If you are doubtful that Democratic centrism has a grim future, consider how vocal the progressive-aligned No Excuses PAC is as it gears up to unseat Democratic Sens. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, neither of whom will be up for reelection until 2024. Then consider that the progressive movement, with its youth (its patriarch, Bernie Sanders, notwithstanding) and growing influence, has all the momentum.
A bipartisanship-curious institutionalist of sorts, Sinema keeps making liberal types unhappy.
“And though she’s more attentive to Democratic Caucus meetings than she was in the minority,” writes Burgess Everett of Politico in a profile published Friday, “she still keeps Republicans at least as close as members of her own party.” She and Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas have been friendly for some time, for example.
The frustration at Sinema goes well beyond her interaction with untouchables, though. She isn’t a “keep every tool in the toolbox available” kind of partisan. “The minimum wage provision is not appropriate for the reconciliation process,” Sinema told Politico. “It is not a budget item. And it shouldn’t be in there,” saying also, “there is no instance in which I would overrule a parliamentarian’s decision.”
She is referring to the coronavirus relief package currently being drafted under budget reconciliation rules, under which the Senate parliamentarian determines whether a provision should be stricken from the bill for being extraneous. The informal consensus is that the parliamentarian would not sign off on the proposed $15 minimum wage hike, and so Sinema says she would defer to that decision rather than encourage the Senate’s presiding officer simply to ignore it. That’s what House Progressive Caucus Chairwoman Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, a vocally “keep every tool in the toolbox available” kind of partisan, hinted that her Senate counterparts should do in that event.
To liberals, Sinema’s deference to tradition is her worst political quality, which means it’s her best. “I want to restore the 60-vote threshold for all elements of the Senate’s work,” Sinema said in the interview. This, and more particularly her support for maintaining the legislative filibuster, is the stated reason why No Excuses wants to primary her and Manchin, according to another Politico story.
Note Sinema’s language. She said she is “against eliminating the filibuster, and she is not open to changing her mind.” On the budget reconciliation question: “There is no instance in which I would overrule a parliamentarian’s decision” (emphases added).
It’s no wonder progressives dislike her. Protecting the Senate from being dismantled, and sticking to that point of view, is definitionally not progressive.
