Arizona Democrat Senator bucks Schumer on filibuster

 Red States:

Kysten Sinema is a name that has slipped from the headlines the past year or so, but she’s back in a big way today. Sinema, a Democrat, rose to prominence after defeating Martha McSally in Arizona’s 2018 Senate race. Of course, that is hardly much of an achievement as McSally managed to lose both of Arizona’s seats in the span of two years. Yet, Sinema has tried to carve out for herself a sort of maverick role in which she attempts to maintain some semblance of independence. I once joked that she’s basically the most conservative senator Arizona has seen in a decade, and I was only half joking (see Kyrsten Sinema Sure Seems Like the Most Conservative Senator AZ Has Had in a Decade).

Regardless, the question has always been how independent Sinema actually is. Would she stand up in the face of pressure from her own party, or would she fold and go along to get along? Perhaps we have an answer, at least on one front.

Sinema is taking off the table any discussion of her voting to nuke the filibuster.
...

To this point, all the focus on the filibuster has been placed on Joe Manchin. The West Virginia Senator is on tape saying unequivocally that he would not vote to blow up the long-standing Senate institution. Despite that, he’s seemed to waffle on the issue the last week, not sounding nearly as resolute in his proclamation. That makes Sinema’s pledge all the more important. It gives cover to both Manchin and herself, allowing neither of them to be the deciding vote. That should earn Sinema plenty of good will back in Arizona, and it possibly keeps Manchin’s precarious political career afloat, though he’s almost certainly a dead man walking in 2024.

None of this can be making Chuck Schumer too happy. He’s already given up leverage by refusing to even negotiate over the filibuster with Mitch McConnell. If he were smart, he would strike a deal to preserve it in exchange for some Democrat priority knowing that it’s going to be preserved anyway. It’s basically free money for Schumer to play with. Yet, Schumer is too cowardly in the face of his own party’s pressure to make that kind of cunning move. Meanwhile, Sinema and Manchin are undercutting him anyway.
...

What this means is it is unlikely the Democrats will be able to get statehood for DC and Puerto Rico and will be unable to pack the Supreme Court.  Schumer is going to have to negotiate with Republicans to get much of Biden's agenda passed.  Manchin has also said he does not support an end to the filibuster.  Apparently, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Sen. Chris Murphy also oppose ending the filibuster.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Should Republicans go ahead and add Supreme Court Justices to head off Democrats

Washington Post: Some Democrats eye adding more justices to the Supreme Court to change its ideological bent The once-remote idea has gained the attention of liberals angered by the GOP push to remake the federal courts. Probably the easy way to defeat this court-packing scheme is for Trump to propose doing the same thing now.  It would lead to Democrat denunciations and claims that it would be wrong, thereby blowing up any attempt by them in the unfortunate event of Democrats winning a presidential election.
Read more

29 % of companies say they are unlikely to keep insurance after Obamacare

Conn Carroll: A new survey of 368 midsize to large companies found that 29% of them are considering terminating their active employee health care plans when Obamacare is full implemented in 2014. Only 71% of employers surveyed said they did not expect to drop their health coverage, while 20% said they did not know and 9% said they were planning to exit. The latest survey, conducted by Towers Watson, echoes an ealier survey by McKinsey & Co. finding that 30% of private-sector employers were planning to drop their employee health insurance coverage by 2014. When the Congressional Budget Office crunched Obamacare's spending numbers, they estimated that only 7% of employees currently covered by employer-sponsored plans would lose their plans. ... This means the cost of the health care fiasco will be hundreds of billions more than estimated by the CBO and Congressional Democrat. It is also clear that Obama's pledge that you could keep your health care plan if you wanted t
Read more

Bin Laden's concern about Zarqawi's remains

James Robbins: ... Bin Laden suggests that President Bush should allow Zarqawi’s body to be returned to his family in Jordan, but this is a matter that is up to the Jordanian government, which so far has not shown much interest in facilitating a homecoming. Bin Laden mocks King Abdullah II, calling him a Coalition minion, and asking “w hat scares you about Abu Musab after he’s dead? You know that his funeral, if allowed to happen, would be a huge funeral showing the extent of sympathy with the mujahedin.” A large crowd would definitely turn out, though most people would be on hand to demonstrate their anger and disgust. Last November’s hotel bombings in Amman , masterminded by Zarqawi, are still fresh in people’s memory, and mentioning them to Jordanians has the same visceral impact as memory of the 9/11 attacks does here. Jordan has adopted a zero-tolerance policy towards those who choose to mourn the country’s least favorite son, and four opposition members of parliament who paid con
Read more