The Washington Examiner’s Byron York said President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda will be for naught in 2023 as Republicans take the House majority.
“The Biden legislative agenda is pretty much dead because Republicans will control the House. That’s the big thing right there,” York said Friday on Fox Business’s The Evening Edit.
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When asked if Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s (I-AZ) decision to leave the Democratic Party would have even more of an effect on that, he said not necessarily.
“This is kind of a funny thing that she has done. First of all, it’s kind of like a rebranding of herself, and I’m not sure what effect it’s going to have both on working in the Senate and her own political fortunes,” York told host Elizabeth MacDonald.
“But as far as the Biden nominations agenda and confirmations, which occur only in the Senate, Sen. Sinema has voted for every one of Joe Biden’s judicial nominees,” he explained.
York added that Sinema has been on board the whole time and is going to stay on board, especially after Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) granted her the ability to stay on her committees.
“Kyrsten is independent; that’s how she’s always been. I believe she’s a good and effective Senator and am looking forward to a productive session in the new Democratic majority Senate,” Schumer, who recently won reelection as Senate majority leader, said in a statement at the time.
“We will maintain our new majority on committees, exercise our subpoena power, and be able to clear nominees without discharge votes,” Schumer added.
Sinema has faced backlash in the past and even more since announcing her departure on Friday. York said because progressive Democrats have “hated her,” they will likely run a challenge to her in 2024 when she is up for reelection.
“What’s going to make that so difficult is, of course, Republicans aren’t going to support her either, and are there enough independents out there to get her back into the Senate?” York said. “It will be very difficult.”
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Sinema cited “party politics” and a “broken system” as her reason for leaving the party.
“When politicians are more focused on denying the opposition party a victory than they are on improving Americans’ lives, the people who lose are everyday Americans,” she wrote in an op-ed published by the Arizona Republic. “That’s why I have joined the growing numbers of Arizonans who reject party politics by declaring my independence.”
