Hard Wire

Sinema Comments On Previous Debates

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Former Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) wasted no time this week in calling out the hypocrisy of her former Democratic colleagues, many of whom spent the Biden years demanding an end to the filibuster—only to now embrace it when it serves their interests. Armed with a spreadsheet tracking their past statements, Sinema highlighted the glaring contradictions, making it clear that their shifting positions weren’t going unnoticed.

One of her most pointed exchanges came with Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), who urged Senate Democrats on X to reject cloture and vote down a Republican-backed bill. “Don’t betray working families. Don’t give Trump and Elon Musk a blank check. Don’t be complicit in the slashing of government programs,” Jayapal wrote.

Sinema quickly fired back with a screenshot of a post from Jayapal just months earlier, in which she had forcefully called for abolishing the filibuster, calling it a “Jim Crow relic” standing in the way of progressive priorities like an assault weapons ban, abortion access, and voting rights. “Just surprised to see support for the ‘Jim Crow filibuster’ here,” Sinema quipped.

Jayapal wasn’t the only target. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) also found herself on the receiving end of Sinema’s critique after attacking Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for voting to keep the government open. AOC posted about her “deep sense of outrage and betrayal,” a stark contrast to her past calls for filibuster elimination.

Sinema wasted no time reminding AOC of her own words. She shared a past post in which Ocasio-Cortez had lambasted Sinema for not supporting filibuster elimination, saying that Democrats could “protect Roe tomorrow” if only Sinema would act. “Until that changes, she can take a seat,” AOC had written at the time.

AOC responded to Sinema’s post, doubling down on her position: “Still no. In fact, the same Dems who argue to keep the filibuster ‘for when we need it’ do not, in fact, use it when we need it. It’s only used to block Dem policies. Never to block harmful GOP ones.”

But Sinema wasn’t letting up. She countered with cold, hard numbers: “Literally zero Senate Democrats support the filibuster. 38 voted to filibuster the continuing resolution yesterday. 8 who previously voted to eliminate the filibuster (1/19/22) did not filibuster. 1 who previously campaigned against the filibuster did not filibuster.”

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