Oh, you know Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) was probably not too pleased about Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s (D-AZ) latest intentions about the infrastructure deal and the even more controversial reconciliation bill. The infrastructure deal is about $1 trillion. Reconciliation is around $3.5 trillion and has a lot of the far left’s goodie bag items. It’s ‘woke’ pork. Yet, Sinema has declared her intention not to support the latter, which mucked up the works for Democrats. Now, Joe Biden said Sinema might be “on board” if she sees what’s in the bill. Yeah, someone tell Joe, given Sinema’s track record, that it doesn’t mean she’s really “on board” especially when she sees the waste and far-left nonsense in it. President Dementia at his finest. Yet, forget her reading the bill, the vote must happen soon because the Arizona Democrat is going on vacation this month—and she’s not working through the August recess on these bills. She’s off to enjoy the sunshine—and Democrats need her vote to pass the reconciliation package (via Politico) [emphasis mine]:
…Biden said that Sen. KYRSTEN SINEMA (D-Ariz.) — who said Wednesday that she would not support a $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill — is “on board for passing [reconciliation] if in fact she sees all the pieces of it. That’s why she allowed the budget to go forward.” Speaking of which …
CAN’T STOP, WON’T STOP SINEMA’S SUMMER — Sinema is not letting BIF or the reconciliation bill get in the way of her summer plans.
When CHUCK SCHUMER announced earlier this month that he might keep the Senate in session into August — delaying a previously scheduled recess in order to shepherd the two gigantic bills through the chamber — Sinema told the majority leader that she was not sticking around to vote, multiple Senate sources tell Playbook.
She had prior vacation plans, she said, and wasn’t about to let the infrastructure or reconciliation bills get in the way.
In fairness, Sinema is staying in D.C. this weekend to work instead of attending one previously scheduled event: a wine retreat fundraiser at Sonoma’s ritzy MacArthur Place Hotel & Spa, where summer rates hover around $950 per night. (Wine is kind of Sinema’s thing. Last August, she held a three-week internship at Three Sticks Winery in Sonoma, for which the senator was paid an entry-level salary of $1,117.40.)
She may be in luck, though: Rank-and-file hopes run high on the Hill that if the BIF-related votes pass without a hitch, Schumer could hold a vote-a-rama on the budget Thursday night, allowing senators to leave Washington by Aug. 6 with their summer plans intact. But maybe that’s too rosy (or rosé, if you’ll pardon the pun).
It all circles back to what we’ve known about this feisty Democrat. She beats to her own drum, and she will happily flip anyone off. She’s very much her own person. A part of me wonders how Sinema would have behaved if Harry Reid was still the leader of the Senate Democrats, as it was known he was Dark Lord of the Sith when it came to keeping members in line. Right now, Sinema will do what is best for her constituents and no New York Democrat is going to tell her otherwise.
Chuck, if you want to work through August—that’s fine. I won’t be here.
There are other pieces to the Hill drama as well. In the House, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was not shy about threatening the process, saying that there are enough votes to block the bipartisan infrastructure deal if the reconciliation package isn’t passed first. It’s why many Republicans see the playbook here, but I’m more concerned that Democrats will try to pass these massive bills fail and then try again at the end of September when the government is about to run out of money, and this becomes a ‘must-pass' scenario. Can the GOP hold? I’m not so sure right now.
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