Kyrsten Sinema

It Might Not Just Be Manchin and Sinema Who Sense That Their Party Is Loony

September 21, 2021 by Charles C. W. Cooke Leave a Comment

The U.S. Capitol building, Washington, D.C., March 19, 2010. (Jim Bourg/Reuters )

When Democratic proposals begin to fail, Senators Sinema and Manchin tend to take all the heat. But that doesn’t mean they’re actually alone in their opposition. Indeed, as we’ve now seen with both the minimum wage and the filibuster, their reluctance is often a warning sign that there are other Democrats who do not want to get aboard, but do not want to say so quite yet.

This morning, Politico reports that:

It’s unclear exactly how many Democrats are siding with prominent House and Senate moderates. One centrist Democrat up for reelection next year, Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), declined to say whether she’s comfortable with the $3.5 trillion spending number on Monday, or whether she agrees with pausing the legislation.

The 2022 midterms are still a long way out, but at the moment Hassan is losing. And she knows it. Perhaps, when it comes to it, she won’t care. Perhaps she’ll be convinced that she can save herself by acquiescing to the binge. Perhaps she’ll end up voting for the whole thing, if she gets the chance, out of blind loyalty to her party.

But perhaps she won’t. And, at the very least, the fact that she won’t answer questions suggests that this is not a position she especially wants to be in.

The same Politico piece notes that:

Democrats close to the centrists say progressives are vastly overplaying their hand. A group of five to 10 House moderates have signaled to leadership that they would be willing to let the infrastructure bill fail rather than be held hostage by liberals over the broader spending bill. It’s a more attractive alternative to them than having to vote for painful tax increases to pay for an unrestrained social safety net expansion, according to a person familiar with the discussions.

That this wasn’t obvious all along is astonishing to me. The Democrats’ plans are utterly absurd. They are extraordinary. They represent government malpractice of the highest order. Joe Manchin seems to know it. Kyrsten Sinema seems to sort of know it. The moderates in the House seem definitely to know it.

Does Senator Hassan. Do others?

Key Senate Dems threaten success of Biden's $3.5T spending plan — then Senate Parliamentarian deals 'big blow' to Biden's immigration plans

September 20, 2021 by Chris Enloe Leave a Comment

Nothing is going right for President Joe Biden.

As two moderate Democratic senators signal they might block Biden’s ambitious $3.5 trillion spending plan, the Senate Parliamentarian dealt Biden another heavy blow to his immigration agenda late Sunday.

What are the senators saying?

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), the Senate’s most moderate Democrat, is reportedly saying privately that he believes Democrats should take a “strategic pause” on pursuing the massive $3.5 trillion spending package until next year, Axios reported.

Manchin’s plan is highly problematic for Democratic leaders. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer envision a vote on the package, via budget reconciliation in the Senate, sometime before September ends.

What did the Senate Parliamentarian say?

Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough dealt a “big blow” to Biden’s spending package by ruling that a pathway to citizenship for immigrants living in the U.S. illegally cannot be included in the $3.5 trillion spending package.

Democrats want to provide green cards, and a pathway to citizenship, to approximately 8 million immigrants, including so-called “Dreamers,” essential workers, agricultural workers, and those under temporary protected status. But because Democrats want to pass the spending bill via budget reconciliation — allowing them to pass the bill without Republican support — strict rules limit what can be included in the bill.

In the ruling, obtained by The Hill, MacDonough determined the immigration plan did not pass muster because it would be “by any standard a broad, new immigration policy.”

“The policy changes of this proposal far outweigh the budgetary impact scored to it and it is not appropriate for inclusion in reconciliation,” MacDonough said.

Granting lawful permanent resident “status would give these persons freedom to work, freedom to travel, freedom to live openly in our society in any state in the nation, and to reunite with their families and it would make them eligible, in time, to apply for citizenship – things for which there is no federal fiscal equivalent,” she explained. “Changing the law to clear the way to LPR status is tremendous and enduring policy change that dwarfs its budgetary impact.”

Democratic leaders expressed disappointment over the ruling, but vowed to prepare alternative proposals to ram through immigration policy via budget reconciliation.

Report: Kyrsten Sinema Issues Joe Biden Ultimatum, Demands House Vote on Senate-Passed $1.2 Trillion Infrastructure Bill by September 27 or No $3.5 Trillion Bill

September 20, 2021 by Wendell Husebo Leave a Comment

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) has reportedly demanded House Speaker Pelosi (D-CA) honors her promise of commencing a vote for the Senate-passed $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill on or before September 27. If the House fails to pass the bill by the deadline, Sinema will reportedly not support President Joe Biden’s $3.5 trillion Trojan horse reconciliation package.

Sinema told Biden Wednesday, as Politico Playbook reported, that “if the House delays its scheduled Sept. 27 vote on the bipartisan infrastructure plan — or if the vote fails — she won’t be backing a reconciliation bill.” Neither the White House nor Sinema confirmed the account, saying the negotiations are “private.”

Along with Sinema, Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-OR) has also told Pelosi he will mirror Sinema’s demands in the House. “If they delay the vote — or it goes down — then I think you can kiss reconciliation goodbye,” Schrader explained to Playbook. “Reconciliation would be dead.”

Sinema and Schrader’s comments are significant because Pelosi has a slim majority of three members to pass legislation in the House. Schrader’s opposition to the entire infrastructure package could aid in tanking Biden’s agenda if Pelosi doesn’t honor her promise and hold a vote on the bipartisan bill.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks during a press conference at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on September 8, 2021. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

To ratchet more pressure on Pelosi, Punchbowl News reported Monday the reconciliation package has not completed its House committee obligations, which means it is not ready to join with the bipartisan infrastructure bill for a House vote on September 27.

In August, Pelosi had promised moderate Democrats a House vote for the bipartisan bill September 27, possibly hoping the reconciliation package would be paired with the bipartisan bill. “This is a huge moment for both efforts, as Democrats have been saying for months that one can’t pass without the other,” Punchbowl wrote. “Now Pelosi must now choose whether to move forward on the infrastructure vote without reconciliation.”

Meanwhile, far-left House members have told Pelosi they will not vote for the Senate-approved bipartisan bill without the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package, which encompasses radical items Democrats are still fighting over, including Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare funding and tax increases.

A senior Democratic aide told Punchbowl on Friday Biden’s agenda is in “serious” trouble:

There is serious concern among Leadership that there aren’t the votes to pass the infrastructure bill unless reconciliation moves at the same time, which can’t happen unless the Senate moves more expeditiously on pre-conferencing, finishing the Byrd bath process, and concluding talks with [Sens. Joe] Manchin and [Kyrsten] Sinema.

Democrat panic is also elevated by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), who reportedly said Sunday he wants a “strategic pause” to the reconciliation package. Any pause in the legislative process until next year “means reconciliation is dead,” and the bipartisan infrastructure bill is probably dead.

In this June 24, 2021, file photo President Joe Biden, flanked by Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), and a bipartisan group of senators walks to speak to the media outside the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

The legislative defeat would hand Biden another failed initiative during his first year in office.

Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø

Senator Sinema to Nancy Pelosi: Break Your Word on Infrastructure, and I’m Out

September 20, 2021 by Charles C. W. Cooke Leave a Comment

Democratic candidate Kyrsten Sinema speaks to supporters after winning the U.S. Senate race in Scottsdale, Ariz., November 12, 2018. (Caitlin O’Hara/Reuters)

Hot on the heels of Senator Manchin’s “Whoa, Nelly,” Politico reports that Senator Sinema has told Joe Biden that she’s aware of the game being played by Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, and she’s having none of it:

MODS TO BIDEN: BIF NOW OR BUST — Sen. KYRSTEN SINEMA (D-Ariz.) delivered a tough message to President JOE BIDEN at a private meeting Wednesday, we’re told:If the House delays its scheduled Sept. 27 vote on the bipartisan infrastructure plan — or if the vote fails — she won’t be backing a reconciliation bill.
Sinema is not the only moderate taking this stand. Rep. KURT SCHRADER (D-Ore.) — one of approximately 10 moderate Democratic House members playing hardball with leadership — said he and several members of their group are on the same page. Some of the lawmakers have conveyed that message up the chain to leadership and the White House. A senior Democratic aide confirmed the warnings.
“If they delay the vote — or it goes down — then I think you can kiss reconciliation goodbye,” Schrader told Playbook. “Reconciliation would be dead.”

Or, to put it another way:

INSIDE THE MODS’ CALCULATION: Progressives think if they band together and threaten to kill the infrastructure bill, it will convince moderate members to go along with the larger reconciliation package. But multiple sources — including a senior Democratic aide and several in the centrist camp — tell us the left is misreading their colleagues.
The upshot: Some moderates privately have decided that no infrastructure bill is better than one that’s paired with $3.5 trillion in spending.

I have long been baffled by the idea that “spend $3.5 trillion or we won’t let you spend $1 trillion” would be a convincing argument to the non-crazies. Perhaps it’s actually not.