Sinema Twists Dems Into A Knot

 

AOC, Tlaib Furious Sinema Opposes Spending Plan

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., speaks during a news conference after a procedural vote for the bipartisan infrastructure framework at Dirksen Senate Office Building July 28, 2021, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

By Jeffrey Rodack    |   Thursday, 29 July 2021 09:02 AM

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Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and  Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., are blasting Sen. Kyrsten Sinema after the Arizona Democrat said she does not support the $3.5 trillion spending plan proposed by President Joe Biden and Democrat lawmakers.

On Wednesday, Sinema and Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman had announced a bipartisan infrastructure deal that would cost about  $1 trillion. But she also told the Arizona Republic she was opposed to the larger $3.5 trillion spending package.

Ocasio-Cortez, in a tweet, responded to Sinema’s opposition.

The progressive Democrat wrote: "Good luck tanking your own party’s investment on childcare, climate action, and infrastructure while presuming you’ll survive a 3 vote House margin especially after choosing to exclude members of color from negotiations and calling that a ‘bipartisan accomplishment.’"

Tlaib tweeted a story about a 4-year-old girl missing after a flash flood in Arizona, and she wrote: "Sinema seems not to care that her own state is flooding, the west is burning, and infrastructure around the country is crumbling. Sinema is more interested in gaining GOP friends and blocking much needed resources, than fighting for her residents' future."

Sinema had explained her opposition to the spending plan, saying that she has reviewed the blueprint provided by the Senate Budget Committee and has informed the upper chamber’s leadership and the White House that while she supports many of the goals that the proposal hopes to accomplish, such as improving job growth and the country’s economic competitiveness, she cannot support the total cost of the package. 

"I have also made clear that while I will support beginning this process," Sinema wrote in a statement to the Republic, "I do not support a bill that costs $3.5 trillion — and in the coming months, I will work in good faith to develop this legislation with my colleagues and the administration to strengthen Arizona’s economy and help Arizona’s everyday families get ahead.