Wednesday, September 28, 2022

HE WOULD BE CORRECT
Ruben Gallego ignites feud with fellow Democratic lawmaker Kyrsten Sinema, accusing her of wanting the GOP to win the House and the Senate

Cheryl Teh
Tue, September 27, 2022 a

Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego previously teased the idea of mounting a potential challenge against Senator Krysten Sinema in the 2024 Democratic primary Kyrsten Sinema.
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images; Alex Wong/Getty Images

Ruben Gallego took a jab at fellow Democrat Kyrsten Sinema on Monday.

Gallego said he sensed that Sinema would prefer it if the Democrats lost the House and Senate.

He said Sinema was "nowhere" to be seen while he was campaigning around their home state of Arizona.

Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego hit out at his Democratic colleague, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema on Monday, accusing Sinema of secretly wanting their party to fail.

On Monday, Gallego re-tweeted reporting by Daily Beast reporter Ursula Perano on how Sinema was predicting a shift in power from the Democratic Party to the GOP in the upcoming midterms.

"I mean you could be out there helping our candidates @SenatorSinema But my sense is that you would actually prefer the Dems lose control of the Senate and House," Gallego wrote.

He also criticized Sinema for being absent from the party's campaigning efforts in their home state.

"Now that I think of it. I have been traveling the state and country. Donating, raising funds and encouraging people to come out and vote and I have seen you nowhere @SenatorSinema," Gallego tweeted.

Speaking to the Washington Examiner, Sinema's team declined to comment on Gallego's tweets but said that the senator had given more than $140,000 to Democratic candidates in this election cycle.

Representatives for Sinema did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Sinema has been a stumbling block in the Democratic Party's attempts to pass legislation in the Senate.

For instance, Sinema was one of the lone holdouts in the way of the party passing the Inflation Reduction Act. Her colleague, fellow moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, was even seen taking a knee in front of Sinema's desk to speak to her on the Senate floor while trying to obtain her make-or-break vote.

With Sinema's stance having stalled major pieces of Democratic legislation in the upper chamber, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday praised Sinema, calling her the "most effective first-term senator" he had seen during his decades in the Senate.

Meanwhile, Gallego has teased the idea of mounting a potential challenge against Sinema in the 2024 Democratic primary. Gallego also told CNN in January that he had been approached about possibly challenging Sinema.

"To be honest, I have gotten a lot of encouragement from elected officials, from senators, from unions, from your traditional Democratic groups, big donors," he said. "Everything you can imagine under the sun."

Sen. Sinema defends bipartisanship at McConnell Center



Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., speaks during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee hearing to examine social media's impact on homeland security, Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. 
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon) 

JONATHAN J. COOPER
Mon, September 26, 2022 at 1:01 PM·3 min read

PHOENIX (AP) — Most Americans prefer politicians who work across the aisle, Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema said Monday in a forceful defense of her brand of bipartisanship, which has infuriated the left and is likely to draw her a primary challenge.

Members of Congress face “intense pressure” to play to the extreme elements of their own party, alienating the American people from their government, Sinema argued in a speech in Kentucky, where she spoke at a University of Louisville center named for Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Both parties are responsible, she said.

“More and more it seems like Americans are being told that in order to be a member of either political party, you must adhere to a strict set list of policy viewpoints,” Sinema said. “But I don’t think that’s how a majority of Arizonans or Kentuckians or everyday Americans think."

Sinema plays an outsized role in defining what's possible in Congress. One of two moderate Democrats in the 50-50 Senate, her willingness to buck the rest of her party has limited the ambitions of President Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

She is a staunch defender of the filibuster, a Senate rule effectively requiring 60 votes to pass most legislation in the 100-member body. Many Democrats, including Biden, say the filibuster leads to gridlock by giving a minority of lawmakers the ability to veto.

She said the filibuster should be restored for areas where it's been eliminated, such as judicial confirmations.

“Those of you who are parents in the room know, the best thing you can do for your child is not give them everything they want,” Sinema said. “And that’s important to the United States Senate as well. We shouldn’t get everything we want in the moment. Because later, upon cooler reflection, you recognize that has probably gone too far.”

The Senate is meant to be slow and deliberative, she said, and the filibuster ensures lasting progress that doesn't swing wildly as the parties trade off control of Congress.

Sinema pointed to a series of bipartisan compromises that produced a massive infrastructure spending bill, subsidies for semiconductor manufacturers and the widest-ranging gun control bill in decades following the shooting at a school in Uvalde, Texas.

She signaled no plans to change her approach as she nears her first reelection campaign in 2024, when she is likely to face stiff opposition from the left. Liberal groups are already raising money to fund an eventual Democratic primary challenger.

“If you don’t fit in in today’s Washington, trust me, they want to kick you out,” Sinema said. “But I’ve never really wanted to fit in. Not in Washington and not anywhere else.”

McConnell showered praise on Sinema's deal-making prowess and her steadfast commitment to maintaining the filibuster.

“She is, in my view, one of the most effective first-term senators I’ve seen in my time in the Senate,” McConnell said. “She is today what we have too few of in the Democratic Party — a genuine moderate and a dealmaker.”

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