Kyrsten Sinema and the Thumbs-Down That Enraged the Left – The New York Times
WASHINGTON When Senator Kyrsten Sinema stepped onto the Senate floor on Friday to vote against including a minimum-wage increase in President Biden s pandemic aid bill, she knew she would draw the ire of progressives in her own party.
Ms. Sinema, Democrat of Arizona, did it anyway, punctuating her defection from the party line with a thumbs-down.
Senators frequently use the motion to register their opposition to legislation, and she was one of eight on the Democratic side to vote against the wage increase. But Ms. Sinema s gesture drew a singularly scathing response from liberal lawmakers and activists, who accused her of callously casting her vote to deny workers higher pay.
The backlash captured the simmering anger that progressives harbor toward Ms. Sinema, a onetime Green Party activist turned centrist who has emerged as an impediment to their highest aspirations in the 50-50 Senate, where she is one of a handful of moderates who hold outsize sway.
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Her refusal to embrace progressive priorities like fast-tracking the minimum-wage increase as part of the stimulus bill, along with her opposition to changing Senate rules to kill the filibuster which effectively requires 60 votes to advance any major legislation has made her a target for liberals across the country.
via www.nytimes.com
Maybe the Senator actually cares more about jobs than unions. Not very progressive of her.