The ongoing war between Kyrsten Sinema — a first term Arizona “Democrat” Senator who identifies as openly bisexual — and literally everyone else, including her own party and constituents, is sadly ongoing. Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-New York), who is gay and Afro-Latino, was recently quoted in CNN saying that “we live under the tyranny of Kyrsten Sinema,” which is, unfortunately, a mood. Torres was presumably referring to his fellow Senators when he said “we,” but it’s also safe to say much of the LGBTQ+ community feels the same.
“I welcome the ideological diversity of the party. I can live with dissent,” Torres added. “My colleagues and I have trouble living with what we perceive to be erraticism. The perception of erraticism is brought on by a lack of communication and clarity for where she stands.”
That erraticism includes her opposition to repealing the filibuster, which is the one thing that stands in the way of the passage of the Equality Act. It also includes opposing President Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan, which would have rehauled American infrastructure in a major way. According to a recent CNN Town Hall, Sinema and fellow Democrat Joe Manchin — the other Senator in the party responsible for holding up Biden’s infrastructure bill – are primarily responsible for slashing the price tag of the plan from $3.5 trillion to $2 trillion.
That means that federally guaranteed paid family leave has been reduced from 12 weeks to four, free community college is likely a no-go, Medicare coverage likely won’t be expanding, and the corporate tax rate won’t be raised, according to the Week. The cost of the bill is spread out over a decade, coming out to about $200 billion a year at its current price. It’s worth noting here that the U.S. spent $725 billion on the military in 2020, and Congress has voted to spend even more on it this coming year. Good thing we’ll be getting a mere fraction of the smallest required amount of paid family leave as literally every other country in the world, though!
Biden has been negotiating with Sinema “directly and privately,” and the president himself said in the town hall, “Where she’s not supportive is she says she will not raise a single penny in taxes on the corporate side and/or on wealthy people, period.”
