Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s Too Cute By Half Thumbs Down Curtsy Vote of The Raise The Wage Act

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So seven Democratic Senators and one Independent who caucuses with the Democrats voted against the Raise The Wage Act amendment to the COVID-19 Relief bill to increase the minimum wage to $15 hour, phased in until 2025.

But Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema  appeared to relish the moment, giving a thumbs down curtsey to vote no on raising the minimum wage, which was last raised in 2007.

If this was meant to be an homage to Arizona Senator John McCain who gave a dramatic thumbs down vote to block Republicans from repealing the Affordable Care Act and taking health care away from millions of Americans, she got it completely wrong. In her case she was voting thumbs down on a long-overdue minimum wage increase during a recession brought about by the Coronavirus pandemic to block a wage increase to millions of Americans. This is not heroic, this is just cruel.

There was no political upside to doing this. The minimum wage amendment was going to fail because all 50 Republicans and putative Democrat Joe Manchin were going to vote no. The smart move was to treat this as a “safety vote,” vote for the minimum wage amendment and let Joe Manchin take all the heat for voting it down. What, a half dozen Democratic senators decided that they should give Joe Manchin some cover for his obstruction of the Biden agenda? Do you really want to be associated with this guy?

After her too cute by half thumbs down curtsey, Sen. Sinema issued a statement about her vote, in which she tried to have it both ways:

SINEMA STATEMENT ON MINIMUM WAGE AMENDMENT

Friday, March 5, 2021
WASHINGTON – Arizona senior Senator Kyrsten Sinema released the following statement:

“I understand what it is like to face tough choices while working to meet your family’s most basic needs. I also know the difference better wages can make, which is why I helped lead Arizona’s effort to pass an indexed minimum wage in 2006, and strongly supported the voter-approved state minimum wage increase in 2016. No person who works full time should live in poverty. Senators in both parties have shown support for raising the federal minimum wage and the Senate should hold an open debate and amendment process on raising the minimum wage, separate from the COVID-focused reconciliation bill. I will keep working with colleagues in both parties to ensure Americans can access good-paying jobs, quality education, and skills training to build more economically secure lives for themselves and their families.”

So, “I am for increasing the minimum wage but I just voted against it in dramatic fashion because I don’t think it should be in the COVID-19 Relief bill.”

Let me explain this to you: the only way a minimum wage increase is going to get passed in the Senate is through the reconciliation process, or doing away with the current Senate filibuster rule, something Senator Sinema inexplicably supports, thus empowering the “Grim Reaper” of the Senate, Mitch McConnell, and his minions of obstructionist Republican arsonists intent on burning down American democracy and thwarting a Democratic president’s agenda.

Arizona’s citizen initiative mandated minimum wage is now $12.15 hour in 2021. The federal Raise the Wage Act of 2021 would not even impact Arizona’s state minimum wage until 2023, at the earliest, so Senator Sinema cannot even claim that it would have unduly burdened Arizona businesses this year. It would have given a raise to workers in other states that still use the federal minimum wage. So she harmed workers in other states, at no risk to herself here in Arizona. That’s a coldhearted calculation.

I am at a loss to explain her actions or her harebrained reasoning. I question whether she even understands what she is doing.

None of the seven Democratic Senators and one Independent who caucuses with the Democrats voted against the minimum wage amendment are up for reelection in 2022. They clearly hope that voters have short memories and will quickly forget this vote by the time they are up for reelection.

I assure you, Senator Sinema, people will not forget your too cute by half thumbs down curtsey vote against raising the minimum wage, because it is on video, which you will see repeated ad nauseam in attack ads from your Democratic primary opponents.

And if you don’t change your mind about the current Senate filibuster rule and are complicit in blocking long overdue civil rights and voting rights legislation, I can assure you that you will be a “one and done” senator. You will not win your primary race.

I know the Phoenix media likes to focus on how you are some king of fashionista, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s ‘Dangerous Creature’ shirt breaks the internet, but that is not why the voters of this state elected you. Arizonans demand and expect you to deliver for them. They expect someone who is serious, and is studious about public policy.

It’s time to get your act together.




10 thoughts on “Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s Too Cute By Half Thumbs Down Curtsy Vote of The Raise The Wage Act”

  2. She could have just said no like the six other Democrats (and Nancy Reagan). But no, she deliberately made those gestures to say “fuck you” to progressives. She seems to enjoy doing that. Dressed like a schoolgirl and curtsying, she decries as sexist criticism of her gestures. She really is childish and immature in acting out this way. Act like an adult! At least I respect Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen despite their votes. Her gesture was needlessly provocative and tells me that she does not want my vote in the future. She has contempt for people like me.

  4. You don’t go from radical lefty in a tutu to voting against raising the minimum wage if you were ever actually a liberal.

    Sinema is a con artist looking out for herself.

    TGF Mark Kelly.

    • God’s truth, Sharpie.

      I am immensely grateful for the two Democratic senators from Georgia that gave the Democrats control of the Senate.

      But the 50-50 split means that a couple of ass-clowns like Manchin and Sinema can do real harm to a (slightly) progressive agenda. Their willingness to do this is disturbing and clearly an abuse of power when they oppose bills and amendments that are supported by a majority of the American people.

  5. Well, no one can say that the Maricopa progressives didn’t warn us about Kyrsten Sinema. So, we knew she would be a problem. Sinema is what Democrats get when the party elites pick the “moderate” candidate for red states because that’s who can win, or so they think.

    AZBlue has got this right, “I am at a loss to explain her actions or her harebrained reasoning. I question whether she even understands what she is doing.”

    Same here. At first I thought she was trying to live up to her self-proclaimed “independence,” someone who won’t just toe the party line. Now I think it’s more about reveling in the attention she has been getting and wanting more. What is immensely disturbing is her willingness to hurt tens of millions of people while she acts out what might be her delusions of grandeur.

    Whatever it is, this is not what we voted for and I hope that someone helps Ms. Sinema to realize this very soon.

    Sinema seems to have forgotten where she came from. She spent years living in a gas station, isn’t that what she said?

  6. Huffington Post reports that when they asked Sen. Sinema’s office about her exaggerated vote, they replied:

    “Sinema’s office responded to a question about the gesture by making the absurd claim that the inquiry is sexist. “Commentary about a female senator’s body language, clothing, or physical demeanor does not belong in a serious media outlet,” Hannah Hurley, a spokesperson for Sinema, told HuffPost.”

    “Sinema Slammed For Exaggerated Thumbs-Down On $15 Minimum Wage”, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kyrsten-sinema-thumbs-down-minimum-wage_n_6042a4b2c5b613cec15d9f41

  7. The primary ads write themselves: The late Senator McCain lived up to his reputation as a maverick by torpedoing the GOP effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. Senator Sinema tried to cash in on Senator McCain’s reputation by helping to keep a destructive GOP policy by standing in the way of raising the minimum wage. Senator Sinema, why do you want to keep American workers slaving in poverty?

    At the very least the Arizona Democratic Party should censure Senator Sinema and support a progressive primary challenger against her.

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