week before lawmakers left town for a weeklong recess.

An online pressure campaign aimed at “codifying” the DOGE cuts has gained steam in recent days, pushed by Musk-friendly Republicans including Utah Sen. Mike Lee and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Many MAGA influencers on Musk’s X platform have amplified the effort.

In a CBS News interview Tuesday, Musk himself criticized the “one big, beautiful bill” backed by Trump that just narrowly cleared the House last week and is headed for the Senate. Musk said he “was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit … and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing.” “A bill can be big or it can be beautiful,” Musk said in a clip of the interview published Tuesday night. “But I don’t know if it can be both.”

Trump’s top policy aide, deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, responded to Musk in a late-night X post noting that the cuts Musk has been seeking could not be done in the GOP megabill but instead “would have to be done through what is known as a rescissions package or an appropriations bill.”

Senior Republicans informed some House GOP members the rescissions package would finally be coming hours later.

Whether it can pass is a separate question: Republicans have debated possible DOGE-inspired rescissions for months, and GOP leaders have been sensitive to the fact that some pieces may have trouble passing the House, according to two other Republicans granted anonymity to discuss the matter, as well as the tight 45-day timeline for consideration set out in federal law. Top appropriators have sought to weigh in ahead of any White House submission to ensure the package can pass.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who first pressed Musk almost three months ago to get Trump to pursue clawbacks, is frustrated that the Trump administration had not sent a package sooner.

“I’m very disappointed — not only in the White House, but disappointed in Congress,” Paul said in a brief interview last week. “If Congress can’t cut $9 billion, I think most of them should resign and go home.”