Tag: ro khanna
As Sinema Thwarts Biden Agenda, Democrats Plot Challenge To Her

As Sinema Thwarts Biden Agenda, Democrats Plot Challenge To Her


Reprinted with permission from DailyKos

Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia isn't exactly helping the White House forge a compromise between the liberal and centrist wings of the Democratic party. But let's be real, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona is almost single-handedly blowing up the entire Democratic agenda along with any chances of the party keeping its congressional majorities next year.

So after Sinema made several trips to the White House to meet with President Joe Biden in recent days, White House staffers were headed to her office on Wednesday.

Why? Because exactly no one can figure out what she wants or how to get her to say what she wants.

"Literally, one senator—one Senator—Kyrsten Sinema, is holding up the will of the entire Democratic party," Rep. Ro Khanna of California told CNN's John Berman Tuesday night.

"The president keeps begging her—tell us what you want, put a proposal forward," added Khanna.

Khanna, a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, noted that progressives have been open to compromise all along the way—coming down from a $6 trillion budget bill to a $3.5 trillion budget bill, offering to front-load the benefits and shorten their life in order to get the measure within reach of Democratic moderates. But how do you compromise, Khanna wondered, when Sinema won't lay down a marker?

"What's mind-boggling is you have unanimity in the House — tomorrow the Speaker could get a deal in the House on a number," Khanna said, adding that he believed at least 48 Democratic senators could also back that deal, and probably Manchin too.

"This is not progressive versus moderates," he said, "this is the entire Democratic Party and Joe Biden versus Kyrsten Sinema."

Khanna went on to say that no one appears to know what Sinema wants—not her colleagues, not the president, not even House moderates.

Strong words, but they also appear to be totally on target.

As Politicoreported, Sinema has refused to go into detail on the budget bill until the bipartisan infrastructure plan she helped negotiate clears the House.

"During a private meeting with the president, Sinema made clear she's still not on board with the party's $3.5 trillion social spending plan and is hesitant to engage on some specifics until the bipartisan infrastructure package passes the House," wrotePolitico.

Meanwhile, House progressives are committed to downing that infrastructure bill unless a firm agreement can be reached between the House, the Senate, and the White House on the Democrats-only budget bill.

"They need to come up with their counteroffer and then we sit down and negotiate from there," Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington State told NBC News' Sahil Kapur Wednesday afternoon.

As TPM's Josh Marshal points out, it's entirely possible that Sinema simply isn't enough of a policy savant to articulate what she wants done to the $3.5 trillion budget bill and why.

But armed with just enough talking points from powerful corporate lobbyists, Sinema could easily tank everything.

Whatever Sinema thinks she's doing, she appears to have already secured a primary challenge in her state. A group of Democratic Arizona organizers launched an effort on Wednesday to fund a would-be primary challenger to Sinema in 2024.

"Either Sinema votes to end the filibuster, or we fund a primary challenger," warned a fundraising page set up by a group called the "Future Primary Challenger of Kyrsten Sinema."

"If the existential stakes for working families, our democracy , and our planet don't move her, maybe existential political stakes will," tweeted Kai Newkirk, founder of the progressive grassroots organization For All.

Did Independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema succeed at blowing up the entire Democratic agenda or the party’s chances of keeping its congressional majorities?​

During Build Back Better negotiations in 2021, although Senator Sinema attempted to block the Democrats’ policy goals in an effort to maintain her image as a “Maverick”, her plan did not work. The revamped Inflation Reduction Act was passed on August 12, 2022, giving the Democrats a major win months before the 2022 Midterms. During the Midterms, even though the Democrats expectedly loss their razor-thin House of Representatives majority, they shocked pundits when a “Red Wave” never materialized, as the Republican party gained less than ten seats, much lower than the nearly thirty seatsthe opposition party historically gains on average during a midterm election. Even worse for Sinema, the Democrats actually gained a seat in the Senate, causing Sen. Sinema to lose her bargaining position within the party.

Did one senator, Sen. Sinema, hold “up the will of the entire Democratic party”?

Throughout the negotiations for Build Back Better (which eventually became the Inflation Reduction Act), Senator Sinema did block the will of the Democratic party. Sinema forced Biden to ditch his policy goal of increasing “the corporate tax rate to 26.5% from 21% and raise the top individual rate for the wealthiest Americans from 37% to 39.5%.” The Arizona senator “…also scaled back her party’s long-running plan to allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices with the pharmaceutical companies as a way to reduce overall costs to the government and consumers. She limited which drugs can be negotiated.” Due to Sinema’s sole refusal to agree to key Biden goals in Build Back Better, she frustratingly blocked decades-long goals of the Democrat party that would have improved countless lives in her home state of Arizona.

Did Kyrsten kowtow to corporate lobbyists during Build Back Better negotiations?

Senator Sinema was indeed influenced by corporate lobbyists throughout BBB negotiations. In 2021, these lobbyists donated thousands of dollars in order to encourage Sinema to block legislation in the emerging Build Back Better bill. This Arizona senator doesn’t appear to represent the interests of Arizonians.

Did the threat of a primary challenger give insight to Sinema that playing the middle won’t win her votes in future elections?

Even though the “Future Primary Challenger of Kyrsten Sinema” organization threatened to primary Senator Sinema during BBB negotiations, Sinema continued angering her allies by constantly threatening to vote “No” to Build Back Better. Even after Sinema agreed to vote for the Inflation Reduction Act a year later, Sinema proved that she learned zero lessons from her tumultuous negotiations by declaring she would run for reelection as an Independent in 2024. This strategy appears to not be paying off for Sinema, as the presumptive 2024 Democrat nominee, Rep. Ruben Gallego, leads in the polls against both Sinema and potential 2024 Republican nominees.

In Blow To GOP Establishment, Tea Party Forces Run-Off

In Blow To GOP Establishment, Tea Party Forces Run-Off

Washington (AFP) – The U.S. Republican establishment suffered an embarrassing political setback Tuesday courtesy of a Tea Party challenger, who battled a long-time Senate incumbent to a draw in a Mississippi race with national implications.

Seven other states also held primaries in one of the biggest vote nights of the 2014 campaign season ahead of November’s congressional mid-term elections in which Republicans are aiming to take back the Senate from President Barack Obama’s Democrats.

But all eyes were on Mississippi, where the Tea Party movement poured outside funding into its best chance to oust an establishment Republican Senate incumbent.

The conservative movement that promotes small government and lower taxes has had a rough 2014 campaign season, mostly failing to oust mainstream Republicans including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

It pinned its hopes on constitutional conservative and spending-slasher Chris McDaniel, a 42-year-old Mississippi state senator pitting himself against the old guard in the form of genteel Senator Thad Cochran, 76, who first won the seat in 1976.

With 95 percent of precincts reporting, McDaniel was leading Cochran by half a percentage point in the Republican Party primary battle in Gulf coast Mississippi, one of America’s poorest and most politically polarized states.

But with neither man crossing the 50 percent threshold in the multi-candidate race, McDaniel and Cochran were forced into a run-off to be held later this month.

Speaking to supporters, McDaniel said he expects to win, “whether it’s tomorrow or three weeks from tonight. This is a historic moment in this state’s history. And because of your hard work, because of your dedication, we sit here tonight leading a 42-year incumbent.”

Cochran did not speak to supporters Tuesday night.

McDaniel has seized on Cochran’s old-school style of behind-the-scenes negotiating with opponents, a quality increasingly absent in a gridlocked chamber where a take-no-prisoners attitude has come to prevail.

Experts say McDaniel could claim the momentum going into the run-off, having survived a Mississippi mudfight that saw four McDaniel supporters arrested after one sneaked into a nursing home to take pictures of Cochran’s wife, who is being treated for dementia.

Mainstream Republican strategists have quietly warned that a McDaniel primary victory could give Democrats an opening in November, complicating GOP efforts to retake the Senate.

Meanwhile candidate Joni Ernst won Iowa’s Republican primary for the seat vacated by retiring liberal Democrat Senator Tom Harkin.

Ernst is that rare Republican who managed to be courted by both the Tea Party and the establishment, and should she defeat Democratic congressman Bruce Braley in November she would become the first woman ever elected to Congress from the Hawkeye State.

In California, septuagenarian House Democrat Mike Honda finished first with a hefty margin in a primary challenge from Ro Khanna, 37, in what had been a tight Silicon Valley race.

Property lawyer and former Obama administration official Khanna drew on support from tech giants, reportedly including Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg and Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer.

Under a new California ‘top-two’ system designed to break up entrenched partisanship, both will advance to a run-off in November. Both men are liberals, but Khanna is seen as presenting a more tech-industry-friendly message.

With more than half the votes counted Tuesday night, Honda had 51 percent compared to about 26 percent for Khanna. Two Republicans trailed far behind, the San Jose Mercury news reported.

The entire US House of Representatives, currently held by Republicans, is up for grabs in November.

Analysts expect the party will retain control in the lower chamber, but polls show the Senate, currently controlled 55-45 by Democrats, could swing the Republicans’ way.

Thirty-six Senate seats are in play, and at least seven Democrat-held seats are seen as being at risk.

Photo: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Tea Party Takes Another Stab At U.S. Senate Upset

Tea Party Takes Another Stab At U.S. Senate Upset

Washington (AFP) – Several U.S. states hold primary votes on Tuesday ahead of November’s mid-term elections, with the Tea Party eyeing perhaps its best remaining chance to bounce an establishment Republican incumbent from the Senate.

The conservative movement that promotes small government and fewer taxes has had a relatively rough 2014 campaign season, mostly failing to oust mainstream Republicans including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Now it is pinning hopes on constitutional conservative and spending-slasher Chris McDaniel, a 42-year-old state senator from Mississippi pitting himself against the old guard in the form of the U.S. Senate’s consummate Southern gentleman, six-term Republican Thad Cochran, 76.

Outside political groups have pumped millions into the race, which spiraled into a Mississippi mudfight when four McDaniel supporters were arrested after one sneaked into a nursing home to take pictures of Cochran’s wife, who is being treated for dementia.

But McDaniel still remains in the running in impoverished and deeply polarized Mississippi, according to local polls. He has earned endorsements from national Republican figures like 2008 vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

McDaniel has seized on Cochran’s old-school style of behind-the-scenes negotiating with opponents, a quality increasingly absent in a gridlocked chamber where a take-no-prisoners attitude has come to prevail.

McDaniel, who opposes earmarks, also took aim at Cochran’s taste for political pork — the spending of federal dollars in his cash-strapped home state.

But Cochran said he believes there is still a place for his style of bridge-building in Washington.

“I think it pays to be able to work with people on both sides of the aisle,” Cochran recently told the Hattiesburg American newspaper.

Cochran is an iconic figure in Washington; he was the first Mississippi Republican in the Senate in more than a century.

But earlier this year, when Cochran was painted as a permanent Capitol Hill fixture out of touch with constituents, he did little to negate that charge when he told reporters that the Tea Party is “something I don’t really know a lot about.”

McDaniel shot back: “Well, perhaps it’s time for an introduction.”

Seven other states also hold primaries Tuesday including California, where another septuagenarian lawmaker, the liberal House Democrat Mike Honda, faces a challenge from Ro Khanna, 37, in a tight Silicon Valley race.

Property lawyer Khanna is drawing on support from tech giants, reportedly including Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg and Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer.

The entire House of Representatives, currently held by Republicans, is up for grabs in November, and analysts expect the party will retain control.

But polls show the Democrat-led Senate could swing the Republicans’ way, so the Senate races are among the most fiercely fought.

More than a third of the Senate seats (36 of 100) are in play, and at least seven Democrat-held seats are seen as being at risk.

Photo: Win Mcnamee via AFP