‘Not at All’: Bernie Sanders Doesn’t Mince Words When It Comes to Kyrsten Sinema
Vermont progressive not sorry to see Arizonan's planned departure
Sen Bernie Sanders was very clear: When his colleague from Arizona leaves the Senate later this year, don’t look for him to shed tears.
Kyrsten Sinema, the Democratic-turned-independent senator, ended months of speculation Tuesday when she said that she would not seek a second term as Arizona’s senior senator.
For Sanders, who twice has run for president, that is welcome news.
Sanders was a guest Tuesday on late-night comedian Stephen Colbert’s TV program, where he asked Sanders about Sinema’s announcement.
“Obviously, a lot of people are going to miss her. Are you? How much are you going to miss her?” the host asked.
“Not at all,” Sanders shot back, to laughter from the studio audience.
“She’s a Democrat. Tell me why,” Colbert added.
In fact, although she was elected as a Democrat in 2018, Sinema bolted the party more than a year ago and became an independent.
“I want to make the point. Way back when — I know it seems like a century ago — but in the midst of COVID three years ago, working with the president, we passed the American Rescue Plan which went a long way to take us out of the terrible economic down spin we were in and help us address the pandemic,” Sanders said. “What we understood is, that bill, which was really consequential, was an emergency bill: Economic downturn, COVID. We said, ‘All right, let’s deal with the structural crises facing America, the housing crisis, the child care crisis, the health care crisis. We can do better for working people.’ We worked with the president for something that we called Build Back Better.
“We had zero Republican support. We had 48 people in the Democratic caucus prepared to transform this country on behalf of the working class of America,” added Sanders, a key architect of that Build Back Better program. “Two people — Kyrsten Sinema being one and Joe Manchin — being the other, refused to support us, we couldn’t pass it. So, no, I will not miss Senator Sinema.”
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