Joy does not last long in the poor man’s house, even if he is only poor in seats. Just three days after the president’s party Joe Biden achieved with the victory in a second round in Georgia to extend from 50-50 to 51-49 his exiguous majority in the United States Senatethe conservative democrat kyrsten sinemachosen by Arizonahas announced that leaves the party and registers and starts working as Independent.
The movement does not automatically mean an alteration in how power is distributed in the Upper House. Sinema has promised that she will not change how she has been voting in the last four years and has also assured in an interview with ‘Politico’ that will not join the group of Republicans, which will mean that the conservatives cannot exceed 49 seats. His defection, in any case, has impactbecause Sinema has not guaranteed that she will make a group with the Democrats, as the independent senators do Bernie Sanders Y AngusKing.
again, Manchin
The Sinema pass once again provides enormous weight to Joe Manchin, another conservative Democratic senator who, with her, has been the biggest stone in the shoe for Biden’s legislative agenda in the last two years. They have opposite to measures that would raised taxes on companies and higher incomes, as well as initiatives to expand voting rights. Sinema has also stopped attempts to raise the minimum wage. And she and Manchin, elected by West Virginia, have forced to water down laws such as social and environmental spending, in addition to preventing changes that would have weakened the filibustersomething that earned Sinema the censorship of the state party.
White House reaction
From the White House it has been tried minimize the impact of Sinema’s decision. The spokesperson, Karine Jean-Pierre, has issued a statement ensuring that control or the majority in the Upper House will not change. She has also said that they have “all the reasons to hope to continue working with her& rdquor ;, someone who has voted 90% of the time in favor of Biden’s proposals and who has solidly supported the president’s nominees for high offices and judicial posts, something that will be vital for the president starting in January.
Part of that hope also lies in the fact that Sinema herself needs the Democrats to maintain the positions held on committees. And after a meeting on Thursday night with Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the House, announced that he agreed to Sinema’s request to keep her in those positions. “She has always been independent & rdquor ;, Schumer has said, that she has also defended that she is a senator“effective” and that with the majority in the committees they will continue to be able to confirm Biden nominees and use their power to issue subpoenassomething that the Democrats intend to do to monitor and investigate actions of large corporations.
The confrontation with the party could also be difficult for Sinema if she decides to run for re-election in 2024, something that has not yet been confirmed. Before this Friday, and in response to his positions, a Democratic initiative had already emerged in Arizona to challenge him in primaries if he decided to run for the seat again. Now the race could become competitive if the Democrats end up deciding to field their own candidate in two years. And the split of the vote between the independent Sinema and a Democratic candidate could favors Republicans in the swing swing state.
“Broken system & rdquor;
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“I have joined the growing number of Arizona citizens rejecting party politics by declaring my independence from the Washington’s broken partisan system & rdquor;, Sinema has written in an opinion column in ‘The Arizona Republic’ explaining her decision. In that article the 46-year-old senator – who began her career in the Green party, she was elected as a Democrat to the House of Representatives in 2012 and to the Senate in 2018 and has modeled her career on that of the late Republican Senator John McCain — has also ensured that “the louder and more extreme voices continue to lead both parties towards the margins”.
He has also written that “when politicians are more focused on deny the opposition party a victory that in improving the lives of Americans, those who lose are ordinary citizens & rdquor ;.