| To: Interested Parties Fr: Primary Sinema Project Dt: November 15, 2021 Re: Sinema doesn’t deserve a victory lap. |
| Today, before President Biden signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill into law, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema went to the White House to take a victory lap and speak about the bill’s passage. But does she really deserve a victory lap? While the White House was happy to let Sinema take credit, since they know they still need her vote to pass BBB, it’s clear that Biden’s infrastructure package is passing despite Sinema — not because of her. From the beginning of this process she has sabotaged some of the key policies of Biden’s agenda and dragged on the process way longer than it needed to be. The process harmed the Democratic party, and especially President Biden. It has also left the Build Back Better Act — the heart of Biden’s agenda — stripped of popular policies Democrats ran and won on, and in danger of not passing at all. Just yesterday, a Washington Post-ABC poll found that despite majorities of Americans supporting both the infrastructure bills, Biden’s approval ratings have hit a new low. And this low approval is driven largely by Democrats, who want their party to be doing more with our majorities. If it weren’t for Sinema and Senator Joe Manchin’s intransigence, this process would likely have been done months ago — before Biden’s approval rating started to fall and before the Virginia gubernatorial election. So while this bipartisan infrastructure bill is a win for Biden, he and the party emerge from its signing with a weakened agenda, months of lost time, and languishing poll numbers to prove it — all thanks to Manchin and Sinema. After insisting on a bipartisan infrastructure bill and negotiating it under the agreement of a two-track approach, Sinema spent months threatening to sabotage the bills: – Back in June, Sen. Sinema announced her opposition to the Democrats’ reconciliation plan before even knowing what was in it. – Politico reported in September that Sinema had informed the White House of her opposition to a provision in the reconciliation bill that would allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices. – And in October, she threw a wrench in the method to pay for the bills when the Wall Street Journal reported that Sinema had told lobbyists that she is opposed to any increase in tax rates on wealthy individuals, corporations, or on capital gains. Months of delays and cuts later, here’s what will not be in the bill because of Sinema and Manchin: – Repealing Trump tax cuts for the wealthy – More comprehensive prescription drug price reform – 12 weeks of paid family leave – Free community college Covering vision & dental under – Medicare Long-term extension of the child tax credit |