Rep Ro Khanna: Sinema Is a First-Term Senator and She’s Talking About Walking Out; Who Legislates Like That?
"Elevator" stunt seems to have been a last straw for some Democrats
In the current pressure-cooker atmosphere of uncertainty about the future of preventing the federal government from shutting down and remaining in a position to keep paying its past debts, on the one hand, and trying to secure passage of legislation which carries with it much of their domestic agenda, on the other, an increasing number of Democrats are losing their patience.
Specifically losing their patience with freshman Democratic Sen Kyrsten Sinema, of Arizona.
Democrats appeared to ease their pressure on Thursday when the Senate approved a short-term spending bill to keep the federal government open and avert a shutdown only hours from now.
However, that still leaves much to resolve, including the fate of the $3.5 trillion Build Back Better Act which would fund much of the Democratic agenda heading into next year's midterm elections.
While many Democrats have been frustrated by their own Sen Joe Manchin, of West Virginia, and his obstinacy on the bill — some appear even moreso with Sen Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.
They particularly lost patience with Sinema over what appeared to be a coy exchange with a reporter Wednesday in the Senate, as Sinema waited for an elevator.
The reporter asked Sinema “where she was,” clearly in reference her political position on advancing the Build Back Better Act.
Sinema decided, however, to play coy and reply “I’m in the Senate,” and when pressed further, she added, “I’m clearly waiting for the elevator.”
Rep Ro Khanna (D-Calif) is one of those Democrats who are at the end of their rope with Sinema — who unlike Manchin from deep-red West Virginia — is from the much friendlier for Democrats Arizona.
“Senator Manchin says, 'We want to negotiate in good faith.' Fine, let’s continue to negotiate over a few weeks. Why did Senator Sinema create this deadline that, ‘If we don’t do something on Thursday, I’ll walk?’ I mean, who legislates like that?
“She’s a first-term senator. As a first-term member of the Congress, even a third-term member of Congress, if I said, 'If I’m not going to get my way, I’ll walk,’ the speaker would laugh at me, understandably,” Khanna added. “Politics is a team sport. At the end of the day, we have to act on behalf of the American public and we have to understand we have a president, President Biden, we have a speaker of the House and Senate majority leader.
“They’ve been there for many years, they have experience. We can disagree, but have some respect and have some sense that there is a coach and someone's in charge of the team,” Khanna said.
Under pressure, such as from Khanna, Sinema has released a statement in an attempt to refute the complaints and allegations her Democratic colleagues.
“Senator Sinema said more than two months ago, before Senate passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, that she would not support a bill costing $3.5 trillion,” her office's statement read in a tweet. “In August, she shared detailed concerns and priorities, including dollar figures, directly with Senate Majority Leader Schumer and the White House.
“Claims that the senator has not detailed her views to President Biden and Senator Schumer are false,” the statement added. “Like our bipartisan infrastructure bill, the proposed budget reconciliation package represents a proposal of President Biden's — and President Biden and his team, along with Senator Schumer and his team, are fully aware of Senator Sinema's priorities, concerns, and ideas.
“While we do not negotiate through the press — because Senator Sinema respects the integrity of those direct negotiations — she continues to engage directly in good-faith discussions with both President Biden and Senator Schumer to find common ground,” the statement concluded.
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