Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema posted a photo to her Instagram Story on Sunday sporting a “f— off” ring and sipping what appeared to be sangria amid pressure by members of her party to outlaw the Senate filibuster.
The image was posted alone without any other context, though the centrist Democratic senator, along with West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, is facing increasing pressure from members of her party to cave on her vehement stance against ending the Senate filibuster.
Kyrsten Sinema, the Senate’s most colorful member, posts a pic of herself on instagram rocking a “F*** Off” ring & sipping what looks like Sangria pic.twitter.com/ec6AkEPUiE
— Melanie Zanona (@MZanona) April 18, 2021
Democrats are grappling with a 50-50 Senate as much of the liberal legislation that has passed through the House awaits consideration from the deadlocked upper chamber. Under current Senate rules, the minority party can filibuster a proposal until three-fifths of the senators present vote to end the filibuster by invoking cloture. A vote to end the filibuster would empower the Democrats to pass legislation without any GOP support, with Vice President Kamala Harris able to break ties.
MANCHIN UNDER PRESSURE TO CAVE ON FILIBUSTER
Despite mounting pressure from the Left, Sinema has been adamant in her refusal to support eliminating the filibuster, saying she is “not open” to changing her mind on the matter.
Manchin has also rejected calls to eliminate the Senate procedure, writing a Washington Post op-ed on April 7 titled “I will not vote to eliminate or weaken the filibuster.”
“The filibuster is a critical tool to protecting that input [from small or rural states] and our democratic form of government,” he wrote. “That is why I have said it before and will say it again to remove any shred of doubt: There is no circumstance in which I will vote to eliminate or weaken the filibuster.”
The pair of Democrats has faced pressure from those on the Left who say that eliminating the filibuster could allow for the passage of liberal proposals, such as statehood for Washington, D.C., and an expansion of the number of Supreme Court justices. The No Excuses PAC website says the two Democrats “stand in the way of progress” by opposing the filibuster.
“Help us find the next AOC to replace Manchin and Sinema,” the PAC said in an email.
ActBlue accused Sinema and Manchin of granting Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell “ultimate veto power” as a result of their “refuse[al] to reform or abolish the filibuster.”
President Joe Biden has recently referred to the filibuster as a relic of the Jim Crow era and has signaled support for filibuster reform.
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While some other Democratic senators, including Sens. Jon Tester of Montana and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, have signaled opposition toward eliminating the filibuster entirely, there have been discussions of reforming the filibuster, rendering it harder to use. Tester told reporters he would back a rule that would force senators to engage in a talking filibuster, meaning opposing senators would be required to speak continuously in order to keep a bill from reaching the floor for debate.
“I think it would reduce the number of filibusters,” he said.
